This week I’ve been praying for and struggling with the sad circumstances that have been presented to so many of my sisters online and friends in real life too. People are going through hard things, very hard. I mourn with them and for them, sometimes with tears. Through reliance on the Holy Spirit, they have been persevering, even praising God, but it’s difficult times for many of us. Continue reading “Things are hard. Jesus is there”
By Elizabeth Prata
We had a dinosaur traveling museum interactive exhibit come to our school. Kids are so fascinated with dinosaurs. He showed them a tooth from a spinosaurus and a megalodon tooth. Lots of oohs and ahhs, lol. Those teeth were huge! The man was very knowledgeable and spoke at the kids’ level and in an encouraging way, too. It was a good event. Continue reading “The Amazing Natural World”
By Elizabeth Prata
I went on an archaeological dig once. It was in Tuscany, Italy. We were trying to find structures that would help date the land and buildings of this particular property. Its owner, an Italian Count, was hoping it would date back to Charlemagne. It turned out I made a significant discovery, one they hadn’t expected! They became soooo excited when the structure I was digging became known once again to the light of day. What did I discover? What was so exciting? A latrine! Continue reading “Prata Potpourri: archaeological discoveries, riding a camel, lost gift certificate, how to open a book, more”
By Elizabeth Prata
I have Netflix and I enjoy watching the series called The Crown. It’s a fictionalized-kind-of-realistic peek into the Royal Family of Queen Elizabeth II from 1947 to 1969 (so far). Future seasons are supposed to cover the time of her reign into the 21st century. It is a praised series for its acting, cinematography, and relatively accurate portrayal of the Royal Family and the historical incidents they became involved in. Continue reading “Moondust, or, Dust to Dust?”
By Elizabeth Prata
I grew up in The Ocean State, Rhode Island. Yes, it’s small, really small. You’re never far from the ocean. My grandparents had a summer house on Narragansett Bay and we were there constantly in the summer, every weekend. When I got older my mother let me ride my bike the 3 miles to their house. I’d spend all day in the water or on the sand. Continue reading “The Sand and the Rock”
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. (Galatians 5:22-23).
The word we’re focusing on this week inside the fruit of the Spirit list is- faithfulness.
As a reminder, the fruit of the Spirit is love. All other fruit stems from that one fruit. There is one fruit of the Spirit, it isn’t a plural. It’s one bundle.
The Greek word in this verse for faithfulness is pistis. Helps Word Studies explains,
pístis (from 3982/peithô, “persuade, be persuaded”) – properly, persuasion (be persuaded, come to trust); faith.
Faith/pistis) is always a gift from God, and never something that can be produced by people. In short, “faith” for the believer is “God’s divine persuasion” – and therefore distinct from human belief (confidence), yet involving it. The Lord continuously births faith in the yielded believer so they can know what He prefers, i.e. the persuasion of His will (1 Jn 5:4).
Pistis in secular antiquity referred to a guarantee (warranty). In Scripture, faith is God’s warranty, certifying that the revelation He inbirthed will come to pass.
Faith (4102/pistis) enables the believer to know God’s preferred-will (cf. J. Calvin; see 2307/thelçma).
Reflection: Faith is only (exclusively) given to the redeemed. It is not a virtue that can be worked up by human effort.
Resources:
Ligonier Devotional: Goodness and Faith
Faith is another fruit of the Spirit in our lives (Gal. 5:22). But when the Apostle refers to faith, he speaks not merely of “believing in God.” Paul also calls us to “believe God.” Believing in God is not that remarkable — even demons do that. What the Lord wants is a people who trust in His promises alone (James 2:14–26).
GotQuestions: Fruit of the Spirit- What is Faithfulness?
Faithfulness is believing that God is Who He says He is and continuing in that belief despite the vagaries of life. Functionally, that means we trust what God says in the Bible, and not necessarily what the world or our own eyes tell us. We trust He will work out everything for good. We trust He will work His will in us. And we trust that our situation on earth is nothing compared to our future reward in heaven. The only way we can have such faith is by the Holy Spirit’s influence. He testifies to the truth and impels us to seek God. The Spirit makes us faithful.
