The well is deep, but...

Blog do Bispo Macedo
The Well is Deep, but…


Day 11 of the Fast of Daniel

Let him hear what the Spirit says to the people of Faith:

Though it was deep, the Samaritan woman was always at the well, seeking an essential element for survival, water.

This also happens in the lives of many, because people are willing to go deep; in other words, they will do any sacrifice necessary to achieve their dreams and desires.

The Samaritan woman represents those who, in search of a happy love life, find themselves in their sixth relationship. Still, many others have surrendered to addictions, prostitution, sacrificing their own family or career and many other things, just because of an extramarital affair. There are even some who surrender to a life of crime.

The Lord Jesus knew that the Samaritan woman had problems with her love life, but He also knew that when this problem was solved, her biggest problem would still be there: the thirst for the Water of life.

The Water of Life is truly very deep. However, this does not mean it’s impossible to drink from it. To do so, those who are thirsty must be willing to “pay the price”. This price is to sacrifice everything. Obviously, if we want everything from God, we must surrender our all, even if it is an insignificant and miserable life.

Without the Water of Life, sooner or later, the Samaritan woman would be thirsty again and, who knows if she wouldn’t become discouraged during her search, like so many have done?

This is why we must dive deep into this well; there is no other option. If people are willing to go to great lengths to obtain material possessions, imagine the kind of sacrifice that is needed to resolve all your spiritual problems once and for all.

Those who have made innumerous sacrifices for material things, such as having a deity “take charge of their head”, giving spiritual entities expensive gifts, etc., would go to what extent to drink the Water that the Lord Jesus offers?
This is a conscious sacrificial Faith!

On October 11, we will all be in spirit, together with the seven bishops, representing the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God throughout the world, on the Mount of Transfiguration. From there, we will extend our hands to those who have believed and sacrificed during the Fast of Daniel, so that they will be transfigured and glorified by God the Father, in the Name of God the Son, by the Spirit of God.
Those who believe will see great things!

Collaborated by: Bp. Clodomir Santos

Assistants in Focus 092715

Palavra Amiga do Bispo Macedo 9:21:15

The Fast of Daniel

Day 3 of the Fast of Daniel

Blessings that are Crumbs

They returned from a glorious mission where they healed the sick, delivered the captive and used Christian authority over satan.

They were overcome by an uninhibited joy.

But the Lord immediately warned them. He said: do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven. Luke 10.20
It is one thing to receive blessings in every area of your life while in this world and, also, serve as the vessel of these blessings.

It is another thing to receive the blessing of blessings: the conviction, which is given by the Spirit of God, that your name is written in the Book of Life and also serve as an instrument of this glory.

Every blessing that has to do with something material is a crumb compared to the greatness of serving as the temple of the Holy Spirit.

Nothing in this world, no matter how rich, beautiful, pleasurable, etc., compares to the fullness of the Spirit of the Lord Jesus.

Therefore, nothing and nobody is able to remove the joy, peace and conviction of His presence within.
He is an endless Hidden Treasure, found by those who seek Him with all their strength, with all their understanding and with all their heart.

Of course, in His absence, any crumb, even if it’s bitter, seems as sweet as honey.

The immense joy those disciples felt had nothing to do with the joy of having an absolute conviction they were living Temples of the Holy Spirit.

This is what we see in the following testimonies…

21 Days of the Fast of Daniel

The Fast of Daniel at Mount Hermon

 “Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves.”
Matthew 17.1-2

 When the Lord Jesus took these three disciples to the Mount Hermon, He did that in order to reveal to them something very strong and intimate. This should also be how the person delivers her life to the Lord on the Altar, with intimacy, something private between the person and God. It’s a separation of everything and everyone. There should not be any interference of anything or anyone.

 The Lord Jesus knew what was going to happen on that Mountain. He was conscience that the sacrifice to climb that high mount was worth.

 Everyone must also have the same conscience of being total free. Their life must be completely surrendered in order to receive the Spirit of the Almighty, because this sacrificial faith is what leads the candidate into the baptism with the Holy Spirit.

 When the Lord Jesus was transfigured, He wanted to show to His disciples what would happen to all who receive the Holy Spirit. His face shone like the sun and His garments became white like light, it means there was a transformation inside and outside.

 This was exactly what has happened to all those who were baptized with the Holy Spirit, and this is what is going to happen to those who will stay away from this world during the Fast of Daniel for them to be connected with God. Their face will shine and everyone will see the light on them, principally our enemy, the devil.

 May God bless you by pouring Holy Spirit on you during this twenty-one days of the Fast of Danie

Bishop Macedo's Message 9:15:15

Don't be deceived

Deceiving Spirit

Since the Garden of Eden the devil has been using the weapon of deceit! It was not in vain that the Lord Jesus said that even the chosen ones would be deceived. The devil is very subtle in his way of action. A person starts to fall in the moment in which he or she has access to the heart.  With all astuteness, satan is able to sow feelings and emotions. This causes the pure faith to give room to malice.

