Author: elizabethprata

Christian writer and Georgia teacher's aide who loves Jesus, a quiet life, art, beauty, and children.
Posted in theology

Thursday of Holy Week

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

What is Maundy Thursday / Holy Thursday?

The following article is from GotQuestions.org. Link is above

Maundy Thursday, also known as “Holy Thursday,” is the Thursday of Passion Week, one day before Good Friday (the Friday before Easter). Maundy Thursday is the name given to the day on which Jesus celebrated the Passover with His disciples, known as the Last Supper. Two important events are the focus of Maundy Thursday.

First, Jesus celebrated the Last Supper with His disciples and thereby instituted the Lord’s Supper, also called Communion (Luke 22:19-20). Some Christian churches observe a special Communion service on Maundy Thursday in memory of Jesus’ Last Supper with His disciples. Second, Jesus washed the disciples’ feet as an act of humility and service, thereby setting an example that we should love and serve one another in humility (John 13:3-17). Some Christian churches observe a foot-washing ceremony on Maundy Thursday to commemorate Jesus’ washing the feet of the disciples.

The word Maundy is derived from the Latin word for “command.” The “Maundy” in “Maundy Thursday” refers to the command Jesus gave to the disciples at the Last Supper, that they should love and serve one another. Should we observe Maundy Thursday? The Bible neither commands nor forbids it. It is a good thing to remember the Last Supper and Jesus’ sacrifice on our behalf. It is a good thing to remember the Lord’s example of humility. However, at the same time, we should avoid ritualistic observances of holidays unless they are truly focused on God and our relationship with Him.

Observing a special Lord’s Supper service on Maundy Thursday/Holy Thursday in remembrance of the Last Supper is a good thing to do. Doing a foot-washing in remembrance of how Christ humbled Himself and washed the feet of the disciples is a powerful reminder of how we are to live the Christian life (Philippians 2:1-11). Let’s just make sure we are observing Maundy Thursday in a way that truly honors what happened at the Last Supper.

Washing of Feet: entry from International Standard Bible Encyclopedia /Washing Of Feet

 The Orientals wore only sandals, and this washing was refreshing as well as cleanly. In the case of ordinary people, the host furnished the water, and the guests washed their own feet, but in the richer houses, the washing was done by a slave. It was looked upon as the lowliest of all services (1 Samuel 25:41). Jesus pointedly contrasts Simon’s neglect of even giving Him water for His feet with the woman’s washing His feet with tears and wiping them with her hair (Luke 7:44). On the last evening of His life, Jesus washed the disciples’ feet (John 13:1-16). Their pride, heightened by the anticipations of place in the Messianic kingdom whose crisis they immediately expected, prevented their doing this service for each other. Possibly the same pride had expressed itself on this same evening in a controversy about places at table. Jesus, conscious of His divine dignity and against Peter’s protest, performed for them this lowliest service. His act of humility actually cleansed their hearts of selfish ambition, killed their pride, and taught them the lesson of love.

Tintoretto’s Christ Washing the Disciples’ feet

Painting description from Wikipedia: The painting was created in 1548/1549 for a church in Venice. The church of San Marcuola commissioned Christ Washing the Disciples’ Feet as a companion piece to Tintoretto’s Last Supper, which still hangs at San Marcuola. Christ and St. Peter are at the far right of the image, an unusual position as Christ was typically placed in the centre of any paintings. This is explained by its original positioning in the church on the right side of the altar. Viewing the painting from a side angle allows the perspective of the tiled floor and the gaze of the disciples towards Jesus to emphasise his status as the main subject of the painting. On the far left of the painting is Judas Iscariot, clothed in bright red and noticeably isolated from the other figures of the painting. In the middle of the work are the rest of the disciples gathered around the table that was the site of the supper. They are depicted somewhat humorously as they strive to pull off their stockings. In the background there is a portal above Jesus that opens up to a room where the last supper takes place. The opening to the left shows buildings with elaborate and fantastic architecture. The architecture is based closely on designs by Sebastiano Serlio.

Posted in theology

What happened Wednesday of Holy Week?

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Judas’ Bargain

Then one of the twelve, named Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, “What are you willing to give me to betray Him to you?” And they set out for him thirty pieces of silver. And from then on he looked for a good opportunity to betray Jesus. (Matthew 26:14-16 NASB)

Lippo Memi (Italian, 1291-1356). Betrayal of Jesus (detail), c. 1340. Fresco. Collegiate Santa Maria Assunta, San Gimignano, Italy. Wikimeda Commons
Detail
Posted in theology

Prata Potpourri: Susie, Begging, Puritans, a marriage restored, more!

