By Elizabeth Prata*
I particularly enjoyed this piece from poet Kay Cude. I hope you enjoy it too. May it encourage you, strengthen you, or simply allow your thoughts to linger on the wonders and glories of our Savior.
By Elizabeth Prata
2 Timothy 3:1-5 says,
But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. 2For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, slanderers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, 4treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5holding to a form of godliness although they have denied its power; avoid such people as these.
That’s a LOT! In truth, it is getting hard to avoid people such as those. They seem to be growing, those kind of people are everywhere. Love, especially, is dwindling in quantity and in form.
Where is the love?
In 1972 Donny Hathaway and Roberta Flack published a song called exactly that, Where is the love? I remember it because it was popular and ended this way-
LOL, you didn’t think that 7-11 songs were invented in the 2000s, did you? Anyway, I am focusing on love in this edition of Prata Potpourri because we all need it.
For many here in the US, Labor day means back to school season. Here in Georgia, we started back in August, but in many other places the first day of school begins after the September holiday. BBC Good Food has some tips on back to school anxiety. Becuase we love our children and want them to be safe and happy:
How to manage back-to-school anxiety
What is sanctification? It’s growth in holiness. It’s a partnership with the indwelling Holy Spirit, who points us toward Christ and incremental growth in His likeness, but includes our choice to obey and to mortify sin in us as we grow. Why do we obey? Because we love Jesus. Obedience is the evidence of our love of Christ.
The one who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and the one who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will reveal Myself to him. John 14:21
Here is an essay called Sanctification explained simply: “I am convinced that this is the exact opposite of how the Spirit works to sanctify us. Sanctification isn’t a stairway upwards to higher and higher rungs of holiness. No, sanctification is a downward soul work“.
Remember the book about the 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman? It was first published in 1992. That’s over 30 years ago! Time flies. On Google Books, it says 72% liked this book. But enough time has passed since its publication that research has been done on whether we really DO speak in love languages. Notwithstanding people’s personal enjoyment of it, the question is, does the premise hold? Research says…no.
Mt. Zion Church’s ministry Chapel Library has a monthly booklet on a theme, with the old guys’ essays on that theme. This month it’s “The Christian’s Love for Christ”. I highly recommend the booklet, called Free grace Broadcaster. You can read it online, download it to your device, or have it sent free to your Postal mailbox.
In this issue of the FGB, The Christian’s Love for Christ, J. C. Ryle introduces this crucial subject with Christ’s question to Peter: “Lovest Thou Me?” Thomas Vincent explains why true Christians love the unseen Christ. Following that, Jonathan Edwards lists biblical motives to love Christ. Charles Spurgeon declares that love for Christ is the great test for confirming that we are children of God. Ryle, in his second article, identifies the marks of love for our precious Savior. In Spurgeon’s second article, he asserts reasons to love Christ and the consequences of being without love for Him. Edwards follows with a second article that describes God’s dreadful curse on those who do not love Christ. Vincent then helpfully gives an overview of how to examine and prove our love for Jesus. In his third and final article, Ryle asks a heartfelt, probing, and personal question that we must all answer: Do you love Jesus Christ?
Chapel Library: The Christian’s Love for Christ
Ligonier says the “‘ethical mandate’ is to “The ethical mandate of the Christ-centered life is to love God and to love others with our whole selves.” Good essay. Here’s another quote-
Only the Spirit-changed heart can exercise this Christ-defined love because Christ reconciles us to God and to neighbor and even puts back together the broken pieces of our own selves. The ethical mandate is to put on the agap of Christ because we were loved by Christ all the way to the end.
John MacArthur in today’s blog writes of grace and “An eternal expression of Love:
“God’s grace is older than history, reaching back before the creation of time itself. It is not merely poured out in the moment of salvation; it is evident throughout His eternal plan of redemption.”
Such love!! More at link above
In conclusion, thought love in the world may be waning, if you are in Christ, He loves us to the end. He will never not love us. His love is sure, steady, and eternal. Our love for Him in response should be the same, and for each other. Where is the Love Donny and Roberta asked? It is in Christ, glowing out in glory rays to His beloved, aimed at hearts to change them into hearts of flesh, beating with the grace-filled love He has given us.
By Elizabeth Prata
We are going through Mark’s Gospel at church. Mark opens with a reference in Isaiah to the Forerunner to the Messiah and (briefly, as Mark is wont to do) describes John the Baptist.
