Author: elizabethprata

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

Example: God’s healing

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Example: God’s Omniscience
Example: God’s Provision

This week I’m posting 3 quick examples of an encouraging attribute or action of God. Yesterday was an example of God’s provision. Today we have an example of God’s healing. While the spiritual gift of healing given to men in the first century, and today’s example is one of those, the sign gift of healing from the early days of the church has ceased. However, God Himself does still heal, sometimes obviously miraculously.

Yahweh will sustain him upon his sickbed; In his illness, You restore him to health. (Psalm 41:3).

Rembrandt van Rijn 1606 – 1669, The Healing of Peter’s Mother-in-Law

Sometimes when we become ill we might, in our delirium or pain, cry out, why, Lord? Sometimes, like Job, we may never know. But we DO know that all God does is good.

Barnes’ Notes says of the Psalm 41 verse,

Barnes’ Notes on the Bible: The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing – The word rendered strengthen here means to support; to uphold; to sustain. The idea here is, that God would enable him to bear his sickness, or would impart strength – inward strength – when his body failed, or when but for this aid he must sink under his disease and die. 

Here is Charles Spurgeon on Psalm 41 verse 3-

Verse 3. The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing. The everlasting arms shall stay up his soul as friendly hands and downy pillows stay up the body of the sick. How tender and sympathising is this image; how near it brings our God to our infirmities and sicknesses! Whoever heard this of the old heathen Jove, or of the gods of India or China? This is language peculiar to the God of Israel; he it is who deigns to become nurse and attendant upon good men. If he smites with one hand he sustains with the other. Oh, it is blessed fainting when one falls upon the Lord’s own bosom, and is borne up thereby! Grace is the best of restoratives; divine love is the noblest stimulant for a languishing patient; it makes the soul strong as a giant, even when the aching bones are breaking through the skin. No physician like the Lord, no tonic like his promise, no wine like his love. Thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness. What, doth the Lord turn bed maker to his sick children? Herein is love indeed. Who would not consider the poor if such be the promised reward? A bed soon grows hard when the body is weary with tossing to and fro upon it, but grace gives patience, and God’s smile gives peace, and the bed is made soft because the man’s heart is content; the pillows are downy because the head is peaceful. Note that the Lord will make all his bed, from head to foot. What considerate and indefatigable kindness! Our dear and ever blessed Lord Jesus, though in all respects an inheritor of this promise, for our sakes condescended to forego the blessing, and died on a cross and not upon a bed; yet, even there, he was after awhile upheld and cheered by the Lord his God, so that he died in triumph.” –end Spurgeon

Sometimes God heals us by taking us home to heaven. Other times he gives wellness after the illness, like He did to Peter’s Mother-in-Law. Either way, God is perfect.

John Bridges – Birmingham Museum of Art
Christ Healing the Mother of Simon Peter’s Wife by John Bridges, 1839
Posted in theology

Example: God’s provision

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Example: God’s Healing
Example: God’s Omniscience

Our frail frame, our restless mind, our quailing spirit, often doubts God’s promise to provide for us. He promised to sustain the Hebrews in the desert for 40 years. And He did. Every day, the manna came down (except the Sabbath, but they got double on the day before).

Here in 2 Kings, we see another incident of provision. A shorter term, a smaller miracle, but nonetheless, a fulfillment of His promise to sustain His people in the ways they need sustaining.

Photo by Albert Dehon on Unsplash

The Axe Head Recovered

Now the sons of the prophets said to Elisha, “Behold now, the place before you where we are living is too cramped for us. Please let us go to the Jordan, and let us each take from there a beam, and let us construct a place there for ourselves, to live there.” So he said, “Go.” Then one of them said, “Please agree and go with your servants.” And he said, “I will go.” So he went with them; and when they came to the Jordan, they cut down trees. But it happened that as one of them was cutting down a beam, the axe head fell into the water; and he cried out and said, “Oh, my master! It was borrowed!” Then the man of God said, “Where did it fall?” And when he showed him the place, he cut off a stick and threw it in there, and made the iron float. Then he said, “Pick it up for yourself.” So he reached out his hand and took it.
(2 Kings 6:1-7).

The MacArthur study note says of verse 5,

“Iron was expensive, and relatively rare in Israel at that time, and the student-prophet was very poor. The axe head was loaned to the prophet since he could not have afforded it on his own and would have no means to reimburse the owner for it.”