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

How does it feel to be living in a time of obvious judgment of God? I have mixed feelings. On the one hand, it sparks a lot of mourning in me as I see families falling apart, false teachers increasing, lusts indulged, perversion everywhere. But on the other hand, what IS of God, burns more brightly. Christians who stand for truth unwaveringly are more of a joy to see. As the world sinks, the believers rise. Christians who have the Light of Christ in them are more visible, starkly different than the easy believers mixed in with true believers of former generations who clung to a veneer of Christianity for social capital’s sake, persecution makes true believers more easily seen and then God is more glorified.

If you have a church where your elders are strong, where your fellows in the pew are loving, where truth is proclaimed without compromise or without plagiarism, then you are blessed. Cling to that, the Lord who raises up teachers for His name and a multiplying local church who evangelizes. They are things of beauty today that stand against the dark.

Begging: The Place to Start I disciple some younger women online and in real life. I often get the question, how should I study the Bible? I always begin with this answer: First, pray and ask the Holy Spirit for help. It’s my standard answer because that is ground zero of the place to begin. I was pleased to see Dale Ralph Davis explain this concept so well.

“We are guilty of arrogance, not merely neglect, when we fail to beg for the Spirit’s help in the study of Scripture. We may have such arrogance even when we seem to be seeking the Spirit’s aid – I think of those times when in a light-headed tokenism we utter our slap-happy prayer ‘that the Lord would guide and direct us as we study this passage.’” Click on the link above to read the article.

G3 Ministries has published a beautiful article by Jennifer Buck on how the Lord helped her and her husband Tom in the early years of their marriage get beyond some anger and bitterness issues and make their marriage strong. Sadly, in the aftermath of its publication, some wicked people who are opposed to Tom’s candidacy for President of the SBC have used the article as a weapon to smear them. This activity has caused me to ponder very deeply the issues I wrote about in the first paragraph. Darkness and light…what the Lord is doing to glorify Himself, betrayal by professing believers (who maybe aren’t possessing believers) and so on.

Anyway, here’s Jennifer’s article: A Story of Restorative Grace

When G3 enlarged its ministry one of the things they committed to doing was generating study curricula for small groups and Sunday School. Here is a new, free teaching curriculum on the Sermon on the Mount by Ryan Bush. It is a 9-lesson Bible study was written specifically for small groups, though it could certainly be adapted to fit other needs. Sermon on the Mount small group Bible Study.

At Dash House we read the following:

It may be one of the most overlooked ministries we can perform for others: to struggle on their behalf in our prayers. The idea comes from Paul’s description of Epaphras in Colossians 4:12-13: “Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, greets you, always struggling on your behalf in his prayers, that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God. For I bear him witness that he has worked hard for you and for those in Laodicea and in Hierapolis.” Struggling on Your Behalf in Prayers

I love studying about the Puritans. This summer I plan on buying the streaming version of the Puritan Documentary Plus, the documentary plus 35 short lessons on individual puritans. Here, Tony Reinke has a Puritan Study series and this link brings you to the index.

I enjoy Derek Thomas’ series going through Pilgrim’s Progress lecture series. He gives explanations of the different scenes in Bunyan’s allegory, and also biographical and cultural information for background context. This helps e understand it a lot more. The series is currently free on Ligonier. (I don’t know how long Ligonier will keep the series on the Free side of the ministry.) I’m going thru it a second time, I enjoyed it so much..

The numbering is a bit confusing.

The first video is The City of Destruction.
The Wicket Gate
The Interpreter’s House
The Cross & the Sepulcher
The Hill Difficulty
The Palace Beautiful
The Valley of Humiliation
The Valley of the Shadow of Death
The Godless City: Vanity Fair
The Castle of Giant Despair
The Delectable Mountains
The Celestial City

A friend is going through the book Susie: Life & Legacy of Susannah Spurgeon with her book club group, she said the book is terrific! Here is an interview with Ray Rhodes, the author.

The slowly disappearing doctrine of hell: hell was created good for the destruction of evil

I hope any of these links suit you, help you, or provide any edification!