Do you realize that John the Baptist performed not one miracle? As a matter of fact, until Jesus came and changed the water into wine at Cana, no miracle had been performed in Israel for 800 years! Not since the time of Elijah and Elisha. No prophet had spoken to Israel as the messenger of God for 400 years, not since Malachi! No angel had appeared to the people (as far as we know) for 500 years!
So why was the greatest man who was born of woman until his time, (Mathew 11:11) and who was one of the greatest (and most successful) Old Testament prophets never been given the power to perform one miracle?
Above, Matthias Grünewald, detail of the Isenheim Altarpiece, “He must become greater and I must become less“.
I have no great insight, no commentary I’ve used, and no sermon I can point you to. I just want to focus on the holy Word of God and its effect on hungry, despairing hearts.
John the Baptist was a forerunner to the Messiah, one who was prophesied to come and who did come. (Isaiah 40:3-5; John 1:23). He had one message and one message only: repent and be saved. (Matthew 3:2; Mark 1:4). One would not think that a man with a singular message of sin, sinners, repentance and baptism would be popular.
Men who preach that are not popular today. But John the Baptist had throngs of followers who listened to him. He had throngs who followed his preaching with a life choice to become baptized in water, in preparation for the Messiah’s coming when they would be baptized by fire. Even King Herod liked to listen to John, even though John was no shirker of his responsibility to point out to the King his sinful actions! (John 6:18).
“Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.” (Matthew 3:5-6).
Of course, some undoubtedly followed John because they loved hearing him charge the religious leaders of the day with hypocrisy. Some undoubtedly followed John because he was the most interesting thing going on. Some undoubtedly were excited to think of their Messiah coming in all glory to rip the Romans from the death-grip they had on the land.
The fact is, John was filled with the Holy Spirit at birth, and a man speaking truth about the Messiah from a pure, Holy Spirit-filled heart is a powerful miracle in itself. John was forerunner to the One would perform miracles.
You can read about how demon-drenched the place was. (Luke 6:17-19). No prophet had spoken. No angel had come. No miracle had occurred. The religious services were saturated with hypocrisy, filthy lucre, and idolatry thanks to the failure of the leaders of the day and the years before and the generations preceding. The people were tired of sin- their own and others’. The whole land was crawling with demons.
So they listened.
In my opinion, John’s ministry was miraculous in the way that it shows us what preaching the word does to weary hearts. Weary hearts want the word. They want to hear about the Messiah. They want hope of His coming to enter their hearts and fill them with knowledge of His glory.
Their hearts were hungry for message of hope, and even for a message of hard truths; a message of their sins and the hope of the coming of the Perfect who would deliver them.
You can imagine how hungry hearts are today. And as it was true then, it is true now: the preaching of repentance and the coming of the Messiah prepares us for Him.
Though our generations may or may not be blessed with national revival, but may instead be cursed with global apostasy, (Revelation 2:5; 2 Thessalonians 2:3; 2 Timothy 4:3-4), we know that individual hearts are still hungry. Individual hearts still thirst for the Living Water and we still need to proclaim it.
My wish for us all is that we resolve to cling to the Holy Word by diligent study, knowledge of, and living it out. I pray for us that we resolve to speak it, proclaim it, contend for it. His word, the holy Bible, is now the miracle that sustains us and is His sign that He is living and active. (Hebrews 4:21).
Do you know it? Do you read it? Do you hide it in your heart for the moment the Spirit might prompt you to share a message of sin and repentance?
In most artistic renderings of John, he is shown with a hand or a finger pointing up toward heaven. Do we follow the example of John in pointing our lives toward Jesus? Do not seek after signs and manifestations, but rely on the sure word.
Isaiah said that one like John would come–
“A voice of one calling: “In the desert prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God.” (Isaiah 40:3)
John did come.
“He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.” (John 1:23).
“In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” (Proverbs 3:6)
By Elizabeth Prata
There IS life after death. It’s eternal and there are only two places we would dwell: in Jesus or out of Jesus. In heaven with Jesus or in Hell where His wrath abides. There is only one way to heaven. Through Jesus. And that way id the way of repentance of our sin and belief in Jesus who died as the sacrificial Lamb, enduring God’s wrath for sin for all who would believe.
