By Elizabeth Prata
SYNOPSIS
I reflect on entering a short rest period with deep gratitude for God’s spiritual and earthly blessings. Anchored in Christ’s unshakable kingdom, I emphasize learning contentment through all circumstances, inspired by Paul, and encourage believers to remain steadfast, faithful and definitely grateful amid any challenges.
By Elizabeth Prata
I read Nehemiah 8. It is a short book in the Old Testament, and it is good. Nehemiah was the fellow who supervised the rebuilding of Jerusalem and alongside Prophet Ezra help to purify the Jewish community that had re-gathered there. Nehemiah was governor and Ezra was the priest and the scribe.
The day came when Ezra called all the adults, and all children who could understand, to come and listen to the reading of the Law. They stood and listened. The Levites were there to help them understand what they were hearing. Soon there were tears, weeping, and crushed hearts. They fell on their faces. “For all the people wept, when they heard the words of the Law.” The Jews realized how far they were from God. But Ezra said not to weep, for it was a day of rejoicing. The Festival of Booths was born, and the people celebrated, giving gifts to those who had nothing, and went their way eating and drinking. It is a short chapter. I recommend reading it.
The response of the people was the only proper response but it is one from which we can gather strength and praise our Savior all the more. First, the people listened to the word. Any walk with the Lord should begin with listening, either by reading yourself and listening with your mind and heart, or listening to a pastor. The people were instructed, and that is a good start.
Then they wept. There are a lot of reasons people weep when they read or hear the Word. It is precise, beautiful, true, and convicting. It is a gift delivered once for all to the saints, and it is good for reproof, exhortation, and education. The Word also reminds us how far we are from Him, Him as savior and we as sinners forgiven by His blood and His grace. But the Word also reminds us of how close we can be to Him!
Then the people were glad. He restores us! He hears prayer, he regenerates us in His likeness, and we are glad, going forth in joy to know that we CAN know our Savior personally. They celebrated, and they gave gifts. We should do that as well, always being on the lookout for those who are in need to fill that need. Giving the gift of the Word, or our time, or our love or all three!
Finally, the people went away rejoicing but their response to hearing the Word did not stop there. They DID something. In this case it was to begin the Festival of Booths (Sukkot). The Israelites evidenced an emotional response but the instructors encouraged them to apply the words to a spiritual response, and they did so.
What is your response to hearing the word? Do you remain unaffected? Do you fall on your face? Do you weep? Do you rejoice….but remain inactive? Or does hearing the word motivate you to a response in the world that in turn affects others?
Our joy should be all the greater because not only do we have the word, we have the promise of the Word.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” (John 1:1-5)
May He shine brightly in your heart today. If it has been a few days,…weeks…months since you have really listened to the Word, do it today. In Him is life!
By Elizabeth Prata
SYNOPSIS
The passage from John 4:1-42 highlights the woman at the well’s encounter with Jesus, emphasizing her past sins and His offer of redemption. This essay reflects on personal accountability before Christ, stressing that both believers and unbelievers must face Jesus their deeds. Believers are not judged, but are assessed for the quality of their works in Christ, which determines their rewards.
Continue reading “The Impact of Christ’s Conversation with the Samaritan Woman”Elizabeth Prata
On the Mount of Olives, Jesus sat with his disciples and answered their questions about the end of the age and the signs of His second coming. He answered in specific detail in Matthew 24 and 25, also Mark 13 and Luke 21. It is the longest answer He gave to any question the disciples asked.
The verses in Mt 24:3-6 read: “Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.“
These signs are warnings to allow the Spirit to give birth to the faith within. A parallel reference to Matthew 24:6 is given as Romans 10:17: “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.”
He speaks through His word (the Bible) and He shows himself through the creation.
I am reminded of Paul’s warning in Romans 1:18, “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness,”
They suppress the truth. What is that truth? That truth is that God exists, He created everything, thus, He is Authority over the earth and its inhabitants, and as the Authority and Creator, He will judge our lives. The other truth is, that we are ALL sinners due wrath from God. They suppress that!
When I saw the devastation in TN, North Carolina, and southern Georgia, it shocked me. Whole towns wiped away. Cities like Asheville and Augusta, extremely damaged. You’ve seen the pictures and video. Shocking and heartbreaking.