Posted in theology

Jackie Hill Perry rejects discernment talk about her false prophesying

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

On April 4 I posted a blog reacting to Jackie Hill Perry’s (JHP) coming out as a prophet. In a multi-tweet thread she announced that God deals with her in dreams, speaks to her, gives her information about other people for JHP’s intercession. My examination of her statements is here.

I am not all that familiar with JHP. I don’t follow her on social media nor have I listened to her raps, songs, or sermons (Yes, she is a preacher too). But I know a false teacher when I see one. Or when I hear one… preach to men or claim direct revelation from God. These are easy. You don’t need a nuanced or advanced discernment radar to know the bells are going off when a so-called Christian says that.

Her following is huge. She has 688,000 on Instagram and 211,000 on Twitter and I’m sure more on TikTok. Let’s say north of a million followers. So what she says and does matters, because numerous impressionable and undiscerning women are being impacted by her consistently unbiblical example.

When I posted about her admission that she is a prophet, that blog got a lot of views. See chart below. You can guess which hits are the days when my JHP essay dropped. People are influenced by influencers, and JHP is an influencer. My job is to praise the ones the Lord has raised up and warn people about the others. My job is to tell the truth using the gift of discernment for y local church and the wider body, to warn, admonish in love. And I mean it in love. No one is happy to see someone drift away from Jesus.

Jackie Hill Perry does not like “discernment bloggers” (I purposely used scare quotes). She certainly didn’t like that many have called her false. So, she posted an Instagram video pushing back. She did not address the scriptural issues raised by me or other discerners. Of course. She cannot: there is no scriptural basis for denying the spiritual gift of discerning of spirits, no basis for receiving direct revelation nor of scriptures allowing females to preach to men. So, JHP’s push-back was against discernment as an activity.

She raised the usual canards about discernment: It’s unloving. It’s unwarranted. It’s unbiblical. Well, I’ll just let you take a listen yourself. It is 52 seconds.

I’ll go through her points one by one.

JHP: “If you follow somebody or something and literally all the content they produce is talking about other people, you don’t need these people to teach you how to spot false teaching or error.”

EP: I agree with this. When authors, bloggers, preachers, teachers etc get ‘stuck’ on one topic and that is ALL they ever “literally” produce, speak of, write about, their perspective becomes skewed. We must focus on Christ and employ the spiritual gifts for His glory and the good of the body. A skewed or myopic perspective won’t accomplish that. We should be balanced.

But while I agree with her general point, her comment is a straw man, because only a few discernment bloggers produce ONLY content that is “talking about other people.” She deliberately focused on only the fringe bloggers and lumped the bad ones in with the good ones and denied the total use of the gift of discernment. JHP says people who focus too much are not to be followed. So, opponents will find a reason to try and dismiss your warning or admonitions and then just focus on the emotional.

JHP: “You need the Spirit, you need the church, and you need your Bible.”

EP: I agree with this. However, her list is not complete. You also need the gifts of the Spirit. The Spirit dispensed gifts to believers. One of them is discerning of Spirits. All gifts that are in use today are for the edification of the body, which is the church. (1 Corinthians 12:7-10).

Now this is interesting. JHP maintains that she is a charismatic (not in those terms, but yes). She believes the gift of prophecy is in use today, and tongues, and hearing from God etc. So does she not believe that the gift of discerning of spirits is also in use? Did it go away? We don’t need believers with that gift anymore? But miracles and tongues and the rest we do need?

Or does she believe that NONE of the gifts are in use today, all we need is the Bible and the Spirit and the church?. And what does she mean by needing “the church” to discern? Are not believers with gifts the ones who make up the church?

You see when Peter in 2 Peter 3:16 wrote that the untaught and unstable distort scripture, this is one way they do it. JHP is giving us an example here. They move your eyes from scripture to emotion. They use church-y verbiage like Bible and Spirit and church. They use verses but omit the parts they dislike. There’s another example of twisting coming up in a second.

JHP: “You don’t need a constant diet of someone tearing down the body to teach you how to contend for the faith”

EP: Contending for the faith is messy. It involves a fight. Not that we are pugnacious. Not that we look for it. But if you contend for anything, it gets painful. Paul contended and in almost every city he went to there were riots. All the apostles contended, and they were killed, or exiled.

I already addressed the ‘constant diet’, but now here is a common phrase, ‘you’re tearing people down.’ Well yes and no. We love people and pray for the ones like JHP. But we also tear down. We are commanded to tear down philosophies that oppose Christ.