Arthur W. Pink:
Faith endures as seeing Him who is invisible (Heb. 11:27); endures the disappointments, the hardships, and the heart-aches of life, by recognizing that all comes from the hand of Him who is too wise to err and too loving to be unkind. But so long as we are occupied with any other object than God Himself, there will be neither rest for the heart nor peace for the mind. But when we receive all that enters our lives as from His hand, then, no matter what may be our circumstances or surroundings—whether in a hovel or prison-dungeon, or at a martyr’s stake—we shall be enabled to say, ” The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places” (Ps. 16:6). But that is the language of faith, not of sight nor of sense.
By Elizabeth Prata
All religions are not equal. All other religions except Christianity are false.
See, the problem is sin. It’s not which god to worship. It’s not how to worship. It’s not how to be a better person. It’s not how to ‘connect with the divine.’ The fundamental human problem is our sin before a holy and just God. Only God is God, not Allah, he is no god. Not Shiva. Not Brahman.
I am the LORD, and there is no other;
Besides Me there is no God.
Isaiah 45:5
Since our fundamental problem is how to be holy as God is holy, we must do something to restrain our sin. We must be forgiven of it. We must partner with a power outside of ourselves who is holy and perfect. Deep down we all know we’re rotten, we do bad, we need help, however you want to phrase it. So they seek ‘noble paths’ (Buddhism). They create second chances. (Hindu reincarnation). They worship the observable earth (Wicca, Druids). None will help man in his fundamental problem; restraining the flesh.
See? (Go here for 20-second vid)
All other religions can do nothing to restrain the flesh. In all other religions, the flesh is god, not God. Only God, who is transcendent, above us and His creation, the very Creator, can pass His hand over us and declare us just, through His Son Jesus. What Christianity has that all other religions do not is the ability of God to solve our sin problem.
“The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” (Mark 1:15)
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoiced in hope of the glory of God. (Romans 5:1-2)
If you repent to Jesus, who died as the sacrificial lamb, shedding His blood, and absorbing and exhausting God’s wrath for His people, then you will be saved. he is the door to heaven. The only door.
I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. (John 10:9).
By Elizabeth Prata
Katharina von Bora was a woman you should know, if you don’t already. She was born in 1499 in Lippendorf, Saxony, Germany. When she was five years old her father sent her to a monastery for education, and then to another one when she was 9. Ten years later, the growing Reformation movement has slipped into even the thick walls of the quiet Cistercian monastery and Katy, by now a nun, conspired to escape it with several other nuns. She had contacted Luther and Luther sent his friend Leonard Koppe, to retrieve the nuns. They escaped in a fish wagon. They arrived in Wittenberg, where you know who lived. Continue reading “When Katie Von Bora wore black”
By Elizabeth Prata
Jesus is the God-Man. He is fully God and fully Man. I don’t understand how that works (known as the hypostatic union). No one does. It’s a mystery of God.
As a man, He is comfort, friend, brother. John the disciple leaned on Jesus’ bosom at the last supper. (John 13:25). Cozy. He wants to gather His children and protect them as a hen does her chicks. (Matthew 23:37). Tender.
In recent decades, excessive focus has been given to that particular aspect of Jesus, the Man. But then ‘Man’ devolved into ‘boyfriend’. This has allowed a skew of sinful familiarity to penetrate women’s minds, ministries, and material. Continue reading “How did they react when they saw Jesus?”
By Elizabeth Prata
How often do we hear that all we need is a personal relationship with Jesus? That it’s a relationship, not a reltigion? I read so often that ‘Christianity is not a religion’, as if participating in our religion is bad, or that its principles and commands are not needed. They are needed and it is a religion. Continue reading “Is Christianity a relationship or a religion?”
the-end-time.org 