By Elizabeth Prata
As a Bible times Jewish person, talk of “the wilderness” struck fear into their heart. It was the place their ancestors wandered, thirsty and grumbling. It was where predators lurked, from the large such as hyenas and jackals and wolves, to the small, such as scorpions and snakes. It as where there was no shade from the relentless heat and sun, where thieves hid out, and where there was no food or safety.
It was where Jesus was tempted.
It was also where John the Baptist lived and preached.
It was where they went walking after a day’s journey to hear John the Baptist and perhaps to be baptized, and have their heart’s hope ignited that the Messiah was finally arriving.
“Because of its lack of water and good routes, the Judean wilderness has been (mostly) uninhabited throughout history. Consequently it was an ideal place for those seeking refuge from enemies or retreat from the world. When on the run from King Saul, David hid in various places in the Judean wilderness (the Wilderness[es] of Ziph, Maon, and En Gedi are part of the Judean Wilderness). John the Baptist preached here, and it was likely that this was the wilderness where Jesus was tempted.” Source Bibleplaces.com.
It is hard for me to imagine people today walking for a whole day over rough terrain, stones in sandals, in the blazing heat, to hear preaching. But back then they did. They came in droves to “the wilderness” to hear John the Baptist.
And all the country of Judea was going out to him, and all the people of Jerusalem; and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins. (Mark 1:5).
Then when Jesus came, he was led by the Spirit to “the wilderness” and there he stayed 40 days, being continually tempted at all points by satan. No food, no water, nothing except “beasts,” as Mark and only Mark, notes in Mark 1:13. What were these beasts?
Vincent’s Commentary says the region abounded in boars, jackals, wolves, foxes, leopards, hyenas, etc.
Yikes.
For Israel the dry, mostly uninhabited desert engendered fear and awe. It could be described like the original chaos prior to creation (Deut. 32:10; Jer. 4:23–26). Israel was able to go through the desert because God led them (Deut. 1:19). Its animal inhabitants caused even more fear—snakes and scorpions (Deut. 8:15); wild donkeys (Jer. 2:24). The desert lay waste without humans or rain (Job 38:26; Jer. 2:6). The desert was a “terrifying land” (Isa. 21:1 NASB). The only expectation for a person in the wilderness was death by starvation (Exod. 16:3). God’s judgment could turn a city into desert (Jer. 4:26), but His grace could turn the wilderness into a garden (Isa. 41:17–20). In the NT the desert was the place of John the Baptist’s ministry (Luke 1:80; 3:4) and where demon-possession drove a man (Luke 8:29). The crowds forced Jesus into the unpopulated desert to preach (Mark 1:45). Jesus took His disciples there to rest (Mark 6:31) Source- Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary.
I kept wondering, did the beasts recognize Jesus?
And He was in the wilderness forty days being tempted by Satan; and He was with the wild beasts, and the angels were ministering to Him. (Mark 1:13 NASB1995)
Our pastor said that the inclusion of beasts in the verse but then the immediate mention of angels ministering to Jesus, likely means that a contrast is intended. Beasts opposing Jesus while Angels were helping Him.
But the beasts got me thinking of all the times God used beasts in His plan.
Beasts as used in the Bible, especially the New Testament, could be an animal that is domesticated or wild. Sacrificial or useful. Beast is sometimes used as a metaphor for a brutish nature or wicked men. Then there is THE Beast of Revelation, AKA the Antichrist. He is the man with the most brutish & wicked nature of all.
God sent the animals to the ark two by two – Genesis 7:15
God used ravens to feed Elijah – 1 Kings 17:6.
He used bears to kill the mockers – 2 Kings 2:23-24.
God closed the lion’s mouths so they would not eat Daniel in the lion’s den – Daniel 6:22.
God used Aaron to make frogs come up over the land of Egypt – Exodus 8:5-6. Same with gnats – Exodus 8:17
He used a great fish to swallow Jonah and then to spit Jonah up onto dry land – Jonah 1:17
He used a donkey to speak to Balaam – Numbers 22:28
God is sovereign over all the animals. Though the manner in which the angels were ministering to Jesus in his wilderness temptation period is not described, perhaps it was the angels who protected Jesus from the beasts while He was occupied with fasting and praying.
I was wondering if the beasts recognized Jesus in the wilderness, because Balaam’s donkey did. Numbers 22:27.
It is interesting to think of the wilderness as the place of spiritual desert. Devoid of flourishing truth, a wasteland, as the pagans who do not know Jesus are wandering in. Jesus fed the 4,000 in the desolate place east of the Sea of Galilee (Mark 8:1–9).
