The trust of the birds
I wrote this post because the most accessed post in this blog is Let God sustain you.
So I wanted to share some testimonies, including my own so you may have a better idea about this subject.
Birds do not feel insecure, nor anxious or worried. They learned to trust the Lord.
Even being fed by their parents in their childhood, they grew up knowing that God would sustain them during their lives.
I've learned to be like them, Jesus taught me. I'm 36 years old and never really had a job. The longest time I worked in my life was for 15 days.
God taught me to depend on Him and to trust Him like the birds. He taught me that if the birds are so secure because God shows them where to find food, I should be too. Jesus died for me, not for the birds, so I have even more reasons to live like a bird, I am more valuable than them.
"Then He said to His disciples, “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; nor about the body, what you will put on.
Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing.
Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which have neither storehouse nor barn; and God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds?
And which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? If you then are not able to do the least, why are you anxious for the rest?
Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. If then God so clothes the grass, which today is in the field and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will He clothe you, O you of little faith?
"And do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind.
For all these things the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knows that you need these things." Luke 12: 22-30
Birds are filled with peace and joy. They wake up every morning without planning the day, without knowing what they will eat during the day. They always know that God will provide.
I've met three people who live like that here in Brazil. One is a missionary, one is a Pastor and the other one is an Apostle.
They totally trust the Lord for their provision. They call it to live by faith.
It's to live according to your rights. Jesus came to restore what was lost in Adam. He came to break every curse, right? So the curse that was upon men, that he would have to sweat to eat, was broken!
God is ready to sustain anyone who decides to believe and embrace those verses above.
Just like people are healed when they believe that Jesus can do it!
God guided me with those words when I was younger teaching me to follow Jesus and until today, He sustains me.
When I wanted to work, He told me "No".
I had jobs that lasted for 5 days, I gave my best, but I just couldn't maintain my focus and attention on the Lord. And I've always felt stupid to occupy my days, stuck in a place, following a forced routine doing something only for the money. While the birds don't live this way! While God is my Father!
Money is paper created by men. Just because everybody is wasting their days on those papers, I don't have to imitate them. Just because people learn from someone that they have to work I don't have to learn that. What if I disagree? I didn't learn that.
I learned to rest and obey the Lord.
The more I got used and firm in this belief, the more I was "served" by God.
In 2011, when my money ran out, God told me: Go to your mom's house because I told her to sustain you. So I went.
She had nothing. No money and no food. I ate a tiny piece of chicken for lunch.
All of the sudden, someone in my family hired a housekeeper who would clean and cook every day for us. (we didn't ask for it). But my mother didn't have much money to give her to buy food.
So we didn't eat well. Going to church I would hear a lot about the oil that multiplied.
I started to pray: "God, I would like salads, juices, yogurts, etc..."
After some time we were having all the things I asked. (The housekeeper started to buy those things without knowing about the prayer). My mother started receiving more money and today we eat many good things. We eat great meals and I have all the things I need.
I am completely dependent on God. And by some coincidence, since 2011, I have birds flying next to me giving me messages from the Holy Spirit. Even when I went to the dentist! I had a bird in his window telling me to be careful because something bad would happen. Then, the dentist broke a piece of my tooth just like the bird warned me. So I told the guy to be more careful with me cause he seemed busy and anxious.
It's not that I understand what the bird says, but the Holy Spirit talks to me thru them. I just got so used to their way of singing next to me that I know they are singing with a purpose in that moment. I know what it means.
If anyone spent time with me 24 hours per day for some days they would believe. Because it happens many times during the day.
It's not every type of bird, just one type, it's called Great Kiskadee. Here is a picture of it.
So, I am writing this message to tell you that a good quality of life is a life that you don't even think about those pieces of paper called money. Is a life where you trust like a bird.
Birds are not attached to their food. That's not what they live for. They have other focuses. They fly freely, they sing praises to the Lord, they get warm in the sun, they rest, they play with other birds, God uses them with people, like in my life, and when they get hungry, they think about the food. Then they go after it. They fully trust the Lord.
