encouragement – Page 39

New mercies every day

Posted on March 13, 2018 by elizabethprata

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
Lamentations 3:22-23

I was thinking about that this morning…as many mornings as there are, the Lord’s mercies are new every day. Any fresh day that comes, His mercies are new to go along with it. Such a sign of His infinity and everlasting-ness. That is so good because I need His mercy every day!

I think of the humble tax collector, But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ (Luke 18:13)

Jesus said that man went home justified, as opposed to the Pharisee who pridefully listed all his accomplisments for God. I need to remember the Tax Collector’s humility and position before our Great God.

I’m praising Him for His infinite mercy and the days upon days we as His children are privileged to experience it.

Mercy is at the heart of redemptive ministry. Mercy is to extend to all without regard for race, or status, or gender, or age. And mercy is to be offered patiently toward those who are ignorant in unbelief. And by the way, Micah 7:18, “God delights in mercy.” And He’ll delight in you if you are a merciful Christian. John MacArthur, sermon, A Mission of Mercy

The Trinitarian God of the Father-Son-Holy Spirit is highly exalted. May He be blessed and praised.

Source: https://biblia.com/verseoftheday/image/Lk18.13-14

encouragement, Uncategorized

Still Speaking

Posted on March 12, 2018 by elizabethprata

Amon, Asherah, Bel, Dagon, Molech, Artemis, Zeus, Ganesh, Mot, Pele, Gok Tengri, Tekkeitsertok, Auseklis…

These are false gods. Every culture from Inuit to Polynesian, European to Mongolian, has created a god of their own making. There are many more false gods than just those few listed.

Yahweh the True and Only God created man and gave him imagination. Sadly, using his God-given imagination, man rejects Yahweh and formulates gods of his own creation. The creature creates gods, how absurd. Yet these gods abound.

These gods do not speak.

The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of human hands. They have mouths, but do not speak; they have eyes, but do not see; they have ears, but do not hear, nor is there any breath in their mouths. (Psalm 135:15-17).

They have never spoken, and they never will. These gods do not exist.

God is the only God. He is the only deity who speaks! More than that, He is an involved God. He listens and He hears. See below, the rapidity with which He responds at times!

He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” (Matthew 17:5).

Mt17

While I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the first, came to me in swift flight at the time of the evening sacrifice. (Daniel 9:21)

While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were listening to the message. (Acts 10:44).

While the word was in the king’s mouth, a voice came from heaven, saying, ‘King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is declared: sovereignty has been removed from you, (Daniel 4:31).

It will also come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear. (Isaiah 65:24).

What a great God we have, who is so involved with us. He hears, He listens, and in His timing He even responds while still speaking! While. Still. Speaking.

Our glorious God is involved, compassionate, and interested in His people. Praise Him in thanks.

encouragement, Uncategorized

Don’t leave the Baby in the manger or the Man on the cross

Posted on March 10, 2018 by elizabethprata

When Christmas comes around, everyone loves the thought of the baby in the manger. The story is so precious, and the swaddling cloths, and the animals milling around, and the Shepherds who came to see…

So cute!

But not cute.

This Grace To You essay brings the point home.

What do you think about when you see a nativity scene? We might recognize the baby in the manger as God in flesh. But seeing Christ as a helpless and vulnerable infant can delude us into thinking that the humility of the incarnation was not isolated to His physical form—that somehow, His deity was also diminished.
And it’s easy to read the birth narratives in the gospel accounts without gaining a full sense of Christ’s eternal glory and supremacy. Those attributes figure more prominently at the end of His earthly sojourn rather than the beginning.

Where can we see that glory and supremacy? Is it on the cross? The Man-God hung on that tree, He was perfect in every way yet absorbing all God’s wrath for sin, separated from His eternal father for agonizing hours. He was the suffering servant, bleeding and wounded and humble, and scorned and rejected. He hung there…

But He is not still there.

We look to Jesus when we want to praise or seek comfort, and we often think of the cross. The cross is the symbol of death, new life, eternity. We respect the cross as the execution method of what Jesus suffered for us in obedience to the Father. The cross is everything to us, but it is not all.

Because Jesus rose.

So the bloody, unrecognizable fleshly Man is not still on the cross. He is in heaven, robed majestically, at the right hand of the Father, ministering as KING OF THE UNIVERSE!

12Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, 13and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. 14The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, 15his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. 16In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength. (Revelation 1:12-16)

Don’t leave the baby in the manger or the man upon the cross. When you think of Jesus daily, remember Him as He is now.

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encouragement, Uncategorized

Burdens make the heart stoop

Posted on March 5, 2018 by elizabethprata

Cast your burden upon the LORD and He will sustain you; He will never allow the righteous to be shaken. (Psalm 55:22)

burden

Matthew Henry Whole Commentary:

Care is a burden; it makes the heart stoop (Prov. 12:25); we must cast it upon God by faith and prayer, commit our way and works to him; let him do as seemeth him good, and we will be satisfied. To cast our burden upon God is to stay ourselves on his providence and promise, and to be very easy in the assurance that all shall work for good. If we do so, it is promised,

1. That he will sustain us, both support and supply us, will himself carry us in the arms of his power, as the nurse carries the sucking-child, will strengthen our spirits so by his Spirit as that they shall sustain the infirmity. He has not promised to free us immediately from that trouble which gives rise to our cares and fears; but he will provide that we be not tempted above what we are able, and that we shall be able according as we are tempted.

2. That he will never suffer the righteous to be moved, to be so shaken by any troubles as to quit either their duty to God or their comfort in him. However, he will not suffer them to be moved for ever (as some read it); though they fall, they shall not be utterly cast down.

Henry, M. (1994). Matthew Henry’s commentary on the whole Bible: complete and unabridged in one volume (p. 823). Peabody: Hendrickson.

If you are in Christ, the Lord will provide for you, He will be with you in trials, He will use you for His glory – and your good. Depend on these truths. Cling to them.

encouragement, Uncategorized

Daily. It means every day.

Posted on March 3, 2018 by elizabethprata

Have you ever thought about the frequency of the word daily in practical, Christian life?

And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. (Luke 9:23)

Taking up your cross does not mean having to deal with a trivial unpleasant circumstance, your job, your boss, your hostile colleague, your irritating mother in law or your wayward teenager … It means to endure hatred, hostility, rejection, reproach, persecution, shame, and even the most horrible death; to say no to self and no to safety for His sake (cf. 1 Peter 4:16). ~John MacArthur Commentary on Luke 9:23b

Every day, pick up that cross.

Give us each day our daily bread, (Luke 11:3).

Jesus said in that verse from Luke that we pray for our provision each day. He sustained the wandering Israelites in the desert with daily manna. He sustains us daily with the temporal provision we need each day. As I heard someone preach, if we don’t have it today, that means we don’t need it.

Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. (Matthew 6:34).

After we pick up our cross and then pray for provision and thank Him for it, we consult the scriptures daily.

Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. (Acts 17:11).

Our growth is from the word of God, absorbing it, learning it, living it. Man’s wisdom will not grow us. Drifting away from the Bible will only put us at risk of neglecting so great a salvation. They not only consulted the word, but did so with eagerness.

I admit I do not consult the scriptures daily. I do a lot, often, but sometimes not daily. Sometimes I don’t even do it with eagerness.

We as believers need life defining decisions. We decide to do these things daily, making a life commitment to the One who taught us how to live. We have to think and live like the Teacher. Not just believe, but actively be discipled to Him, by obeying and doing.

Every day.

conformed

encouragement, Uncategorized

Various exhortations: Luther on tickled ears, suffer the children to come, be not troubled, etc

Posted on March 1, 2018 by elizabethprata

Various biblical thoughts for you today-

Jesus said in the Olivet Discourse that the end times will be such as they were in the ‘Days of Noah’ and the ‘Days of Lot.’ (Luke 17:26-30, NIV; cf. Matt 24:37-39). That, in the mad search for pleasure and prosperity, mankind sank into such great depravity, the Scripture says, “every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5; cf. 18:20-21). Further, Jesus said social wickedness would increase prior to His Return: “Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold” (Matthew 24:12, NIV). A thoroughly drenched, wicked and evil society was happening then and it’s happening now. is occurring now. In the Ark days, Noah held his eyes on God and remained rooted in Him. We must do that as well.

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In prayer and bible reading mode this week, the phrase came to me: “Be not troubled.” Prayer and close relationship with Jesus alleviates our strongest fears, troubles, distress. Let us always exhibit the peace that passes all understanding in the face of incomprehensible headlines. And then share that peace with urgency and mindfulness with people who have no hope. He will come. Until then, we run the race.