But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, ‘You offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? (Matthew 3:7)
There is wrath to come.
Jesus said in His Olivet Discourse as to the end of the end of days, it will be the worst time on earth there ever was or ever will be. Famine, earthquakes. Never mind towns, whole islands will flee away. Hawaii- gone. Malta, gone, Elba, gone England, gone. Floods, tsunamis, volcanoes. It will be like the North Carolina floods happening but also everywhere else all the disasters are happening too! At once, and/or in rapid succession. Just as one devastation happens, another occurs.
The one who believes in the Son has eternal life; but the one who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. (John 3:36)
In fact, the purpose not only is to demonstrate God’s wrath for sin and to punish Israel, but to UNcreate the earth before God restores it to its near-pre-Eden condition and then remake it totally. The recent hurricane was monstrous in size and its path of devastation was horrendous. The Tribulation will be worse.
Please listen to what Jesus is telling us in His word. He loves the world. He wants your sins to be forgiven so He may embrace you as friend on Judgment Day (1 Timothy 2:4), and not cast you alive into the Lake of Fire as an enemy. The difference between friend of God and enemy of God is a personal recognition of our own sins, and repenting and asking Jesus to forgive them. He is already the Lord of your life- this life AND the next one. Repenting makes Him your Savior. Saving from what? The wrath.
You do NOT want to be here during the coming Tribulation. Repent while it is still day. Before you are hardened in your sin, before you draw your last breath. Jesus forgives and He saves!
By Elizabeth Prata
The Lord has plans to prosper His children. He makes continual promises that we should not fear, because He knows our needs, and He will supply them. Matthew 6:31-34 is one example. The verses say, “Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
The People were wandering in the desert and had gotten mighty hungry. (Exodus 16) They began longing for the time of their captivity because at least then, they had bread and meat (Exodus 16:3). They began to grumble against Moses and against the LORD.
So, “Then the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether or not they will walk in My instruction.” (Exodus 16:4)
The economic situation these days has been long, hard, and painful. Many people, Christians included, have lost jobs, have faced foreclosure, and have had to undergo extreme austerity measures (voluntarily or involuntarily). Americans have been so used to prosperity that we have planned for it in the long-term with retirement accounts that we expected to remain full and fuller as time went on. We expected that after ten or twenty or thirty years that we would of course sell our houses and reap a comfortable profit. We were used to corporate loyalty and lengthy terms of employment, if not permanent ones, if we obtain tenure or have a strong union to back us. Long-term perspectives of our own personal wealth was the norm.
Yet, God said He would supply us. ‘My God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.’ (Philippians 4:19).
It is in Matthew 6 and it is in Exodus 16. “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself.” and “the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day.” God IS supplying you, faithful one. He just may be doing it in a manna situation, a one-day supply instead of extra, like before. He sent the Israelites a one day portion delivered, on time, every time. He even made it so that their clothes did not wear out. (Deuteronomy 29:5).
The LORD told Moses that He was doing it to test them. Not that God didn’t know the outcome of the test, like He needed to learn something, but that He wanted to restrict their supply so that they would learn to more faithfully depend on Him. Is that your situation? It is my situation for sure.
Could you be undergoing a test so that you will learn to depend on Him to greater degree and be strengthened for trials?
Do not worry about what you will eat nor what you shall wear. Do not worry about tomorrow. He provides. Think of the Israelites. Think on His promises to keep us and provide for us. If you only have enough today, do not fret, for you are blessed with bread from heaven!
By Elizabeth Prata
I am “holding fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I will have reason to glory because I did not run in vain nor toil in vain.” (Philippians 2:16)
Are you running well, or toiling in vain? Christian, when at the end of your life are you able to say, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith;”? (2 Timothy 4:7)
The journey is long and we are small, only humble servants and wretched sinners. There are obstacles and there are hindrances to our course. Some stumble when hindrances are met. “You were running well; who hindered you from obeying the truth?” (Galatians 5:7).
Keep running! Keep one step in front of the other! The time is but a vapor, so short, and what is hunger or cold or discomfort to us when we have an eternity of peace and joy to look forward to?
