By Elizabeth Prata
Every word of God is flawless; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him. (Proverbs 30:5)
I look around my apartment, nothing is flawless. The house has settled and the kitchen cabinets are a little crooked. The dining table has a crack. Even my new book has a typo. The kitty bed has uneven seams. Nothing in this life is flawless. Flawless means perfect. Is there anything here perfect? No. Continue reading “His word is flawless”
By Elizabeth Prata
Yet I persistently sent to you all my servants the prophets, saying, ‘Oh, do not do this abomination that I hate!’ But they did not listen or incline their ear, to turn from their evil and make no offerings to other gods. Therefore my wrath and my anger were poured out and kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, and they became a waste and a desolation, as at this day.And now thus says the LORD God of hosts, the God of Israel: Why do you commit this great evil against yourselves, to cut off from you man and woman, infant and child, from the midst of Judah, leaving you no remnant? (Jeremiah 44:4-7).
What were they doing that provoked the LORD to anger? They “went to make offerings and serve other gods that they knew not” and they “did not listen or incline their ear…” to His servants the prophets.
Continue reading “Why are you doing this to yourselves?”
By Elizabeth Prata
Encouragement from Charles Spurgeon from the Psalms. This is Psalm 75:1-3,
We give thanks to you, O God;
we give thanks, for your name is near.
We recount your wondrous deeds.
“At the set time that I appoint
I will judge with equity.
When the earth totters, and all its inhabitants,
it is I who keep steady its pillars.” Selah Continue reading “Spurgeon’s Psalm 75 encouragement: The Terrible Commotion”
Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” And the people of Nineveh believed God. (Jonah 3:4-5a)
We don’t know if Jonah preached a lengthier sermon to the Ninevites and this is a summary of his prophecy, or if this is indeed all he said. Either way, it’s interesting when you look at verse 5a.
The Ninevites “believed God.”
Here was a prophet from Israel come to Nineveh, the “great city”. (Jonah 1:2; 3:1). Normally the prophets preached from Jerusalem. Nahum later preached to the Gentiles as a follow up from Jonah, but to my knowledge this is the first time God sent a prophet to go to them. The pagan Ninevites didn’t know Jonah from Adam, as they say. Nor did they know God. Continue reading “Jonah goes to the Ninevites and…”
By Elizabeth Prata
Were there any sweeter words ever uttered?
He IS the Resurrection. All who believe in Him will live.
The Last Blood is one of my enduring favorite songs, ever.
By Elizabeth Prata
Jesus saves.
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, (Titus 2:11)
What are we saved from?
His wrath.
among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. (Ephesians 2:3)
when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels 8 in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, (2 Thessalonians 1:7-9).
Why do I need saving from His punishing wrath? I’m a good person.
No, you’re not. Neither am I.
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23).
If I’m a sinner as you say, and headed for His wrath, how can I be saved?
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. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. (Romans 10:9-10).
How did this come about?
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve… (1 Corinthians 15:3-5).
Did Jesus really rise up from the dead? Come on…
For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. (1 Corinthians 15:16-17)
Well when you put it like that.
I don’t put it like that. The Bible puts it like that. Furthermore,
Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1:14b-15)
Now. Now is the time.
By Elizabeth Prata
Jesus was dead and in the tomb. Wrapped, anointed with spices, mourned. The rock has sealed the tomb. Is all hope lost? NO!
For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption. (Psalm 16:10)
His precious head born of a virgin and laid in a manger, now laid in a tomb. Mourned by the mother who bore Him and by grieved His beloved disciples. Will He be left to moulder and rot? Eventually forgotten? Was this Him, or will there be another to come? Continue reading “Jesus was in the grave. Is all hope lost?”
By Elizabeth Prata
One of the hardest things in life is not to know what’s coming down the pike. Unpredictability can be enjoyable at times, of course, and it’s sort of a given in life, but it’s different when you don’t know if something bad out there will befall you. That situation usually just leads to stress. … The most stressful scenario is when you really don’t know. It’s the uncertainty that makes us anxious. The same is likely to apply in many familiar situations, whether it’s waiting for medical results or information on train delays.” This is because it’s easier to plan for the future when you know what the deal is, even if it’s bad. (Source)
Continue reading “Living with uncertainty is worse than being sure of the bad thing”
By Elizabeth Prata
Can you imagine the pit of despair the Disciples felt on Good Friday? To them it was a hellish and confusing Friday. Jesus’ separation from the Father while on the cross (Matthew 27:46) is the loneliest and most poignant moment any person ever felt in the history of the universe, bar none.
But the disciples’ sudden and unexpected separation on Friday from their spiritual Father they’d been following so hopefully for three years came upon them cruelly and brutally, throwing them all into states of panic, despair, and spiritual depression. Even though Jesus had told them ahead of time, and even though they had studied the scriptures, they didn’t understand. To them, it wasn’t Good Friday. It was just bad Friday and the seeming end of the long trail of hopes and highs they’d been experiencing for three years with Jesus in discipleship to Him. They did not know as we do, Friday’s here, but Sunday’s coming!
We worship Jesus every day. We worship and praise Jesus collectively in services on Sunday. We exalt Him once a year on Resurrection Sunday. We know Him as Resurrected King triumphant over sin and death!
His ultimate moment will be His return, when every knee shall bow and every tongue will confess (Romans 14:11, Philippians 2:10, Isaiah 45:23).
“The LORD will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one LORD, and his name the only name.” (Zechariah 14:9)
Everyone will know that Jesus is MESSIAH! Not their spouse, not their work, not their own self. They will finally know the Resurrected Jesus is the only name. He is all names. He is the beginning and the end!
And it started with the cross on Friday.
By Elizabeth Prata
God told the prophets to speak His word. He also told them to act in little morality plays, performing various actions which were symbols of what God planned to do. These are called sign acts or symbolic actions. They were frequent in the Old Testament. Who can forget Ezekiel baking bread over dung, or lying on his side for 390 days; Isaiah going naked for three years or Hosea instructed to marry a prostitute. Sign acts were a typical way of instruction in the Middle East at that time. In addition, God using symbols and sign acts are a language that doesn’t mistranslate and is readily understood by the intended recipients of the sign act. Continue reading “It must have been a dramatic moment”
the-end-time.org 