The wilderness was not only a setting, a location, a real place. David hid there. Jesus was tempted there. John The Baptist baptized there.
But the wilderness is also a metaphor.
In both the Old Testament and the New Testament, the wilderness has many functions. It is a place of actual barrenness and hunger, and also spiritual drought. It’s a source of nourishment from God (water and manna), but also a place where truth was preached and the seekers were nourished with that truth. It’s a location for God’s testing of His people and of Jesus too. It is the place of the backdrop for their transformation.
The People traveled through 6 actual wildernesses; Shur, Etham, Sin, Sinai, Paran, and Zin. When people today say they are having a rocky time, they may say they are metaphorically going through a “wilderness experience.”
Soon there will be no wilderness, no desert, no beasts. All will be green and healthy and flourishing. There will be no barrenness, no lack and no want. No place where dangers lurk and no place where truth isn’t present.No place of testing, for the testing will have been done and the inhabitants have passed- thanks to Jesus’ death and resurrection.
The pastures of the wilderness overflow, the hills gird themselves with joy
You visit the earth and cause it to overflow;
You greatly enrich it;
The stream of God is full of water;
You prepare their grain, for so You prepare the earth.
10You water its furrows abundantly, You settle its ridges, You soften it with showers, You bless its growth.
11You have crowned the year with Your goodness,
And Your paths drip with fatness.
12The pastures of the wilderness drip,
And the hills encircle themselves with rejoicing.
13The meadows are clothed with flocks
And the valleys are covered with grain;
They shout for joy, yes, they sing.
By Elizabeth Prata
I’m reading William Carey’s biography, written by his great grandson S. Pearce Carey. It’s a wonderful book for many reasons. Full of nuggets. Like this one:
Carey’s sister Mary, nicknamed Polly, became an invalid at a young age. Her spine started to go. By age 25 she was a paralytic.
Carey had already evangelized his family, and blessedly, Mary was a believer when her infirmity struck. Mary was confined to her sick room for the next 50 years. She had been the one to accompany her brother tramping on their field forays, examining nature and admiring God’s handiwork. Thus, Mary’s confinement was a grief to her, as she too, loved to roam. Worse, for eleven years after her final paralysis, she could not speak. She contracted smallpox, and after recovering, whispered a sentence or two with great pain and difficulty. Then she was mute again for another 20 years.
Mary only had the use of her right arm and hand, and could write, but only in pain. However, she led a Bible study, using a slate to converse. She wrote copiously to William when he was abroad on mission. Some of these folios have been saved, Mary poured out her heart to William, and she wrote every bit of family news. She was a huge encouragement to William.
She was a prayer warrior unparalleled, S. Pearce Carey calling her one of Carey’s ‘chief priests’, saying, “the incense of whose ceaseless intercession was fragrant to God.’ She prayed every single day for William’s needs and his mission, for 52 years.
Mary had drawn her sister’s many children to Christ. Mary was so loved, “to part with her would tear us asunder” wrote Mary’s niece in 1828. In the end, Mary was just skin and bone, barely able to sit up in a chair while her bed was being made, yet her face shone with the love of Christ. She was known by all as a sweet tempered Christian lady, empathizing more for others than herself. Yet finally, in 1842 at the age of 75, Mary was brought home to her Lord, where she was finally free from all pain and standing upright to see His face.
Her ministry of evangelizing, letter writing, encouraging, praying, and teaching is known to us 182 years later as remarkable and a grace upon grace.
So it is with grief when I read of egotistical cretins like Beth Moore who complained an interview that she was “in a tradition where there were just very limited things that a woman could do” as Beth has said, so, that is why she chose to step out of God’s role for her and satisfied her venal ambition to preach. Her God-given role was “limiting.”
Limiting. As in, not big enough.
A woman like Moore, with full body capabilities, given the blessing of two children, having a home and wealth (not evicted as Carey’s sister’s family was), considered her role limiting. Mary, bedridden in the 1700s-1800s, mute, one useful arm only and that in pain, lovingly cared for as she engaged in not one, not two, not three, not four, but five ministries, having global impact and heaven only knows the eternal impact.