Martyn Lloyd Jones, a noted Welsh preacher from the mid 1900s, preached a series on holiness from 1 John. He said,
[Holiness] “is not some mystical experience that suddenly comes to us, but the outworking of the doctrine and the truth which we claim to believe.”
…”holiness is not something we are called upon to do in order that we may become something; it is something we are to do because of what we already are. . . . I am not to live a good and holy life in order that I may become a Christian; I am to live the holy life because I am a Christian.”
The first thing a Christian does to run the race well, in practical terms is:
“…that I try to separate myself from the sins which I have committed in the past; it includes that, but it goes well beyond it. It means that with the whole of my being I shun sin, I avoid it.”
Actively avoid all sins, big ones, little ones. In fact, it’s the little ones that get us. Why? Because little sins open the door to incrementalism. In the Good News Club, (evangelism for children program) we would teach the children that sin is “anything we think, say, or do that angers God.” It begins with a thought. Thinking about your favorite pub. Thinking about the next swimsuit issue of Sports Illustrated. Wondering what that secretary will be wearing today. Musing about your easy access tot he boss’s business checkbook. They’re just thoughts, right? Nothing harmful, nothing active.
But the thoughts are active. Next, you buy the swimsuit edition, you open the drawer to see if the checkbook is there, you go out of your way to see the secretary, you drive by the pub ‘to see who’s there’.
Soon the sin grabs hold and you are doing what you though you would never to. Porn, adultery, embezzlement… it all began with a thought you did not hold captive.
It’s our pride. We think ourselves capable, strong. But we are weak, pitiful, and stupid. We are sheep needing guidance every moment. Apart from Christ we can do nothing.
Run your race well. Pray, stay close to Jesus in His word, immediately banish sinful thoughts when they occur. Congregate with the saints, building them up and being built up.
Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let’s cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. (2 Corinthians 7:1).
And we desire that each one of you demonstrate the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you will not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and endurance inherit the promises, (Hebrews 6:11-12).
Therefore, treat the parts of your earthly body as dead to sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. (Colossians 3:5)
By Elizabeth Prata
The Bible tells us that earth will pass away and then be remade. Did you even wonder what it will be like in the New Heaven and the New Earth? I do. But first, the verses:
“A New Heaven and Earth“
“But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat!”” 2 Peter 3:12
“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea.” Rev 21:1
(Source for photos, actually is a video from Discovery “Proof of cosmic smashup“)
So I often wonder about whether we as resurrected saints will be allowed to watch God in His Glory renew the earth, what the new earth will be like in form, and looks, and smells, and sights, and of course about the new heaven.
“And the wolf will dwell with the lamb, And the leopard will lie down with the young goat, And the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little boy will lead them. Also the cow and the bear will graze, Their young will lie down together, And the lion will eat straw like the ox. The nursing child will play by the hole of the cobra, And the weaned child will put his hand on the viper’s den. They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain, For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD As the waters cover the sea.” – (Is 11:6-9)
Won’t that be wonderful??
By Elizabeth Prata
The world is corrupt. We know this. We read our Bibles. All we have to do is look around. If we watch TV for any length of time (a minute?) we see how depraved the world is. But then the Lord peels back a layer and we see, no, it’s WORSE.
Haggai 2:10-14 – “Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘Ask now the priests for a ruling: ‘If a man carries holy meat in the fold of his garment, and touches bread with this fold, or cooked food, wine, oil, or any other food, will it become holy?'” And the priests answered, “No.” Then Haggai said, “If one who is unclean from a corpse touches any of these, will the latter become unclean?” And the priests answered, “It will become unclean.” Then Haggai said, ” ‘So is this people. And so is this nation before Me,’ declares the LORD, ‘and so is every work of their hands; and what they offer there is unclean.”
What does this mean? Matthew Henry explains it well. “Many spoiled this good work, by going about it with unholy hearts and hands, and were likely to gain no advantage by it. The sum of these two rules of the law is, that sin is more easily learned from others than holiness. The impurity of their hearts and lives shall make the work of their hands, and all their offerings, unclean before God. The case is the same with us. When employed in any good work, we should watch over ourselves, lest we render it unclean by our corruptions.” –End Matthew Henry
In other words, if you drop a white glove in the mud, the mud doesn’t get glovey.
