Category: encouragement

Posted in color, encouragement

Color in heaven: follow up

Posted on by elizabethprata
EPrata photo

I wrote an essay on the subject of the color green in heaven. Green as in green pastures, green things to eat the Lord gave us in Genesis 1:29, green in emerald (like the emerald rainbow surrounding the throne and in the foundation of the new city), etc.

I was thinking about “green.”

I pondered the beauty of the green in Ireland. The hues there are so different than the green pastures here, and if it is that beautiful in ‘The Emerald Isle’, how much more beautiful will it be in heaven? I’d posted a short quote from Randy Alcorn from his book Heaven, and in the quote he quoted himself from Dominion. It’s encouraging to think of what is ahead of us.

In response to my essay, a commenter gave me this really interesting comment. I had never thought of this but isn’t this absolutely true:

“Elizabeth, Thanks so much for this blog! Did you ever think about how all our colors on earth are dependent on our light sources–the sun, incandescent or fluorescent bulbs, . . . But in our eternal home, according to Rev. 22:5, “They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light.” Think about what effect that will have on colors! An infinitely superior LIGHT SOURCE creating colors beyond our earthly imaginations!“

Wow! I had never thought of that! The light source is all-important in the range of colors we are able to see. Colors look like they do because of the source and type of light hitting the retina. The ranges of Ultraviolet light and Infrared light are much wider than we are currently able to see. Once the Light Source is pure (Jesus) and we see through His pure and holy light, imagine what we will be able to view, including new colors!

EPrata photo

You see, you probably already know this, so pardon me if I’m repeating myself, the brain and the eye, specifically the retina and the fovea, translate light into colors. Color actually originates in light. It bounces to the object and then to our eye. What we are seeing is actually the reflection off the bounce, and the color reflected to us is only as good as the original light source.

That’s why paint helpers at Sherwin-Williams tell new homeowners to paint a swatch on their wall and look at it at different times of day. The brightness and angle of the light will make the color appear different at each time.

Imagine when we are glorified and the full spectrum of light is now reflecting the purest, most holy and good light there can be! What will we see THEN?! So. Many. Colors.

It’s gonna be GREAT!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FMI:

“How the Eye Sees Color”

Color originates in light. Sunlight, as we perceive it, is colorless. In reality, a rainbow is testimony to the fact that all the colors of the spectrum are present in white light. As illustrated in the diagram below, light goes from the source (the sun) to the object (the apple), and finally to the detector (the eye and brain).

1. All the “invisible” colors of sunlight shine on the apple.

2. The surface of a red apple absorbs all the colored light rays, except for those corresponding to red, and reflects this color to the human eye.

3. The eye receives the reflected red light and sends a message to the brain.

The most technically accurate definition of color is:
“Color is the visual effect that is caused by the spectral composition of the light emitted, transmitted, or reflected by objects.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Impossible Colors

Train yourself to see impossible colors

How many colors are really in a rainbow?

Posted in encouragement, entertainment, faith, raising izzie

Movie Review: Raising Izzie

Posted on by elizabethprata

I watched a movie last night that readers might enjoy as a family. (Not the younger kids). It is called “Raising Izzie“

It is about two orphaned girls aged 14 and 10, who are struggling to live on their own in an apartment their dying mother set up for them. It was only a matter of time of course, before they were found out. A year later, a caring teacher of the older girl becomes suspicious when she compares parent signatures on a school paper.

The teacher’s back story is that she wants children, and she and her husband have been trying for a while and haven’t had the desired result. This causes stress on the relationship and their strong faith is tested.

What is obvious to the viewer is that God is building a family between the two parties.

Issues explored:

–The teacher and her husband are black and the two girls are white. Can they make a family? Can family include adopting older kids? Can it be interracial?

–God’s people helping the orphan, what is our responsibility? (There were discussions of what should they do, call DFACS? The Police? Take the girls in?)

–The father says he wants children but the wife worries that underneath he is more committed to their child-free lifestyle.

