The essence of life can be reduced to one word: give. The Lord Jesus reduced all the commandments to only two: “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind [...] You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37,39). To love God above ALL things is to give yourself wholly to your Creator. To love your neighbour as yourself is to give yourself to someone without expecting anything in exchange, out of love and obedience to God.

This is not an easy task for any human being. But to the selfish, this is practically impossible. The selfish one sees himself as the centre of all things; he believes that everything and everyone exist because of him, and for him.

The world revolves around the appetite of the selfish, and this, obviously, limits his vision to only a few inches away from him. And so the selfish becomes his own god. He is self-centred and unable to grasp that God is Sovereign, the Creator of all things, simply because he doesn’t think that there is anything or anyone above himself who is relevant to the world.

One of the most common mottos of the selfish is: “Whatever it takes, all that matters is to be happy!” In other words, it doesn’t make any difference if his happiness means the sadness or unhappiness of someone else. The happiness of a selfish person dwells in the soul, not in the spirit, which is why the Law and the Commandments of God have no effect in restraining the lusts of his flesh.

We can find many examples of selfish people in politics. When they are elected and receive power, a voice inside of them prompts them, saying, “Now, no one can stop me! Damn the people.” Unfortunately, this is the profile of many other people—the corrupt, the dishonest, the unfaithful, the traitor, the criminal, etc, regardless of their social status.

Sharing, giving, surrendering, sacrificing and protecting are verbs that selfish people never practise. The Spirit of God warns us about them: “But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: for men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God” (2 Timothy 3:1-4).

I wrote this letter so that you pray for me and if you want, you can also read it to the assistants. Thirteen years ago, I abandoned the Work of the Lord Jesus because I let a grudge enter my heart.

I did the Work of God from 1991 to 1996. I was a blessed assistant, and I served in the church out of love. I liked going out to evangelise—I’d participate in all the groups, even the one that visits prison inmates.

I always served in the headquarters, where the work of an assistant is harder, but I never complained. My financial life was blessed, and almost all the members of my family were converted. The first time UCKG members visited Israel, I went too. I visited all the places where Jesus walked—it was a blessing. All the areas of my life were blessed. I even became responsible for the Kids Zone of an entire region in the city of Rio de Janeiro. We opened a centre for drug addicts—many of them are in the presence of the Lord until today.

But one day, when I was not watching, I let pride enter my heart. I held a hard feeling against a pastor and, although I was right, I let my salvation slip through my fingers.

I abandoned everything and began doing things that were even worse than what I used to do in the past. I began using drugs again—the desire was much stronger this time— and tried to commit suicide four times. In 2002, I had an overdose and was taken to hospital. I almost died. I spent the following 6 years clean from drugs, yet I had no strength to turn back to Jesus.

Last year, I began taking drugs again. I started doing so many crazy things that I ended up being arrested. I never imagined this could happen, but here in prison I stopped smoking and taking drugs—the desire is gone. I’ve been seeking the presence of God and the Holy Spirit. I want to serve Jesus again when I am released. I want to do the Work of God again, so pray for me, because I know that the devil will do everything to impede me. I urge all men and women of God to never abandon the presence of God, for what is written in the Word of God is true: I’ve eaten with the pigs.

Thank you.

Marcia Moraes
Inmate

Pray for me and take care of your salvation!

This letter is from a former assistant who is behind bars.

When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none. Then he says, “I will return to my house from which I came.” And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order.

Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first. So shall it also be with this wicked generation. (Matthew 12:43-45)

The devil uses three weapons to destroy men and women of God who serve or have the desire to serve Him on the altar. But there’s one weapon that is the most dangerous, and if men and women of God are not alert, it will knock them down.

1. The devil’s first weapon is to put the temptation of women in the path of a man of God, and men in the path of a woman of God. The devil does this to weaken them.

2. The second weapon the devil uses can even look like a blessing from God, which is prosperity. The devil does this so that the person prospers and loses his fire for the work of God on the altar. He knows that if that person begins to serve God, he or she will set the world on fire. Note: sure, we need to have blessed financial lives before serving on the altar; but we must never lose focus of what we really want, which is to save souls.

