You ignore me all day long,
as if I didn’t exist;
you make plans
and don’t ask my opinion
What did I do to you?

When time is short
but never short enough to stop you from doing what you want
when you enjoy what I helped you conquer
and think you’re the only one responsible for your success, i ask myself:
What did I do to you?

The day I found you in the gutter,
I picked you out, cleaned you off, and dressed you in honor
and everyone said wow, what a change
I thought you would never forget me
What did I do to you?

I would speak and you would listen
and say yes Sir. You obeyed
But it seems you got tired of it one day
And preferred to listen to others who didn’t want what was best for you
And I thought to myself, what did I do to you?

Just tell me. Give me one reason.

Good afternoon, Bishop!

I’d like to tell you about an amazing miracle that happened to us. It was a miracle of life, of coming back from the dead. Just like Lazarus, God brought my husband back from the grave. He came back to life after four days.

On November 21st, after becoming very ill my husband was admitted to a hospital here in Campinas, Sao Paulo, Brazil. After an examination doctors discovered that he had meningococcemia, a serious, life-threatening infection of the bloodstream. They gave him 24 hours to live. When I heard these words, I rushed to the Cenacle of the Holy Spirit, took an envelope for the Campaign of Israel, knelt at the altar and cried out to God for my husband’s healing. He was in the ICU, on a respirator, in a coma, and covered with sores, while I was manifesting my faith on the Altar. I felt strengthened when I left, and visited him every single day with the certainty of an answer to my prayer. The doctors daily told me not to hope for his survival, but I rejected all of their words.

Then on the fourth day, just like happened with Lazarus, the doctors told me that my husband had miraculously begun to react, and that they had not expected this at all. One of the doctors even said that he had not expected him to be alive when he arrived for his shift.

You know, bishop, throughout that difficult time I encouraged the doctors much more than they encouraged me. The strength that the Altar gave me was so great that I simply could not accept losing. And he came back to life, bishop. He woke up from the coma, and all his doctors expected him to be left with side effects of what happened. But, not at all! The God I serve does not leave anything halfway done, and today he came home… whole… to glorify and honor of God.

Thank you God, thank you UCKG, thank you Bishop, for teaching me not rely on my feelings – but to bulldoze through my problems, to win, to revolt, to refuse defeat and act out my faith.

God bless you!

Elce Sutano

“So David went out wherever Saul sent him, and behaved wisely.  And Saul set him over the men of war, and he was accepted in the sight of all people and also in the sight of Sauls’ servants.  Now it had happened as they were coming home, when David was returning from the slaughter of the Philistine, that the women had come out of all cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul, with tambourines, with joy and with musical instruments.  So the women sang as they danced, and said: Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands.  Then Saul was very angry, and the saying displeased him; and he said, They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed only thousands.  Now what more can he have but the kingdom? So Saul eyed David from that day forward.” 1 Samuel 18:5-9

 Interesting, uh? When no one liked David, Saul would love him, but as soon as he heard the others comparing him to David, the anger took him over.  It had to be the women, who sometimes think that this kind of thing will bring any good to someone. That’s our nature.  We think that if we say ‘you could be more like so and so’, our husbands, children or friends will automatically say ‘it’s true, you’re right, I will change!’

In David’s story, the women only got into trouble.  I am sure that their objective was to give some support to David, they wanted to ‘thank him’ for what he was doing for the people or to call his attention.  Do you know that kind of thought? ‘We have to do something for him to know how much we admire him?’ What a gaffe! They created an enemy for David. In the next verse, Saul tries to kill him, just like that, in front of everyone.

We need to be careful with certain words and comments we like to make for the sake of saying‘I was just trying to help’. Many ladies, especially wives and mothers, get it wrong. They end up making their relatives sad.  If comparisons would make any good to someone we would have proofs of it, but I don’t know anyone who loves to be compared. Do you? Every time I would get compared to someone, a distance was immediately created in between that person and I. I would think: ‘I am not like you, I am far from it, I am so inferior that is better not to be even close!’

For those who are not well spiritually, the thing gets even worse.  That’s when the evil eyes and hatred start.

Does this tree look normal to you?

God teaches many truths through nature. Since nothing He does is by chance, the wise seeks and learns the hidden lessons in the works of Creation. 

One distinctive feature of nature isthat everything in it follows a natural process. In other words, everything follows certain laws and norms. It is a normal process of nature for example that if a seed is planted in good soil, it sprouts, grows, and bears fruit. It is abnormal if that process does not happen. And if it doesn’t happen, it clearly indicates there’s a problem somewhere.

If a child is born and develops physically and mentally as is common to a human being, that child is normal because it followed its natural process. If that doesn’t happen, he or she is an abnormal child. And so help is sought from doctors to try and find out the causes of that a trophy.

Therefore, in nature, it is normal to grow and develop. It is abnormal not to.

In life it’s no different. People naturally and instinctively seek happiness and well being, regardless of their religion. Being happy is (or should be) the natural outcome in a person’s life.

However, observe how much the human being has strayed from the original plan. Nowadays, happy people are considered the exception, while unhappy, unfulfilled people are considered “normal”. In other words, normal has become abnormal, and vice-versa.