“Elisha threw a stick in the river at the exact spot where the axe head entered, and the stick caused the heavy iron object to float to the surface. Through this miracle, the Lord again provided for one who was faithful to Him.” ~John MacArthur

If you’re feeling worried about your future, short term or long term, remember that the Lord promised to sustain us. Yes, we do have to work. We aren’t wandering Jews in the desert waiting for manna to drop from heaven. We don’t lay on the couch and do nothing to help ourselves. But provision does come from heaven, whether in the form of a job, or a surprise check, or a new helper, or in a thousand ways our puny brains can’t even imagine.

The student-prophets in those verses were working to build a larger dwelling since there had been such an increase in enrollments, they outgrew their old school. But God does provide, not only the big things like manna, but the little things like an axe head. Trust Him.

Posted in theology

So much grief and loss…But God!

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Susannah Spurgeon and her husband Charles had a close relationship. When Charles passed away in 1892, she was left a widow in deep grief. They were married 36 years. Charles had called her  “the greatest of all earthly blessings.” Susannah herself said of their life together they were “two pilgrims treading this highway of life together, hand in hand,–heart linked to heart.”

Susannah knew grief. She also knew Jesus.

Susannah Spurgeon, from “A Basket of Summer Fruit” (written after the death of her beloved husband, C. H. Spurgeon)

As this is a “personal note”, I may be allowed to tell you that, in my deep and increasing loneliness, I still find sweetest comfort in praising God for His will concerning my beloved and myself, and have even been able to thank Him for taking His dear servant from this sorrowful land of sin and darkness—to the bliss and glory of His eternal presence. Fixing my heart on the blessed fact that what the Lord does is right and best, simply because He does it, I feel the anchor hold in the depths of His love—and no tempest is powerful enough to drive faith’s barque from these moorings. It can outride any storm with anchorage in such a haven. Many a time, when the weight of my dreadful loss seemed as if it must crush me, it has been lifted by the remembrance that, in Heaven, my dear one is now perfectly praising his Lord; and that, if I can sing, too, I shall even here on earth be joining him in holy service and acceptable worship.

How many of you, dear readers, will be “chief singers” unto our God, and resolve that, henceforth, His praise shall be continually in your mouth? Let us, each one, say to the Lord, with good Isaac Watts—

“Long as I live, I’ll bless Your Name,
My King, my God of love;
My work and joy shall be the same,
In the bright world above.”

She acknowledged her grief and loneliness, but also acknowledged that God is good. Here, ‘Susie’ Spurgeon focused on God’s goodness, the firm foundation of her faith, and the fact that her beloved husband is now with his beloved savior, worshiping Him in perfect glory.

Losing someone you love is not easy. Without Christ it’s almost impossible. But God…He knows the grief and loss that batters the Christian heart. He wept at Lazarus’ tomb.

To the folks that have lost someone recently, please know that I grieve with you. The loss of a friend, husband, family member or child is mournful. It is especially sad when we are fairly sure the loved one was not saved. But God…in His inscrutable ways, gives love to those whom He gives life, and death to whom he gives death. It’s not a comfort in the moment of highest grief, perhaps, nor a comfort in the deep of night’s loneliness, but is it a fact. A good fact. Cling to it, and perhaps if you are suffering, it may make the suffering a molecule less painful…

Posted in theology

‘Eat the meat and spit out the bones’? Why not?

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

To the casual or immature discerners who say “just eat the meat and spit out the bones”… I ask you this:

If you are a parent, even if you’re not, picture your sweet baby in his high chair. You are preparing food for him and place it in his plastic bowl in front of him with his little spoon. In the bowl is a hunk of meat along with its bones. You tell the toddler to eat the meat and just spit out the bones.

Is this a safe way for your baby to consume food?

It’s a hypothetical question. We all know it’s not safe to serve a baby meat with bones and just tell the child to spit out the bones. This illustration was designed to highlight one fatal flaw: PRIDE. We think we are smarter than we are.

How do I know this? Because we all are babies. We are little children, stumbling along like helpless sheep, trying to do our best to serve God. How many times in the Bible are WE called sheep (which are stupid animals), or babes? We are naïve and vulnerable to the world, to our sin, and to the devil. We need God’s strong word as a fortress, a haven, a sheepfold with Him as guide to get us safely through this life and across the Jordan to eternity.

We think we ‘can handle’ this or that. But we can’t. We are as ignorant and helpless as a baby in a high chair when served what the world has to offer and when served what the church has to offer. We must stay closely in the word of God, lest we be deceived. We are often not smart enough to be bone detectors.