So how can a child of God live their lives working to fulfill their needs? How can someone spend their time doing something for money? Why are pieces of paper so honorable for those people? They serve those papers as if those were more important than their own lives!!!
That really is not what God wants for us.
I did have moments where I got tired of this and told the Lord I would do something about it.
Those were the moments I worked for 5 days haha!!!
I also started a Graphic Design course and 6 months later, He told me to stop the course. He got mad saying that He did not tell me to do that, He kept telling me over and over to just be quiet, but I ignored.
Then He told me to study English. That was the second time in my life He said that. So I have been studying English almost every day.
He told me that if I wanted to see good things happening in my life I would have to obey Him.
He wants me (and all of us) to follow His purposes for my life. He wants us to find out His plans, His dreams and do what we can to move toward them. He makes His dreams become our dreams and our dreams become His dreams. That is what should motivate us in life! Not our needs!!!
He feels sad and disappointed when we go after our needs! He will provide those things, why isn't this obvious? All the birds know that!!!
"Carry neither money bag, knapsack, nor sandals; and greet no one along the road. But whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this house.' And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest on it; if not, it will return to you. And remain in the same house, eating and drinking such things as they give, for the laborer is worthy of his wages. Do not go from house to house. Whatever city you enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you." Luke 10: 4-8
I do believe that a true disciple of Jesus is sustained by God. They left their work. All the 12 disciples did.
We see Pastors and Apostles sustained by the Church. It is the same thing.
But you don't have to necessarily be sustained by a Church to be sustained by God.
God is the One responsible to find out how you will be sustained. He is responsible to determine and organize this for you.
That missionary that I mentioned, was told by God to show Jesus to an Indian Tribe in the Amazon, a very dangerous one where they burn and eat people. He didn't obey after 3 words of knowledge that he received (most people who are sent to those tribes take a long time to obey, no one wants to go), then he went to a church where a toddler speaking in tongues came to him and said: "I already told you 3 times to go there and you didn't obey, this is the fourth and last time. If you don't obey Me, I will send someone else and you will be sick in the hospital so you may know that I am the Lord."
So while he heard those words he thought: "But Lord, I don't have money and I don't speak their language". The child without hearing his thoughts said: "I will provide everything. Go to the bus station, there you will find a man who will give you the money you need. When you get to the city where the tribe is located, you will find a store like this and this, enter the store and a man who is my servant will know why you're there and will offer to go with you because he speaks their language."
So when he got to the bus station a man approached him and asked if he was a missionary and where he was going. He explained and the man gave him money.
He traveled to the city, entered the store described by God and met the man who was told by God to join him.
When they got there, the Indians prepared the fire to burn them, then a loud thunder fell from the sky and it was a sunny day. The Indians fell to their knees and decided to give them a chance to at least hear why they went there.
Long story short, the wife of the leader of the tribe was healed of cancer and they all accepted Christ and that missionary and the translator lived there with them for 1 year and a half, eating the stuff prepared by the Indians.
I've heard many testimonies similar to this one because here in Brazil there are many missionaries sent to Indians tribes. I know all the details of this testimony because that missionary is someone who was deeply used by God to set me free from Catholicism. He is from a church I used to attend. He has an amazing testimony, he was a priest in the Catholic church, those kinds that can't get out of their room. His name is Raimundo Pereira.
So I am telling this testimony for you to understand how it works when we are sustained by God.
God tells people to give us money or He organizes situations, people, mechanisms where He is behind sustaining us.
The Apostle of my church stopped working after he converted, and his family would criticize him a lot. But he was obeying God. He would spend his time praying for hours, fasting and reading the Word. He has been "living by faith" until today. He was single back there. Today he is married, has 4 adult children, a great apartment, manages many churches and he is amazingly used by God.
So I want to encourage you! Trust God like a bird! Let God speak to your heart teaching you to follow Him. Maybe you won't be a missionary going to an Indian tribe, but God wants your focus on Him, without distractions. And for that, it's necessary to not occupy your mind daily with stuff that has nothing to do with God.
Focus on His Word and let the Holy Spirit guide you into the life bought by Jesus for you.