–The wife wants children but begins to resent God for the lack

–The older girl is resentful she has to raise Izzie and is angry at God for failing to answer her prayer to cure her mother of cancer. (It is stated that the girls’ father had died just before Izzie was born)

Pros:

I REALLY liked the faith seen throughout, not heavy handed or preachy but living it out. When the husband and wife begin to have an argument in the car, he pulls over and prays.

The husband prayed to Jesus, and in Jesus name. That was good.

He supports his wife, not in a doormat way but in a strong, head of the family way.

The dead mother is seen in flashbacks as a caring, involved mother.

Izzie is cute as a button and in a natural way, not a movie way.

Many mentions of God throughout the movie

Is God real? How can we know? Realistic discussions and people having normal thoughts/doubts.

Godly patience is seen throughout and kind words are exalted above bitter words.

The husband is the Godly leader of his home. He is seen to be honoring his wife in many ways.

They go to church. In one of the only arguments in the movie, the teenager and the wife decide on Sunday morning they refuse to go to church. The wife yells, “I’m tired of all this! I’m sick of God!” The husband replies “That’s when you need Him the most!”

Cons:

In a certain scene the teacher says she had seen and spoken with the girls’ dead mother. (ghost). I can’t say more or it will be a spoiler.

Faith is strengthened only when God performs a miracle. It is still a movie after all. Sigh. It has the climactic moment of “God I’m praying and this is your last chance to show me you’re real or I won’t believe any more”.

At least, during the movie there were several discussions about what we hope for from God and what faith is. The teenager was crumbling in her faith because God didn’t do what she expected…but on the plus side, the husband had several discussions with her (and his wife) that God has ways higher than our ways and His will be done- sometimes unexpectedly. The movie still ended with the concept of “miracle = God is real = faith”

But knowing this, discussions could be had with your kids, “How would you have felt if the ending had been different? How can faith be strengthened in cases where adversity tests it? Isn’t God always working? Do we rely on miracles to prove God is real? Why or why not? How does God work in our lives?”

———————————–

I didn’t hear any profanity…once the teacher was in a low cut garment, but it was her pajamas after all. … Her church dress showed a bit of cleavage. That’s it.

The movie is set in the Atlanta suburbs. Rockmond Dunbar, Vanessa Williams starring. It had good production values. It was released in 2012. It can be seen on Amazon Prime, Hulu Plus, and is free on Youtube. It is a good family movie.

In a personal opinion, I especially enjoyed Mr Dunbar’s acting. I would happily look for him in other films or television programs.

Oh, and get the tissues. You’ll need them.

Posted in color, emerald rainbow, encouragement, green, jesus

Heaven and the color green

Posted on by elizabethprata
Remains of the 12th-century Trim Castle in County Meath,
the largest Norman castle in Ireland

They call Ireland “The Emerald Isle” for its deep green, undulating countryside. The island nation was first nicknamed the Emerald Isle sometime around 1780 in a poem by William Drennan called “When Erin First Rose.” Here is the first stanza
By

When Erin first rose from the dark swelling flood,
God bless’d the green island and saw it was good;
The em’rald of Europe, it sparkled and shone,
In the ring of the world the most precious stone. …

I’ve never been to Ireland but I’ve been to Scotland and the north of England. The green hills of Scotland were tremendously vibrant. Perhaps it was the quality of the northern sunrays bouncing off the grass, or the mystery of travel exhilarating my emotions, but it seemed to be to be a quality of green like no other place I’d ever been. The green there calms the eye, soothes the soul, envelops the body is its aura.

One of my favorite verses in the bible is in Revelation.

And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald. (Revelation 4:3)

Green Pastures, river Severn at Caersws, Rod Trevaskus, CC

I love that emerald rainbow. When I pray I envision Jesus sitting on the throne, accepting prayer, listening, and the emerald rainbow all around Him.

