June 2019 – Page 3

Panting after more light

Posted on June 11, 2019 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

We’ve all got our favorite metaphors from the Bible and mine’s the “light”. Just before I was converted, I first understood sin and redemption as concepts of darkness and light. Afterward, I loved the idea of Jesus as the Light, his glory brightness, and the glittering heaven where His light is shining forever.

As I lived aboard a sailboat for two years (pre-conversion era) there are now many metaphors that I gravitate to through that life experience that I cherish. Like lighthouses, anchors, the storms of life, waves buffeting, etc. But especially the lighthouse with the light!

Yesterday I read the following in the Valley of Vision, the Puritan devotional prayers (Ladies, get this book! I mean it!!)

Let not “Satan and my natural abilities content me with a little light, so that I seek no further for the Spirit of life. Teach me what to do.” ~Valley of Vision, God the Spirit

How often are we content with ‘a little light’? Half the time I think I’m content with it because I have allowed my eyes to adjust to the dimness and that has become my comfortable status quo. And how I do love the status quo. The other half of the time I think it’s because if I allow full-blast Light into my life it’d expose too many idols, sins, and pet behaviors I don’t want exposed. It’s a brave thing to ask for “more light”. I need to be braver.

Then a short while later I read this-

Open my eyes, that I may behold Wonderful things from Your law.
Psalm 119:18

Open mine eyes – David was not blind, his eye was not dim. He could read the Bible from end to end, and yet felt that he needed more light. He felt that he needed to see deeper, to have the eyes of his understanding opened. He felt that if he had nothing but his own eyes and natural understanding, he would not discover the wonders that he panted to see. He wanted Divine teaching, the eye-salve of the Spirit, and therefore he would not open the Bible without this prayer, ‘Open Thou mine eyes! ~Robert Murray M’Cheyne, The Believer’s Joy

Not content with a little light, David yearned for and even begged for more light. It is the Holy Spirit who opens our eyes to receive more Light (i.e more understanding of who God is through His word). David was a grievous sinner as we know, but he repented fully and threw himself upon the throne of grace asking for forgiveness and as we see here, understanding. This is why he was a man after God’s own heart.

More light also means more love. As we grow in understanding of who God is, we love Him more. Doctrine inspires love for the one who wrote it as we strive to live it.

More light also means, gulp, more obedience. As we grow in understanding of who God is, we love Him more and we want to obey him more- because of who He is.

It’s a brave thing to ask for more Light. Do I have such courage? I must. And even if I don’t, I must.

book review, theology

Practical, helpful questions for the sermon hearer; plus Book Review

Posted on June 10, 2019June 10, 2019 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

crown
I love to listen to sermons, especially my own pastor’s sermons. They are rich and deep with a lot to think about. He exposits verse by verse or chapter by chapter through a book of the Bible, and along the way he challenges us with his points. Just the way I like it.

I’m such a dunce though. I long to apply the words to my life so as to partner with the Spirit in my progressive sanctification. But I often don’t know the questions to ask myself in order to kick-start the process for that day. I found a helpful aid in the book I just finished reading, “Her Husband’s Crown,” a short exhortation of 9 points and a conclusion by Sara Leone.

Below are some good questions a woman can ask herself after hearing a sermon. Though the author’s intended audience is pastors’ wives, these questions are good for any woman to ask of herself after hearing her pastor’s sermon, or any sermon. I hope they help you as they helped me.

We remember the exhortation to “…receive with meekness the implanted word.” (James 1:21).

What has the word of God taught me today? Has it pointed to a sin I must confess? What promise has it encouraged me to claim? Is there a godly example for me to follow, a Christian grace to develop in my life? How should I apply the lessons of the sermon to my daily living? In other words, our goal should not be to critique our husbands’ sermons but to benefit spiritually from them.

Her Husband’s Crown, p 20 Sara Leone

BOOK REVIEW:

summer reading

As I finish the books I’ve set aside for this summer’s reading, I’ll review them.

Her Husband’s Crown by Sara Leone is for sale at Amazon for only $3. It’s 42 short and sweet pages that I found practical and helpful. Sara is a pastor’s wife. The blurb says “Although written primarily for pastors wives, this booklet will encourage Christian wives in general and will stimulate prayer for and support of pastors and their wives everywhere.”

I say it’s a helpful book for any Christian woman who is a member of her church, married, unmarried, pastor’s wife or not.

