Posted in theology

If only God is good, how can we be called a ‘good’ servant?

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By Elizabeth Prata

In Luke 18:19, a certain ruler approached Jesus and asked him a question starting with “Good Teacher…” Jesus replied,

“Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone.“

Goodness is an attribute of God, one that is called a ‘communicable’ attribute, in that God chooses to ‘communicate’ or deliver to us, certain attributes. Incommunicable attributes are the attributes of God reserved for Him alone, such as omnipotence, or omniscience. But other attributes such as patience, goodness, etc, are given to us after salvation as we work out His salvation, obey His law, and develop fruit of the Spirit.

The only good there is comes from God, because He is the only Good. Let’s look at this attribute a bit closer. In Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology, he writes the definition of good,

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Posted in theology

Kay Cude Poetry: In these Perilous Times- Fear Not

Posted on by elizabethprata

Kay Cude is a Texas poet. Used with permission. Here is Kay’s Artist’s Statement:

Kay Cude: Too often I've been caught up in the speculation, "How will I respond to the attacks of the wicked when I am face-to-face with persecution?"  \Will I have the strength, the resilience, and the courage to respond to them with patience and gentleness and point them to the eternal rescue that is available to them through Christ Himself?  Will words fail me? Will I be able to crucify my flesh and respond in the Spirit, even in overwhelmingly fearful situations that threaten my life or my family or my financial security?"
"Proverbs 3:25-26 speaks to what I and countless of the redeemed can rest in--that it is the Lord, not ourselves, who is our confidence when we face persecution! Look closely at the submission, even the awe and timidity displayed in the eyes of those lions! Then see Daniel as he faces a deadly situation but stands quietly in the confidence that only the Lord can supply!  That's for us too!!"

“When they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not worry about how or what you are to speak in your defense, or what you are to say; for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.” (Luke 12:11-12 NASB’95).

Briton Riviere; Daniel in the Lion’s Den; Walker Art Gallery; http://www.artuk.org/artworks/daniel-in-the-lions-den-97646
Posted in theology

Unequally yoked (or yoked to a minimal believer) but still need to submit?

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

The Bible calls married women to submit to their husbands, as they submit to the Lord. (Ephesians 5:22-25). But when your husband isn’t a believer in Christ, or is a minimal believer showing little interest in spiritual things, how does one navigate the minefields that pop up? Yesterday we saw young Abigail in that situation, and she used tact and diplomacy.

The question is, how to submit to husband without sinning against Jesus. Let’s start with a negative example of what NOT to do. I’d said on the first essay in this series that submission means you do not have to follow your husband into sin. In the days of the early church shown in Acts, everyone was selling their land and laying the proceeds at the apostles’ feet, so that there was not a needy person among them. (Acts 4:32-35). So Ananias and Sapphira decided they would do the same.

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Posted in theology

What if my marriage is to a difficult man?

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

EPrata photo

This week I’ve been looking at marriage. I wrote about what submission is and isn’t, I posted a sweet testimony about persevering in marriage, and I recommended a site called Confidently Called Homemakers that has a lot of encouragements and resources for the women who work at home.

Today we’ll look at marriage to a difficult man. I know what you’re thinking, lol, ‘They’re ALL difficult!’ And they are! And so are we women. As part of the curse, God said that the desire for women would be for their husbands, and the husbands in turn would have a tendency to rule over us. This is ripe ground for conflict. Before the fall, Adam and Eve’s was the only perfect marriage. All of them since have had difficulty. In Genesis 3 Adam and Eve started blame-shifting and bickering. (Where do I get the bickering from? I am supposing…the leaf-sewing went something like this: “You’re not doing it right! That leaf isn’t big enough! Just give it here!”)

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Posted in theology

What are the biblical qualities God desires in a woman teacher? Not the ones Beth Moore exhibits

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By Elizabeth Prata

EPrata art

Beth Moore, biblically, is a teacher #fail

Did you know that for men who desire to teach, pastor, or lead, there are many more Biblical standards addressing their behavior than there are skill-level credentials? There’s just one mentioned skill: Men must be “able to teach”. But there are many more verses outlining how they are to behave. If they fail to adhere to any of the standards, including behavioral, they are disqualified from the position.

It’s the same for women. There are many more behavior and lifestyle standards than skills. If God were grading on a curve, behavior would weigh more than skills or talents. Here some of them are in Titus 2:3-5. The passage opens with admonishment for women to be reverent and ends with warnings that failure to be reverent will dishonor God’s word.

Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good, so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored.

I think we all understand what it means to be reverent, not a malicious gossip, and not a drunk. What does sensible mean in this context? It is to be self-controlled and of sound mind. Mark that, I’ll come back to it. What does it mean to “dishonor” God’s word? The Greek here is blasphēmētai 987: “to slander, hence to speak lightly or profanely of sacred things.” It is to be irreverent.

Now that we know what God expects, let’s take a look at who fails the test, and why.

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Posted in theology

Recommending “Confidently Called Homemakers”

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Hey, Ladies, SAHMs: I recommend Jennifer Ross’ site “Confidently Called Homemakers”. She has tons of resources and encouragements for you. Incidentally, she interviewed me on the topic of ‘Does God Speak with us Audibly’? and the podcast is up!

Her site: http://confidentlycalled.com/

Her interview with me: is #30, http://confidentlycalled.com/2021/04/20/doesgodspeakwithusaudibly/

Other great discussions on the following topics:

29. Life after Deleting Social Media with Grace Wagler

28: Learn to Manage Your Time Well with Sue Nelson

27: How Stay at Home Moms Can get Involved in Standing up for God-Given Freedoms with Sheri Graham

26: Practical Home Management with Marci Ferrell

25: How Pursuing a Career Cost Me 3 of my 4 Children with Guest Sherry

24: Living for Jesus as a Stay At Home Mom with Karen DeBeus

23: Eternal Impact in the Everyday Mundane with Kelly Crawford

22: Coming Out of the Chaos with Meg Dickey

21: Starting from Scratch in Homemaking with Jami Balmet

And much more on the podcast and the blog! http://confidentlycalled.com/

Posted in theology

Culture calls this a dirty word

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

There are two worlds. The seen and the unseen. The world and the heavens. The devil’s kingdom and the Messiah’s. That’s it.

We will never get an unsaved person to believe this, because these things are spiritually discerned. 1 Corinthians 2:14 says, But a natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.

Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. (Romans 8:8)

It is nonetheless true. Other truisms come with this knowledge, such as the fact that the world systems vs the heavenly kingdom each have its own unique vocabulary. Nowhere is this more spelled out than in Isaiah 5:20, which reads,

Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!

Matthew Henry says of the Isaiah verse,

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Persevering in Marriage: A True Story

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Marriage is hard. It takes a lot of work, denial of self, service to the spouse, and submission. Having Jesus at the center is necessary for success and even then, some Christian marriages still fail. Without Christ, I am not sure how any marriage survives! I am not married now, but I was before I was saved. It was difficult and I wish now that I’d had Jesus to rely upon for help. Christians are truly blessed to have the Groom to whom we can bring our marital cares, joys, and petitions.

This week I’ll look at Christian marriage in a upcoming few essays.

Here is a heartfelt, true story about marriage from someone who knows. May you be encouraged as I was by this sweet testimony of my friend Pastor James Bell. He posted this in 2016. He’ll now have been married for 54 years next month. Here’s Pastor Bell:

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