I wonder what the color green will look like, up there. The bible says-

But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”—(1 Corinthians 2:9)

I suppose even the color green as we know it will be startlingly different. There will be precious stones in the foundations of the city walls, including emerald-

The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, (Revelation 21:19)

Benbulbin Mountain, County Sligo, Ireland. Public Domain

Dictionaries – Easton’s Bible Dictionary – Emerald

Heb. nophek (Exodus 28:18; 39:11); i.e., the “glowing stone”, … a precious stone in the breastplate of the high priest. It is mentioned (Revelation 21:19) as one of the foundations of the New Jerusalem. The name given to this stone in the New Testament Greek is smaragdos, which means “live coal.”

Lucifer walked among the precious stones in heaven, including emeralds. (Ez 28:14). They adorned him.

You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering, sardius, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, emerald, and carbuncle; and crafted in gold were your settings and your engravings. On the day that you were created they were prepared. (Ezekiel 28:13)

The breastplate of the High Priest was adorned with precious stones, four rows of three stones each.

the second row shall be turquoise, lapis lazuli and emerald;(Exodus 28:17)

Public Domain. Green Pasture, Ireland

Originally, God gave to man every green plant for food. (Genesis 1:30) When judgment came, God sent locusts to eat every green thing. (Exodus 10:15). Green is often used in the bible to represent clean growth, and goodness. (Psalm 52:8, Proverbs 11:28)

I suppose the most famous mention of green in the bible is Psalm 23

The Lord Is My Shepherd
A Psalm of David.

1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
3 He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness
for his name’s sake

Randy Alcorn, who specializes in the study of heaven, wrote the non-fiction book called Heaven, and the fiction book Dominion. In Heaven, Alcorn said,

In the same way that the New Earth will be refashioned and still be a true Earth, with continuity to the old, the new cosmic heavens will likewise be the old renewed. In my novel Dominion I try to depict this in a scene in which Jesus takes a woman who has died to a new world:

Eventually they arrived on a world more beautiful than Dani could fathom—cascading waterfalls, rainbows of a hundred colors, mountain peaks five times higher than any on earth. Oceans with blue-green water, and waves crashing upon rocks the Page 4
size of mountains. Grassy meadows, fields of multicolored flowers—colors she had never seen before. This place seemed somehow familiar to her, yet how could it, since it was like nothing she’d ever seen? Still, she felt profoundly at home.

I believe this also. I think there will be the color green in the New Earth. Only better. Different, but the same. What will the emerald green of heaven look like? If the photos above are so beautiful, what awaits? An emerald sparkles. Green pastures are restful. The described emerald rainbow around the throne must be incredible. Yet, even then, the bible says we cannot imagine what awaits us.

No eye has seen, until we go home, that is! Then thanks to the blessed Savior atoning for our sin, and having prepared a place for us, we WILL see. What a day that will be.

Posted in conversation, encouragement, john bunyan, pilgrim's progress, salvation

We all have a pulpit. How do we use it?

Posted on by elizabethprata

I read an interesting list of points an author made about John Bunyan’s conversion. John Bunyan was the writer of Pilgrim’s Progress, a book many say is the greatest book ever written, apart from the bible. It is without doubt a literary masterpiece. It has stood the test of time since its publication in 1678. It is regarded as one of the most significant works of religious English literature in history. And the man who wrote it was raised as an atheist.

In Geoff Thomas’ essay titled “John Bunyan,” Mr Thomas wrote,

“John Bunyan had no family influences encouraging him to become a Christian. … In June 1644 when he was 16 his mother passed away and four weeks later his sister died. Eight weeks after his mother’s death his father remarried and in 8 months his wife gave birth to a boy whom his Royalist father named ‘Charles’. Four months earlier John had left home and had joined the Parliamentary Army fighting against King Charles. There was little affection between son and father. How then did John Bunyan become a Christian? There were ten factors which all played their part, great and small:”

One of these factors caught my attention-

Bunyan was stirred by the godly conversation of Christians.
He would work in Bedford and eat his bread with some Christian women who tailored their conversation for his ears. They talked of their own sin, the new birth, and the love of Christ. Bunyan listened intently and later wrote, ‘They spoke as if joy was making them speak. They were to me as if they had found a new world,’ and he often sought them out and sat with them.