Always test whatever lessons we receive with the word of God, and

Trust in the LORD with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. 6In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight. 7Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the LORD and turn away from evil. (Proverbs 3:5-7).

Do not eat bone-riddled meat. You’re a baby.

Posted in theology

Go Down Death – A Funeral Sermon

Posted on by elizabethprata

Written by James Weldon Johnson, 1927
Published in “God’s Trombones: Seven Negro Sermons in Verse“

The author melded ‘Negro’ literary heritage folk sermons and poetry to form a small book of powerful images and ideas. Here is one of them that particularly impacted me.

Painter: Aaron Douglas, American, 1899–1979, source Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, https://www.si.edu/object/go-down-death%3Achndm_48.2016.19

Go Down Death
A Funeral Sermon

Weep not, weep not,
She is not dead;
She’s resting in the bosom of Jesus.
Heart-broken husband — weep no more;
Grief-stricken son — weep no more;
Left-lonesome daughter — weep no more;
She’s only just gone home.

Day before yesterday morning,
God was looking down from his great, high heaven
Looking down on all his children,
And his eye fell on Sister Caroline,
Tossing on her bed of pain.
And God’s big heart was touched with pity,
With the everlasting pity.

And God sat back on his throne,
And he commanded that tall, bright angel standing at his right hand:
Call me Death!
And that tall, bright angel cried in a voice
That broke like a clap of thunder:
Call Death! — Call Death!
And the echo sounded down the streets of heaven
Till it reached away back to that shadowy place,
Where Death waits with his pale, white horses.

And Death heard the summons,
And he leaped on his fastest horse,
Pale as a sheet in the moonlight.
Up the golden street Death galloped,
And the hoofs of his horse struck fire from the gold,
But they didn’t make no sound.
Up Death rode to the Great White Throne,
And waited for God’s command.

And God said: Go down, Death, go down,
Go down to Savannah, Georgia,
Down in Yamacraw,
And find Sister Caroline.
She’s borne the burden and heat of the day,
She’s labored long in my vineyard,
And she’s tired —
She’s weary —
Go down, Death, and bring her to me.

And Death didn’t say a word,
But he loosed the reins on his pale, white horse,
And he clamped the spurs to his bloodless sides,
And out and down he rode,
Through heaven’s pearly gates,
Past suns and moons and stars;
On Death rode,
And the foam from his horse was like a comet in the sky;
On Death rode,
Leaving the lightning’s flash behind;
Straight on down he came.

While we were watching round her bed,
She turned her eyes and looked away,
She saw what we couldn’t see;
She saw Old Death. She saw Old Death
Coming like a falling star.
But Death didn’t frighten Sister Caroline;
He looked to her like a welcome friend.
And she whispered to us: I’m going home,
And she smiled and closed her eyes.

And Death took her up like a baby,
And she lay in his icy arms,
But she didn’t feel no chill.
And Death began to ride again —
Up beyond the evening star,
Out beyond the morning star,
Into the glittering light of glory,
On to the Great White Throne.

And there he laid Sister Caroline
On the loving breast of Jesus.

And Jesus took his own hand and wiped away her tears,
And he smoothed the furrows from her face,
And the angels sang a little song,
And Jesus rocked her in his arms,
And kept a-saying: Take your rest,
Take your rest, take your rest.

Weep not — weep not,
She is not dead;
She’s resting in the bosom of Jesus.

Published in God’s Trombones (1927)

Illustration Credit: Walter O. Evans Collection of African American Art
Media type: painting
Museum Number:
Annotation: Artist Aaron Douglas created illustrations to accompany James Weldon Johnson’s 1927 book, God’s Trombones: Seven Negro Sermons in Verse. Douglas also painted this illustration, Go Down Death, to accompany Johnson’s funeral sermon of the same name.
Year: 1927

Posted in God, infinite

Theological math

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Add

The preaching of the true word of God always pierces hearts.

“So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.” (Acts 2:41)

Subtract

However, taking away from that word will bring condemnation to those who subtract from it:

“and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.” (Revelation 22:19)

Multiply

We love God’s word so much we share it, not sparingly but liberally. To His own glory, the Lord multiplies what is needed in the sower so they can return and multiply their doing good again and again–

“He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness.” (2 Corinthians 9:10)

Barnes Notes explains, “Multiply your seed sown – Greatly increase your means of doing good; make the result of all your benefactions so to abound that you may have the means of doing good again, and on a larger scale, as the seed sown in the earth is so increased that the farmer may have the means of sowing more abundantly again.”

