Wise or foolish?

At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins, who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were wise and five were foolish. The foolish ones took their lamps, and took no oil with them. But the wise ones took oil in their flasks with their lamps. While the bridegroom delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a cry made: ‘Behold, the bridegroom, come out to meet him!’ Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out’. But the wise answered saying: No, for there might not be enough for us and for you, rather go to them who sell, and buy for yourselves. And while they went to buy, the bridegroom arrived, and those who were ready went inside with him to the wedding banquet and the door was shut. Afterwards the other virgins came too, saying: ‘Lord, Lord, let us in!’ And he replied saying: ‘I tell you the truth, I do not know you’. Therefore stay alert, for you do not know the day or the hour when the Son of man will come. The most precious gift we can receive in this world is the Holy Spirit, because we have to rely only on Him and no one else. At the moment they needed oil and asked to borrow some, the answer was: GO AND BUY FOR YOURSELVES, which leads us to really think. In the material world, one can borrow a car, a house, clothes, everything we have, but in the spiritual world everyone seeks for themselves, one who seeks always has more and can always give more, and their lamp is always on, in other words, will always be filled with the Holy Spirit. The more we give, the more we receive from God. When a woman is a servant of God, she only cares about giving and never about receiving, she is always available to people, to counsel them, fasting, praying, always willing to make disciples, this is the prudent one and she is always giving and still has more to give, and the foolish one lives making excuses, always tired, thinking she does too much and everyone knows they cannot count on her because she always has an excuse to give, and unfortunately she is in darkness, has nothing to give because she receives nothing, she always needs a service or a prayer from others to become stronger and when she opens her mouth we never see anything strong, merely repetitions from what others have said, because her oil fades, she depends on others to keep her fire. The wise live at the feet of Jesus, while the foolish do not have time to be at His feet, while one is full of God; the other is full of herself and empty of God. We have to evaluate ourselves daily. What is the level of our oil? Is our light always on? Or sometimes yes and sometimes no? Or does it depend on someone to be on? From my daily experience with God, the more we are true servants, the more our Lord honors and enables us, at the same time our oil never fades because we care more about giving than receiving, and He cares to give us what we need...



 



Who we are is above what we do

A pure heart shows to God what He represents to us. Many speak about God, evangelize and invite others to come to church, read the bible a lot, but practice very little and wonder: Why are the promises not fulfilled? The answer is this: "THEY DO A LOT, BUT PRACTICE VERY LITTLE." Everything we do for God must be accompanied by sincerity, integrity and commitment, because otherwise the things we do for Him will be destroyed by our character which can be a bad behavior, gossip, jealousy, intrigues, nasty comments, judging others, etc. Before, I always wanted to be doing something for God, evangelizing, serving, sacrificing, etc. But, with time, I realized that even though this is important, the most important thing of all is to please God with our thoughts, attitudes, sincere words, keeping our hearts clean, loving those around us, giving our best to them, being servants, or better said: Who we are is above what we do. And God Himself answers us, because we get to know Him, to have a relationship with Him. Today, I do see a lot more answers, because I care more about who I am than what I do. “If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them. But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him” Colossians 3

Young girls, women and assistants always ask us what being a woman of God is. Each one has a unique experience. All who give their lives on the altar of the Lord Jesus become so special to him, everyone has their own individual experiences. During this journey, I realized that every day we become women of God as we live out what is written. To me this is the biggest difference between a woman of God and an assistant or a pastor's wife. Having a duty or position does not determine whether you are a woman of God or not, but when you live what is written, yes! It determines who you are to God. Often, men will not even know you are of God and one can be unnoticed by them, but not by God. There are many characteristics of woman of God, including: The woman of God is sincere She is a servant above all, not to men, but to the Lord She lives in dependence of the Lord She does not look to others, rather looks at her own life She knows the right time to talk She learns every day, growing spiritually with each experience, whether positive or negative, she learns. She does not give problems, but gives solutions She has good eyes, has the purity from the beginning, maintains the first love She aims to win souls, not to fill a church, but the Kingdom of God She is certain of her salvation She is always a testimony of faith and not of emotion All that is given for her to do, she does it with complete dedication She does not worry about what others think of her, rather what God thinks of her She is a source, a light that generates the energy of God, and bring others into the kingdom of God She is wise and others have pleasure in listening to her. Every woman can be of God if she practices His word. "Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised."