Does Moore and her ilk not know of this? Do these strutting spiritual strumpets not know of lowly Cockney, uneducated, impoverished maid Gladys Aylward, denied support to go on mission in China, but went anyway? Pouring out her life to minister to and evangelize orphans? Working tirelessly for the pagan Chinese from 1930 to 1970, when she died in Taiwan?
Do they not know of Selina Hastings, the Countess of Huntingdon, who was born into lordly British privilege, and used her means to become an ardent supporter of ministers who preach the truth? Inviting others to her home and founding dozens of chapels for the area’s preachers to do their godly ministrations? In 1783 she founded “The Countess of Huntingdon’s Connexion”, a society of English preachers and churches that continues to this day.
Do they not know of the blessing of motherhood, helpmeet, teacher of children, godly role and support of the household? Beth Moore and rebels of her ilk consider motherhood limiting. Praying: limiting. Letter writing: limiting. Philanthropy: limiting. Parenting: limiting. They consider all the roles and opportunities to serve God too limiting. They want to preach. They want to be in front. Well, ladies, the first shall be last and the last shall be first.
I am sure, SURE, on THAT DAY, women like Gladys, Selina, Mary will be standing in front, receiving due praise from the KING for their obedience and positive impact for the Kingdom. I am sure, SURE women like Beth Moore and Christine Caine and Jen Wilkin and Aimee Byrd etc. who rebel and whine, and ‘step into the classic leadership role’, as Caine has said, will be told “DEPART FROM ME” because of their rebellion and their negative damage to the kingdom. These disguised servants of righteousness will be unmasked, seen as they are- ministers of wickedness. As 2 Corinthians 11:15 says, their end will be as they deserve.
Meanwhile, dear sister, nothing is too limiting with God. Wherever you are and with whatever means He has given you, you can make an impact for His kingdom and for lost souls. Mary, Martha, Susannah, Dorcas, Lydia, Priscilla, Lois, Eunice…Gladys, Selina, Mary-Polly; whatever amount of education, whatever amount of finances, whatever the family situation, look to the excellent examples of our sisters in the faith. One day, we will meet them all. What a day that will be.
By Elizabeth Prata
We sang Christ the Sure and Steady Anchor at church yesterday. I love the marine references in the Bible, and as I sang I thought about anchors.
I lived by the water growing up and most of my adult life, mainly the ocean. Some years were spent on a lake. I loved it.
The ocean has moods, a personality, mystery, and power. Who doesn’t love a day at the beach? Even better, who doesn’t love a day ON the water? When we got a chance, we got on a boat. After a while, we had a boat. LOL, back in the day, a bunch of teenagers zooming around the bay on a 20 foot Boston Whaler wasn’t unusual.
We grew up knowing how to use our knees to ride the waves, could look at the rocks to spot the state of the tide, knew how to anchor, dock or throttle up to reach plane. We kept a weather eye on the clouds, watched the whitecaps, and had a grand time.
Despite having such familiarity with the water, and were so comfortable on it, we knew its dangers. On Narragansett Bay there was a navigational hazard called “boiler awash”.
It is a shallow patch of water near Hope Island near Prudence Island. A Navy tug sank there and its boiler, being tall, presented a hazard to the keels of boats passing over it. To make the shallow water issue worse, its boilers came to just under the surface of the water at low tide. It was a hazard all right. We always gave it a wide berth.
As an adult, I lived on a sailing yacht for two years and we sailed from Maine to Florida, crossed the Gulf Stream, and went on to the central Bahamas. We returned with the weather following the same route. Our route took us on almost every coastal river, sound, bay, and canal along the entire eastern seaboard as well as the Atlantic ocean waters off it.
Because we lived on the boat and were no longer teenagers messing around near shore, we well knew the hazards. Our VHF radio was full of calls from mariners in distress, the squawk of the marine weather station, and calls from the Coast Guard to alert to hazards (container awash, drifting and disabled boat, etc). Sailing in New England meant having intimate knowledge of reefs, shoals and rocks, and sailing in Florida meant having intimate knowledge of drunken fools, wannabe mariners and rich guy weekend warriors. In between, we learned to respect the fishermen, shrimpers, oystermen, and all the others trying to make a living.
We quickly acclimated to the water living and became respectful of the hazards. When you are underway, you are always on guard, even if it’s familiar water. Always, every second. Because any second, anything could happen, and since your boat was both your home and your transportation as well as your life, well, if it required being vigilant, that is what you did.
