Posted in grace

‘Super turbo charged, cutting edge anointing so you won’t be bored’ blog essay

Posted on by elizabethprata

This blog entry is a few different thoughts. Nothing too deep or noteworthy today. It is Dr Seuss week at school in kindergarten. It has been a crazy hectic week and I’m pretty pooped.

Have you noticed the emotional and physical sensation-heightening language used to promote church events? Look at the language that is being used nowadays to describe what participants will experience at conferences, meetings, by reading a book…, for example, at the Alpha Summit Men’s Conference, it is stated that it will be “power packed” …and “super-charged”.

Jentezen Franklin promotes his book on Fasting by saying that when he doesn’t “sense that cutting-edge anointing”, or “when I need a fresh encounter with God” fasting will deliver those sensations to him.

I love Jesus, and to me He is always fresh. I’m satisfied with a regular anointing. I don’t even know what a “cutting-edge anointing” is and how it is different from a regular one. I don’t need an “encounter” with Jesus, because He is always present in me and with me.

Bill Hybels says of his new book, Power of a Whisper, “Without a hint of exaggeration, the ability to discern divine direction has saved me from a life of sure boredom and self-destruction.”

I’m so glad that for Mr Hybels that Jesus died to save him from a boring life.

When did church-related activities need to be promoted as something like a bungee jump? Lately it seems that Church-related conferences, meetings, activities etc are frequently promoted as something of a ‘turbo experience’ driven by adrenaline, rather than a learning experience or even a spiritual experience. The only problem with appealing to the sensations is that they always need to go higher to retain the same oomph. Eventually you can’t go higher and you run out and go off the cliff.

On another topic, tomorrow I’ll be writing about demon possession in children. I’ve noticed that people are extremely interested in the demonic side of the spiritual realms. I am too. I only post occasionally about that side of things though because I like the focus to be on Jesus. We are victors, and we have won the battle. While it is good to be aware, and vigilant, there is no need to constantly seek information about the demonic.

However sometimes it does us good to review what the bible says about that issue. I am going to do so because the question came up in my own life this week. Can children be possessed? If so, what can we do about it? I’ve been praying and researching, and Lord willing, I’ll have some information tomorrow.

Today a friend I ran into in the parking lot at the grocery store said “Hey, you look good.” Now in physical life I do not look good. I need a haircut, my clothes are ill fitting and out of style, and I’m exhausted and look it. But she went on, “You are always joyous, and you can’t fake that. Teaching must agree with you.”

Now there are two points here. The first is that I ask the Spirit every day to make me a light for His name. It is said in Matthew 5:14-16, ““You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”

The Spirit is so gracious, this verse from Matthew 7:7-11 comes true every time I pray and ask in His name for the things I know He wants me to have: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. “For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. “Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? “Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!”

Do you ask the Spirit for the things you need? For more understanding of the bible? For strength to operate under pressure? For mercy when you sin? For open ears to hear His prompting? For opportunities to speak His name in love and bear witness to the lost? I ask, and He gives, every time!

But now here comes the second part, the bad-on-me part. The conversation had already just about ended and I was partway across the parking lot. When she said that I just smiled and said, “I sure do love kids!” and then waved a final goodbye. But I ask for opportunities to witness, and I could have said, should have said, “It is Jesus that is the light in me that you are seeing.” It’s three hours later and I’m still feeling bad about missing an opportunity to share Him, even for taking the credit myself, when I know that all joy comes from Him.

I stumbled, but I’ll ask for another opportunity and I apologized to Him. He heard, and He will give me another opportunity to share the Truth. Meanwhile, His forgiveness and grace are balms to my soul, He is just that kind of Father.
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Posted in creation, discovery, icy finger of death

Icy finger of death caught on camera

Posted on by elizabethprata

HT to Charlie for sending this to me.

I am in awe of the natural world that God created. It is endlessly interesting and vibrant. What a Creator we have who should make these things by the sound of His voice! And He made the animals in one day! In thinking of how all the eco-systems interact and flow together to support one unified world, on which we float, I’m often rendered speechless. Wow.

Remember to thank the Creator for making such a habitable and pleasant place for us to live. Thank Him for His intellect and creativity that is on display for us to praise. He is surely a Most High God of infinite and boundless delight.