In this, the end time, we are warned repeatedly to avoid being deceived. Deception is the watchword of the day, along with its brothers, false teaching/prophets, and apostasy. The only sure antidote for being deceived is to stay strong in the basic foundations of our faith: daily prayer, daily Bible study, daily worship- seeking His face by remaining receptive to the Holy Spirit.
The Haggai chapters also contain a phrase the LORD uses several times:
“Thus says the LORD of hosts, “Consider your ways” (1:7).
The word consider is used repeatedly in chapter 2. In the NIV it is “give careful thought.” Considering our ways is always a good thing to do. Falling away always starts subtly, and why not? “For the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made.” (Genesis 3:1) He’s not going to grab you and drag you screaming behind the bushes. He’ll start subtly.
Do you have some creeping corruptions that are rendering you unclean? A little mud splatter? A peek at today’s horoscope, perhaps. Hanging with friends who swear, drink, or sleep around. Have you been unable to resist passing along that great piece of gossip? That’s how it starts. And before you know it, your work is unclean. And the more we fail to “give careful thought”, the more we become unclean.
Our uncleanness, (our sin) rubs off on people very easily. The more we fail to ask Jesus to reveal our unholiness to us the more the crafty serpent subtly creeps in, telling us that our unclenness isn’t that much, or isn’t that bad.
Don’t kid yourself that you are persisting with these friends because it’s a chance to witness. The consecrated meat does not consecrate the cooked food, wine, oil, or any other food. Rather, the uncleanness prevails, every time. If you drop a white glove into the mud…the glove does not make the mud white.
Christian, “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.” (II Timothy 3:1) Give careful thought to your ways, and stay clean in these perilous times!
By Elizabeth Prata
Genesis is such an amazing book of the Bible. In re-reading Genesis 12, I was again astounded by the depth and complexity of human history and our relationship with God. Genesis 12 is the famous chapter in which God called Abram (later name changed to Abraham) and made a significant promise:
I will make you a great nation; … I will bless those who bless you. And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Gen 12:2a & 3a)
You can be sure that the promise of God is solid, and that we are seeing the curse of nations who curse Israel beginning before our eyes. In verse 7 of Genesis 12, “Then the LORD appeared to Abram,” God appeared to Abraham. In my interpretation he appeared as the Son (Jesus said in John 8:58,”Before Abraham was, I AM.” He was quoting God speaking to Moses at the burning bush in Exodus 3:14). God appeared to Abram! Think on that for a moment. The El-Shaddai, the I AM, the ALMIGHTY, appeared to a man, walked with him, spoke to him, comforted him, and commanded him. It is a shuddering thought to ponder the gravity of those moments. That gravity was not lost on Abraham, who built altars to Him all over the Land wherever he went. Abraham did not build houses for himself, he built altars to God.
Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” And there he built an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him. And he moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; there he built an altar to the LORD and called on the name of the LORD. So Abram journeyed, going on still toward the South.
Abraham built altars right away, to mark his obedience to the LORD, and to sacrifice and worship. When Abraham came back from Egypt, “to the place of the altar which he had made there at first. And there Abram called on the name of the LORD.” (Genesis 13:3-4) which is another way of saying worship and sacrifice. When Abraham and Lot had separated and Abram moved to the region of Hebron, he “built an altar there to the Lord” (Genesis 13:18).
Abraham corresponded with the LORD by building altars for worship. Building an altar is an intentional, physical act. Worshiping on front of an altar is an intentional, physical act. When Abraham returned from Egypt, Abraham saw the altar he had originally made and ‘called on the name of the LORD’ in worship and thanks. In this case, the altar was a reminder of his relationship with the great I AM.
We do not need to build altars in these New Testament times, but we do need to be as dedicated and as intentional as Abraham in our relationship with God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit. You note that when Abraham and Lot separated, there was no mention of Lot building an altar to the LORD.
Lot was with Abraham when Abraham got the calling from God (Genesis 12:5) and was with Abraham throughout the blessing of his peoples’ increase. Lot saw God working in his family’s life. He reaped the blessings of Abraham’s obedience. But Lot did not build an altar. And from the biblical record we see how the distance between man and God can slowly grow when we fail to consistently correspond with the LORD.