‘they tailored their conversation for his ears.’ How important it is, to speak of Jesus in truth for known hearers and unknown hearers! The women must have seen the Spirit working in Bunyan, and they made a choice to and selflessly not speak of the carnal or mundane or the personal, but of the joy of His grace!

They were living this:

Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person. (Colossians 4:6)

Gill’s Exposition says,

“let grace be the subject matter of your speech and conversation. When saints meet together they should converse with each other about the work of grace upon their souls, how it was begun, and how it has been carried on, and in what case it now is; they should talk of the great things and wonders of grace, which God has done for them, which would be both comfortable and edifying to them, and make for the glory of the grace of God”

Jason L. Sanders wrote this week,

Preachers Aren’t The Only Ones With Pulpits

Parents carry a pulpit with them. And from it, thousands of times a day, we preach a sermon to our kids. Whether the sermon is a good one or a bad one, we can be sure of this one thing.

Whether we are preachers exhorting in church, parents teaching our children, or two simple Puritan Christian ladies serving lunch to an obviously tortured soul, we have the privilege and the responsibility to speak ‘as if joy was making us speak.’

What glory it brings the Lord when we intentionally speak of the riches of His grace. Hearers known and unknown to us, Christian and perishing, listen to us and our Spirit-carried words,

For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. (2 Corinthians 2:16)

For John Bunyan, the ladies’ words were the aroma of life to life (‘he often sought them out and sat with them‘). Therefore season your conversation with love, joy, and salt, and watch with admiration and joy where He carries your words. For we all have a pulpit.

For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. (Romans 11:36)

Posted in elijah, encouragement, God, hagar, tender

Tender moments in the bible

Posted on by elizabethprata

There are so many powerful moments in the bible. Where does one begin? Genesis 1, God creates everything, are verses that are awesome to ponder. The resurrection, when Jesus emerged from the tomb alive. God is all-powerful.

There are thunderous moments too. When Mt Sinai trembles, when God was in the earthquake, when He split the ground under Korah and closed it back up again. God is to be feared.

But there are tender moments too. The God of thunder and wrath and all-power is so tender!! I’m not one of these who believes the wrathful God is the Old Testament turned into the sensitive (“boyfriend”) Jesus of the New Testament. Read Revelation and you see it is the same God of wrath and anger against unrighteousness and sin. In the Old Testament (as well as the New), there are very tender moments which show us our Holy God is everything. He is simply everything good- including tenderness.

In Genesis 21:15-19, slave girl Hagar had been misused by Sarah (and Abraham). She and her son Ismael ran away to the wilderness, and there, thirsty, alone, and weak, they prepared to die.

When the water in the skin was gone, she put the child under one of the bushes. 16Then she went and sat down opposite him a good way off, about the distance of a bowshot, for she said, “Let me not look on the death of the child.” And as she sat opposite him, she lifted up her voice and wept. And God heard the voice of the boy, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What troubles you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. Up! Lift up the boy, and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make him into a great nation.” Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. And she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.

“God heard“, “The Angel of God” [Jesus] called to her from heaven. He assured her. He made promises to her. He opened her eyes so she could drink. What direct, intimate ministration from Holy God in heaven!

In 1 Kings 19:4-8, we see tender ministrations again. Poor Elijah, downcast, alone, and fearing for his life. He, like Hagar, ran to the desert and wanted to die.

Elijah in the wilderness, by Washington Allston, 1817

 But did God let Elijah stay that way? No

Ferdinandus Bol, 1660, Elijah Fed By An Angel

But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he asked that he might die, saying, “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers.” And he lay down and slept under a broom tree. And behold, an angel touched him and said to him, “Arise and eat.” And he looked, and behold, there was at his head a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water. And he ate and drank and lay down again. And the angel of the Lord came again a second time and touched him and said, “Arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you.” And he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mount of God.