3. The third weapon is pride. The devil finds a way to blind the person, making him oblivious to the fact that he is proud. And the proud, for the most part, don’t even know that they’re proud.

Let’s move on to our story and you will learn the fourth weapon that the devil uses to destroy those who do the Work of God.

There was a pastor in a church who succeeded in everything he did. He had communion with God and lived in holiness, praying, fasting and reading the Bible. Wherever he went, the work developed and many people converted, for there were healings and miracles.

Seeing this, the devil held a meeting in hell and sent the first demon, the Sexpot. And she said to the pastor, “I’m gonna take you down!”

The pastor immediately rebuked that demon, prayed, fasted, read the Bible, strengthened his marriage, and the demon went away.

Then, the devil held another meeting and decided to send Greed in order to fill the pastor’s eyes with material ambition. Once again, the pastor prayed, fasted, read the Bible, sacrificed all he had, and the devil was defeated.

The devil was furious, and so he sent Pride to fill the pastor’s heart with a self-centred ego. But the pastor prayed, fasted, read the Bible, and humbled himself before God. And once again, the devil was defeated

The devil saw that all his attempts had failed. Angrily he sent the three demons to the church where that pastor was in order to find whatever flaw they could. The demons went to the church and began watching him closely.

One day, the three demons, still searching for a mistake that could be used against the pastor, saw another demon passing by the church. He was walking with a stick and looked tired. And the three demons began mocking him, “You tired old devil! What are doing here?” And they asked him his name.

Out of the corner of his eye he looked at them and with a sarcastic smile on his face said, “My name? I am TIME. And you, what are you doing here?”

The other demons told him about their mission and how they had failed so far. He said to them, “Just wait and I’ll tell you what to do. Don’t hurry,” he added, “because I know how to work.” And he began his subtle moves.

First, he worked on the pastor’s time, making him busy with many things to do. It wasn’t long until he had no more time to fast, and he became weak. Then he no longer had time to read the Bible, and so he no longer heard the voice of God. Without hearing the voice of God, he lost communion with Him. That was when that demon commanded the others to swing into action. And that was how the pastor who set the world on fire fell.

Time is the fourth weapon of the devil to neutralise the faith of those who do not persevere. Sometimes he makes us busy with many things. Other times, he gives us a false sense of well-being, making things easier for us so that we relax in our faith. And that’s how he strikes us down.

Always remember where you came from and what God has done in your life in order to remain firm in the faith. The overcomer is not the one who starts the race, but the one who finishes it.

Bishop Renato Cardoso

There are many interpretations of Paul’s thorn in the flesh. Usually, people are more concerned in knowing what the thorn was rather than its purpose.

Three things draw our attention: the thorn, its origin and its reason.

- The thorn was a personal problem;

- The origin of that problem was the devil;

- The reason for that problem was so that Paul would not become proud because of the revelations he received.

What could he possibly benefit from that awful experience?

I believe that not only the revelations but also the blessings achieved happened for a more special reason: to glorify the Lord of Glory.

Paul ascended to the third heaven. He was caught up into paradise and heard things so astounding that he could not repeat.

This would obviously make Paul more prominent than the other apostles and more considered among the Christian people.

God knows that, no matter how much of a saint a man may be, he’s still human – therefore, subject to error and failure. The reason why God allows people such as Paul to be buffeted by personal problems is to avoid spiritual pride.

We cannot forget that Satan was an archangel, a leader among the angels in heaven. He fell because of pride…

If Paul lived in the present day, he would certainly have serious problems, for there are many pastors who prefer preaching more about him than about the Lord Jesus.

The Bible teaches us that, “A man who flatters (praises) his neighbor spreads a net for his feet” (Proverbs 29.5).

No matter how big the miracle you achieve or the amount of faith you possess, remember never to boast!

Instead, give all of the praise to the Lord of Glory!