We tear down arguments and every presumption set up against the knowledge of God; and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. (2 Corinthians 10:5 Berean Study Bible)

We are destroying arguments and all arrogance raised against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, (2 Corinthians 10:5 NASB).

We’re supposed to tear down anything that opposes Jesus, any teaching that is abhorrent to Him. Wolves always agree in principle that false teaching should be rejected. But wolves always say, “It’s not me. I’m not false. You’re so unloving”.

JHP: “That’s not what Jude offered he offered the old testament to them to give them some context for how to discern false teaching in their presence.“

EP: That is exactly what Jude offered. He was soooo upset about false teaching he abandoned his original point of his letter about salvation so that he could teach them to discern.

Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith that was once for all time handed down to the saints (Jude 1:3).

Jude is the only New Testament book whose entire focus is devoted to confronting apostasy, meaning people who have defected from the true, biblical faith. Jude gave some examples from the Old Testament about their judgment, not about ‘how to discern’. He also described in detail the immoral and unconscionable character of these false ones who were infiltrating the church. He contended, and bluntly.

JHP: guard your heart and guard your mind from those who would tempt you and disciple you into lovelessness.

EP: Jude is the only book in the Bible written by Jude. His only focus is discernment. But JHP’s standard of discernment bloggers, of which Jude is one, we should avoid Jude since “literally all the content they produce is talking about other people.”

Was Jude loveless? Did the Holy Spirit include Jude’s book in the canon as a “temptation to lovelessness”? Of course not. You see the holes in Jackie Hill Perry’s talk by now, I’m sure.

Jude continued in his book describing in detail the immoral and unconscionable character of these false ones who were infiltrating the church. He ‘talked about other people’. (And so did Paul – and by name). Jude said the false ones were:

hidden reefs (which kill ships)
selfish
dead
wild
shameful
bound for hell
grumblers
fault-finders
lusty
arrogant
flatterers
self-aggrandizing

By JHP’s standard, isn’t that “loveless” talk?

Yes, do guard your heart and mind saturate it with truth. That way you won’t be twisted by the unstable who distort it.

Sinners never allow you to point to them. The lawyer tried to justify himself. The woman at the well tried to distract Jesus from talking of her sins by switching the conversation to worship. The Rich Young Ruler tried flattery (“Good teacher“) and arrogant knowledge (“I have kept the commandments”). A false teacher will never say, “Let me take a look at what they’re saying against me to see if there is any merit to it”. A Christian will do that. A wolf won’t. A wolf will use the Bible to justify herself, distract you from her sin, and pretend to be humble and kind. But inwardly they are ravenous. Don’t feed them.

Posted in theology

CampMeetings: an outgrowth of the Second Great Awakening, and still going strong in Georgia

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

EPrata photo

The second Great Awakening had an impact, of this we know. I was not aware of the impact it had on the south until this week. Encyclopedia Britannica says,

Second Great Awakening: Protestant religious revival in the United States from about 1795 to 1835. During this revival, meetings were held in small towns and large cities throughout the country, and the unique frontier institution known as the camp meeting began.

The Georgia Encyclopedia explains more:

Georgia has a wealth of extant camp-meeting grounds across the state. These historic sites developed as a result of the Second Great Awakening, a series of revivals that occurred from about 1790 to 1830 and planted the values of Protestantism deep in the American character, especially in the South. This religious movement galvanized the entire nation after the American Revolution (1775-83) and by 1820 helped to form the distinct national characteristic of a revivalist society. The Second Great Awakening, often called the Great Revival, became a regional phenomenon in the South, fostering the development of three major denominations, the Baptist, Methodist, and Presbyterian churches, and creating what some have called the Bible Belt. [1].

Oh my! That’s HUGE!

Awww, it’s so quaint. And long ago. Are they still having camp-meetings?

The camp meeting, an outdoor, continuous religious service, became a fixture of Georgia’s religious life. In fact, the meetings were so popular by the 1890s that the phrase “at a Georgia camp meeting” became a trite expression the world over. At least thirty of these sites, reflecting the camp-meeting movement and exhibiting its vernacular architecture, remain active in the state into the twenty-first century. [2].

One of those Great Awakening camp meeting grounds is near me! It’s the Poplar Springs Campground. Meetings have been held there every year since founding in 1832 till now. The only exception was the 4 years of the Civil War 1861-1865. I am in awe.