The angel touched Elijah! He had prepared food for Elijah! He comforted Elijah, and gave him direction and hope. God is so good to us. He does that for us today.

In Matthew 4 we read that Jesus was in the desert 40 days and nights, alone, fasting, and tempted by satan. At the end of the trial, it says in Matthew 4:11,

“Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.”

One might say, ‘Well, of course God would send angels to minister to His Son!’ but perhaps the ministering angels who ministered to Jesus are also some of the same ones who minister to us? Just think on it! Overall, it is to His glory that he is so involved with His people, that ministration is a regular part of His interaction with us!

His ministration with sinful man began at the Garden after the Fall. He personally covered Adam and Eve

Genesis 3:21 says, “And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.”

The God who had just made the Universe, and upholds it by power of His will and His voice, personally made garments for his rebellious children, and wrapped them. I picture a child throwing a tantrum, and saying all sorts of things to his father, including, “No! I don’t wanna! I hate you!” But after the storm is over and the timeout is finished, the father gives the boy a bath, wipes his tear-stained face, and wraps him in a towel. He holds him close to herself, his sniffles diminishing as the very heartbeat of the one who created him him and feeds him and cares for him saturates the boy’s heart and mind, and eventually his brow unfurrows and his face becomes angelic, and he drifts off to sleep, still in his father’s arms.

That is our God. Holy and Fearful, but a caring Father, holding us in His arms until the storm passes by and our rebellion subsides. He is tender. One day, there will be no more tantrums, and no more rebellion. We will love our Father perfectly and completely, just as He loves us now. What a day that will be.

Posted in encouragement, jesus, prophecy, veil

Rahab’s scarlet thread

Posted on by elizabethprata

“Behold, when we come into the land, thou shalt bind this line of scarlet thread in the window which thou didst let us down by: and thou shalt gather unto thee into the house thy father, and thy mother, and thy brethren, and all thy father’s household. Then if anyone goes out of the doors of your house into the street, his blood shall be on his own head, and we shall be guiltless. But if a hand is laid on anyone who is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head.” (Joshua 2:18-19)

Gill’s Exposition explains the scarlet thread: “so the scarlet thread was an emblem of the blood of Christ, by which salvation is; redemption and all the blessings of grace are through it; justification, remission of sin, reconciliation, and atonement, and safety, and protection from avenging justice, and wrath to come, are only by it“… more at end

You may hear Christians speak of the “Scarlet Thread.” This is a shorthand reference not only to the literal verse literally reporting on Rahab’s scarlet thread, but to the fact that the blood of Jesus and His plan for Redemption runs through all the bible from Genesis to Revelation. The bible is about the atonement from beginning to end, and it’s about the One who accomplished that atonement, Jesus. There is no “Old Testament God of Wrath” and a “New Testament God of Love.” There is no God vs. Jesus. There are no two halves, one fulfilled and one marginalized. The scarlet thread runs through the entire bible.

Here is an example from the bible about the scarlet thread. God told Hosea His prophet to tell the Israelites this pronouncement of judgment,

The high places of Aven, the sin of Israel,
shall be destroyed.
Thorn and thistle shall grow up
on their altars,
and they shall say to the mountains, “Cover us,”
and to the hills, “Fall on us.”
~Hosea 10:8

For those who believe that God is outdated and so is the Old Testament, or for those who believe it’s not necessary or study the Old Testament, or for those who believe that the OT has no bearing on our lives today in this modern world, here is Jesus on His way to Calvary referring back to that exact Hosea prophecy and also prophecies in Hosea 9:11, 14, (Give them, O LORD— what will you give? Give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts. … Ephraim’s glory will fly away like a bird– no birth, no pregnancy, no conception.”)

