encouragement – Page 38

Prayer machinery of heaven #4

Posted on April 12, 2018April 15, 2018 by elizabethprata

Pray in the Spirit at all times, with every kind of prayer and petition. To this end, stay alert with all perseverance in your prayers for all the saints. (Ephesians 6:18)

Prayer straddles our lives both on earth and in heaven. All week I’m focusing on prayer. It’s important. I need to do better in my life, and I can’t imagine a Christian who doesn’t think they can do better at prayer either.

Last weekend, I was thinking of one of Spurgeon’s sermons, called God’s Providence. (#3114). Spurgeon likened the cherubim’s acts near the throne and the wheels within wheels as described by Ezekiel as machinery of Providence. He described, hypothetically of course, the wheels going up and down and left and right in tandem as the machinery of Providence carrying out God’s will and decrees. It’s an interesting thought, and Spurgeon is vivid about his descriptions.

This series of ‘prayer machinery of heaven’ is inspired by that thought.

Please enjoy this scripture photo I made of the machinery of prayer. Under that will be some further resources on prayer suggestions. Monday I suggested praying for the persecuted and missionaries around the world, with some resources to check out along those lines. Tuesday I suggested praying for our elders (pastors, deacons, teachers, etc), again, with resources. Wednesday I suggested praying for each other. Today focuses on how often to pray.

In an article called Pray Like a Puritan, Tim Challies interviewed Dr Joel Beeke. Here is an excerpt of their conversation as it relates to frequency of prayer:

TC: Matthew Henry wrote a very popular book on prayer and among his first directions was “begin each day with God.” What might the Puritans have said if someone suggested that the Bible does not command daily devotions or daily private worship?

JB: Manton said, “Though there be not an express rule particularly set down how often we should be with God,” yet God’s commands and calls to prayer “are very large.” He pointed out that the Word commands us to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:17) and to be “praying always” (Eph. 6:18). This implies a continual habit of prayer, and also set times especially devoted to prayer. He offered us the examples of David (Ps. 55:17) and Daniel (Dan. 6:10), both of whom prayed three times a day. It is true that we can shoot up sudden prayers (Neh. 2:4) in the middle of our ordinary work. But we must also “strive” in prayer (Rom. 15:30), which implies a longer time given exclusively to prayer. Some of those longer prayer times are with the family or with the church, but Christ taught us especially to pray alone in a secret place (Matt. 6:6), and in that same context to pray “daily” (Matt. 6:11). We should not view prayer as a mere religious performance, asking, “How often do I have to do it?” Instead, Manton said that prayer is the conversation of “a loving soul with God,” and “acts of friendship and communion must not be rare and unfrequent, but constant and often.” He wrote, “If we have a love to God, we cannot keep long out of God’s company, but will be with him pouring out our hearts to him.”

prayer machinery 5

Further Resources

GotQuestions: How to Pray?

Evangelical Times: John Bunyan on Prayer

Meet The Puritans: John Bunyan on Prayer

Prayer Machinery of Heaven series:

Prayer Machinery #1: Introduction and Praying for Missionaries

Prayer Machinery #2: Praying for pray for our Elders (pastors, deacons, teachers, etc).

Prayer Machinery #3: Praying for each other

Prayer Machinery #4: How to Pray

Prayer Machinery #5: A focus on Jesus in heaven who hears our prayers, and what a comfort that is

Prayer Machinery #6: Persevering in Prayer

Prayer Machinery #7: The Two ‘If’s’ and the Importance of confessing Sin

encouragement, Uncategorized

The Prayer Machinery of Heaven #3

Posted on April 11, 2018April 15, 2018 by elizabethprata

Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. (James 5:16).

Those blessings are sweetest that are won with prayers and won with thanks.
—Thomas Goodwin

I’m convinced also that the sweetness increases when it’s a prayer request granted for another person.

This series of ‘prayer machinery of heaven’ is inspired by that thought.

prayer machinery 3.jpg

Further Reading/Resources

Spurgeon quotes on Prayer

Sermon: Elements of True Prayer

Ligonier: Essay by Don Whitney, Praying for One Another

GotQuestions: What is Intercessory Prayer?

Prayer Machinery of Heaven series:

Prayer Machinery #1: Introduction and Praying for Missionaries

Prayer Machinery #2: Praying for pray for our Elders (pastors, deacons, teachers, etc).

Prayer Machinery #3: Praying for each other

Prayer Machinery #4: How to Pray

Prayer Machinery #5: A focus on Jesus in heaven who hears our prayers, and what a comfort that is

Prayer Machinery #6: Persevering in Prayer

Prayer Machinery #7: The Two ‘If’s’ and the Importance of confessing Sin

encouragement, Uncategorized

The prayer machinery of heaven #2

Posted on April 10, 2018April 15, 2018 by elizabethprata

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7).