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I used to teach kids at church on Wednesday nights. I love their conversations and their thoughts and their joy. One night they were asking about Jesus and heaven. They got so excited when they figured out that their Christian friends will be in heaven too. They practically jumped out of their seats when they made the connection that they will actually see Jesus and hang out with Him. They started making plans, clapping their hands … Ironically, the story this night was of Mark 10:13-16, “suffer the little children to come unto Me, do not hinder them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” Boy, does it ever. Let US be excited, innocent, planning, expectant, too. Are we? We should be!

Do you feel joy? Do you feel fear? It is normal to be anxious in these times, but oh, joy, bathe yourselves in His Holy and experience all the comfort of eternity in there. I recommend reading Psalm 34 yesterday and it is very good advice! If you feel caught up in the events of the day, remember that He is in command if every situation. As is often said, “Satan is on the prowl, but Jesus in in control!” Take a bath, friends, bathe in His word, and you will feel His arms and return to the blessed peace that is our to claim by His grace!

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Martin Luther said:

“The ears of our generation have been made so delicate by the senseless multitude of flatterers that, as soon as we perceive that anything of ours is not approved of, we cry out that we are being bitterly assailed;” This same theme of tickled ears carries through to the end generation, the one living through the reign of the antichrist.

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Christians know true freedom, whether incarcerated within walls or confined by duties or confronting an addiction, we are free, truly free. “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” Galatians 5:1.

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Uncategorized, encouragement

Killing sin, Kay Cude poetry, and John Owen

Posted on February 27, 2018 by elizabethprata

Killing sin in ourselves is a tricky and delicate operation. How to slice marrow from bone without damaging the bone? The Holy Spirit is in us and He is the glory and purity we need, but surrounding Him inside us is all our depravity. We are so dark inside that often, we can’t even see our sin!

Puritan John Owen wrote a monumental book addressing this very issue. It’s called The Mortification of Sin. (1656). Mortification means, “The action of subduing one’s bodily desires.”

Owen wrote another monumental book called The Nature, Power, Deceit & Prevalency of Indwelling Sin In Believers. (1675). They are scriptural, convicting, towering books of the faith. They are also dense, difficult, and full of antiquated language. Sadly, for many people these books aren’t read, because they are just too difficult.

But they need to be read. To that end, Kris Lundgaard wrote a book called The Enemy Within. He said that reading Owen was difficult but he stuck with it. He said he benefited greatly from Owen’s treatment of sin in us, our sin nature and the Christian’s duty to slay it. He knew though, that the many Christians would likely not read Owen, of if s/he started, would probably give up. It’s a slog. (I can testify to that, I tried to read Mortification of Sin and stopped).

Fervently believing that the important treatment of killing sin in ourselves, principles Owen had outlined in his book, should be available to the widest audience, Lundgaard wrote a sort of Cliff’s Notes to the Owen book on Indwelling Sin. It’s an adaptation of Owen’s work, modernized and synopsized. Hence his title, The Enemy Within. This and other books by Lundgaard are –

adaptations of works by English Puritan John Owen [1616-1683]. Someone has suggested these books should be subtitled: “John Owen for Dummies” (not to be confused with John Owen’s original works that simply make most of us feel like dummies).

I had to read with a dictionary in one hand and Owen in the other, and until I got the hang of his style I had to read many sentences several times over. But the value of Owen had been undersold: I was underlining more than half of every page. In his works on Temptation, Indwelling Sin, and Mortification, my heart was being laid bare. How did he know me so well?

But he didn’t just cut me up and leave me to pick up the pieces. He offered help, strong medicine—lots of strong medicine. And by God’s grace things began to change for me. I’ll always be grateful to Owen for that—I hope to tell him so when I see him.

Owen’s ability to exegete my heart overwhelms me. He exposes my flesh’s defense strategies, which leaves me vulnerable—vulnerable to the gospel. He doesn’t just tear down; he builds up. And he helps me to see Christ more clearly, so that I may adore him more fully. Lundgaard in an interview with Tony Reinke

I have read half Lundgaard’s book. I’m 6 1/2 chapters into a 13 chapter book. It’s highly readable, and it’s helpful. It actually makes me want to read Owen! I’ve got both of Owen’s books queued up at Amazon for purchase. Killing sin in ourselves, an essential subject.

