Hélder Câmara: Surprises

Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails. Proverbs 19:21

“Accept surprises that upset your plans, shatter your dreams, give a completely different turn to your day and who knows? – to your life. Leave the Father free Himself to weave the pattern of your days.”

Hélder Câmara (1909-1999) in The Westminster Collection of Christian Quotations (Louisville: WJKP, 2001) 1.

Every trip I take is an adventure filled with surprises.

I tend to be open to whatever God does because the majority world, where I do most of my work, is so unstructured and unpredictable. I find it harder when I am at home. I want things to go a certain way.

I am learning to “Leave the Father free Himself to weave the pattern of my days.”

Notice what He can give us only when we do. He can give us a completely different turn. He can move mountains, do miracles, shower blessings, bring suffering, and so much more. He just wants us to trust Him.

When He gives us a completely different turn, may we be receptive.

Today marks 16 years of Daily Meditations. I show 5,820 posts. Praise God. What an adventure! Thanks to all you who have enjoyed the surprises from me each morning for so many years. I do it for God but I hope it blesses you on the way.

Do everything in love. 1 Corinthians 16:14

“Whenever you can, speak of love and with love to someone. It’s good to the ears of those who hear and to the soul of those who speak.”

Irma Dulce Lopes Pontes (1914-1992).

I resonate with this quote by Pontes. My centering prayer before speaking is this: “Father in heaven, fill me with your Spirit and love to speak truth in love.” I have prayed this with my team and translator repeatedly this week.

By God’s grace the trip is going good. It’s actually going beyond all imagination in Brazil. Stay tuned for a trip report to illustrate this. In the meantime, I must ask. With whom can act generously by speaking with love?

But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Luke 6:35-36

“If you hope for mercy, show mercy. If you look for kindness, show kindness. If you want to receive, give… Give to the poor, and you give to yourself.”

Peter Chrysologus (406-450).

While looking for writings of Brazilian saints, I twice found them quoting this Italian. I find it interesting to see what saints inspire the Christian movement here. Why? Brazil has the #2 population of Christians in the world behind USA.

And I love Peter Chrysologus. His thoughts today stopped me in my tracks. So profound! Ponder them with me. And the timing is providential as I just read these verses in my sermon Sunday night in Rio de Janiero.

I normally write in “we” (first person plural) language. But at times like this, when the content is so powerful, I shift to “you” language (second person singular). I do this if I want “you” the reader to internalize these ideas.

When you show the mercy, kindness, and generosity you hope to receive, and when you give to the poor, you discover that you are really showing mercy, kindness, and generosity to yourself and giving to yourself. You don’t figure it out until you live it out.

Did you catch that. Don’t miss it. The best think you can do for yourself is live, give, serve, and love generously, mercifully, and kindly. It maps the only way for you to experience life in all its fullness.

And consider more responses coming in from readers to the “Two Pencils and One Keyboard” post.

One reader wrote, “I am the warm smile with the crinkling of the eyes reflecting outward the joy within me. Rejoice in Lord, again I say rejoice.”

Another one said, “I am a kite, tethered to the earth for this moment in time, but made by God to look upward, reach higher, and be still. The higher I go with God the more awe, wonder, and joy I can spread in his name as others look up. If I look down and cling to the earth I become unstable and uninspiring, yielding the disinterest of men as I erratically change course with the shifting winds.”

Keep being the kite or the keyboard, the pencils or glasses, the guitar or the note card, and all the other great words that have been shared or that keep coming in.

Everything is connected to everything else. When you play your play our part, you bless others and the blessing returns to yourself.

Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil. 1 Corinthians 13:4-5

“Charity is gentle and benign, he who has this virtue does not withdraw easily, does not misjudge, nor is disturbed by any cause, and is very capable of calming and composing the most uncontrolled tempers and tempers.”

Anthony of Saint Anne Galvão (1739-1822).

Charity is love seasoned with grace and generosity. Notice it moves toward and not away from difficulty. Nothing phases, disturbs, or provokes it. It stays calm and composed even in hard situations when all others unravel.

Preaching went great yesterday, thanks to the generosity of God and His provision of two messages and one great translator, people got the messages! See the new header photo from one of the churches. My privilege was delivering them with gentleness and authority.

Today, I speak to more than 500 businesspersons. It’s another big event. As I sit with the Lord, I discern that charity is not giving them what I think they need but what God reveals to me as I move toward them.

What I mean by that is that I have a sense of the biblical content He wants me to deliver. I just don’t know how He wants me to package and share it. I pray he helps me not misjudge but to continue to touch hearts in a calm and composed way.

Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life. 1 Timothy 6:17-19

“Do not fear that life has an end, fear that it has never begun.”