Divide

But make no mistake, proclamation of, living by, and protecting the word will bring division. Doctrine DOES divide.

“Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.” (Luke 12:51)

In efforts not to have “division” but a (false) unity based on a watered down version of the Gospel, you really have nothing. Nothing from nothing leaves nothing, said Billy Preston.

John MacArthur on doctrine dividing, from his sermon A Call for Discernment: “When you don’t even lay down clear doctrine at the level of the Gospel, where are you going to go from there? And the cry is, as one man said to me when my book on The Gospel According to Jesus came out, he said, “Your book is divisive!” You want to know something? He’s right. He’s right. Want to know something else? Doctrine divides. People say, “Oh doctrine divides … doctrine divides.” I say, “Amen, preach it, doctrine divides.” You know what it does? It confronts error. It separates true from false. It makes judgments. Today’s climate, however, of unity in the priority of relationships, that’s not tolerable.”

Yes, but many are tolerating it. And this is what he said will happen–

“You know, I believe…I believe that when evangelicals are willing to depreciate doctrine and when they’re willing to set aside unpopular convictions, and when they’re willing to stay silent on biblical teaching that offends people in error and sin, opposition will disappear and we could all get together. I believe that. I could start a unity movement…eliminate doctrine, set aside unpopular convictions, don’t say anything that offends and we’ll all get together. That isn’t any surprise. But you know some other things are going to disappear too along with doctrine, like truth, conviction, discernment, righteousness, holiness, discipline, true love and spiritual maturity. They’re all gone too and then God will disappear, Ichabod. That price is too high. That will produce a church victimized by hell’s deceptions.” Source: John MacArthur, A Call for Discernment, Part 1, May 26, 1991

He preached that 32 years ago and it has come to pass. People too afraid of division fail to add to and multiply God’s love.

I pray you are not in a church victimized by hell’s deceptions, but are in a church that adds to its numbers because of faithful hearts multiplying His love in fellowship.

But here is the new math of God’s kingdom: His infinitely extravagant grace! There is no counting it and no end to it. Praise the Lord that His grace and mercies fall on us every day. I can’t add the number of times I’ve been a grateful recipient of it.

“Our Lord is great, vast in power; His understanding is infinite.” (Psalm 147:5)

“Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” (Philippians 3:8)

Posted in theology

Kid story- Childlike joy in small things

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

EPrata photo

The cafeteria is crowded with first and second graders when I am on duty there. It is full, and it is loud. VERY loud. It has to be, with nearly 200 children talking even at a normal level, trays banging, feet shuffling, and forks tinkling.

There is this first grade boy who is quiet. He doesn’t speak much, and when he does it is in a soft-spoken voice. He is sensitive and artistic. He has a kind heart and loving eyes.

He raised his hand and he had something to say. I came over, expecting him to ask me the usual, like, please open my ketchup packet, or I dropped my fork and I need another. Instead he said,

“I saw birds at my house.”
“What kind of birds did you see?”
“I saw a blue jay!” he said happily. “I saw a robin, and a red bird, and crows.” He looked very pleased about this.
I said, “The red bird is a cardinal.”
“OH! I saw ducks too. We have a pond. And some other birds I forgot.”
“Yes, ducks are birds. What do you like about birds?”

“Birds make me laugh.”

EPrata photo

To be touched by the simplicity and beauty of birds singing and flying about a yard is, to me, a response to the Creator in childlike faith.

A childlike faith means that the child sees the wonder of God in all the ways He has revealed Himself as the Bible says. Children intuitively understand the connection of creation to the Creator. I see this every day at school. God says we should all see it.

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities–his eternal power and divine nature–have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. Romans 1:20

Even the creation groans for its Creator, but still does what it is supposed to do even thru the curse- bring Him glory. And they do it.

“But ask the beasts, and they will teach you;
the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you;
or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you;
And the fish of the sea will declare to you.
Who among all these does not know
that the hand of the Lord has done this? (Job 12:7-8)

The birds of the air know what to do. The stars in the sky know what to do. But even when we know what to do, having been saved, often we do not do it. I need to do more of my job for the Lord, and more of praising Him and bringing Him glory.

Posted in theology

The LORD as Creator, praises upon praises!

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Creation is amazing.