Spiritual intelligence knows that if a person’s life doesn’t develop naturally, it’s because there’s something wrong. 

It’s very important that people take a good look at the way their lives have been developing. If something is bad, if there’s no growth or progress, then they must seek the root of the problem.

As we prepare for the ROOT Event, it’s extremely important that you prepare yourself spiritually and start putting into practice what God has been teaching us lately. It’s important that you think. It’s important that you use your intelligent faith – that’s the only way you will get rid of your problems for good.

In medicine, it’s easy to understand the difference between treating symptoms and curing a medical condition. Surely, when you’re in pain because you’ve broken your wrist, you want to have your symptoms treated – and you want it right now! However, taking painkillers won’t heal your wrist, and true healing is needed before the symptoms can disappear for good.

But when you have a problem in your life, how do you approach it? Do you jump in and start treating the symptoms? Or do you stop to consider whether there’s actually a deeper problem that needs your attention?

If you only fix the symptoms – what you see on the surface – the problem will almost certainly happen again, which will lead you to fix it, again, and again, and again.

If, instead, you look deeper to figure out why the problem is occurring, you can fix the underlying systems and processes that cause the problem.

We see many examples in the Bible when God actually led people to think and actually identify the root of their problems – He helped them, but they still had to think. An example that clearly shows this is when Joshua, after he had conquered one of the most fortified cities ever, Jericho, decided to take possession of the next city called Ai.

They were so confident that the victory would be easy that they only sent 3,000 soldiers to take possession of that place – but on that day they were really surprised. What was supposed to be just an easy win turned to be a very humiliating defeat.

‘Do not let all the people go up, but let about two or three thousand men go up and attack Ai. Do not weary all the people there, for the people of Ai are few. So about three thousand men went up there from the people, but they fled before the men of Ai.’

‘And the men of Ai struck down about thirty-six men, for they chased them from before the gate as far as Shebarim, and struck them down on the descent; therefore the hearts of the people melted and became like water.’

Joshua could not understand it. How could they lose to such a small city after bringing down the huge walls of Jericho and overcoming its army?

He did what most of us would do; he decided to complain to God.

‘Then Joshua tore his clothes, and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the LORD until evening… And Joshua said, “Alas, Lord GOD, why have You brought this people over the Jordan at all – to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us?’

Do you know what God’s answer was? Well, God showed Joshua where the root of the problem was. Do you want to know it? Please, don’t be angry with me, but you will have to open your Bible and read Joshua chapter 7 to find the answer.

At the end of the day, the only way for you to identify the root of your problem is to start thinking and putting into practice what He says.

May God bless you abundantly!

Bishop Celso Junior
bpcelsojunior.com
bishop@uckg.org

All children are given a name at birth that establishes their identity.

A child then becomes a citizen, and is protected by the Law. As long as he is alive, his name is included in the active file of the living. After death, his name is placed in the inactive file of the deceased, which has solely legal uses for his descendants.

But even though your name is in the file of the deceased, before God your soul continues to live and your name is written in one of two books: that of Life or that of the Second Death.

We did not choose to come into this world, but we have the right to choose where we will live for eternity.

If in life you did things to cause your name to be placed in the Book of Life, you will receive not only a glorified body (1 Corinthians 15:54) but also a new name. And, at that time, your old identity will once and for all disappear.

Like an angelic body, it will not have any memory of life on earth.

If your loved ones’ names are found in the Book of Life, they will have the same privilege.

But you will not remember each other, nor remember that one day you lived on earth.

“Then He who sat on the throne said, ‘Behold, I make all things new.’” (Revelation 21:5)

Bishop Edir Macedo
bishopmacedo.com

Things are not going as planned for you. You thought that by now, your family would have made some progress, that you would have found the perfect job, or that you would have reached a better point in life. And so you complain. Every single day, it’s a burden for you. Your face says it all.

I’M A FRUSTRATED WOMAN  -  the invisible sign on your forehead says.

But here’s what I see. I see a woman who’s in a never ending cycle. It’s like the dryer won’t stop working, the clothes are shrinking inside it, and there’s nothing you can do about it as the door won’t open. The machine won’t stop. The plug is too hidden behind it, you can’t reach it.

What do you do?

MOVE the machine, just PULL that plug!

It’s so simple and yet so hard at the same time. You want the cycle to stop by itself, even though you know, it’s not going to unless you do something drastic.

This is how you find women who are caught up in a rut. All they talk about is how miserable their life is. Every time they open their mouth, it’s to portray exactly how they feel. Let me tell you something: you think I don’t talk about my problems because I don’t have them?

I WISH!

I don’t talk about my problems because I decided to live beyond them. I won’t stop conquering, living, investing in myself and in others because of them – that’s all. I’ve learned to be insensitive, or better – numb. My faith taught me that.

One day I got fed up with all the emotions they brought out in me. I hated to see myself cry over them every time. I hated to find myself weakened because of them. I hated them, why would I stop my life because of them?

That day I pulled the plug on that never ending cycle.

Cristiane Cardoso
cristianecardoso.com