EXPERIENCE WITH GOD - HE KNOWS WHAT IS BEST FOR THOSE WHO TRUST IN HIM

I would like to share a great experience I had with God. About 11 years ago I had surgery on my vocal cords in Brazil, for misusing my voice and my former profession, I had a lesion on my vocal cords, but at that time I had no result, I went almost three months without speaking, and even the doctor who did the operation was a little scared, but I used my faith, and with the help of a good friend (Mrs. Janna) who helped me every day in prayer, my voice gradually returned, but with hoarseness.
Time passed, but I was not worried, I did not have the answer I wanted, but I left it in God's hands, and went on.
5 years after that surgery and being in another country, doing God's work in the United States, I went through another surgery, encouraged by a friend who had known someone who had this same kind of problem. I did another surgery with a doctor in Texas, but had no result, and it only improved a little but with time, the hoarseness continued.
I always spoke with God, revolted, because on several occasions when counseling or even evangelizing, people would ask me if that was my voice, if it was normal, or if I was sick, if I had the flu, and inside I was revolted. I always asked God for healing through faith, but it was not the case and gradually God gave me the condition to do his work, I had no illnesses, but it was something that bothered me.
I always remember this verse in the Bible, one that I heard a man of God say almost as soon as I entered the church: ¨Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will do this¨ (Psalm 37:5).
At the same time that it bothered me, I was sure that God was in charge, and the answer would come in some form.
Two and half years ago, I moved to another country (Argentina), not expecting it, because I had lived six years in the United States, so in the beginning, it was a shock... because I never thought I would change countries. To be honest, I was sad, I had thoughts and questions of why???... But always in the faith, I remembered this verse: "He will do this¨, and said: Amen, Jesus, if this is what the Lord wants, I'm going with this faith. And when I least expected it, even in losing, God created a whole situation where I was blessed in almost every aspect of my life, mainly in the spiritual aspect: I grew, I matured and my communion with God was strengthened as never before. And my vocal cords? God put me in Buenos Aires, where they have the best doctor in Argentina, in the best hospital in Argentina, in the hands of the best experts, and used him in a great way, that he could not believe the outcome of the development of my voice.
He made a minor correction, a minor surgery and treatment with a speech therapist, who was also placed by God, with much experience, who had also been in Germany, and six months of follow up sessions, and after these six months, she released me and said: Claudia your development is amazing, it is incredible to see hear your voice then and now, YOU ARE DIFFERENT, and I said: the HOLY SPIRIT IS DIFFERENT...
When we have him, we trust that He is truly the one in charge, who cares for us like the lilies that do nothing, but they are beautiful, perfect...
How wonderful to see the work of God in our lives, and today I can say that he did not do what I wanted, I wanted to attend a service and be healed at that moment, but He wanted to use a doctor, He created a situation that I least expected, took me to another country, but the answer came. No anxieties, no worries, but always using my Faith...
"Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken but endures forever."

Defeating Ourselves

That is one of the hardest things to do "defeat yourself"... Sounds pretty easy to say but it is much more difficult to do.
How can we defeat ourselves? It is precisely when we have self-control, not let ourselves be controlled by anything, not thoughts, emotions, feelings, acting only by faith that brings positive results. In daily practice we see many examples: When a friend comes to you to talk about someone else, knowing it's not good to gossip, that it is ugly, and told more than 1000 times that it will only bring more problems, but only to please your friend, you share it, in other words, you could not defeat yourself. When your thoughts wander, unpleasant thoughts, often bringing envy, jealousy, anxiety, even displeasing you, instead of changing your thinking and doing something beneficial, you feed those thoughts, leading to situations that exist only in your mind, a fixation between you and your thinking. Or, you are gaining weight every day, knowing you have to start a healthy diet, eat healthy, walk, run, do something to burn the fat you already have, but you always say you will start next week and time passes and still you do not defeat yourself. Another example is the organization of your home, your room needs to be thoroughly organized, and you always say not this week, I'll do it next week, another week comes and passes and the mess is still waiting. You live anxiously, worried about everything and everyone, not leaving anxiety in its place, in other words, out of your life.