That is why, when the anchor was set and the engine turned off, you breathed a special sigh of relief. Oh, anything could still happen, but the ratcheting down of the vigilance was considerable. As long as the anchor held, you were all set. We just had to trust that it would hold.
I remember feeling a wonderful sense of relief when the day’s run was ended and we anchored. The engine turned off and all we could hear were the sounds of the birds and the waves. We were still, secure, and finished for the day.
When we’d traveled a thousand nautical miles were under our keel over the dark and murky waters, wondering ‘what’s down there?’ when we got to The Bahamas, the waters were clear to the bottom! We could SEE the anchor! We could determine if it was set or not, It was such a comfort after all those miles of trusting but not seeing the anchor, now to SEE it with our eyes. Our faith had become sight.
In Bible days there were only three ways to travel. You got there by walking, riding an animal, or boat. Paul traveled a lot and because of that, he was on a boat a lot. He used many marine references in his letters, examples that the people of the era would know well and understand immediately. Here are a few examples Paul and the other Apostles used:
But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. (James 1:6)
…tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine (Ephesians 4:14)
These are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves; waterless clouds, swept along by winds (Jude 1:12)
holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith, (1 Timothy 1:19)
Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. (Hebrews 2:1)
The interesting thing about that last one is that the drifting away in the Greek literally means from God’s anchor.
Strong’s explains, to “drift away from,”pararrhyéō, only occurs in Hebrews 2:1 where it refers to going spiritually adrift – “sinning by slipping away (from God’s anchor)”. It means to “lapse” into spiritual defeat, describing how we slowly move away from our moorings in Christ.”
Friends, stay moored to Christ. He is our anchor. One day, ourfaith will become sight and we will see Him as He is.
Though our journey is tense, and long, imagine the sweet relief we will feel when we get there! When all storms are over, and there are no more hidden reefs. The empty clouds deceive us no more, and our friends and family’s spiritual shipwrecks (so hard to watch!) are but a distant memory gentle Christ wipes from our mind. The sweetness and rest awaiting us beside the glassy sea is unimaginably wondrous. Rest in that assurance 🙂
Here is “Christ the Sure and Steady Anchor” performed by Matt Papa, Matt Boswell, Keith & Kristyn Getty-
By Elizabeth Prata
There is a proverb/curse of alleged Chinese origin, “May you live in interesting times.” The implication is that a life lived in interesting times is less desirable than one lived in peace and tranquility. To be sure, the danger and uncertainty and lack and want of these years are difficult to manage sometimes, but surely it is better to live in interesting times than uninteresting. Why? Jesus.
We could change that phrase to “May you live in prophetic times” and it would be a better application for the believer. For those who are IN the Lord, believers in Jesus and saved by His grace, we know that though difficult, the times that are more “interesting” offer more growth in sanctification than times when everything is going along peacefully.
The tremendous opportunity we have to actually watch God at work in the world in such an interesting and visible way fuels my love for Him and my amazement at His sovereignty. Yes, a life in a previous time might well have been more peaceful, but less astonishing. And the difficult times offer us the opportunity to grow in Jesus. He is the Potter. He sanctifies us and shapes us through trials and challenges. And my, what challenges these times offer. Therefore the growth in Christlikeness should be even greater than when living in uninteresting times.
In interesting times comes difficulty. These difficulties are large and small. Sin rises, people around us become more futile in their thinking (Romans 1), more immoral (2 Timothy 3:3), more impatient with us ‘Jesus freaks’.
So I agree, the times are hard. No one likes living in the era when our beloved nation America is failing, collapsing, and imploding. Instead, let’s focus on what God is doing. He is so high above us, yet He told us ages ago what He would do. And He is doing it. This is cause for praise and celebration.
What is God doing on earth? He said He would judge nations, set up kings and take them down.
“but it is God who executes judgment, putting down one and lifting up another.” (Psalm 75:11. Also see Daniel 2:21)
Imagine being in heaven where we can recount His mighty deeds from our own generation!
Keep that Psalms & Daniel verse in mind as election season approaches. A Pastor wrote: “Our vote does not determine who will be elected to serve in any political office. God ordains and appoints who will serve and for how long. … Our vote reveals our convictions and value system; what we believe.”
We can be mindful and diligent in our voting but if the outcome seems drastic or is not your preferred outcome, then just remember He is doing a work! We get to see it! And then we get to praise Him!
“A Psalm of Asaph. God takes His stand in His own congregation; He judges in the midst of the rulers.” (Psalm 82:1).