Below is a clip from the upcoming episide of Discovery’s Frozen Planet. I’ve seen some of the previous episodes and they are great. Here is a Fox News article about what you will see on the video:

“Filmed for the first time, the icy “finger of death” is an unprecedented look at nature’s beauty — seen at it’s devastating worst. Called a brinicle (or brine icicle), cameramen Hugh Miller and Doug Anderson used a time-lapse camera to capture this awe-inspiring event beneath the Antarctic ice shelf for the upcoming Discovery Channel special series, Frozen Planet. “We were just blown away by how beautiful they were,” producer Kathryn Jeffs told FoxNews.com. Jeffs was in Antarctica with Miller and Anderson to capture the unique event. “We were exceptionally excited and we knew we had something that had never been filmed before, never been seen before. No one has really seen the formation of a brinicle.”

“It was pretty emotional when we saw that we got it. This magnificent yet terrifying phenomenon is caused by brine, or naturally occurring salt water, which tends to be denser than the surrounding seawater and has a lower freezing point. When super cold brine trickles down, the warmer seawater surrounds the cyclone with a brittle layer of ice. But capturing the event on tape was no easy feat, as the crew battled brutal conditions, technical challenges, and even seal attacks. “Because there have been so few studies on the brinicles, it’s really, really difficult to tell when and exactly how they are going to form,” Jeffs explained to FoxNews.com. “They do have a tendency to form when the ice is being disrupted, or in extremely cold conditions — which disrupt the inner channels and sets in motion the flow of brine.”

“Following this hunch, Jeffs and her crew ventured out to the foothills of Mount Erebus, a remote volcano in Antarctica, where the team dealt with subzero temperatures and incredibly harsh conditions.”

“The area also happened to be a seal habitat, notoriously territorial creatures. “We finished the first dive only to find the next morning that a seal had knocked over the camera,” Jeffs said. In the end, the team found success, to stunning effect, capturing not only the brinicle formation but also, what Jeffs refers to as the “river of death” flowing in front of it. “It was pretty emotional when we saw that we got it,” Jeffs told FoxNews.com, adding that some of the crew were close to tears. “We’re really proud of the achievement.”

Frozen Planet premiers on the Discovery Channel on March 18


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Posted in gossip, slander

Pssst, have you heard the latest about her?

Posted on by elizabethprata

We are studying 2 Corinthians 12 this week at church. I was reading along and got to the last couple of verses and the Spirit made some of it leap off the page. You Christians know what I am talking about.

“For I fear lest, when I come, I shall not find you such as I wish, and that I shall be found by you such as you do not wish; lest there be contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, backbitings, whisperings, conceits, tumults; lest, when I come again, my God will humble me among you, and I shall mourn for many who have sinned before and have not repented of the uncleanness, fornication, and lewdness which they have practiced.” (2 Corinthians 12: 20-21).

I stopped at “whisperings.” It strikes me that whisperings is listed in a list of sins along with the more vocal and physical sins of contentions, outbursts and tumults. Compared to those, whisperings seems hardly noticeable, and certainly one of the lesser sins. Or is it?

Looking up the Greek for that part of the verse we see that whisperings is “psithurismos”. This is an onomatopoetic word that is supposed to imitate the sound it describes. This word in the Greek is a sibilant, sounding like sss-sss. The word means a secret slandering, a whispering. Strong’s Concordance says, “Psithyrismós (from psithos, “whisper”) – properly, a whispering to “quietly” spread malicious gossip; “whispering” that launches “secret attacks on a person’s character” (Souter). Psithyrismós is “an onomatopoetic word for the sibilant murmur of a snake charmer.”

Snake charmer, eh?

Going further, I remembered the verses from Ezekiel 28. One day last year I was asking myself, “How DID satan get a third of the angels to side with him? They live with God in perfect holiness. How did satan convince them?” The verse says-

“Through your widespread trade you were filled with violence, and you sinned. So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God, and I expelled you, O guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones” (Ez 28:16).

My bible study involves reading the bible a lot, and asking myself questions. The next question I’d asked myself was, ‘what widespread trade? It’s not like there was a mall in heaven…” I looked up the Hebrew word for trade, and it is rechullatecha, meaning traffic, merchandise, from root word rakal. Rakal means to go about, selling. So satan was selling a bill of goods. The ultimate root is rakil, slander. Aha! So, satan was actively perpetrating a slanderous whisper campaign among the angels by going about, here and there, spreading lies and slander and gossip against God’s character.