“And there followed him a great multitude of the people and of women who were mourning and lamenting for him. But turning to them Jesus said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’ 30Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us,’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’ “
(Luke 23:27-30)

And once again the scarlet thread progresses in its weaving truth to men as we reach Revelation, where once again the Hosea prophecy of the past, the Jesus mention at the midpoint, and the reference is made again, this time to the future:

“Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and everyone else, both slave and free, hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains.
They called to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb!”
(Revelation 6:15-16)

Back to Gill’s again on Rahab’s Scarlet thread as metaphor in Joshua 2:

and thou shall bring thy father, and thy mother, and thy brethren, and all thy father’s household home unto thee; into her house, where the scarlet thread was bound, and where only they would be safe, as the Israelites were in the houses where the blood of the paschal lamb was sprinkled, Exodus 12:23; and so they are safe, and they only, who are under the blood of sprinkling, and partake of the virtue of it.

Praise the Lord for the fact the scarlet thread exists! With it we are covered, safe, and dwelling in the House…’where ONLY they would be safe’! The beauty, wonder, mystery, and truth of God’s word is always inspiring and convicting. Jesus’ blood runs throughout the entire word, for He IS the Word.

Posted in encouragement, love, puppy

Happy Puppy

Posted on by elizabethprata

I watched this happy video of a puppy waiting for his boy to return home from school. I’d planned to put it on my other blog as a happy little pick-me-up. But it’s almost impossible for me to see anything and not make a spiritual application, lol. So here it is. First, the happy puppy:

Awww!! So cute! Here is the question I ask us all, myself included. Are we a puppy? Do we show obvious and generous and committed love to people? Do we rush to pick up their burdens? Are we excited to see them? To the point of eagerly waiting?

Just sayin’

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.” (1 John 4:7)

“They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. (Acts 2:42).

“Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” (Galatians 6:2)

“For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established;” (Romans 1:11)

Posted in encouragement, God, israel, old testament, repentance

Repentance is more than just "turning".

Posted on by elizabethprata

As one reads through Hosea, particularly chapter 7, it is amazing the number of metaphors God uses to show Israel’s perfidy. They were separated from their God and Protector through their own actions. God hadn’t gone anywhere, Israel had. They needed to repent and turn to Him.

However there is turning and there is turning. God was angry that Israel turned to idols. They turned to Egypt. They turned to Assyria. They turned to themselves, in their own beds crying and wailing. (“They do not cry to me from the heart, but they wail upon their beds”; Hosea 7:14) They turned a lot. They didn’t turn the right way.

They turn, but not upward,  (Hosea 7:16a)

Turn upward!

Judas turned. In the KJV of Matthew 27:3 it says, “Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders,”

Did Judas repent? No. He turned, he felt grief, he refused to look at his sin… but he didn’t turn upward.

Easton’s Bible Dictionary says there are several words for repent used in the bible. In the case of Judas the verb is “metamelomai is used of a change of mind, such as to produce regret or even remorse on account of sin, but not necessarily a change of heart. This word is used with reference to the repentance of Judas (Matt. 27:3).

The other word for repentance according to Easton’s is “Metanoeo, meaning to change one’s mind and purpose, as the result of after knowledge. This verb, with (3) the cognate noun metanoia, is used of true repentance, a change of mind and purpose and life, to which remission of sin is promised.”

In Judas’ case, his turning was not upward.

In your grief over sin, in your restlessness in finding peace, in your agitation, turn, not from one worldly thing to another, but upward!

The lessons of Hosea 7 are many. One is, that God is looking down upon His elect. He is looking. Look upward! See Him! Our holy Savior as High Priest is looking at us, loving us, calling to us to repent. Repentance is a matter of turning, but turning in the right direction, and it is having a right heart condition. Judas’ heart wasn’t right. Ephraim’s heart wasn’t right. They cried but it wasn’t from the heart. Judas cried, but it wasn’t from the heart. If you cry over your sins, is it from the heart? If you turn from your sin, is it in the right direction? We have learned that a horizontal turning is not the right direction because the only thing in our horizontal field of vision is the world. The world doesn’t forgive. God in heaven forgives. Upward is the right direction and having the right heart attitude is important too.