Meanwhile, my friend and poet Kay Cude had sent me her latest piece. She didn’t know I was reading The Enemy Within. The topic of her poem is about indwelling sin. How perfectly providential! She wrote,

A “take heed” to my fellow beloved redeemed in Christ from my personal experience of walking in the flesh and being caught in its snare. The immediate results were heart-wrenching and slammed me to my knees. And that is good place from where to repent and examine myself as I look up into the face of the forgiveness and mercy of God.

I was quite taken by her poem. This is a wonderful piece of poetry inspired by scripture reading and life application. Please take a moment to bask in this quality work. There are further resources at the bottom of the picture.

geran-de-klerk-546769

Kill your sin, or it be killing you.

encouragement, Uncategorized

Hate Week Essay #7: Hating Jesus, once

Posted on February 25, 2018 by elizabethprata

Hate week essay #1
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Hate week essay #5
Hate week essay #6

For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. Titus 3:3

I was saved in my early 40’s. I vividly remember my antipathy toward Jesus for most of my adult life. I conceded that there was likely a God, that part was easy. Just look at the Creation. It’s obvious someone made it all.

A distant God who didn’t meddle in my affairs, but was intelligent, provided this earth to dwell on, and was amiable in His looking down at us was the God I’d made up in my mind.

The notion that God judged, was involved in our affairs, and created heaven and hell as well as earth, was unconscionable to me. I was a good example of the people described in Romans 1:21.

The Jesus, blood, sin, wrath, resurrection thing was beyond me. I thought the cross was ridiculous and gross. I wanted nothing to do with any part of the Jesus story. I hated Jesus with all my body, soul, strength, and mind. As a result, I hated others too, as the verse says. This world is full of haters, the satanic hatred only the unregenerate, darkened heart knows.

I was a terrible sinner, going about my sins, cherishing them, justifying them, and loving them. I hated Jesus and I loved my sin. I hated others, as the verse today states.

Thus, unbeknownst to me, I had many woes laying on my shoulders, for doesn’t the scripture say-

Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! (Isaiah 5:20)

I was in this wretched state when in His timing, God sent the Holy Spirit to open my eyes. I suddenly saw my sin and it was terrible. I cried out to God, yet He had even given me the voice and the urging to do it. Though I’d spent so long in the wilderness, darkened and debased, He loved me. My hate for Him was deep and abiding, but His love for me was everlasting.

Anyone who is saved now hated Jesus once, also. In our daily lives we often get so busy that we forget this great love and our former great hate, at least I do. Would you love anyone who hates you outright? My goodness, that’s a tough one. We’re called to, but actual implementation of it, even to our death, is something that mystifies me. Yet Jesus did it. He lay down His life for His friends, gave himself totally to His Father for our benefit. He died for people who hated him with a worldly, satanic hate.

Let our hate go. We should harbor none of it in ourselves after salvation. We should only hate the things that Jesus hates. As our sanctification grows, our worldly hatreds diminish because love increases. The scale should be moving in the other direction. Giving up worldly hatreds is hard, but look at the sweet exchange. We can all cry out as David did,

Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to your steadfast love remember me, for the sake of your goodness, O LORD! (Psalm 25:7)

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Hate week essay #1
Hate week essay #2
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encouragement, Uncategorized

Hate Week Essay #5: Jesus said to hate our family? Can this be true?

Posted on February 23, 2018 by elizabethprata

If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14:26).

This seem harsh. This seems contradictory to the God of Love that we know Jesus to be. So what can it mean?

By the way, that its the first question we should ask when we see something we don’t understand in the Bible, or when we see something that seems to contradict. There are no contradictions in the Bible. If we can’t reconcile two verses, i.e. ‘God is love’ and ‘hate your mother’ or ‘Honor your mother and father’ but ‘hate your mother’ then there is something I must do to understand it, because I’m wrong.

I like Gill’s Commentary. Many commentaries are available for free at biblehub.com. There are concordances, lexicons, devotionals, and more.

Gill’s says of the Luke verse:

and hate not his father and mother, and wife and children, and brethren and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple: not that proper hatred of any, or all of these, is enjoined by Christ; for this would be contrary to the laws of God, to the first principles of nature, to all humanity, to the light of nature, to reason and divine revelation:

but that these are not to be preferred to Christ, or loved more than he, as it is explained in Matthew 10:37

Ohhhh! Getting clearer now.