Anthony of Saint Anne Galvão (1739-1822).

Today’s Brazilian saint reminds us that in Christ we fear the opposite things that the world fears. The world fears death. For us, death is gain as we attain to heaven as noted by the Apostle Paul. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. Philippians 1:21

But that’s not all the world fears.

The world fears running out of money. So, most people do not live, give, serve, and love as conduits of blessing. They serve as containers. This leads them to have a scarcity mindset and have a sedentary existence that never really lives.

Today’s Scripture reveals that enjoying and sharing God’s blessings is the only way to grasp life.

I have a bit of a rigorous schedule in Brazil. Preaching at two churches today. When God opened the door for that only 10 days ago, I could have taken the easy route and declined the opportunity. I jumped at it without fear!

I was confident God could give me two different messages for two large churches. He did!

What fears tempt you to miss out on life? What fears cause you not be the person He made you to be or to make the contribution He wants you to make?

Yesterday I got some great answers from people. If you did not submit, keep them coming. Here are a few.

One said, “I am a guitar in the hands of the Lord. He is playing different chords with me in different places where he has called me to serve.” Another said, “I am a note or word of blessing meant to encourage someone.”

One person messaged me, and I replied to them saying, “You are a pair of glasses. You help people see Jesus.”

Another said, “I am a flashlight in the hand of a God who reorders, shining the light of His Word where the world’s wisdom has cast shadows.” Still another said, “I am an icebreaker to prepare the way or make space and opportunities for people to pay attention to God’s presence and call on their lives.”

Thanks for these inspiring answers. Let’s be these tools or instruments in the hands of God.

Pray for my preaching morning and night, please. And get out there today and live, give, serve, and love generously and without fear! Do it in dangerous places. “Do not fear that life has an end, fear that it has never begun.”

Then the LORD replied: “Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it.” Habakkuk 2:2

“We are like a pencil with which God writes the texts He wants said in the hearts of men.”

Irma Dulce Lopes Pontes (1914-1992). A contemporary to the service of Mother Teresa (1910-1997) in India, we find Irma ministering in Brazil.

Mother Teresa is credited for saying, “I am a little pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world.” Today’s post is attributed to Irma. I like it because of the writing part. Someone asked me recently why I have written every day for 16 years. Yes, I am celebrating 16 year of Daily Meditations this week.

And why I have written or contributed to 17 books and counting. I often reply “I don’t write for money, I write for God. I can’t not write. It’s what he made me to do.” If Teresa and Irma are two pencils, then I am a keyboard, but not anywhere near the league of saint alongside those two ladies.

What has God made you to do? What are you? Reply to this note with a word like a “pencil” or a “keyboard.”

For example, if your word is “shovel” put it in the form of a prayer like this: “I am a little shovel in the hand of a gardening God who who helps people bear much fruit.” Let’s see ourselves as instruments or tools in the hands of God making music, writing words, or doing other good things to serve people in the name of Jesus.

And I do appreciate your prayers as my focus now centers on speaking in podcast and preaching settings and doing major events to activate a task force to form a peer accountability group like ECFA in USA to serve Brazil. Thanks.

When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things. Mark 6:34

“The important thing is to do charity, not to talk about charity. We must understand the work with very poor people as a God’s chosen mission.”

Irma Dulce Lopes Pontes (1914-1992).

After a prayer retreat with 37 people from 12 countries hosted by GenerousChurch, Rafael Bandeira (GTP Global Operations Manager & Portuguese Programs Manager) from São Paulo, Brazil, and Paula Mendoza (GTP Global Administrator) from Guatemala City, Guatemala, will begin program work today.

Aline Martinez (GTP Portuguese Interpreter & Translator) arrived last night (she has translated Steward and the GTP Diagnostic Tool and Templates in Portuguese). Roberto “Beto” Barros (Our Daily Bread Coordinator (Publisher of The Choice, The Sower, and The Council in Portuguese) arrives today.

It’s time to “do charity.” I am preaching twice this Sunday at a couple huge churches. One asked for a message on revival and the other on legacy. So I have been building slide decks and sermon outlines in the 24 hours between the prayer retreat and meetings and a podcast recording today. I appreciate your prayers.

And I want you to read this quote again. Think about it. God’s chosen mission was sending Jesus to save a poor and lost humanity. That’s you and me! He did not talk charity, He did charity, illustrated by passages such as today’s Scripture. Move toward someone in need today with charity.

Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Ephesians 4:2

“The Church must always remain a dialogue, and never an imposition of it’s own convictions and methods. Propose, not impose. To serve, and not to dominate.”

Cláudio Hummes (1934-2022).

Yesterday, in our prayer time in Petrópolis, every ministry shared a summary of their work and everyone prayed for everyone else. It was a powerful time.