"After these things He went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, “Follow Me.” So he left all, rose up, and followed Him." Luke 5: 27-28
So I wanted to share some testimonies, including my own so you may have a better idea about this subject.
Birds do not feel insecure, nor anxious or worried. They learned to trust the Lord.
Even being fed by their parents in their childhood, they grew up knowing that God would sustain them during their lives.
I've learned to be like them, Jesus taught me. I'm 36 years old and never really had a job. The longest time I worked in my life was for 15 days.
God taught me to depend on Him and to trust Him like the birds. He taught me that if the birds are so secure because God shows them where to find food, I should be too. Jesus died for me, not for the birds, so I have even more reasons to live like a bird, I am more valuable than them.
"Then He said to His disciples, “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; nor about the body, what you will put on.
Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing.
Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which have neither storehouse nor barn; and God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds?
And which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? If you then are not able to do the least, why are you anxious for the rest?
Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. If then God so clothes the grass, which today is in the field and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will He clothe you, O you of little faith?
"And do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind.
For all these things the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knows that you need these things." Luke 12: 22-30
Birds are filled with peace and joy. They wake up every morning without planning the day, without knowing what they will eat during the day. They always know that God will provide.
I've met three people who live like that here in Brazil. One is a missionary, one is a Pastor and the other one is an Apostle.
They totally trust the Lord for their provision. They call it to live by faith.
It's to live according to your rights. Jesus came to restore what was lost in Adam. He came to break every curse, right? So the curse that was upon men, that he would have to sweat to eat, was broken!
God is ready to sustain anyone who decides to believe and embrace those verses above.
Just like people are healed when they believe that Jesus can do it!
God guided me with those words when I was younger teaching me to follow Jesus and until today, He sustains me.
When I wanted to work, He told me "No".
I had jobs that lasted for 5 days, I gave my best, but I just couldn't maintain my focus and attention on the Lord. And I've always felt stupid to occupy my days, stuck in a place, following a forced routine doing something only for the money. While the birds don't live this way! While God is my Father!
Money is paper created by men. Just because everybody is wasting their days on those papers, I don't have to imitate them. Just because people learn from someone that they have to work I don't have to learn that. What if I disagree? I didn't learn that.
I learned to rest and obey the Lord.
The more I got used and firm in this belief, the more I was "served" by God.
In 2011, when my money ran out, God told me: Go to your mom's house because I told her to sustain you. So I went.
She had nothing. No money and no food. I ate a tiny piece of chicken for lunch.
All of the sudden, someone in my family hired a housekeeper who would clean and cook every day for us. (we didn't ask for it). But my mother didn't have much money to give her to buy food.
So we didn't eat well. Going to church I would hear a lot about the oil that multiplied.
I started to pray: "God, I would like salads, juices, yogurts, etc..."
After some time we were having all the things I asked. (The housekeeper started to buy those things without knowing about the prayer). My mother started receiving more money and today we eat many good things. We eat great meals and I have all the things I need.
I am completely dependent on God. And by some coincidence, since 2011, I have birds flying next to me giving me messages from the Holy Spirit. Even when I went to the dentist! I had a bird in his window telling me to be careful because something bad would happen. Then, the dentist broke a piece of my tooth just like the bird warned me. So I told the guy to be more careful with me cause he seemed busy and anxious.
It's not that I understand what the bird says, but the Holy Spirit talks to me thru them. I just got so used to their way of singing next to me that I know they are singing with a purpose in that moment. I know what it means.
If anyone spent time with me 24 hours per day for some days they would believe. Because it happens many times during the day.
It's not every type of bird, just one type, it's called Great Kiskadee. Here is a picture of it.
So, I am writing this message to tell you that a good quality of life is a life that you don't even think about those pieces of paper called money. Is a life where you trust like a bird.
Birds are not attached to their food. That's not what they live for. They have other focuses. They fly freely, they sing praises to the Lord, they get warm in the sun, they rest, they play with other birds, God uses them with people, like in my life, and when they get hungry, they think about the food. Then they go after it. They fully trust the Lord.
So how can a child of God live their lives working to fulfill their needs? How can someone spend their time doing something for money? Why are pieces of paper so honorable for those people? They serve those papers as if those were more important than their own lives!!!