Bless the LORD, my soul!
LORD my God, You are very great;
You are clothed with splendor and majesty,
Covering Yourself with light as with a cloak,
Stretching out heaven like a tent curtain.
He lays the beams of His upper chambers in the waters;
He makes the clouds His chariot;
He walks on the wings of the wind;
He makes the winds His messengers,
Flaming fire His ministers.
(Psalm 104:1-4)

There are billions of stars in our galaxy, and billions of galaxies inside our galaxy and billions more galaxies outside it to the ends of the universe. The stars are innumerable, yet God created all the stars in one moment, as stated in Genesis 1:16 “And he made the stars also…
lol it’s like a throwaway line! Oh yah, He made stars too…LOL!

And He named them all!

When a person is injured and the body begins to repair itself, the body knows which kind of cell to replicate. It knows and it goes ahead and does it correctly. God’s perfection at the cellular level brings home like two bookends the fact that God is author of every aspect of the universe from the macro to the micro. From the largest to the tiniest, He is behind it all, and worthy of praise.

How does a cell know to be itself and not another cell in another part of the body? It is the self-replicating DNA that regenerates us, physically. The scientific definition says ‘self-replication is any behavior of a dynamical system that yields construction of an identical copy of itself.’

Replicators have several parts:     
–A coded representation of the replicator.    
–A mechanism to copy the coded representation.   
— A mechanism for effecting construction within the host environment of the replicator.

One of the truisms that scientists ignore when it comes to the evolution v. creation debate is that for there to be self-replicating DNA, which is a code, there must be a CODER. Someone must have created the code and installed it. No computer software created itself, ever. A software engineer created it and installed it. Information must have come from a Mind.

In addition, DNA is self-correcting! There are ‘fixer cells’ inside our bodies that hurry to a place where there is trouble and fix the cell! How does a fixer cell know to do that, and where to go? Again it is a praise to our Creator!

Think on Him today as Creator, and praise Him at times throughout the day as you see some of His wonders.

May the glory of the LORD endure forever;
May the LORD rejoice in His works;
He looks at the earth, and it trembles;
He touches the mountains, and they smoke.
I will sing to the LORD as long as I live;
I will sing praise to my God while I have my being.
May my praise be pleasing to Him;
As for me, I shall rejoice in the LORD.
(Psalm 104:31-34)


Posted in end time, manna, prophecy, supply

Are you grumbling about your manna?

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

The Lord has plans to prosper His children. He makes continual promises that we should not fear, because He knows our needs, and He will supply them. Matthew 6:31-34 is one example. The verses say,

“Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

The People were wandering in the desert and had gotten mightily hungry. (Exodus 16) They began longing for the time of their captivity because at least then, they had bread and meat (Exodus 16:3). They began to grumble against Moses and against the LORD.

So, “Then the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether or not they will walk in My instruction.” (Exodus 16:4)

These difficult economic times have been long, hard, and painful. Many people, Christians included, have lost jobs, have faced foreclosure, and have had to undergo extreme austerity measures (voluntarily or involuntarily). Pension plans are wiped out. Americans have been so used to prosperity that we have planned for it in the long-term with retirement accounts that we expected to remain full and fuller as time went on. We expected that after ten or twenty or thirty years that we would of course sell our houses and reap a comfortable profit. We were used to corporate loyalty and lengthy terms of employment, if not permanent ones, if we obtain tenure or have a strong union to back us. Long-term perspectives of our own personal wealth was the norm.

Long-term is no longer the norm. The weather, the economy, the animals, the government, the individual…all are behaving strangely now. God is lifting His Hand and we see the result of our country having less protection as we adjust to the new reality.

Yet, God said He would supply us. I can almost hear the prayers of Christians who beg for supply. Who pray for restoration of what they once had. I can almost hear many brothers and sisters crying out, “Where is it?? ‘My God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.’ (Philippians 4:19) So where is it?”

It is in Matthew 6 and it is in Exodus 16. “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself.” and “the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day.” God IS supplying you, faithful one. He just may be doing it in a manna situation, a one-day supply instead of extra, like before. He sent the Israelites a one day portion delivered, on time, every time. He even made it so that their clothes did not wear out. (Deut 29:5) The LORD told Moses that He was doing it to test them. Not that God didn’t know the outcome of the test, like He needed to learn something, but that He wanted to restrict their supply so that they would learn to more faithfully depend on Him. Is that your situation? Could you be undergoing a test so that you will learn to depend on Him to greater degree and be strengthened for trials?

Do not worry about what you will eat nor what you shall wear. Do not worry about tomorrow. He provides. Think of the Israelites. Think on His promises to keep us and provide for us. If you only have enough today, do not fret, for you are blessed with bread from heaven!