If you ever wondered why the sins of gossip and murder are near each other in a list of grievous sins in Romans 1:28-32, it is because murder kills the body and gossip kills the character. If you ever wondered how efficient it is to kill someone’s character by talebearing, just look at how successful satan was with slandering and gossiping about God. He was able to convince a third of the multitude to side with him. He was able to convince Eve to taste the fruit. We saw from satan’s interaction with Eve that he sidles up and whispers just enough slander to get you to start looking at things in another way (Hath God really said…? Genesis 3:1)

Of the six things God hates, even seven, three are the speaking sins akin to slander and gossip: a lying tongue, a false witness who bears lies and a brother who spreads dissension (Proverbs 6:16-19).

We know that satan is the accuser of the brethren, (Rev 12:10). We know that the word devil means slanderer.

The bible is replete in the OT and the NT about talebearers, gossips, whisperers, loose tongues, and slander. Paul talks about whisperers several times. The next time you want to say something about someone that is a tale, and you lower your voice so no one else but the gossipee hears, just remember psythyrismos, means snake charmer. Do you really want to whisper like a snake and charm the devil?

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Posted in encouragement

Re-post: Roll call in heaven

Posted on by elizabethprata

Some encouragement for a Monday morning, a re-post from last May of some thoughts about heaven after the rapture:

There’s a song by the Gaithers called “When the roll is called up yonder” and the next line is “I’ll be there.”

Speaking of New Jerusalem:

“Its gates shall not be shut at all by day (there shall be no night there). And they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it. But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.”

The roll call from Jesus reminded me of several scriptures I love very dearly. The illustrate the moment when certain of God’s prophets were called. They heard God, and they responded “Here I am!” They report for the highest duty possible, a life of total dedication and obedience to Jesus. This is the only proper response to His call. It moves me to think of them saying “Here I am!” to God. These are the men whom God called:

Abraham, when God tested his faith: – Genesis 22:1, 11,
Jacob, in a dream, hears the LORD say that He sees Jacob’s ill treatment by Laban – Genesis 31:11
Moses, seeing the burning bush and hearing the Angel of the Lord call Moses to perform the Exodus – Exodus 3:4

Samuel, as a boy, receiving his first call from the LORD. – 1 Samuel 3:4
Isaiah, in a vision from Isaiah 6:8, receiving his call to Prophet after seeing the LORD on His throne and exclaiming he is a man of unclean lips, being cleaned with the live coal, then eagerly answering God, “Here I am, send me!”

“Here I am!” they all said.

Now get this. Picture in your mind the great multitudes that appear before Jesus in heaven after the rapture. You are wearing a white robe and are enjoying a glorified body. You are seeing things unparalleled and experiencing indescribable joy. You see Jesus’ face, and you can’t get enough. In the midst of this, imagine Him opening the Lamb’s Book of Life, in which your name is written. And ‘books were opened’ and the roll is called…and then then He calls your name.

Because of His sacrifice, because of His love, because of the blood, because you repented, you will say:

HERE I AM!

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Posted in divinity, holiness, stop sugarcoating the bible

Response to CNN Belief Blog essay "Stop sugarcoating the bible"

Posted on by elizabethprata

There is an essay on CNN Belief Blog today. Steven James’s essay titled, My Take: Stop sugarcoating the Bible got my ire up.

Now, I liked the title. As I read the first few paragraphs I agreed with Mr James that we often like to overlook the uncomfortable facts of the bible’s harsher realities being glaringly depicted.

As his essay continued I silently sang hallelujah to each paragraph’s main point. Until I got to this one:

“I find it encouraging that Jesus never came across as pietistic. In fact, he was never accused of being too religious; instead he partied so much that he was accused of being a drunkard and a glutton (Matthew 11:19).’