The purest actions of the purest men need Christ to perfume them; and this is his office. When we pray, we need to pray again for Christ to pardon the defects of our prayers. ~ The Bruised Reed by Richard Sibbes

Isn’t that descriptive, we pray, because we can, and then pray again for Christ to pardon the prayer’s defects. I think the Romans 8:26 verse below is getting to that idea.

Prayer straddles our lives both on earth and in heaven. All week I am focusing on prayer. It’s important. I need to do better in my life, and I can’t imagine a Christian who doesn’t think they can do better at prayer either.

I was thinking of one of Spurgeon’s sermons, called God’s Providence. (#3114). Spurgeon likened the cherubim’s acts near the throne and the wheels within wheels as described by Ezekiel as machinery of Providence. He described, hypothetically of course, the wheels going up and down and left and right in tandem as the machinery of Providence carrying out God’s will and decrees. It’s an interesting thought, and Spurgeon is vivid about his descriptions.

Th is series of prayer machinery of heaven is inspired by that thought.

Please enjoy this scripture photo I made of the machinery of prayer. Under that will be some further resources on prayer suggestions. Yesterday I suggested praying for the persecuted and missionaries around the world, with some resources to check out along those lines. Today, let’s pray for our elders (pastors, deacons, teachers, etc).

prayer machinery 2

Further Reading/Resources

Revive Our Hearts: Your Pastor Challenge

Ligonier: How to Pray for Your Pastor

Challies: Pray for Your Pastor! (lots of other links inside)

Prayer Machinery of Heaven series:

Prayer Machinery #1: Introduction and Praying for Missionaries

Prayer Machinery #2: Praying for pray for our Elders (pastors, deacons, teachers, etc).

Prayer Machinery #3: Praying for each other

Prayer Machinery #4: How to Pray

Prayer Machinery #5: A focus on Jesus in heaven who hears our prayers, and what a comfort that is

Prayer Machinery #6: Persevering in Prayer

Prayer Machinery #7: The Two ‘If’s’ and the Importance of confessing Sin

encouragement, Uncategorized

A simple reminder about hope

Posted on April 7, 2018 by elizabethprata

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, (1 Peter 1:3)

Well that says a lot! Each phrase is an encouragement. I’m focusing on living hope this morning. Our living hope is not a dead hope. It is not surmise, speculation, or empty ‘what if’. It is a living hope because we are IN Christ and He is living and *He* is our Hope.

Gill’s Commentary says

Saints are both begotten again to the grace of hope, and to the glory which that grace is waiting for”. Our hope is because of Christ, it is in Christ and it is Christ. It is a living hope

hope

encouragement, Uncategorized

The Pilgrim’s Progress, John Bunyan, and Helpful Resources

Posted on April 6, 2018 by elizabethprata

Pilgrim's_Progress_2 I really love this book. I’ve read it once, picked through it several times, and now I’m listening to Derek Thomas lecture on it at Ligonier.org’s Daily Video. (1st lecture in the series here).

There is a part 2 to Pilgrim’s Progress that Thomas urges us to read, as both parts are meant to be a coherent whole. I had not known that.

Pilgrim’s Progress was written by John Bunyan while he was in prison for 12 years for preaching the Gospel. Wilkipedia has a bio of the man, more at link

John Bunyan (unknown birth date, baptised on November 30, 1628 – August 31, 1688) was an English writer and Puritan preacher best remembered as the author of the Christian allegory The Pilgrim’s Progress. In addition to The Pilgrim’s Progress, Bunyan wrote nearly sixty titles, many of them expanded sermons.

He also penned the world’s first recognized visual theology, the Mapp Shewing Order and Causes of Salvation & Damnation“. Tim Challies updated the Map to modern graphical styles, though let it be said I enjoy the original, with its angels and dragons and soaring language. Challies said of the maps,

In a pair of side-by-side timelines he traced the salvation of the believer (or the elect) and the damnation of the unbeliever (or the reprobate). …

Let me start you with a hint: Begin on the left side and read through circles one to 25 as a big, long sentence. When that’s complete, do the same for the other side. Finally, go back to read the verses and additional information. I think you will find, as I did, that the first sentence is terrible and chilling while the second is beautiful and encouraging. Whatever you do, linger. Bunyan has a lot to teach us through this infographic.

Here’s a link to Bunyan’s original (and IMO, better) map. Bunyan’s spiritual autobiography, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners, is also a wonderful book. You can find a free text version online here. Or here in .pdf form, which you can download and then send to your Kindle via Kindle email attached as a file and it will be installed on your device.