That really is not what God wants for us.
I did have moments where I got tired of this and told the Lord I would do something about it.
Those were the moments I worked for 5 days haha!!!
I also started a Graphic Design course and 6 months later, He told me to stop the course. He got mad saying that He did not tell me to do that, He kept telling me over and over to just be quiet, but I ignored.
Then He told me to study English. That was the second time in my life He said that. So I have been studying English almost every day.
He told me that if I wanted to see good things happening in my life I would have to obey Him.
He wants me (and all of us) to follow His purposes for my life. He wants us to find out His plans, His dreams and do what we can to move toward them. He makes His dreams become our dreams and our dreams become His dreams. That is what should motivate us in life! Not our needs!!!
He feels sad and disappointed when we go after our needs! He will provide those things, why isn't this obvious? All the birds know that!!!
"Carry neither money bag, knapsack, nor sandals; and greet no one along the road. But whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this house.' And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest on it; if not, it will return to you. And remain in the same house, eating and drinking such things as they give, for the laborer is worthy of his wages. Do not go from house to house. Whatever city you enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you." Luke 10: 4-8
I do believe that a true disciple of Jesus is sustained by God. They left their work. All the 12 disciples did.
We see Pastors and Apostles sustained by the Church. It is the same thing.
But you don't have to necessarily be sustained by a Church to be sustained by God.
God is the One responsible to find out how you will be sustained. He is responsible to determine and organize this for you.
That missionary that I mentioned, was told by God to show Jesus to an Indian Tribe in the Amazon, a very dangerous one where they burn and eat people. He didn't obey after 3 words of knowledge that he received (most people who are sent to those tribes take a long time to obey, no one wants to go), then he went to a church where a toddler speaking in tongues came to him and said: "I already told you 3 times to go there and you didn't obey, this is the fourth and last time. If you don't obey Me, I will send someone else and you will be sick in the hospital so you may know that I am the Lord."
So while he heard those words he thought: "But Lord, I don't have money and I don't speak their language". The child without hearing his thoughts said: "I will provide everything. Go to the bus station, there you will find a man who will give you the money you need. When you get to the city where the tribe is located, you will find a store like this and this, enter the store and a man who is my servant will know why you're there and will offer to go with you because he speaks their language."
So when he got to the bus station a man approached him and asked if he was a missionary and where he was going. He explained and the man gave him money.
He traveled to the city, entered the store described by God and met the man who was told by God to join him.
When they got there, the Indians prepared the fire to burn them, then a loud thunder fell from the sky and it was a sunny day. The Indians fell to their knees and decided to give them a chance to at least hear why they went there.
Long story short, the wife of the leader of the tribe was healed of cancer and they all accepted Christ and that missionary and the translator lived there with them for 1 year and a half, eating the stuff prepared by the Indians.
I've heard many testimonies similar to this one because here in Brazil there are many missionaries sent to Indians tribes. I know all the details of this testimony because that missionary is someone who was deeply used by God to set me free from Catholicism. He is from a church I used to attend. He has an amazing testimony, he was a priest in the Catholic church, those kinds that can't get out of their room. His name is Raimundo Pereira.
So I am telling this testimony for you to understand how it works when we are sustained by God.
God tells people to give us money or He organizes situations, people, mechanisms where He is behind sustaining us.
The Apostle of my church stopped working after he converted, and his family would criticize him a lot. But he was obeying God. He would spend his time praying for hours, fasting and reading the Word. He has been "living by faith" until today. He was single back there. Today he is married, has 4 adult children, a great apartment, manages many churches and he is amazingly used by God.
So I want to encourage you! Trust God like a bird! Let God speak to your heart teaching you to follow Him. Maybe you won't be a missionary going to an Indian tribe, but God wants your focus on Him, without distractions. And for that, it's necessary to not occupy your mind daily with stuff that has nothing to do with God.
Focus on His Word and let the Holy Spirit guide you into the life bought by Jesus for you.
"After these things He went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, “Follow Me.” So he left all, rose up, and followed Him." Luke 5: 27-28
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