Jesus was hated by the legalistic religious leaders of the day. He lived, so they killed Him. He preached, so they blasphemed. He performed miracles, so they said He was from satan. He ate, so they called him a glutton. It doesn’t mean that Jesus was any of those things. Here, Mr James makes an interpretation of the partying Jesus that escapes me. “Partying” evokes images of boys in the frat house living riotously without regard to the noise, the property owner, or themselves. Jesus was never riotous and He was never out of control. He didn’t “party.” I became even more dismayed when I read the following:

“Jesus never said, “The Kingdom of God is like a church service that goes on and on forever and never ends.” He said the kingdom was like a homecoming celebration, a wedding, a party, a feast to which all are invited. This idea was too radical for the religious leaders of his day. They were more concerned about etiquette, manners, traditions and religious rituals than about partying with Jesus. And that’s why they missed out.”

The Pharisees missed the party because they were too tightly wound to party? He continued:

“That’s why we miss out.”

We miss the salvation offer of Jesus because we are too afraid to party with Him? And there’s more:

“According to Jesus, the truly spiritual life is one marked by freedom rather than compulsion (John 8:36), love rather than ritual (Mark 12:30-33) and peace rather than guilt (John 14:27). Jesus saves us from the dry, dusty duties of religion and frees us to cut loose and celebrate.”

I object to several points, but I’d like to focus on his thread of hipster dude-ism the author promotes and which currently perverts the faith. The young pastors coming up with their ripped jeans and cool glasses and casual attitude and the throwing away of dry, dusty doctrine that really gets in the way of what Jesus came to do, which is urge us to social justice. These pastors and others like them are re-making God in their image. Jesus is now a hipster dude, partying down with his buds by the Sea of Galilee. All they need is a bonfire and a guitar.

Jesus came to us manifested as a Man so that He could live a life of a man on earth, being tempted in every way (Hebrews 4:15). Because He lived a life as a Man, He attended weddings (John 2:1), accepted dinner invitations (Luke 10:38, Mark 2:15), cried (Luke 19:41), walked and got tired (John 4:6), ate (John 13:26), preached (Luke 4:14), worshiped (Luke 6:12). But partying? Cutting loose? No. Jesus didn’t come to free us from constraining etiquette, He came to seek and save the lost who were bound to satan in their sins.

Jesus is God. This is our God: ” Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the LORD descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, the whole mountain trembled violently,” (Exodus 19:18)

This is our God: “Men will flee to caves in the rocks and to holes in the ground from dread of the LORD and the splendor of his majesty, when he rises to shake the earth.” (Isaiah 2:19)

This is our God: “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple.” (Isaiah 6:1)

Does any of that sound like He came to release us to cut loose from rules and etiquette and propriety? (Above, “Buddy Christ” from movie Dogma, source)

The issue I have with essays like Mr James’s is that they take some truth and wrap it in a lie. In the essay’s beginning are some wonderful thoughts. At the end is a strong conclusion. In the middle of the essay is blasphemy. Or at the very least, a deeply flawed understanding of who Jesus is and why He came. Do you notice that for all the author’s entreaties not to sugarcoat the bible, he fails to mention the one recurring theme from Genesis to Revelation, and the exact reason Jesus came? The word “sin” is not stated once. He mentions the bible’s heroes “being screwed up” and talks of people “being where they’re at” but the word sin is not uttered. I put it to you that despite the author’s entreaties not to sugarcoat the bible’s message, by failing to mention the reason we need Jesus is because we’re sinners, he has done just that.

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Posted in a city upon a hill, bible jesus, prophecy, wyoming doomsday bill

Wyoming advances doomsday bill

Posted on by elizabethprata

This news excerpt is from the Wyoming Star-Tribune. It is not a spoof.

Wyoming House advances doomsday bill
“CHEYENNE — State representatives on Friday advanced legislation to launch a study into what Wyoming should do in the event of a complete economic or political collapse in the United States. House Bill 85 passed on first reading by a voice vote. It would create a state-run government continuity task force, which would study and prepare Wyoming for potential catastrophes, from disruptions in food and energy supplies to a complete meltdown of the federal government. The task force would look at the feasibility of Wyoming issuing its own alternative currency, if needed. And House members approved an amendment Friday by state Rep. Kermit Brown, R-Laramie, to have the task force also examine conditions under which Wyoming would need to implement its own military draft, raise a standing army, and acquire strike aircraft and an aircraft carrier. The bill’s sponsor, state Rep. David Miller, R-Riverton, has said he doesn’t anticipate any major crises hitting America anytime soon. But with the national debt exceeding $15 trillion and protest movements growing around the country, Miller said Wyoming — which has a comparatively good economy and sound state finances — needs to make sure it’s protected should any unexpected emergency hit the U.S. Several House members spoke in favor of the legislation, saying there was no harm in preparing for the worst.”