Since Bunyan is so well known for Pilgrim’s Progress, few people know he wrote so many other books.

Anyway back to the book Pilgrim’s Progress. Why is this book important?

Leland Ryken said in a foreword at Desiring God about the 2 books(s) The Pilgrim’s Progress parts 1 & 2,

The book that became known to posterity as The Pilgrim’s Progress is a Christian classic whose importance is impossible to overstate. For more than two centuries after its first publication, The Pilgrim’s Progress ranked just behind the King James Bible as the most important book in evangelical Protestant households. Te book has been translated into some two hundred languages, including eighty in Africa. Any book that has achieved such popularity has a very large claim to our attention. Facts of Publication The Pilgrim’s Progress actually has two publication dates, corresponding to the two books that comprise it. The first book was published in 1678 and bore the title The Pilgrim’s Progress: From This World to That Which Is to Come, Delivered Under the Similitude of a Dream. It tells the story of the spiritual journey of the protagonist named Christian from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City (meaning heaven).

Book II was published six years later as part of an old artistic tradition known as a “companion piece.” It tells the story of the same journey, this time undertaken by Christian’s wife, Christiana, and their four sons.

The hard part for me when reading Pilgrim’s Progress is not the 350-year-old language. Though, if the language presents a difficulty, there are free updated, modern language versions available, both for free online and in hard copy.

800px-John_Bunyan,_The_Road_From_the_City_of_Destruction_to_the_Celestial_City_1821_Cornell_CUL_PJM_1038_01

A Plan of the Road From the City of Destruction to the Celestial City, Adapted to The Pilgrim’s Progress, 1821. Public Domain

What I find hard is the abstractness of it, because I’m very literal. I do not understand allegory or symbols in literature.

Pilgrim’s Progress is an allegory. An allegory is a literary device. Here is allegory defined–

Allegory is a figure of speech in which abstract ideas and principles are described in terms of characters, figures, and events. It can be employed in prose and poetry to tell a story, with a purpose of teaching or explaining an idea or a principle. The objective of its use is to teach some kind of a moral lesson.

Difference Between Allegory and Symbolism
Although an allegory uses symbols, it is different from symbolism. An allegory is a complete narrative that involves characters and events that stand for an abstract idea or event. A symbol, on the other hand, is an object that stands for another object, giving it a particular meaning. Unlike allegory, symbolism does not tell a story.

I enjoyed Ligonier Theologian Derek Thomas in these free 23-minute lectures explaining Pilgrim’s Progress, both parts one and two. I found them extremely helpful in understanding the book. In addition to explaining the allegories and what they (likely) stood for, Thomas folded in Puritan history and culture of Bunyan’s day and set the context for how Bunyan thought and what was happening in his life as he wrote the book. This information gives depth and nuance to understanding it.

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

Another resource for this marvelous book is Notes & Commentary, Guide to Pilgrim’s Progress by Ken Puls.

An additional resource is Mt Zion Chapel Library, Pilgrim’s Progress for Everyone

I hope you enjoy the resources and would consider reading The Pilgrim’s Progress.

encouragement, Uncategorized

“O that there were a mediator between us!”

Posted on April 1, 2018 by elizabethprata

For He is not a man as I am that I may answer Him, That we may go to court together. There is no umpire [daysman] between us, Who may lay his hand upon us both. Let Him remove His rod from me, And let not dread of Him terrify me.” (Job 9:32-34).

Job is thought to be one of the oldest written books of the Bible, and its events some of the oldest as well, its events occurring possibly pre-Exodus during the patriarchal age. Possibly 2000BC.

We know Job was a righteous man (Job 1:1, 1:8, Ezekiel 14:14). He abhorred sin. He mediated for his family in priestly functions, He devoted himself to the one True God. He knew Yahweh, and Job knew enough to be terrified.

Job is complaining that though he knows the depravity of his sin, God is so far above man and so terrifying that Job wished there was an arbiter, or an umpire, between them to advocate for him in God’s holy court. Yet who could that be? A mere man might be a good arbiter for Job but no mere man can stand before God. So, who? Who can lay his hand on both man and God?

We know that it was God’s providential plan to send Jesus, the God-Man. The cross is that bridge which re-unites man and God after the dreadful separation that occurred in the Garden. It is Jesus who lays His hand on both man, and God. Amen!

Jesus was fully man, but not an ordinary man. He had to live a sinless life so that His sacrifice at Calvary would be perfect, his blood shedding for man in obedience to God. He did so. He fulfilled it all and it was finished at the cross.