“because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.” (Romans 10:9).

Posted in creation, creator, encouragement, fragrance, magnolia

The short, beautiful life of a magnolia blossom

Posted on by elizabethprata

Say “magnolia” and people automatically think of the South. I grew up in New England I know I certainly did. Never once did I think I’d live in the south, and with a magnolia tree across from my front door no less!

It is a stately tree, solid and aristocratic. Kenneth W. Outcalt wrote about the magnolia grandiflora tree, “Southern magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora), also called evergreen magnolia, bull-bay, big-laurel, or large-flower magnolia, has large fragrant white flowers and evergreen leaves that make it one of the most splendid of forest trees and a very popular ornamental that has been planted around the world.”

The magnolia flower of the grandiflora is just as grand as its host. The petals are enormous but velvety and have a rich ivory color. I don’t have a sense of smell so I can’t tell you directly. Locals say it smells great. Apparently the scent varies, it can smell like lemons, or violets, or vanilla.

Like the magnolia blossom, we emit a scent also.

And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” (Ephesians 5:2).

“But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.” (2 Corinthians 2:14-15)

Magnolia blossoms are blooming now. The trees are so tall, and most of the blossoms are far above my head, making a close inspection difficult. However this year, there was one bloom that was at eye level. With the flowers being so large and beautiful and emblematic of an entire region of the south, and a blossom blooming literally before my eyes, I decided to photograph one blossom each day for its entire life cycle and put it on my other blog as a photo essay.

I began the experiment on May 23. The blossom here is tightly wound, straight as an arrow, and contains no hints of the surprise inside.

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May 24: It looks a little plumper today.

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May 25: It popped open! Revealing more layers! How pretty!

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May 26: Each petal is larger than my entire hand. The color ranges from white to ivory and the entire blossom looks so stately.

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May 27: The petals are turning brown, barely hanging on to the stem, speckled on the edge with more brown. The leaves immediately under the blossom are dead. Bugs were crawling over the petals, looking for a good place to stake a claim to start munching.

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Four days, that is all it took for the bloom to appear in its final form, open, live, and die. I was so surprised. There are many blooms on the tree, and I just assumed that they lasted a while. I’d never tracked just one. Its life is so short, a mere breath.

I was pondering that for a while today. What seemed so strong and beautiful was only a few days later fodder for death, decay, and insects. In addition, what was presented so starkly to me in the story of the magnolia is something that is repeated in our human body and our short lives. Most of us live more than 4 days, but to God, our life is a mere vapor, a mist.

“yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.” (James 4:14)

“You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Everyone is but a breath, even those who seem secure.” (Psalm 39:5)

So what are we going to do with the time afforded us on our short time on earth?

“Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil.” (Ephesians 5:15-16)

The magnolia fruit will continue to dry out, and eventually open, revealing tiny red seeds. These drop to the ground

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Mature Magnolia fruit just starting to open, with a few seeds visible.
Wikimedia Commons

One botanist wrote that it hardly seems credible that such a large tree could come from such a small seed.

Paul wrote about how our body is a seed, a mere kernel.

The Resurrection Body

“35But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” 36You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. 38But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. 39For not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. 40There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind, and the glory of the earthly is of another. 41There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory.”

“42So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. 43It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. 44It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. 47The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. 48As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. 49Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.” (1 Corinthians 15:35-49)

When the magnolia seed drops to the ground it is a bare kernel, it looks nothing like what it will become. It is red, the flower is white. It is small, the flower is large. It has no smell, the magnolia scent is lovely. The mature blossom lives a short time, bearing witness to the Creator, who is pleased with its beauty and scent, and then it dies. It endures decay and becomes bug-eaten and eventually, dust. (Ecclesiastes 3:20).

The parallel to people is the same. Our lives are short and ends in decay. While we are living we have a job to do, glorify the Creator and testify to His works. Will we redeem the time? Is our Lord pleased with our aroma? When we awaken to receive our final bodies, will it be to shame and contempt or to everlasting life? (Daniel 12:2).

“Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice.” (John 5:28)

I pray you are awakened to eternal life, saved by thegrace of our Lord, working to redeem the time on His behalf. Because, it bears repeating,

And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” (Ephesians 5:2)

Posted in encouragement, exhortation, God, hosea, moth, S. Lewis Johnson

Sometimes judgment comes not as brimstone or earthquake, but as a moth

Posted on by elizabethprata

When you read the bible, stop frequently to ponder. Think about what you’re reading. Also, frequently ask yourself, “What does this mean?”

We read about different metaphors in the bible, and we read about different insects and animals sometimes as a part of those metaphors. In Psalm 59:14 we read that enemies return at evening, howling “like a dog”. In Proverbs 6:6, we are advised to be like the ant. Psalm 18:33 says, “He made my feet like the feet of a deer and set me secure on the heights.”

Sometimes God uses a metaphor to ascribe a quality to Himself. In Matthew 23:37 God says tenderly,

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” See also Ruth 2:12.

Wiki creative commons

Insects mentioned quite often include the moth. Moths are mentioned several times.

“but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.” (Matthew 6:20)

“For the moth will eat them up like a garment, and the worm will eat them like wool; but my righteousness will be forever, and my salvation to all generations.” (Isaiah 51:8)

But see this verse from Hosea where God pronounces judgment on Israel, God says HE will be like the moth!

“I am like a moth to Ephraim, like rot to the people of Judah.” (Hosea 5:12)

So in reading Hosea 5 when you come across a verse like this, stop and ponder, ask, what does it mean? What do moths do, how do they act, so we can better understand what God is saying here.

When we think of God working, we often think of Him powerfully and noisily working great things, such as in the scene from 1 Kings 19:11-12

“And a great and strong wind was rending the mountains and breaking in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. 12After the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper.”

But God works quietly too, as the low whisper showed. (NOT that God speaks to us today in a still, small voice, that was not the point of the verse). It’s that He works loudly and demonstrably but also quietly.

It is the same with the moth. Though we think of judgments like brimstone and earthquakes, a judgment is also what the moth can do, and in a way, it is worse.

Moths (or moth larvae) work secretly, stealthily. You put away your clothes for the summer and when winter comes again you take out that sweater and it has been rendered useless because of all the holes in until it is good for nothing. It will not cover your nakedness anymore. Pulpit Commentary quotes Calvin:

“The meaning of the prophet is by no means obscure, and that is, that the Lord would by a slow corrosion consume both the people; and that, though he would not by one onset destroy them, yet they would pine away until they became wholly rotten.”

Gill’s Exposition says,

“Therefore will I be unto Ephraim as a moth,…. Which eats garments, penetrates into them, feeds on them privately, secretly, without any noise, and gradually and slowly consumes them; but at last utterly, that they are of no use and profit:”

Can there be a worse judgment? To awaken finding yourself one day wholly rotten? A slow but sure destruction that had come upon you? Not even having rated a loud showy judgment of brimstone, but a lowly worm having done you in.

S. Lewis Johnson ended his exposition of Hosea 5, a sermon titled “God Withdrawn“, this way-

The perils of apostasy! When we apostatize from the faith, when we depart from the faith, when lethargy and indifference grips us, the real enemy is the Lord God Himself!

If you have believed in Jesus and your life is in a shambles because of indifference and because of  lethargy, the Lord God may be working like a moth in your life. May God help you to recognize what is really happening, and may He stir you by His Holy Spirit to come back to Him. Confess your sin, seek to put Him first in your life. Use the time He has given you for the glorification of His name. The remedy as Hosea puts it so plainly is, ‘know the Lord.’ ” (Hosea 5:4)

Take protective measures against the moth’s destructive capabilities by keeping your faith living and active. Study the word, know the Lord. Pray ceaselessly. Serve lovingly. Submit constantly. There will be no need to mothball your holy garment if you never put it away for a season!