{"id":21,"date":"2013-01-30T08:26:00","date_gmt":"2013-01-30T08:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vivianefreitas.com\/en\/2013\/01\/30\/the-40-day-challenge-day-8\/"},"modified":"2013-03-07T16:51:12","modified_gmt":"2013-03-07T16:51:12","slug":"the-40-day-challenge-day-8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vivianefreitas.com\/en\/the-40-day-challenge-day-8\/","title":{"rendered":"The 40-Day Challenge: Day 8"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\u201cNow after those days his wife Elizabeth conceived; and she hid herself five months, saying, \u2018Thus the Lord has dealt with me, in the days when He looked on me, to take away my reproach among people.\u2019\u201d<\/i> (Luke 1:24,25)<\/b><\/p>\n

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Elizabeth was an elderly woman and she was pregnant. What would her natural reaction have been? She would probably have told everyone about it in order to put an end to her shame and prove that indeed she had received her miracle. However, she was not euphoric. <\/p>\n

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She was rational. She spoke to God. Now we understand why God said in the beginning that Zacharias and Elizabeth were righteous.<\/p>\n

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What does this mean? Perfection? No!<\/p>\n

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Even though her husband was unable to speak, she praised God for the privilege of having a child. She was not anxious to tell the world about what was happening; she wanted to please the One she had known her entire life.<\/p>\n

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Who can see God?<\/p>\n

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Those who examine themselves, who, despite being imperfect, always put Him first.<\/p>\n

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When we examine ourselves, we watch our attitudes, our character, our behavior, our mistakes, sins and flaws.<\/p>\n

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Sins? Yes, sins!<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

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Although everyone agrees that they are sinners, no one likes to examine themselves to find their sins and confront them.<\/p>\n

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But what is sin?<\/p>\n

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It can be a feeling\u2026<\/p>\n

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Doubt is considered a sin. To hold a grudge is a sin. Anxiety is a sin.<\/p>\n

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Feelings can produce torment, which does not come from faith.<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

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Only those who see themselves as souls, that is, who consider themselves insignificant, imperfect and sinners can see God!<\/p>\n

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They prioritise their God, the God of Truth. And so, their first reaction is not hasty or emotional, but rational, in faith; they speak to God first.<\/p>\n

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They do it in secret, because they have a close relationship with God. They depend on Him; they have a genuine relationship with Him, and are not bound by title or position, e.g. \u2018the wife of a priest\u2019. Not at all!<\/p>\n

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This is to live by a rational faith.<\/p>\n

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I had the privilege to learn about the difference between emotional faith and rational faith with Bishop Macedo at the UCKG HelpCentre. I\u2019ve kept this teaching under lock and key until today, because I know this is the answer to many questions\u2026<\/p>\n

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Dear friend, keep what you\u2019ve been learning under lock and key. Examine your faith and your relationship with God.<\/p>\n

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Gathering knowledge is not important. What matters is that you have life!<\/p>\n

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Vivi Freitas<\/b><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n

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\u201cNow after those days his wife Elizabeth conceived; and she hid herself five months, saying, \u2018Thus the Lord has dealt with me, in the days when He looked on me, to take away my reproach among people.\u2019\u201d (Luke 1:24,25) Elizabeth was an elderly woman and she was pregnant. What would her natural reaction have been?<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-40-day-challenge"],"better_featured_image":null,"yoast_head":"\nThe 40-Day Challenge: Day 8 - Viviane Freitas<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vivianefreitas.com\/en\/the-40-day-challenge-day-8\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The 40-Day Challenge: Day 8 - Viviane Freitas\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cNow after those days his wife Elizabeth conceived; and she hid herself five months, saying, \u2018Thus the Lord has dealt with me, in the days when He looked on me, to take away my reproach among people.\u2019\u201d (Luke 1:24,25) Elizabeth was an elderly woman and she was pregnant. 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