What I liked about it is that the advice inside is practical, no-nonsense and nothing you haven’t really heard before. But it’s bundled in such a way that the advice and points are brought to mind again in a good way. There are blessedly few anecdotes of a personal nature, just only enough to be lightly sprinkled throughout and helpful to her chapter’s point. There is a lot of scripture. Just the way I like it.

For example, Chapter 3’s point, “Be a sympathetic and confidential listener to your husband,” based on Romans 12:15, is a wonderful treatment on the importance of pastor’s wives to be, well, sympathetic to your husband’s cares and concerns but also keep them confidential. This can be applied to any situation where a person confides in you. In other words, it’s easy to apply her points if you are a pastor’s wife and easy to adapt her points if you are not. And her points are good.

Another example, chapter 2, Fulfill your responsibilities as a mother before seeking other ministries in the church. Here, Mrs. Leone speaks to a common misperception, that the pastor’s wife is ‘First Lady’ of the church and in that role must fill the gap or lead the way for many of the ministries going on. Not so.

If you’re not a pastor’s wife then the advice is still good to be reminded of that a mother’s primary role is mother, not ministry leader. I mentioned that her advice isn’t anything you haven’t heard before, so of course we know that if you’re a mom then motherhood is a primary essential. But I also said that her advice is needed. Why? When we see many Christian mothers podcasting, running all over the US in their book tours, being guests on podcasts, writing books, maintaining a strong social media presence, and raising 7 children or 4 children and the like, it makes many true stay-at-home Christian mothers wonder if they, too can “do it all” like these other, more famous women who seem to have successful myriad ministries yet claim also to be focused on raising their children. So, Leone’s advice is needed.

The author does not come across as bossy but gentle. She is sharing these 9 points from a long life of experience but also as reminders from scripture. Reading this book is like sipping a cup of tea with a friend in the shade under a dappled dogwood tree.

Recommended.

poetry, theology

Kay Cude Poetry: Mortifying Misundertanding

Posted on June 9, 2019 by elizabethprata

Kay Cude is a Texas poet. Used with permission.

flying

idolatry, theology

There are no other gods

Posted on June 8, 2019June 8, 2019 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

O come, let us sing for joy to the Lord,
Let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation.
2 Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving,
Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms.
3 For the Lord is a great God
And a great King above all gods,
(Psalm 95:1-3)

There are no other gods

There is no Allah
There is no Zeus no Mars no Dagon
Nammu, An, Ki are ephemeral as vapor
Amun and Horus are fictitious myths
Freyr and Loki … figments and chimera

All other gods are illusory
Their names hold no power
and their existence is in wood and statue only

Let the heathen howl
their bitterness at an unseen and unknown god’s failure
Spurious and futile gods who remain silent at man’s pleas
Let the pagan rail
their outrage at the silent deity who cannot and will never help

Let the godless who appeal to no-god
wail in frustration
for prayers that are never answered
For God is the only God.

Let the hopeless come to the throne of hope
Let the disillusioned bask in the fountain from the Rock
Let the helpless find help in Immanuel’s outstretched arm
Let the discouraged find eternity in God
The only God.

idols verse

love, theology

‘Put on’ love

Posted on June 7, 2019 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

I’m old enough now that the songs played on the radio’s Oldies station are the songs of my youth and teen years. The Supremes’ 1964 song “Baby, baby where did our love go” is catchy. It was on the radio the other day. It got me thinking in pictures. As in, ‘love’ going somewhere. Did it pack its suitcase and slink out the back door like a thief? Did it wilt then droop then evaporate, like the steam on the bathroom mirror?

The secular world sees love as a noun. Especially romantic love. They see it as a thing to be grasped. Something to be possessed. They see love as a thing that comes, then goes. That would mean that love has a mind of its own, will, volition.

The Christian knows that love is not a noun to hold but a choice to be made. Love is a verb. We choose it and we live it. Colossians 3:14 announces love as something we “put on”, indicating again that love is an act of our own volition. We are in charge of love, it is not in charge of us nor is it in charge of itself.

Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. (Colossians 3:14).

Matthew Henry explains the Colossians verse-

In order to all this, we are exhorted here to several things:—1. To clothe ourselves with love (v. 14): Above all things put on charity: epi pasi de toutois—over all things. Let this be the upper garment, the robe, the livery, the mark of our dignity and distinction. Or, Let this be principal and chief, as the whole sum and abstract of the second table. Add to faith virtue, and to brotherly-kindness charity, 2 Pt. 1:5–7. He lays the foundation in faith, and the top-stone in charity, which is the bond of perfectness, the cement and centre of all happy society. Christian unity consists of unanimity and mutual love.