 “But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.” 2 Corinthians 11.3

The intelligent faith leads us to a daily sacrifice of our will in order for us to prioritize the will of God.
God was not ashamed to be called the God of Abraham, not because Abraham was perfect, but because God knew that whatever He told to Abraham to do it would immediately executed. Abraham lived in obedience.

When the assistant stops living by the intelligent faith, he becomes religious. He puts his uniform on and works in the meeting, but he does it mechanically and without any satisfaction. As time goes by, many allowed the genuine faith to give place to a religious faith,  like Amaziah, “ And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, but not with a loyal heart”. 2 Chronicles 25.2.
Amaziah did, but not led by a pure heart because he was a religious person. Many have lost the condition of helping the people because they have become religious, proof of this is what the devil has been doing whatever he wants among evangelical people by deceiving many of them with emotions.

The Lord Jesus said, “ Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?'" Matthew 7.22

Who did He said this word to? Those who were outside? No! He said this to those who do the work of God, the officials of the church, assistants, pastors, etc. There are many of them using the name of Jesus to preach, to cast out demons, even to heal the sick, but it doesn’t mean that they are really His servants.

To do the work of God means to believe in the Lord Jesus with all your heart, this belief is to sacrifice your will over the will of God. John 6.28-29
We cannot only stay away from sin like adultery, addictions, etc. We also need to watch the little fox, sins that are inside of a person and seem to be simple, they don’t appear, like malice, lies, disobedience, religiosity.
We are fighting against hell and if you give him a gap he will take advantage on that.

The same spirit that deceived Eve, he has been deceiving the servants through out the centuries. Is he not deceiving you as well, by making you to nurture a feeling for someone to the point of making this person even above God in your life? Who is more important for you? Your parents or the Lord Jesus? Your husband, your wife or the Lord Jesus? Your job, your goods, or the Lord Jesus?

Good and faithful servant

Good and faithful servant

In the parable of the talents we all get a chance to analyze the type of servants we have been to the Lord. Either we are good and faithful, or lazy servants. 

There’s no doubt that our attitude toward God, in relation to what He wants us to do, will define who we are. In the parable of the talents, the Lord Jesus gave the same command for each of them, independent of the amount of talents each one had received, they all should have done what the Lord expected from them. 

The first and second servants were considered good and faithful servants, why? What did they do to be called good and faithful servants? What’s the definition of a good servant? A good servant is the one who always puts all his strength, dedication, and love in everything his does. Despite the distance, weather, or anything else, he obeys.  This person always pushes his or herself to be the best in all he or she does. Better spouse, better child, etc.  The greatest mistake is when your will is put over God’s will. This has happened to many who had great potential and talents to be used by God, but they rather use it for themselves.

The faithful servant is the one who wants the will of God to be done above all things, no matter what, he understand that he was chosen, called, and anointed by the Holy Spirit specifically to serve God, and not himself. This unfortunately, has been the mistake of many servants of God.  In the beginning they presented themselves as those who were ready to serve God in any circumstance, but as time went by they started to change. They put their faith aside and began to be controlled by their feelings and emotions. They stop to be focused on the will of God, to focus on their own will, they lost the vision of winning souls. They grew cold in their faith and today there’s no pleasure in doing they will of God. Many of them are in the work of God, but just doing only what pleases them. In other words, they have already buried their talent.

A good and faithful servant doesn’t have time to think about himself, his intention is to put and keep they will of God in the first place of his life. For this reason the Lord Jesus knows that He can count on him for whatever He needs. As He touch the disciples saying, “ let your will be done"

To multiply the talents was not a hard task for the two first disciples because they were aware of their responsibility with what God had entrusted in their hands. They never focused on their own desires, but God’s.

The good and faithful servants are those who can openly stand before the Lord Jesus to cry out for justice. They enjoy whatever God has promises. They are those who do not supposed to live a life of shame and pains due to their sincerity and loyalty and faithfulness to God.

Bishop Carlos da Costa

Sit down first and calculate

There is only one way to achieve things that are out of our reach: be an ally of God. And there is only one way to be an ally of God: when we manifest a conscious Faith in Him and His Word. The impossible is no longer impossible before this Faith. Other types of beliefs, religions and rituals cannot do what this Faith does, because they are not accompanied by sacrifice, which is what brings us closer to the Most High.

This is why, in order for the impossible to happen, the manifestation of this Faith is essential, by forsaking our own thoughts to absorb the thoughts of God. It is a small sacrifice in favor of achieving great things.