The surrounding landscape is another distinguishing feature of camp-meeting grounds. Given the idea that camp meetings provided a chance for worshipers to commune with God in nature, the topography and other landscape features played a significant role in the selection of the sites. The availability of a water source and the presence of trees, or the “sacred canopy,” often determined the place and name of the retreats. Site names like Fountain, Mossy Creek, Pine Log, Rock Springs, and White Oak indicate the importance of these natural features, while such names as Flat Rock and Pleasant Hill highlight other pleasing landscape features. The founders of Poplar Springs Camp Ground in Franklin County used both water and tree type to name their location in 1832. [3].

I made a jaunt to Canon, GA to see the National Register location of three historic churches. I decided on the way back to swing by the Poplar Springs Camp-Meeting grounds. I just love the idea of them being together with like-minded Christians, under the trees, united in love for Jesus and hearing sermons and music every night. Apparently at Poplar Springs there is a bugle that announces the opening of each night’s sermons!

The historic marker alongside the road says:

Camp meetings have been held here each year from 1832, except four years during the War Between the states. The 50-acre plot, “extending one-half mile in every direction from the preacher´s stand” was purchased by from Daniel and Jacob Groover for $25 by William Hammons, John F. Wilson, George Shell, John B. Wade, Dennis Phillips, Thomas King and Rev. Nelson Osborne, Trustees. The first meeting, August 1832, was held under a brush arbor with 30 tents on the ground. Women were seated on one side of the arbor: men on the other John W. Osborne, appointed usher served at every meeting until his death in 1914.

These are my photos of the place. It’s beautiful. The ‘tents’ are actually rough cabins. The tabernacle is open air on all sides, with hand hewn beams above and wood pews below. The tabernacle AKA the Arbor, is a pole and beam construction supporting a large roof. This July will be the 191st Camp Meeting at Poplar Springs. Tugaloo Holler will play bluegrass music.

There is a monument on the grounds that states:

Poplar Springs Methodist Camp Grounds. 1832 – 1956. Athens Elberton District Methodist Church

“This memorial is erected in July 1956 by Friends of Poplar Springs Camp Grounds who feel that these grounds have constituted a shrine for the past century constantly pointing to the better life and dedicated with earnest prayer that “the faith of our father might live on“

Amen. Amen.

Many of the cabins are owned by family members passed down from one generation to another. This blogger has some great photos of the growth pencil marks on the exterior of some cabins, or the hand prints of the family members, etc. His photos are here and worth looking at. He took them in 2018.

Further Resources & Footnotes

The last photo in the slideshow that’s black and white is from the Georgia Archives Virtual Vault.

You can see even more photos from R. Clegg photography, here

The Historic Rural Churches of Georgia entry for Poplar Springs Camp grounds is here.

Footnotes 1, 2, 3: New Georgia Encyclopedia, last modified Jul 31, 2018. https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/arts-culture/camp-meeting-grounds/

Posted in poetry, theology

Kay Cude Poetry: Be Killing Sin or it Be Killing You

Posted on by elizabethprata

I recommend John Owen’s works. Admittedly, his writing is dense and difficult, being 350 years old. However, there are many helps available to aid understanding of his writing, many notes and modern language updates. Here is one from Meet the Puritans. It is very much worth it to pursue a study of Owen’s monumental books.

Here is Texas Poet Kay Cude with her thoughts sprung from Owen’s work Mortification of Sin. Used with permission. Right-click to open larger in new tab

Posted in theology

Jerry: His JOY Story

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Radio Station TheJOYfm does short stories on people who evidence joy in the Lord. I posted this on my social media yesterday. It encouraged a LOT of people. So I’m posting it here also, in hopes that even more people will be encouraged. The radio station did a JOY story on my elder, Jerry. It’s a great story, if you need encouragement, a smile, or hope.

The JOY FM 

JOY Story | Jerry

In 1983, I was a high school senior playing football in Nebraska. We had a dominant team and cruised through the regular season and first two playoff games unchallenged. Our team was soaring with confidence and expectation as we traveled to the state championship. After an hour-long ride, we confidently piled off the bus to finish business and become, at least in our minds, a dynasty in Nebraska football.

I was holding the ball for our kicker on a kickoff play. He booted it deep and expected that the faster guys on our team would get down there and knock the poor ball carrier into the next county. This time, however, the ball carrier found a gap and barreled toward me. We collided somewhere between the 30 and 35 yard line and my helmet met his helmet with tremendous force. The pain was not excruciating and with adrenaline galore, I tried to get up. Nothing happened.