They laid His body in a borrowed tomb. It lay there scarred and wrapped and alone in the dark. Then on resurrection morning, He arose! It is finished, and there He comes, ascending back to glory, having fulfilled ALL.

daysman—“mediator,” or “umpire”; the imposition of whose hand expresses power to adjudicate between the persons. There might be one on a level with Job, the one party; but Job knew of none on a level with the Almighty, the other party (1 Sa 2:25). We Christians know of such a Mediator (not, however, in the sense of umpire on a level with both)—the God-man, Christ Jesus (1 Ti 2:5).

Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., & Brown, D. (1997). Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (Vol. 1, p. 318). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.

God. Let us not make ourselves equal with God, but always eye him as infinitely above us. [2.] That there was no arbitrator or umpire to adjust the differences between him and God and to determine the controversy (v. 33): Neither is there any days-man between us. This complaint that there was not is in effect a wish that there were, and so the Septuagint reads it: O that there were a mediator between us! Job would gladly refer the matter, but no creature was capable of being a referee, and therefore he must even refer it still to God himself and resolve to acquiesce in his judgment.

Our Lord Jesus is the blessed days-man, who has mediated between heaven and earth, has laid his hand upon us both; to him the Father has committed all judgment, and we must. But this matter was not then brought to so clear a light as it is now by the gospel, which leaves no room for such a complaint as this.

Henry, M. (1994). Matthew Henry’s commentary on the whole Bible: complete and unabridged in one volume (p. 675). Peabody: Hendrickson.

Praise God for His Gospel, His mediator, His plan! Praise God that He resurrected Jesus from the dead, forevermore to be our Savior. For He is no longer in the tomb, He is alive, He is not there, He has risen!

risen easter

encouragement, Uncategorized

He will not let the Holy One see corruption

Posted on March 31, 2018March 31, 2018 by elizabethprata

Therefore he says also in another psalm, “‘You will not let your Holy One see corruption.'” (Acts 13:35).

Oh, to think of His precious body, broken, speared, beaten, nailed… wrapped in a shroud and and now laid in a grave!

Chris Powers of Full of Eyes ministry (fullofeyes.com) drew this wonderful illustration today:

Joseph took The Body and wrapped it in a clean linen shroud and laid it in his own new tomb… (Matthew 27:59-60).

I can’t fathom what grief the disciples felt as the death happened and the precious body was brought to Joseph’s tomb…and the rock slid shut. How alone they must have felt! How perplexed and upset. Their lives must have seemed devoid of meaning. After all, Peter said to Jesus when Jesus had asked “Are you going to leave me too?” and Peter uttered his words, “Where would we go? You have the words of life”. Now the Word of life was dead. Or it seemed so. Where would they go? What would give their life meaning, now?

They must grieve for a few more agonizing hours, before all would become clear.

However, the wondrous Father will not let Jesus molder in the tomb. Jesus rose before that could ever happen! Oh, the joy of Sunday!

Our Savior lives!!

Good Friday the most evil day in all of history. Saturday the most grief-stricken day in all of history. Sunday the most joyous day in all of history!

encouragement, Uncategorized

Praises to God for Spring and Beauty

Posted on March 27, 2018 by elizabethprata

It’s been a long spring here in north Georgia, but a very cold one. That’s OK, the forsythia, crocuses, robins, dogwood, buds, and grass are all growing pleasantly nonetheless.

I hope this fine spring time has offered you beautiful glimpses of God’s creative intellect and His wonderful power. We always enjoy the march of the seasons. “He appointed the moon for seasons: the sun knoweth his going down.” (Psalm 104:19, KJV). Wherever we are in the world, we see and understand the times and seasons. We look for the robin, the crocus, the ladyslipper. The orderliness and consistency of the seasons since His ordination of them is a comfort. Yet even in Jeremiah 8:7 it is said of the seasons, meaning HIS season, “Yes, the stork in the heaven knows her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the judgment of the LORD.”

In the natural history of Israel, Barnes notes explains,

“Jeremiah appeals to the obedience which migratory birds render to the law of their natures. The “stork” arrives about March 21, and after a six weeks’ halt departs for the north of Europe. It takes its flight by day, at a vast height in the air (“in the heaven”). The appearance of the “turtle-dove” is one of the pleasant signs of the approach of spring.”

Spring is a time of renewal, refreshing, and new life. There is a bird who builds a nest in my living room windowsill, and soon enough, babies will come along. They chirp so cute, they grow bigger, and then one day they will be gone, and a strange silence will come over the living room.

Is it wonderful to contemplate that the LORD knows the comings and goings of each bird in the world?

Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. (Matthew 10:29).