Henry, M. (1994). Matthew Henry’s commentary on the whole Bible: complete and unabridged in one volume (p. 2335). Peabody: Hendrickson.

Warren Wiersbe explains-

Put on … love (Col. 3:14). This is the most important of the Christian virtues, and it acts like a “girdle” that ties all the other virtues together. This is not something that we turn on and off, like the TV set. It is a constant attitude of heart that makes us easy to live with.

Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 2, p. 138). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.

Baby, baby, where did our love go? It didn’t go anywhere,t he person loving another simply got tired of choosing it.

Choosing to love is the hardest thing in the world, especially if you’re married. Making the choice to “put on” love toward someone who isn’t acting right, or who wronged you, or is just being a pill, is not easy. But love is the binding that holds the Body together and it is the quality that makes Christ attractive to the pagan. It is supreme.

Don’t be a bystander watching love come in and go out. Put it on, choose it, live it.

love verse 4.jpg

potpourri, theology

Prata Potpourri: God’s Inner Work, washing dishes, Insta Manifesto, Breakfast Pizza, more

Posted on June 6, 2019June 6, 2019 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

flowers 5

We’ve had two weeks of intensely hot weather here. It started in May and just didn’t let up. The hot dryness meant withering flowers and browning lawns. But today it’s supposed to be cooler and rainy. I know the plants and flowers will drink up any moisture we receive.

In my traveling days, my husband and I sought out places in the world that had perfect weather. We visited Quito, Ecuador for a variety of reasons and were pleased to discover that that second highest city in the world (at 9350 feet above sea level) boasts temps of constant 45 degrees to 75 degrees. So, no sleet or snow, and no heat. That suited us. But it came with a downside- thin air. So, no-go after all.

I wonder what the temps were in the Garden. I wonder what Jesus will consider earth’s perfect climate when He remakes the world and we are living on the New Earth. I can’t wait to find out!

Meanwhile, perhaps to distract you or edify you or at least interest you during this long wait for weather perfection on earth, here are a few things to read.

Women, Moms & Kids

Kim Shay at Out of the Ordinary with a wonderful essay on being ordinary.

I’m reading Christina Fox’s book Idols of a Mother’s Heart. I like it so far. Here’s the blurb-

Even good things can become idols if we give them central importance in our lives. Having children changes everything, and as mothers, we risk looking for life, purpose and meaning in motherhood. While being a mother brings its unique set of challenges, these years of raising children and helping them grow in the nurture and admonition of the Lord provide an opportunity to grow in our own Christlikeness as well.

Someone else on Twitter mentioned Fox and recommended these books also by that author.

Sufficient Hope, Closer Than A Sister, A Heart Set Free: A Journey to Hope, Through the Psalms of Lament.

Ruth Clemence offers ideas on 5 Ways to Approach Washing Up, as in dishes. She wrote the following, and intrigued as to how to turn a mundane disliked task into glory for God, I read on-

Is there a household chore that you really don’t like? For me, the washing up is top of the list because it is never really done. We don’t have a dishwasher and it can be a real battle to stand at the kitchen sink throughout the day to be greeted with more dirty plates. But you know what I’m starting to realise? That means that my family have been fed. Rather than grumbling at the conveyor belt of utensils and the dance of the cutlery, I am turning soap-soaked hands into worship to the Lord.

Jen Oshman opines on the darndest things six-year-olds say, her daughter remarked on God’s gifts. Cute!

Abigail Dodds has A Manifesto for Women on Instagram

Most of us who are on social media didn’t put a lot of thought into it before joining–especially if we’re under 40. I jumped on because I wanted to connect with people, plain and simple. I thought it would be fun to share pics of my kids with people I love that live far away. Because none of us can see into the future, we didn’t really know what we were signing up for. We didn’t know how social media could rewire our brains and change the way we interact with the world. We didn’t know it would turn every experience into a spectacle to be consumed by our “followers” and ourselves, as Tony Reinke points out in his fantastic new book. [Ed. Note- The book is Competing Spectacles, I’m reading it too and it IS fantastic] We also didn’t know that Insta would become a place for words and massive influence. Micro-blogging, not merely pictures.

Susan Lafferty was at a conference in Thailand and while walking on the beach and seeing the sand-smoothed shells, mused on God’s Inner Work. I admire people who can take a mundane thought or scene and make a practical application out of it.