The game video shows some of my teammates trying to help me up. A medic came racing over and waved off my teammates. I later learned that he saw the way I went down and knew it looked “fishy”. My Mom, Dad and brother soon joined the fray of medical personnel and coaches on the field. I remember Mom squeezing my hand with a worried look on her face asking if I could feel it. I could not and it was heartbreaking to let her know the truth. In the 3 minute ride to the hospital, I can remember two exceptionally comforting thoughts: the Lord gave me the peace that passes all understanding and the conviction that this whole experience was going to ramp up both my need and dependence on Him. Rather than being fearful, I experienced more peace on my way to the hospital than I ever had to that point in my life.

An x-ray showed that I had dislocated C4-5 and cracked one of the vertebrae as well. When my vertebrae were dislocated, the spinal cord was pinched and damaged. My lifetime diagnosis was labeled a C4-5 incomplete injury. I was now a quadriplegic.

As a new quadriplegic paralyzed from the neck down, I was flown to a hospital in Denver to start the rehab process. Slowly but surely our Lord began to help me recover some movement! More importantly, He continued to increase my love for the Lord Jesus. After almost four months, I was able to come home and graduate with my high school class.

Looking back, the extraordinary events of that providential night certainly added trials to a life that had previously been largely carefree. But with those came God’s sufficient grace times a thousand! He has unloaded one blessing after another. It has proven to be one of just a few events in my first 56 years that I would not trade for anything because of the sanctification I would have missed out on without it. My wife, Amy, and I have been married 20 years and are blessed with our two children, Ben and Maggie.

I am still confined to a wheelchair and Amy and my children carry much of the load. In addition, six different godly, servant-hearted friends, each with their own morning of the week, relentlessly serve our family by getting me out of bed and ready for the day. My job of teaching Bible at a Christian school continues to provide tremendous joy and would be one of my favorite pastimes even if it wasn’t my job. For me, being a quadriplegic was my journey to being more like Christ. He is using all things – no matter what it is – to perfect the Gospel in me.

Posted in bible, God, prayer

Peter’s impetuousness

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Picture Peter and friends on the boat, in the middle of Lake Galilee.

Suddenly one of the men in the boat looked out and said, “Someone is walking on the water!” Sure enough, with robes flowing in the wind, here comes Jesus walking across the whitecaps.

Peter cried out, “Is that You, Lord?”
The Lord answered, “It is I”
Peter said, “Can I come?”

Continue reading “Peter’s impetuousness” →
Posted in holy spirit, prophecy, regeneration

The beautiful work of the Holy Spirit

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

EPrata photo

When we repent and come into reconciliation with Jesus, He sends the Holy Spirit into us and the Spirit begins the work of regenerating sanctification. Because we are born dead, spiritually empty and carnally minded, when the Spirit comes, He enlivens us and begins the work of shaping us like clay into the Lord’s likeness. Here are but two verses that remind us that He grows us sovereignly and perfectly:

“One of those listening was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message.” (Acts 16:14)

“For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.” (Romans 8:6)

The change is not instant. We go from one who is dead in the flesh to one who is bearing all the good fruit is that the Spirit nurtures in us (Galatians 5:22-26). Even the Apostle Paul battled flesh (Romans 7:15). But through constant submission, prayer, study of the word, and good works-bearing fruit, the Spirit leads us into good things, which will be completed on the day we are glorified in body at the rapture or upon our death. (Galatians 6:9; 1 Corinthians 15:51-52; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).

But sometimes it is hard to detect if we can see this change in ourselves. In growth by degrees you don’t see it at first. On our first day of school when I see the little kindergarteners I’d worked with last year, I notice that they have sprung up like weeds! I notice it because I had not seen them for 8 weeks. But do I notice growth or change in them day in and day out during the school year? Not so much.

And that’s outward, physical growth. It is even harder to detect fruit-bearing, spiritual growth in myself.

The Bible says for us to “Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.” (Colossians 3:2). So I do. I ponder heaven, and the Spirit and Jesus and the things He has told us in the Bible.