A brother prayed over me and specifically thanked God for my humble posture of service and prayed for me to be able to remain in that posture perpetually. In my heart, I said, “Amen!”

As God blesses us or grants us favor, we must give thanks and cast any accolades or crowns, any compliments or commendations, back to the feet of Jesus who modeled humility for us.

In our time together, Patrick Johnson of GenerousChurch read Philippians 2:5-11 and celebrated the example of Jesus and His humility. Read it.

“In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to His own advantage; rather, He made Himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to death — even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

This prayer time in Petrópolis and this Scripture have reminded me that generous service takes the posture of humility. As I begin the work on my third trip to Brazil with strategic program work in Rio de Janeiro, Curitiba, and São Paulo, I do so with this verse on my lips.

“Now I am ready to visit you for the third time, and I will not be a burden to you, because what I want is not your possessions but you” 2 Corinthians 12:14a. I am here a third time not because I want anything from the Brazilian people. I want them! Pray with me for humble receptive hearts.

And pray for me as I prepare sermons and slide decks. My Sunday went from open to preach at the two largest evangelical churches in Rio de Janeiro, serving 1,500 and 9,000 members respectively. I will propose the way to live and aim to serve them with humility.

I left you behind in Crete for this reason, so that you should put in order what remained to be done and should appoint elders in every town, as I directed you. Titus 1:5

“I conclude that the current Brazilian model is contrary to God’s plan. For this reason, the Church has the pastoral duty of prophetically denouncing this model without fear and encouraging the people to transform these structures. On the other hand, this transformation must be a peaceful and democratic process. To achieve this, it is necessary to organize the people. Only an organized people will be able to proceed peacefully and democratically to transform society.”

Cláudio Hummes (1934-2022) as cited in Unemployment, Causes and Consequences (São Paulo: Paulinas, 1984) 65-94.

Today’s Scripture will come out in every meeting I have in Brazil.

Paul commissioned Titus to put order and oversight in place. He did this because he knew it would position the gospel to flourish with integrity and sustainability.

The same holds true today. But people treat order and oversight as unimportant.

They say we must focus on gospel evangelism and discipleship. Sadly, however, without order and oversight, the work only grows by addition and leads to exhaustion with no succession.

Paul and Hummes knew better. God’s people must organize to have an impact on society.

When we do, we make our most generous impact. The ministry grows by multiplication and it leads to expansion with sustainability and succession.

Paul aimed to organize people and that’s our aim at GTP today. Pray for us in Brazil.

Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed. Psalm 82:3

“A servant church must have as its priority solidarity with the poor. The faith must express itself in charity and in solidarity, which is the civil form of charity. Today more than ever, the church faces this challenge. In fact, effective solidarity with the poor, both individual persons and entire nations, is indispensable for the construction of peace. Solidarity corrects injustices, reestablishes the fundamental rights of persons and of nations, overcomes poverty and even resists the revolt that injustice provokes, eliminating the violence that is born with revolt and constructing peace.”

Cláudio Hummes (1934-2022) as cited in “Education in Solidarity with the Poor” by William F. Horan Jr. on 9 September 2011.

I am safely in Brazil. Long trip. Storms delayed my arrival 12+ hours.

“Cristo Redentor” greeted me at sunrise (photo above from my hotel room). Seeing this view gives me confidence that Christ will be with me and strengthen me for the service before me.

The biggest thing I notice about bringing stewardship instruction and standards to influential stewards and grass roots workers in places like Brazil is that it reflects charity and effective solidarity with the poor.

By charity, I mean that it shows love.

People appreciate that GTP comes not bringing a handout that creates dependency but a hand up that builds fruitful disciples. And this comes not wanting anything from them, but rather with love, desiring flourishing for them.

By effective, I mean that it makes a real difference.

Peer accountability, that is, ministries holding each other accountable to following standards of governance, administration, and resource development together turns corruption to credibility in entire nations. Since formation in 1979, ECFA has had this impact in USA.

And this global service embodies solidarity with the poor.

That requires showing up in the posture of a loving servant in places riddled with brokenness. By empowering national workers to shape a new future envisioned by Brazilian saint, Cláudio Hummes, we bring justice and peace. And it starts with prayer.

That’s my focus the next 2 days with fellow stewards in Petrópolis.

GTP collaborates globally with GenerousChurch. They are hosting the prayer time. Then I have GTP program work in Rio de Janeiro, Curitiba, and São Paulo with GTP staff members, Rafael Bandiera (São Paulo, Brazil) and Paula Mendoza (Guatemala City, Guatemala).

Pray with me for a new future for Brazil, possible with God’s help and effective solidarity.