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.
Jesus saves
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.
Jesus was in the grave. Is all hope lost?
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?”
Living with uncertainty is worse than being sure of the bad thing
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”
Good Friday to Resurrection Sunday: The World’s Three Most Important Days
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.
It must have been a dramatic moment
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”
Justin Peters update: Thoughts on discernment, and an upcoming video
By Elizabeth Prata
I appreciate Justin Peters’ Ministry so much, I can’t even tell you. His years-long, steady push-back against the false teaching in the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) and against the Word-Faith Movement, and his willingness to evangelize and teach all over the globe, wherever he is called to go, is an inspiration to me.
He is most well-known for his teachings on discernment, for one, a series called Clouds Without Water. The Lord is surely keeping him, and Mr Peters is surely continually submitting, because his demeanor even though having to spend time in researching these false teachings and review these people to formulate his incisive critiques, is a testament to the Spirit. Why?
In having to thoroughly research these false teachers, we have to watch them, take notes, spend time involved with what they teach and how they teach it. For some people, it’s inevitable that their mind becomes darkened a bit with the mud that infiltrates. Their hearts become critical, or bitter, or cynical with the weeds that grow there. We might know or have seen ‘discernment ministries’ like that. Not Mr Peters. His constant sensitive delivery of these teachings and his obvious grace toward both the deceived and those teaching deception adds mountains to his credibility.
This video was published yesterday. In it, Mr Peters makes two points, One is to alert viewers to the fact that he is completing a video critiquing the Word-Faith Charismatic movement and the most prominent people in it who have made prophecies about the Coronavrus. With the pandemic abounding here in the US and in the world, these false prophets have made many statements lately pronouncing and declaring things from God- that He did not say. Mr Peters will demonstrate why it’s possible to know that God did not speak to these false prophets. He will name many of the false prophets in this movement and compare their words to the Bible.
Secondly, he spoke briefly about why discernment is important. It’s important for all of us, biblically, we’re all called to be discerning.
There are two ways a person could go in how they regard discernment. They could ignore it completely Mr Peters said, or they could become so focused on it that they begin to demonstrate a wrongful glee in pointing it out. Both are dangers to be avoided.
He said that he has received angry emails and letters claiming that it’s none of our business to discern, call out against, and expose these charlatans. Recently he even received a very angry phone call from an irate person. These people claim that it’s God’s business to judge, not ours. And so on.
Anyone with the gift of discernment who employs it correctly will receive these comments. I do, all the time. At the height of the popularity of the HGTV Fixer Upper program, I wrote about negatively Joanna Gaines, her testimony of claiming to hear directly from God, and her lifestyle, and compared it to the Bible. I received heated push-back. It lasted for years. Years. Whenever I write anything about Beth Moore in the negative, I receive the same. I’m not complaining, it’s expected. I believe the Lord prepared me for this ministry (of which discernment is a part, not the whole) by His leading me to be a conservative newspaper editor in a Democrat stronghold of a town. I developed thick skin. By the Spirit’s grace after salvation I also developed a soft heart for people who are so deluded by satan they cannot see the purity of His right doctrines and who follow people like Beth Moore or Kenneth Copeland.
So it’s OK. But the negative comments are a fact of a discernment ministry. I look to people like Mr Peters who are a steady constant in keeping Jesus central and the heart aimed toward helping the people deluded by false teaching as a good example.
Below is his 11-minute video explaining these things. And please do watch out for his upcoming video comparing the false teachers’ prophecies about COVID-19 to the Bible, Lord willing, out later today or tomorrow.
Because, Matthew 7:21-13 is one of the most devastating set of verses in the entire Bible. I would be crushed to know, on the Day, that the Spirit had given me a spiritual gift of discernment and if I hadn’t used it to the maximum and best use to do what I could to reach any sisters caught up in a false doctrine. I do what I can to bring light to those whose eyes are closed and ears won’t hear. So does Mr Peters, and others. It’s just that simple.
A grateful heart will remain unshaken
By Elizabeth Prata
Where I stand as this lockdown continues: I stand on the Rock of all creation, because the mercy of Jesus has saved me. Gratitude fills my heart and my life with the blessings He has delivered to me, first fruit of which is that precious salvation. He Who is the fount from which all beneficence flows, in His mercy accepted my piteous cries for forgiveness and smiled upon my soul, bringing light and peace. Continue reading “A grateful heart will remain unshaken”
Spiritually thriving amid the biggest spectacle of all
By Elizabeth Prata
We love spectacles.
As a kid growing up, the thing to do was pile into some relative’s car (the one who had the hugest station wagon), throw a bunch of sleeping bags and blankets in the back, a bunch of cousins too, and head to the Drive-In. The Drive-In was an outdoor theater where you pull up in your car next to a pole with a speaker on it, clip the speaker to the half open car window and enjoy a movie on a 50′ screen. There was a snack shack centrally located to get your popcorn and Coke, and rest rooms somewhere out there too. The steam from all our breathing fogged up the windows and mosquitoes infested the car inside. Since the summer’s late sunset meant the movie had to start late, we usually fell asleep. But the novelty was the screen. It was huge! What a spectacle that was! Continue reading “Spiritually thriving amid the biggest spectacle of all”
Grace IS Amazing
By Elizabeth Prata
My favorite doctrines are Grace, followed by Providence.
Grace that is extended by our loving God is shocking and amazing and wonderful. I was saved later in life and I remember what it felt like to live a sinful life in rebellion against God. It was confusing and upsetting, most of the time.
I read a lot, and enjoyed historical books and the world’s myths. As I read books, all the world’s made-up gods were capricious or unloving or dismissive of humans. That seemed right to me. Even when I read of the Founding Fathers and learned about their deism, that god also seemed right to me. The deist god created everything – including humans – but then retreated from humankind’s affairs and let us wind down of our own accord.
Grace given by a loving God was foreign to me and unthinkable. Because that would mean He was involved with humans, lovingly. Weird.
But that and only that God is the one true God.
He came in the form of a baby who grew to be a man-God, teaching and loving and performing miracles. He died for our sins and absorbed the wrath of God on our behalf.
Amazing Grace! how sweet the sound
It was not a sweet sound to me then, but it is now.
That saved a wretch like me
I used to close my mouth if I happened to be at a Church service, like at Christmas, and this hymn came on. I wasn’t a wretch!, I’d utter. And close my mouth, refusing to say the lyrics.
I once was lost, but now am found
I didn’t know I was lost and I didn’t know I needed to be found.
Was blind but now I see
I didn’t know I was blind. Revelation 3:17 applies here:
For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.
That the Lord of All would stoop to save a wretch like me, covered in mud and dwelling with the pigs, like the Prodigal, is amazing. That He would walk into Jerusalem, knowing the cries of Hosannah! would turn bloody and hateful a week later. That He went toward his kangaroo trials, his scourging, and his death, even death upon a cross, to save filthy sinners, is amazing. What grace!
Thank you Lord, for your grace!! How wonderful that even when we’ve been there 10,000 years, we’ve no less days to sing God’s praise than when we first begun. An eternity praising You is not enough, but what grace that I am able to do so in the first place.
Was blind but now I see…
Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. (Titus 3:5-7)
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