How much more does He care for His own children. How great that He upholds the march of seasons, their orderliness and beauty. The unfurling of a bud, the flowering of a leaf, the business of the insects feasting on the pollen and nectar. How much more should we enjoy His creation, praising Him for all He is and all He does to maintain this beautiful world for His children.

encouragement, Uncategorized

Imagine the dawn chorus in heaven!

Posted on March 22, 2018 by elizabethprata

This article was first published on The End Time in September 2012.

I love the pre-dawn. It is quiet and cool and dark but the light is coming, and already is.

I live in an area which is fairly rural, and there is not much traffic. Though I live on a major artery in the county, there isn’t enough traffic even during the day to really bother me. However, in the pre-dawn, there is none at all. I can hear from afar off the dogs bark, cows moo, occasional owl screech, an early rooster…

At about 6 am there is always one bird. From out of the darkness, suddenly, there will be a happy series of chirps. He is loud, and the sound is joyous to me. Not to anthropomorphize too much, but the bird really does sound happy. The piercing, lengthy call sounds like he is waking up his brethren. Perhaps it is an ovenbird.

After the first bird goes first, then in a few moments the dawn chorus begins. The dawn chorus is a worldwide event. At Cornell, they wrote, “The dawn chorus is one of the most conspicuous vocal behaviors of birds, and one of the least understood. Near sunrise, birds often sing more loudly and vigorously than they do at other times of the day.”

I like to think they are thanking their Creator. He knows them, and I like to think they know their Creator back. God says, “I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine.” (Psalms 50:11). We know that all creation groaneth in travail until now, (Romans 8:22). They groan…do they sing in joy as well?

Birds suffer for man’s sin, (Genesis 6:7; Jeremiah 12:4; Ezekiel 38:20;Hosea 4:3). The bible says they flee away when calamity comes as well. (Jeremiah 4:25; Jeremiah 9:10)

Yet they sing:

10You make springs gush forth in the valleys;
they flow between the hills;
11 they give drink to every beast of the field;
the wild donkeys quench their thirst.
12 Beside them the birds of the heavens dwell;
they sing among the branches.
13 From your lofty abode you water the mountains;
the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work. (Psalm 104:10-13)

Imagine the ‘dawn chorus’ in heaven! Birds will sing all the time because there is no dusk and no dawn, only day! (1 John 1:5, Revelation 21:25).

I believe that in heaven when He brings His bride to her place and presents our dwelling place to us, our rooms will not have screens on the windows. Because why would they? No biting insects or animals will creep in and harass us. All creation will be reconciled to its Creator and there will be no reason to have bars or screens to keep things out, or in. Maybe a bird will swoop in to my room and sing in joy at the perfection of the Creator and gladness to be part of it, and I will join. Together we are all groaning now, but the Day will come when we will all sing in joyous praise to the One who made us. Birds too.

In the meantime, I’ll enjoy the first bird each morning, knowing that before the day’s groaning begins, there is joy in creation among the created.

you lookin at me

encouragement, Uncategorized

Even more than the watchmen of the night!

Posted on March 18, 2018March 19, 2018 by elizabethprata

My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning. (Psalm 130:6)

In this Psalm, the Psalmist is comparing his wait for the LORD to a watchman in the night. The Psalmist is waiting on the light, or fruition, but it is his very soul waits. For what or for whom? The LORD Himself.

Being a watchman in the deep night is lonely. Time itself seems to drag.

I am witness to the darkness before the dawn myself. I lived on a sailboat with my husband for two years, making sea journeys overnight offshore through day and night and a day and a night. Standing watch through the night, being out in the weather, alone on the sea, makes one desperately appreciate the light. All you do is stand, and watch. You watch the dark, you look at the sky, which is also dark if it’s covered in clouds. One is insignificant against the yawning, grasping dark surrounding you on all sides. You stand, and look, and wait.

The 3:00am watch is dark, cold, and seemingly endless. Time seems to expand into an eternity of nothingness and blackest of black coal. When one glimpses the first glimmer of a change from blackest coal sky to indigo then blue then the pink and golds of sunrise, the heart lifts and one feels that one has emerged from an endless tunnel in which one’s very soul had been swallowed.

This is the allusion the Psalmist is making here in the Psalm. He is watching and waiting for the sunrise of glory to come, eager for it, even more than those watchmen who wait in the night through the deepest dark!

We, sisters, should live in hope of His coming. The greatest burst of light at dawn dispelling the deep black of life here on earth will not compare to His return in glory. Eager expectation should be our attitude. Our very soul to its depths should long for our Groom. Redemption is coming!

sunrise 2 verse