Matthew Henry explains, “Good princes and good judges, who mean well, are under Divine direction; and bad ones, who mean ill, are under Divine restraint.“
The world really does feel like it is out of control. But it isn’t. See, this verse comforts:
“We give thanks to you, O God; we give thanks, for your name is near. We recount your wondrous deeds. “At the set time that I appoint I will judge with equity. When the earth totters, and all its inhabitants, it is I who keep steady its pillars.” (Psalm 75:1-3).
The LORD will steady its pillars. May you live in interesting times! (and enjoy them!)
By Elizabeth Prata
I’m so glad my parents were readers. My father always had a magazine rack stuffed full of trade and business magazines next to “his chair”. He usually had some kind of business book on the end table next to his char where the lamp was. My mother was always reading a book or another. Usually non-fiction but sometimes nonfiction. In her house there was a floor to ceiling built-in bookcase filled with books. I used to enjoy looking at the titles. James Galsworthy, Leon Uris, Elaine Pagels…
I spent a lot of time at libraries growing up. As a youngster when it was normal to roam the town alone, myself at the historic building that housed our town library, mahogany checkout desk, marble floors, coffered ceilings. Quietude. Then as a teen in the town we moved to, the modern library with the salt water march out back, where I’d take my sister and we’d feed the ducks under the sun and watch the tide go out.
I enjoy reading of course, but I also like everything about books themselves. Inventorying them, looking at their cover design, arranging them, knowing they are there, friends waiting to be met. Worlds to delve into. Possibilities.
A friend was selling off his theological library and opened it up for anyone to purchase one or more books. I’m in.
This is what I got:
I’m really interested in the Decision-making book by Friesen. So many people these days make decisions by claiming to hear directly from God. Another friend sent me a link to a speech by a Mike Donahey. I hadn’t heard of him. He was talking about God’s will for your life.
He was saying that many people ask him “When did you know that being a musician was God’s will for your life?” He said he’d answer that being a musician is NOT God’s will for his life. The questioner was usually shocked at that reply. But he explained that if he got a brain injury and couldn’t write lyrics, or fingers smashed and couldn’t play guitar, or lost his voice and couldn’t sing, “Would I be missing God’s will for my life?”
Donehey said that God’s will isn’t a career choice. It is the “posture of our heart”.
Indeed, we remember the verse from John 6:40, “For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.”
It is God’s will that we repent and believe in the Son, who was sent to die for our sins and be imputed with His righteousness.
I know these books will hold many truths and wisdom that I can benefit from, including the interesting looking book “Decision Making & the Will of God“.
But for now, it is time to dig out my scanner and inventory them in LibraryThing, the at-home, free, online book inventorying system.
Have a great long weekend everyone.
By Elizabeth Prata
I wish prophecy wasn’t so manhandled and misused. I love it. It is an amazingly perfect display of God’s sovereignty, mercy, and wrath. Prophecy sparks hope that His future promises will come true, because His past promises did.
It is noteworthy that in no other religious writings in the world do we find any specific predictive prophecies like we find in the Scripture. You will find no predictive prophecies whatsoever in the writings of Buddha, Confucius, Mohammed, Lao-Tse, or Hinduism. Yet in the Scripture there are well over two thousand prophecies, most of which have already been fulfilled.
Though the Bible has been attacked at every other place, the one place where God rests His inspiration is that the things He foretells come infallibly to pass.
The Bible prophecies are altogether unexpected! I know of no one ever prophesying that any other human being would rise from the dead and ascend into heaven. That is exceedingly improbable. The chance of it happening by coincidence is incalculable. No, the Bible is not merely a book written by men; it is a book written by God through men, and the heart of its prophetic message is Jesus Christ.
Kennedy, D. J., T. Cabal (2007). Christ: The Fulfillment of Prophecy.
Truly I have spoken; truly I will bring it to pass. I have planned it, I will certainly do it. (Isaiah 46:11b)
“God is not a man, that He would lie, Nor a son of man, that He would change His mind; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?” (Numbers 23:19)
He has said he will never leave us, that He will comfort us, that He will provide for us, that He will bring us to His home in heaven, that He will hear our prayers, that we may approach the throne of God without fear or hesitation, that we will be blessed with the presence of Jesus all our days in eternity – and so much more!
Trust Jesus today. Rest in Him.
the-end-time.org 