These are some examples that we live every day and only in defeating ourselves do we get to change.

Remember:
Everything in life requires sacrifice,
To change any situation it is necessary to take action
Only when we change from the inside, the external changes appear
Victory is only for those who do not give up
We need to start in order to finish, if you don't start, you will never finish
Your success or failure depends only on you

STOP DOING AND START BEING

When we are chosen by God, we are chosen to bear fruit. However, many of those who do God's work, without realizing and in time, due to the difficulties, persecutions, sadness and injustices, no longer bear fruit because of bad eyes, bad thoughts, until the sad moment comes and they are cut off , because that tree which gave so much fruit in the beginning was left to dry until it is cut.

All the time we pass through difficult situations and stop looking at the cross, in other words, we do not look to Him who called us, we automatically cease to bear fruit. But when we have the spiritual eyes and maturity, we know that persecution, struggles and tribulations are allowed to make us stronger and to give even more fruit.

What helps us remain and bear fruit daily, is to keep our eyes good, even though our eyes try to show the contrary, keep our thoughts clean, even when evil tries to put doubts, fears, bad thoughts, or even judgements in relation to people, in other words, we must remain as in the beginning, because how our heart was in the beginning is what caught the eye of God, when He chose us to do his wonderful work.

I went through many situations a few years ago and could not see the fruits of our labor. So I made a prayer to God, I did not accept to be like a dry branch, did not accept to be in the work and not bear fruit for God, that is, I wanted to win souls, not only do the work. Time passed and God showed me that I had to change, I had to go back to the beginning and it was because of me that the fruit was not growing, I matured a lot, learned a lot through my own mistakes, but it was great to just rely on the Holy Spirit and He showed me how to bear fruit that lasts forever!

Today I experience a great joy, to see people who are born of God every day, I have been used by God for people to be born of Him, the fruit will certainly remain, but this only occurred after a complete and total change within me, allowing Jesus to cleanse me, returning to the same thoughts and pure heart of the beginning, renewing my mind to bear more fruit.

I stopped using only my physical talent, that was only concerned with DOING the work of GOD to use my spiritual talent and completely BE of GOD in daily practice and communion with the Holy Spirit, before I was worried about doing the work, today I worry about winning souls by BEING of God so that others can see my character, my behavior and being a fruit bearing tree instead of a dry branch.

"He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful."
"You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you" John 15:16

Looking At The Soul of the Sinner

We live in a world in which at all times we can be influenced by things that are good for us or things that hurt us, and it is up to each one of us to know how to choose which path to follow and not be influenced by anything, and live only by faith.
Zacchaeus was a tax collector who cheated others, but at the same time Jesus was not concerned with his sin. When Jesus passed by, he looked out for him and climbed as high as he could in a tree to see Jesus. Seeing his attitude, He said He would be at his home that very same day, but those who saw him only as a sinner, did not accept the attitude of Jesus and murmured as if they were not in agreement that Jesus would go to the house of a sinner.
Jesus really is wonderful. He does not look at the exterior, but rather the interior. Because if it were not so, many of us would not have achieved our salvation.
Too many people are living wrong, committing robberies, prostitution, murder, but have not had that opportunity to receive a good influence to change their lives.
When Jesus did not look at the sinner, but looked at the soul of the sinner who was with Him, there was regret and he said: I will give half of my possessions to the poor and if I cheated anyone, I will restore it fourfold, or in other words, he regretted his actions and had an encounter with God.
And Jesus said: Today salvation has come to this house.
Many people are not seen as souls but as disturbed, murderers, liars, thieves, or said to live in the flesh, but only with a gesture of love and solidarity and influenced by the power of God in their lives, they can take a step and change the course of their lives.
I thank God because every day I learn the true love for souls, to love people on the inside, not the outside, not judging, but being a good influence with good attitudes and leading them to an encounter with God, and the results have been wonderful every day.

Time passes by quickly, and many people are dying and instead of being a good influence to others, by looking at the inside and not the outside, we lose the opportunity to win souls for the Kingdom of God with prejudice, with disfavor, and unfortunately this type of behavior only displeases God and gives pleasure to evil.
“But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”