Church & Theology

Ligon Duncan opines about Serious and Sensitive Preaching About Hell. Hell and brimstone preaching is so important, especially in these snowflake-meltdown days. The Gospel has been watered to ‘accept Jesus” and ‘He loves you’ rather than ‘repent and believe because otherwise you’ll go to eternal punishment for your sins’.
Jenny-Lyn de Klerk on Owen on Church Discipline, (done in love) another topic that is pretty well abandoned these days
If you are following the controversy over women, preaching, and what seems to me to be the near collapse of the SBC then you will enjoy this one by Josh Buice on Egalitarianism and the Radical Role Dysphoria

Canadian pastor Darryl Dash writes about The Time Has Come for True Comfort. At the outset of his essay, he listed three terrible things that happened in his life in one week. Does it seem that way to you lately? Sudden tragedies appearing all over the place in people’s lives? He refers us to our true comfort. I think we all need to read this one…

Culture & Fun

World reviews Godzilla: King of the Monsters. I loved the original Godzilla, the 1954 movie. It had more heart than you’d think and was pretty interesting. It spawned a franchise of 43 further Godzilla movies, of which, this is the 43rd. Can spectacular CGI generated special effects enhance a movie that was originally made 65 years ago with a man stomping around in a rubber suit? Read to find out…

I finished watching the Australian series on Netflix called Clash of the Collectibles. I enjoy learning about what is collectible and why, and the Netflix show did not disappoint. As a bonus, it was low key, with soft music (no pounding Wagner to trump up drama) and the two men ‘competing’ were friendly toward each other.

Kovels is a go-to source for antiques and collectibles since 1953. Their newsletter is always interesting. In the vein of Clash, here is their summary of how to prepare for a visit to swap meets and flea markets this summer.

Kristy Kapp at Kapp’s Kitchen teaches how to make breakfast pizza. It looks yummo!

Need some gift ideas for artists? My Modern Met has a few and they are gorgeous.

My Modern Met also has some ideas for Father’s Day card ideas. Hurry, Father’s Day is June 16. Did you forget?

This summer, whether you’re washing dishes or going to the movies or hunting antiques or posting to Instagram or musing on God’s inner work in your heart,

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. (1 Corinthians 10:31)

salvation, theology

Lost person: Needs a Missionary. My (short) story of the Amazon

Posted on June 5, 2019 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

In 2013 I watched a movie called End of the Spear, about missionaries making first contact with the Stone Age Huaorani tribe of Ecuador not far from the Shell oil company corporate base in Shell-Mera Ecuador. It’s a good movie and I recommend it. The missionaries made the contact in 1956 in the Amazon basin. I got curious and looked up where Mera is, and it is only 5 miles from Puyo.

huaroni tribesman 1956 — Ecuadoran Huaorani 1956. Needs a missionary

I was in Puyo, I was in the Amazon.

This is why I am so fascinated by Providence. Little did I know that the incident the modern movie depicts was in 1956 a famous event in Christianity- and still is. When the five missionaries who were killed by an aggressive tribe in the jungle in the middle of the last century in a different hemisphere, that a mere four decades later there I would be at that nearly exact place, sitting at a cafe on the main street unaware of my own lostness and need for those same missionaries who had arrived years before.

I was unaware and unaffected by the drama of courage and salvation that had taken place and had opened up so many hearts. And how Jesus knew that a few years after that, I would become one of His children, my very own heart He opened up to His grace.

He knew I’d come to understand the debt I owe to those missionaries who in the great relay race over centuries, kept the faith alive for all peoples and tribes and tongues to hear the words of life, the baton of belief passed from hand to hand and mouth to ear, so that one day I might partake of the great truth. All I knew back in 1996 was that there were too many Jesus statues in Puyo.

amazon rainforest1 — American woman, 1996. Needs a missionary

With a magnificence as great as His grace and the power of the Gospel word, we should rightly celebrate His work in the world in awe and in gratitude. Even on the days when you feel useless for Christ, know and understand that the seeds of faith are powerful and everything you do and say in His name adds to His tapestry of faith, and makes a difference. Providence is an amazing thing- because Jesus is always at work.

christian life, theology

So late so soon? The passage of time for us all

Posted on June 4, 2019 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

I was driving along, listening to my favorite radio station. It’s a station that plays country during the day, old timey southern Gospel at night, and in between, random oldies from the 60s, 70’s and 80s. I like the variety.

A song from 1978 came on, “I Love the Night Life” by Alicia Bridges. It’s a disco song and you’d know it if you heard it. Maybe. If you’re of an age.

And that’s the thing.

I sang along, marveling that I could remember the lyrics from…wait…I counted back. It was High School, senior year. So … 1978.

