By Elizabeth Prata
During this Christmas season you might sing the old hymn, “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.” The hymn is thought to have originated in the 1100s! The 1861 translation of this ancient hymn from the Latin contains the verse about a Dayspring.
O come, Thou Dayspring, from on high,
And cheer us by Thy drawing nigh;
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,
And death’s dark shadows put to flight.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel
By Elizabeth Prata
The flow of the series is a presentation of an initial section of 11 verses on photos depicting the life of Jesus from prophecy to birth and boyhood.
The next section (#12-16) will feature verses about the Son.
From #17-26 we will survey the Preeminence of the Son, His attributes, and His ministry.
From #27-36 we’ll look at His Resurrection, Ascension, & Return.
Yes there are more than 30 verses. I just couldn’t pare it down! There’s a postlude.
All photos are by EPrata unless otherwise noted.
There is no better refreshment for the soul than to meditate on Him. Enjoy!
I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. (Psalm 119:15)
Thirty Days of Jesus Series-
Introduction/Background
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Further Reading
Art & The Bible: Adoration of the Magi
GotQuestions: What Does the Bible say about the Three Wise Men (Magi)?
Answers in Genesis: We Three Kings
Grace To You: Who Were the Wise Men?
By Elizabeth Prata
Further information
God’s Glory: Ligonier Devotional
Thinking about Jesus: Owen on meditating on Christ’s glory
John Owen quotes on Jesus’ glory (Goodreads)
Thirty Days of Jesus Series-
Introduction/Background
Day 1 post
Day 2 post
Day 3 post
Day 4 post
Day 5 post
By Elizabeth Prata
“Behold, all is vanity.”—Ecclesiastes 1:14.
Charles Spurgeon wrote in his Evening Devotional for this date, “NOTHING can satisfy the entire man but the Lord’s love and the Lord’s own self. Saints have tried to anchor in other roadsteads, but they have been driven out of such fatal refuges. Solomon, the wisest of men, was permitted to make experiments for us all, and to do for us what we must not dare to do for ourselves.”
Spurgeon continues -“What! the whole of it vanity? O favoured monarch, is there nothing in all thy wealth? Nothing in that wide dominion reaching from the river even to the sea? Nothing in Palmyra’s glorious palaces? Nothing in the house of the forest of Lebanon? In all thy music and dancing, and wine and luxury, is there nothing? “Nothing,” he says, “but weariness of spirit.”
The Book of Ecclesiastes speaks to me. I sometimes mourn the lost decades of my life before salvation, still knowing
Continue reading “Living a life of death”By Elizabeth Prata
Answers in Genesis: Separating myth from biblical fact, No Room For an Inn
GotQuestions: What does it mean that baby Jesus was wrapped in swaddling cloths?
Thirty Days of Jesus series-
By Elizabeth Prata
Advent series in scripture photos
What is the definition of sin? – Got Questions
Matthew Henry on Matthew 1:18-25
Thirty Days of Jesus series
By Elizabeth Prata
I was born in December 1960. My first memory is when I was a few weeks past 3 years old, when the Beatles performed on Ed Sullivan Show on television in February 1964.
So I grew up in the turbulent 1960s. Day by day, week by week, year by long year, TV viewers were shown images of war, never before seen in such gruesome vitality. Live shooting in an incomprehensible jungle and a nightly count of the deaths and wounded solemnly intoned by Walter Cronkite. Other newsworthy scenes we were subjected to were of mayhem, marches, chaos, angry feminists, open homosexuals, riots, Kent State, constantly on the news and in newspapers, the only widespread sources at the time. Once, my mother asked my brother if he would go to Viet Nam as a soldier when he turned 18 or if he’d object and go to Canada. He was six. It felt like the war would last another 12 years until he turned of soldier age.
Continue reading “The seasons are changing”By Elizabeth Prata
It is a good question and it’s timely. When I talk with the younger women in the faith who seek and apply discernment, they acknowledge that it’s hard to really trust anybody (without doing significant pre-vetting before buying a book, subscribing to a podcast, liking on social media, etc). I was asked just this week ‘who is out there that we can trust?’ (Note: not blind trust, discerning trust).
It’s a grief to ask this question because it’s a grief to see friends and even women we don’t know follow false female teachers. (Or any false teacher). Won’t it be a relief and a joy in the eternal state with no sin and perfect trust in all whom we meet! Until that day, we must ask the question, ‘Where are all the discerning women?’
When I was brought to a Beth Moore Living Proof weekend I mourned over the tens of thousands of women filling the arena and the picture of all of them adoring Moore haunts me today. We ask the question not because we’re smarter than anyone else, frankly, many of us discerners have a woeful tale of having squandered time in sanctification because we followed the wrong crowd or teacher. It’s one of the reasons we’re so fervent about being discerning. (I myself followed Joel Osteen for over a year at the start of my walk!). It’s because we have been graced with a spiritual gift that allows us to spot false teachers (and good teachers).
The Holy Spirit dispenses gifts as He pleases. (1 Corinthians 12:11). One of them is “distinguishing between spirits” (1 Corinthians 12:10) known in modern times as discernment. The people given this spiritual gift in the global body, operating within local churches, are the church’s early warning system.
There are discerning women out there putting out great material in blogs, papers, lectures, studies, and podcasts. Michelle Lesley, DebbieLynne Kespert, The Woman’s Hope podcast co-hosts Dr Shelbi Cullen & Kimberly Cummings, Lauren Hereford of Tulips & Honey (and Facebook group here), Susan Heck, Amy Spreeman, Allie Beth Stuckey, and others. But admittedly, the field is narrow and more full of false teachers.
Recently a young woman asked me to recommend any good Christian books by Godly women or about Godly women. I turned to Banner of Truth books because I know Iain Murray had written a short bio of Amy Carmichael and Banner of Truth had also published the bio of Selina Countess of Huntingdon. Banner of Truth lists 293 authors. Fourteen were women, comprising 4% of the list, if that gives you any idea of the ratio of solid male theologians to female. I believe this ratio holds in the wider global church, too, given the number of false women teachers we see running around.
So the question Where are all the the discerning women? is a good one.
By Elizabeth Prata
Every morning at 6:58, the first bird welcomes the day. CHIRP CHIRP CHIRP, I hear. At this current season in my little spot on earth, first light is 6:51 am, and sunrise is 7:18 am. During this week of quietude home from school on Thanksgiving Break, me and that bird have made friends. He doesn’t know it of course, but I do.
I sit at my table, sipping coffee and reading or writing. I look at the clock and wait for his first chirp. It’s a Carolina wren, and boy, that tiny body emits a sound that carries far and wide.
Usually on the dot (or thereabouts) I hear the wren. I smile, the day has officially begun when the tiny bird sings. It’s good to be connected to the outside world. The creation is amazing in its turnings and doings, and I’m pleased to know the wren is the one who greets the day first. He is the only one singing up the sun, the crow, the cardinal, the robin wait a bit before chiming in.
How does Wren know to do it every day, at the same time? A mystery of God. His creation is intricate and wondrous. All creation might be groaning together till now (Romans 8:22), but it’s singing, too.
By Elizabeth Prata
Thirty days of exalting Jesus though selected verses with pictures representing the prophecy, life, death, resurrection, and Second Coming of our Savior.
More information and background on this series, here
the-end-time.org 