One day I was musing along in my mind and thought of the statue of the David I’d seen in Italy. It was a beautiful piece of work, so lifelike carved out of marble! ‘It will be gone someday,’ I thought, ‘As will all man-made art.’ I shook my head. But then another thought popped into my mind. “Hey! I can go over and see the REAL David!” My mind was no longer on earthly things but realized that a greater treasure was the resurrected, glorified and perfected David that the Lord had personally set as King of Israel! I laughed out loud. The real David, how about that! I began to get a glimmer of just how beautiful the Lord’s work is in us and that there will be many more things that will be stunningly beautiful that my brain can’t even conceive of but was just getting a tiny glimpse of. Slowly and surely the Holy Spirit does His work in us, praise God.

As we grow, we let go of earthly things and trust the fact that no matter how lovely the man-made things of earth are; like soaring bridges, stately buildings, beautiful art, the LORD is preparing a place for us that will be astoundingly beautiful, the foremost beauty of which are the glorified and redeemed people populating the place through the redemptive blood of Jesus Christ. And more than that, Christ Himself is the most beautiful of all!

RC Sproul used to talk of beauty from the Bible and especially how beautiful God is. He said,

Other texts also talk about God’s beauty. “One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple” (Ps. 27:4). In Psalm 29, David calls upon us to worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. In both places, the Lord (or significant aspects of His character) are called “beautiful.”

We are being grown in HIS beauty!

Do you have a moment when you came across a growth marker in yourself when you realized that your response to a thought or a situation was a direct result of the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit? Let’s celebrate the Spirit’s work!!

Further Reading

Our Beautiful God

Begging: The Place to Start

Posted in theology

How’s your prayer life?

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

We always pray for the weak and the hurting. That is good. But please also pray for the strong, whom the weak lean on and don’t usually ask to be prayed for. As more people hurt, more people go to the strong. In other words, let’s all pray for each other.

I finished my Institute for Church Leaders course on the Practice of Prayer. It was excellent, so excellent! The ICL is online and part of The Master’s Seminary. Anyone can take classes, or take a certificate track (usually of 4 classes). The classes run $70 but at the end you take a survey and usually they give you $25 off the next one. Some classes are free. Other times they run a half-off sale. It is not financially burdensome to take any ICL course!

The idea is to help pastors raise up men for leadership, or lay-people interested in strengthening their walk. My prayer course was with Brad Klassen and was rich with truth and wonderful insights.

My next class I’m taking in the Christian Living Track for a certificate, will be Biblical Manhood and Womanhood taught by John Street.

Here are a few thoughts on Prayer. Even with all the joy I felt while learning these things, and the wonder of our opportunity to commune with the Triune God, and the conviction I felt that I don’t pray enough, I still don’t pray enough! But I want to be better.

“Praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,” (Ephesians 6:18).

What does prayer do? So MUCH. But here are a few:

It effects forgiveness and cleanses the conscience.

Prayer promotes holiness and mortifies sin.

Prayer taps God’s strength to meet daily needs.

Prayer gives opportunity to experience God’s goodness. (Gulp, this one really convicted me.)

JI Packer used to say, “The best way to diagnose one’s spiritual condition is to ask, ‘How’s your prayer life?'”

Prayer is not:

  • a wish
  • magic that “releases” God
  • mystical meditation
  • positive confession
  • self-help
  • a way to receive revelation

The impulse to pray is innate in humans and only in humans. We were created to have communion with God on a personal level. What a gift! What an opportunity!

We pray in gratitude for this great salvation, for a very present help in times of need, for our future with God… Prayers of gratitude in the Bible are–

2 Samuel 22:47-51, “The Lord lives, and blessed be my Rock; And exalted be my God, the rock of my salvation, 48 The God who executes vengeance for me, And brings down peoples under me, 49 Who also brings me out from my enemies; You also raise me above those who rise up against me; You rescue me from the violent person. 50 Therefore I will give thanks to You, Lord, among the nations, And I will sing praises to Your name. 51 He is a tower of salvation to His king, And shows favor to His anointed, To David and his descendants forever.”

Daniel 2:23, To You, God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise, For You have given me wisdom and power; Even now You have made known to me what we requested of You, For You have made known to us the king’s matter.

Psalm 7:17, I will give thanks to the Lord according to His righteousness And will sing praise to the name of the Lord Most High.

Psalm 9:1, I will give thanks to the Lord with all my heart; I will tell of all Your wonders.

Romans 1:8, First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, because your faith is being proclaimed throughout the world.

1 Corinthians 1:4, I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus,

Ephesians 1:15-16, For this reason I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you and your love for all the saints, 16 do not cease giving thanks for you, while making mention of you in my prayers;

I think I’ll end this here, so that I can go…pray!