So … 41 years ago.

Four decades of adult life. Wow.

It feels strange to have so many decades under my belt. Very strange.

It was yesterday I was driving home from one stupid teenage job or another, singing along to I Love the Night Life…wasn’t it? Yesterday.

Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. (James 4:14)

I believe every word in the Bible. I believe the Spirit when He inspired those words from James. Life goes fast. And then one day, you don’t just believe the words, you’re living them.

How did 4 decades of life suddenly pile up in my memories? How many people, events, meals, tragedies, joys, births, deaths, woes, and hills have I climbed, endured, lived? A tsunami’s worth. It all came crashing back as I drove along, singing lyrics to a song I don’t believe (no I don’t love the nightlife but I love the singer’s voice). How is it that a song can suddenly place us firmly back in time? How can time, ephemeral and temporal, suddenly seem like a ponderous burden, weighing heavily?

This little opinion piece isn’t anything new. Many people before me have opined the same. You see it when someone gives birth and suddenly the child isn’t an infant but walking and talking and cutting teeth. When you realize you’re out of your 20s and an adult with full responsibilities. When you start getting AARP and Life Insurance bulk mail. When you can’t remember the last time you got up out of the chair without groaning or something popping. ‘Where does the time go?’ we ask.

It isn’t just in James that the Bible speaks to time passing as rapidly increasing flow –

Psalm 39:5
You, indeed, have made my days as handbreadths, and my lifetime as nothing before You. Truly each man at his best exists as but a breath. Selah

Psalm 78:39
He remembered that they were but flesh, a passing breeze that does not return.

Psalm 102:3
For my days vanish like smoke, and my bones burn like glowing embers.

Psalm 144:4
Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow.

Time is smoke, vapor, breath, breeze.

OK, we know this. What to do about it? First, realize that these lazy days of your 20s or 30s or 40s etc are fleeting, as the Bible says. Second, do as Colossians 3:23 says of servants to masters,

Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men,

Meaning, don’t work hard just when the master is looking but work hard with all your soul, all the time.

And let our people learn to devote themselves to good works, so as to help cases of urgent need, and not be unfruitful. (Titus 3:14)

Proverbs 6:6 tells the sluggard to look to the busy ant and consider her ways. Many Proverbs speak badly of sluggards. 2 Thessalonians 3:10 says that those who will not work, won’t eat.

Wisely shepherding the time that Jesus ordains of our days on earth is to His glory. There is work to be done. It’s good to be mindful that time is finite, at least here on earth. It sometimes feels like time is endless, that we have infinite days to accomplish what we want, but we don’t.

Third, it’s good to be heavenly minded. We will be called to account when we arrive before the throne. What will Jesus say to us? Well done good and faithful servant? Or ‘You’re here as just barely escaping the fire’? (1 Corinthians 3:15). I heard a preacher say once of the verse where God will wipe away our tears in heaven, (Revelation 21:4) that the tears could be from sorrow for all the time we wasted on earth failing to labor for God’s glory while we had time to do so. It’s a good an explanation as any for why there will be tears in heaven, if the verse is meant literally.

Even if that is not so, it’s a good thing to keep in mind. We will see our works that we not do for Christ and perhaps the time wasted that had no works at all, burned as hay and stubble. I think of Edwards, Spurgeon, Muller, Apostle Paul, who worked what seemed like every second of their waking hours for the Lord, and I think of the time that I spend frittering away. If there is anything to cry about in heaven, that would be it.

Time. Where does it go. Soon time will be no more. I’ll be glad that the burden of memories and the weight time gone under the bridge will be lifted. Meanwhile,

“How did it get so late so soon?”
——-Dr. Seuss

theology

Don’t read the Bible as water through a pipe

Posted on June 3, 2019 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

One of our elders referred to this quote by George Muller at Sunday School yesterday. I focused on the part that said ‘water through a pipe’.

As the outward man is not fit for work for any length of time unless he eats, so is with the inner man. What is the food for the inner man? Not prayer, but the Word of God-not the simple reading of the Word of God, so that it only passes through our minds, just as water runs through a pipe. No, we must consider what we read, ponder over it, and apply it to our hearts.

― George Muller, The Autobiography of George Muller

Do you read the Bible as water runs through a pipe? Sometimes I do. I finish a paragraph and realize it hasn’t ‘sunk in’. Our elder said we must not allow the word to run through our brain in one ear and out the other, as water runs through a pipe. We should absorb the word like a sponge. Hold onto it, keep it, treasure it.