Lot crept toward Sodom, closer and closer he pitched his tent, until he was finally living inside the city with all its sin and perversity. Though the sins of the city grieved Lot greatly (2 Peter 2:6-8) Lot did not build an altar. And in the end, Lot lost his city, his possessions, his family, his wife, (“Remember Lot’s wife” Luke 17:32) and sin fell upon his daughters, who lay with their father in perverse sin.
We do not build altars … but we pray. Our part of the correspondence between ourselves and God/Jesus/Holy Spirit is maintained through prayer, corporate worship, and fellowship in the body of the believers. Is your heart an altar to I AM? Do you pray constantly? Do you worship in faith and obedience, as Abraham did? No? Remember Lot’s wife.
Sequester a place where you pray, erect a wall around the dedicated time you pray, build an altar of prayer in your life and you will be blessed by the presence of the I AM Himself!!! He is with you, lo, even to the end of the age.
By Elizabeth Prata
It’s High Summer here in the US now. It’s vacation week for many people, and there’s a holiday coming up. I’m going to re-post some angel essays I’ve done in the past. So, it’s Angel week here on the blog!
Angels figure very, very prominently in the NT. People don’t really know this, or they overlook angels in the Bible. But once you see how often they are out and about, you can’t unsee it. At the other end of the scale, some are so preoccupied with angels they nearly fall into angel worship.
Once you start studying angels, you realize how frequently they are mentioned in the New Testament. And as for the nativity story, make many appearances! So let’s get to know these incredible beings better.
Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. (Hebrews 13:2 KJV)
From the Bible, we know that God created angels. (Colossians 1:16-17). We know that angels interact with humans at the behest of God. (Luke 1:26-38). They deliver messages. (Daniel 9:20-23). They fight for territory. (Daniel 10:20). They guard humans (Matthew 18:10) and report to God on the actions of children, anyway (Matt. 18:1-14) and perhaps to individually minister to adult Christians also (Hebrews 1:14).
Angels are divided into hierarchies and troops, including both good and evil angels, and special categories such as cherubim, seraphim, and the archangel. They are invisible. (2 Kings 6:17). They look like men sometimes, (Genesis 18:1-2) and other times they look like glory (Matthew 28:2-4) and other times they look like metal and lightning (Daniel 10:5-6) and still there are other angels who look completely unusual and beyond description (Revelation 4:6-8). [For the record, with one debatable exception, angels are not biblically described as having any wings]
Surely, it is a blessing that there is a class of created being whom God uses for His glory and for our help. It is a blessing also to think that we may entertain one of them at some point in our lives!
It is not well for us to miss the opportunity of the presence, the conversation, and the prayers of the good. The influence of such guests in a family is worth more than it costs to entertain them. ~Barnes’ Notes
But do not forget, there is another class of angels. There was a rebellion in heaven, and the highest angel, one created to guard the throne itself, tried to vault himself above God and was kicked out of heaven for it. His name is Lucifer, whose title is now the devil, adversary, satan. And even though a third of the multitudes of angels lived with God, and saw His glory and knew His heart, Lucifer was apparently so convincing that they sided with him against God, and so they were kicked out too. (Revelation 12:3-4,9)
Not everything supernatural is from God! If you entertain angels unawares, it may be a good angel sent to minister to you. Or it may be a fallen angel, sent by satan to thwart you, deceive you, or hinder you. (also 1 Tim 4:1-3; 2 Cor.11:13-15) “And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.” (2 Corinthians 11:14-15).
In this we must be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Barnes’ Notes again:
If there is danger that we may sometimes receive those of an opposite character. yet it is not wise on account of such possible danger, to lose the opportunity of entertaining those whose presence would be a blessing.
If you are reading this whether you are a Christian or a non-believer, be aware that deceit comes in a guise wrapped in a beautiful package. Fallen angels would look just like the glorious angels, as stated above in the Corinthians verse. If you are a Christian, you should be praying daily to receive wisdom, and it will be given to you without reproach.
You should be in the Word daily so that you will know the truth from a lie. Without His help, you are at the mercy of an adversary who can and does ‘appear to us unawares’ and always for the purpose of destroying us!
NOT EVERYTHING SUPERNATURAL IS FROM GOD!
Angels might surround you unawares, and it surely would be a blessing to discover in the hereafter that you’d entertained a Holy Angel!
the-end-time.org 