A parallel verse was mentioned so let’s take a look at it. Scripture interprets scripture. Commentaries are helpful, but scripture is best. That’s where parallel verses come in.

He that loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. (Matthew 10:37)

Christ should be primary in life and love. Paul carries this sense of highest love for one, that by comparison it’s hate for the other in Romans 9:13-

As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

The verse to which Paul was referring is from Malachi 1:2-3. GotQuestions is helpful here,

So, considering the context, God loving Jacob and hating Esau has nothing to do with the human emotions of love and hate. It has everything to do with God choosing one man and his descendants and rejecting another man and his descendants. God chose Abraham out of all the men in the world. The Bible very well could say, “Abraham I loved, and every other man I hated.”

Yes, context is king when studying scripture. The Malachi/Romans verse isn’t referring to one man, but nations from one man.
There’s one more parallel verse to the Luke verse I’d posed at the start. John 12:25-

Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

S Lewis Johnson of Believers Chapel Dallas had preached on this verse. He’s a preacher I like.He explained–

What does he mean by that? Why, you know he means that it is possible for us to be so desirous of life as we want to live it that we actually are unfruitful in our lives. We may desire the kind of existence that we desire, we want the world’s wealth, we want the world’s power, we want the world’s pleasure, we want the world’s glory, we want to live our lives as we wish to live them and that’s right, you may live for a time but you abide alone. … In other words, if you want to keep your life you can keep it, but you’ll lose it. And if you’re willing to lose your life, if you are willing to have your set of priorities such that Jesus Christ is first in your life, then you’ll gain it. And furthermore, you will gain it unto life eternal and fruitfulness.

Hate is complicated, isn’t it? There’s things God hates, things we should hate because God does, the world’s hate, our hatred of even our parents or our own life in comparison to the life we should live in Christ…

The Bible is an endless wealth and treasure of precepts and doctrines, all pointing to the One alone who is worthy: Jesus Christ. Emmanuel, God with us. Our love for Him should be the primary orientation of our lives.

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encouragement, Uncategorized

Hate Week Essay #4: Hate Equals Darkness

Posted on February 22, 2018 by elizabethprata

Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. (1 John 2:9)

What does this mean? Can we hate our brother if we’re saved? I thought our lives were supposed to be characterized by love?

Yes, that is true, but the sin nature is still inside us, crouching at the door and waiting to leap. Since our lives are supposed to be characterized by love, our lives should reflect the highest and best love: love for Jesus and love for our brethren. Sadly, it doesn’t always happen that way.

Else, as Paul put rhetorically but actually to the Corinthians,

For I fear that perhaps when I come I may find you not as I wish, and that you may find me not as you wish—that perhaps there may be quarreling, jealousy, anger, hostility, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder. (1 Corinthians 12:20)

Else, why would Jesus and Paul admonish those who take the Lord’s Supper to reconcile with brethren or examine one’s self before doing so, in order that taking the Supper would not be done in an unworthy manner? (1 Corinthians 11: 27; Matthew 5:23-24).

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary puts it simply

his brother—his neighbor, and especially those of the Christian brotherhood. The very title “brother” is a reason why love should be exercised.

The command to love one another is an old one, says John in 1 John 2, but with a new twist. John uses the analogy of light and dark throughout his epistle. The command to love is nothing new, but it is a specific and foremost spiritual test to determine who is in the faith and who is not. John MacArthur here in his sermon Live Life By a New Love:

If you hate your brother, if you hate others, if you hate those in the Kingdom, if you hate anyone essentially, if you don’t see people the way God sees them then He’s not in control of your heart. Love proves everything when connected to sound doctrine.

But in 1 Corinthians 15, if you don’t have love it’s all noise, it’s all noise. So the practicality of it is, if you’re a true Christian it’s going to show up in your love, not perfect love, love is not going to be the perfection of your life but it will be the direction of it. You’re going to have a heart of love for those around you, not a heart of hatred. You’re going to want to serve those around you, not demand from them. You’re going to want to help those around you, not harm them. You’re going to want to come to the aid of those around you, to lift them up not to step on them. And particularly is that true among believers. If you don’t have a love to be with God’s people, it’s a clear evidence that you’re in the darkness no matter what you claim.

The Light is warm and bright, it’s where love is.
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