And it could not be any different. Only God can do the impossible, but He has shared His power so that we can accomplish the impossible for His Glory. This power is the gift of Faith, which comes from listening to His Word, and becomes effective when we put it into practice boldly through acts of sacrifice.

For this reason, only those who are truly His disciples can make use of this power. After all, a “disciple” is someone that receives instructions from another person and puts them into practice. It’s a person who adopts a doctrine, follows an idea or imitates the examples of their master. Therefore, those who want to adopt the teachings of Jesus as a guide for their behavior must forsake their own life. He made it clear that, to be His disciple, it is necessary to obey Him, forsake our own life and give up everything this world offers.

And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. Luke 14.27

So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple. Luke 14.33

No wonder He advises those who want to follow Him to sit down first and calculate whether they are truly willing to assume the commitment to obey until the end and be able to pay the price of this decision. This is what we call conscious faith, rational faith or intelligent faith. This Faith requires us to use reason to make choices that we will actually honor, without emotions or precipitated decisions, since we know what it will require of us.

The Most High does not impose His discipline on anyone, but He also does not share His Power with everyone. He makes us aware of how we should act if we want this Power in us. We should analyze this proposal with our mind, not our heart – because there is a price to pay, it is not a gratuitous grace.

Bishop Macedo

Your friend’s child

Do you have a best friend?
If the answer is yes, how would you treat this friend’s child?
You would certainly love him and take care of him, giving him your full attention.
The way you would treat your friend’s child is the same way God treats the children of Abraham. Abraham was God’s friend. Notice His consideration, His care, His attention to the children of His friend Abraham.

When the Lord Jesus was at the synagogue, He saw a woman that was possessed by a spirit of sickness for eighteen years; she walked hunched over, without being able to stand up straight at all. He called her and said: Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity. And He laid His hands on her, and immediately she was made straight… Luke 13.12-13
Soon after, the Lord Jesus asked a question, and revealed His thoughts in regards to the children of Abraham.
So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound—think of it—for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath? Luke 13.16

In the case of Zacchaeus, the Lord Jesus knew that he would also be a son of Abraham. This was a determining factor for his house to be chosen among the houses of the families of the people in the crowd. Once in the house of the man that would also be the son of His friend, the Lord Jesus said:

Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham; for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. Luke 19.9-10

Who wouldn’t feel at home in the house that belongs to their friend’s child?

Today, God has other friends too.

You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. John 15.14

When you are respectful, loyal, trustworthy and obedient to God, He will love and take care of you.
Not only because you are a son of Abraham, but because you will also be another friend of God.
In fact, those who are the children of Abraham, the friend of God, are a friend of God too!

Obligation or Inspiration?

Everyone is different because everyone thinks differently. The greatest desire and challenge of a person is to make others think like him, at least on one matter – have the same opinion, the same taste, the same point of view. When it comes to a person’s spiritual life, it’s something that those who belong to the Light as well as those who belong to the darkness wish to do in regards to the way other people act, because both believe they are in the right, though only those who are of the Light truly are.

But often, the children of God try to do this the wrong way. This is the reason why they usually do not succeed. Meanwhile, most of the children of the devil have been doing it the right way, and effectively guided souls to hell.

The biggest mistake we can make, and that we usually make, is to impose our faith on someone. When we become aware of reality, the desire to save our family and friends is so great that it causes us to try everything in our power to achieve this. And unfortunately, we end up using it in the worst possible way.

We use our eyes to notice every sin they commit, our ears to know what they have been doing, our mouth to criticize their behavior and our hands to point fingers and make accusations. We think that these drastic measures will awaken them to the truth, but all we’re doing is pushing them further away from us and, consequently, from God.

We should not, nor could we, impose our faith on anyone. Not even God Himself imposes things on us! But we can, and it is necessary to inspire people to have the same faith, making us worthy of being admired for an irreproachable character, supernatural strength and a humble spirit.

Therefore, use your eyes to see their qualities and needs. Use your ears to listen when they need someone to talk to. Then, use your mouth to make a compliment, show appreciation or give them wise and useful advice. This way, your hands will serve to raise them up during difficult times. You will be considered a true friend: one that does not judge, but helps. This is the true representation of the Lord Jesus!

Effective influence does not scream out loud, it is silent. It does not clash, but works in harmony. It does not criticize what is contrary, but shows the benefits of being on its side. It is not violent, nor troublesome, but gentle and almost imperceptible.

The salvation of the people you love should not be an obligation, but an inspiration. But which of the two strategies have you been using? Remember that Jesus did not force anyone to do anything, but was and is the Greatest Influencer of the Universe, because He is an example, a reference to be followed. When you become this reference, multitudes will begin to follow you, and have the same faith and the same God you have. This is the behavior of a real and effective soul winner.