Category: encouragement

By Elizabeth Prata

I know there’s a lot of “where are the strong Christian men” themes around. I know that male headship is under attack and the rise of feminism in the church has perhaps caused a seeming widespread dearth of strong and principled male leadership in homes and in the church. But…

I’ll extol the many strong men who ARE laboring, who DO adhere to principles, who MIGHTILY glorify God. I’ll start w/my 4 elders at my church. Diligent, wise, loving men who live moral lives, gently guide, gracefully receive repentance, &teach humbly. You know many others, surely
We see & interact many of them on Twitter every day. You know who they are. We listen to many of them online from podcasts & their church websites. You know who they are. And from that, we know there must be and are others out there too. Godly men are everywhere, busy being godly.

If we shouldn’t overstate that the majority of evangelical women are angling for egalitarianism, we also should not overstate the seeming dearth of godly men. Thank you to men unafraid to lead, unashamed of home headship, unapologetic about submission – because THEY are submitted.

I think that while it’s important to be clear-eyed about the evil times in which we live, and point to evil when we find it, we should also diligently search for and proclaim what is right, what is true what is noble,…wait, Paul said it better:

Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. (Philippians 4:8).

Barnes’ Notes says

Think on these things – Let them be the object of your careful attention and study, so as to practice them. Think what they are; think on the obligation to observe them; think on the influence which they would have on the world around you.

And not only think on them, look for them, talk about them, proclaim them, exult in them, and thank Jesus for them.

By Elizabeth Prata

The intra-Trinitarian delight of the God-head in each other has always been perfect. The Father gives all to His son. The Son does all His Father does. John MacArthur put it this way:

God is love and because it is His nature to love, that love is expressed in the purest essence of His nature which is the Trinity. That is to say the Father loves the Son perfectly, the Father loves the Spirit perfectly, the Son loves the Father and the Spirit perfectly, the Spirit loves the Father and the Son perfectly and they live in this perfection of intra-Trinitarian love.

For eons, we don’t know how long, the intra-Trinitarian delight had been ongoing in perfection. Yet, God decided to make man. He decided to make His “Party of Three” into a party of infinity. He chose to open His closed circle and include a multitude of humans made in His image within it. In love. For His purposes. Humans who will dwell in infinity love and in infinity time forever.

Why?

That is a good question. It was not because of some lack within Himself. He was not lonely and He was not suffering some kind of lack. God is complete.

Here, Steven Lawson with a short devotional exploring that question explains in nearly poetic language God’s decision to…create.

God’s dazzling display of sovereignty in creation was a primer on His right to rule in matters of salvation. God, who commanded the light to appear on day one of creation, soon would order gospel light to shine into the darkened hearts of spiritually blind sinners. God, who separated the waters on day two, would cause an infinite chasm to separate Himself from sinners. God, who gathered the waters together on day three, would gather sinners to Himself. God, who created the sun, moon, and stars on day four, would omnipotently create saving faith. God, who began to create the animal kingdom on day five, would graciously send His Son to be the Lamb of God to take away sin. God, who created Adam and Eve on day six, would soon re-create sinners into His image. His free grace would perform the second Genesis in the salvation of lost men and women.

And grace upon grace, saved and forgiven sinners are now embraced in that Trinitarian circle of delight and mutual love. It is a mystery to me, and a wonder, and a source of ever-expanding gratitude. To be embraced by an Almighty God as Father, Redeemer, and ministering Priest, is the greatest gift. The fountain of love that flowed internally among the Trinity now flows over human souls, swelling and sweeping and lifting human souls into its holy and sweet current.

By Elizabeth Prata

An excerpt from my devotional reading in the Valley of Vision this morning-

When I sin against thee I cross thy will, love, life, and have no comforter, no creature, to go to.
My sin is not so much this or that particular evil, but my continual separation, disunion, distance from thee, and having a loose spirit towards thee.

Valley of Vision, “Christ the Word.”

Do you ever feel that way? I do, often. The Puritans who penned these prayers were collected by Arthur Bennett in the 1960s through the 1970s times and put together into a collection, in order “to prompt and encourage the Christian as he treads the path on which others have gone before.” It is helpful to read a hundreds-year old prayer and realize our spiritual forefathers in the faith yearned and struggled with similar issues that we do today.

The phrase ‘a loose spirit’ caught me. We live in a casual age. The usual haunts where one might have found formal dress, such as dinner in a restaurant, the theater, or even Proms, have gone by the wayside. The last three bastions of formal dress; church, court, and funerals, see people showing up as if they just rolled out of bed. The outer wear in my opinion is indicative of an inner overall status, even in many Christians. Loosey-goosey attitudes toward study of the word, toward Christ, and toward His laws are wrapped in an attitude of “Oh well, I’m sure God will forgive me.” Or, “Oh, well, there’s always tomorrow.”

The Jesus-is-your-boyfriend attitudes so rampant in the last decade for women, and experiential feelings based theology taught to us by other women have not helped. God is GOD, the I AM, who is thrice holy and august in His magnificence and power. That God is forgotten in favor of the wimpy needy Jesus, as Voddie Baucham famously preached.

The Christian’s walk is tight, not loose. It is a narrow gate. It is a straight way. It is a circumscribed walk, according to the canon of scripture and no more, and no less. We are told to be vigilant, watchful, and sober. That leaves no room for a loose spirit.

It’s easy to puff one’s self up in thinking, well, I’m not embezzling, or fornicating, or engaging in adultery, or murder. “My sin is not so much this or that particular evil” as the Puritan wrote. But it is also sin to have a loose spirit; to leave off prayer, to justify a smaller sin, or to ignore it completely. Anxiety, mistrust of God’s ordination of one’s circumstances, worry, or simple apathy are also ‘non-particular’ sins that can cause a terrible disunion. Worse, a general disunion or distance from Christ is in itself a sin, born from a loose spirit.

Paul advised the Ephesians in chapter 6 to gird up, tighten the belt, snap on the helmet, grasp the shield, cling to the word. Tight, not loose, is the watchword for the day.