More at link

This reminds me of Daniel 5:1-5. Here is a portion:

“Belshazzar the king made a great feast for a thousand of his lords, and drank wine in the presence of the thousand. While he tasted the wine, Belshazzar gave the command to bring the gold and silver vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple which had been in Jerusalem, that the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines might drink from them. Then they brought the gold vessels that had been taken from the temple of the house of God which had been in Jerusalem; and the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines drank from them. They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze and iron, wood and stone. In the same hour the fingers of a man’s hand appeared and wrote opposite the lampstand on the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace; and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote. Then the king’s countenance changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his hips were loosened and his knees knocked against each other.”

I like John MacArthur’s sermon title for this scripture, “Divine Graffiti: The End of an Empire‘

If you look at the verses immediately prior to when the King’s “loins were loosed” (KJV) you will see the several egregious sins that the King was engaged in. He desecrated the Temple artifacts. He was having a drunken orgy. He was worshiping idols, and not just worshiping idols but worshiping them with the Temple artifacts. It is a mini-abomination of desolation. God intervened. The Babylonian Empire fell.

The chapter of Daniel 5 is a good look at what causes the end of an empire. When does God’s patience and longsuffering run out? As Pastor MacArthur describes the cycle, “civilization follows the very same pattern. It rises to its heights. At its height, it is filled with pride. In the midst of its pride, and self-indulgence, and materialism it begins to descend into degeneration, and debauchery, and evil. And as it descends, it comes closer and closer to its destruction.”

America is following that cycle. It is obvious that America is sliding fast downhill to the dung heap of former empires, former great kingdoms. In Matthew 5:14, Jesus tells his listeners, “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.” As the Puritans came to America and founded our nation, John Winthrop said on board the Arbella in 1630–

“For we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us. So that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken, and so cause Him to withdraw His present help from us, we shall be made a story and a by-word through the world.” Winthrop closes with this:

“But if our hearts shall turn away, so that we will not obey, but shall be seduced, and worship other Gods, our pleasure and profits, and serve them; it is propounded unto us this day, we shall surely perish out of the good land whither we pass over this vast sea to possess it. Therefore let us choose life, that we and our seed may live, by obeying His voice and cleaving to Him, for He is our life and our prosperity.”

These words are so true! They are mirrored in Belshazzar’s actions, his squandering of the gifts and opportunities God had offered. King Belshazzar’s heart had turned away from God, was seduced, sought pleasure and profits, and he perished out of the good land. It is the same with America, and with any nation that follows this trajectory.

Back to Wyoming. By now in 2012, who doesn’t see the writing on the wall? Hollywood certainly does. Every other movie that emerges from the movie city is an ode to evil and doomsday. The hearts of Christians all around the world certainly see the writing on the wall, knowing God’s heart and His justice. Even the lost are also seeing the writing on the wall, as the legislators in Wyoming demonstrate. Though the article quotes “University of Wyoming political science professor Jim King said the potential for a complete unraveling of the U.S. government and economy is “astronomically remote” in the foreseeable future” we know different. Even the lost do. Belshazzar didn’t know what the writing said at first, but he certainly understood its general meaning! His bowels loosed, his face went pale and his mind went blank. Initially he didn’t have to know what the writing said to spiritually understand that it meant something very, very bad was about to happen.

When does God end His patience and then turn to justice? “In Psalm 19:7, it says, “The wicked shall be turned to hell and all the nations that forget God.” The doom of a nation is spelled when it forgets God,” preached MacArthur.

When a nation not only forgets God, but mocks God, tests God, and desecrates God, they have sealed their own doom. Will a “Doomsday Bill” stave off the effects of what is coming? Babylon thought itself impregnable. It was a huge city, 15 miles square. Its walls were 87 feet thick. It had trained soldiers upon the towers to look out. The city had the Euphrates running through it so there was a fresh water supply. They thought they had made all the preparations necessary. If they had a legislature they would have passed a ‘doomsday bill.’ They were “prepped.”

But Cyrus and the Medes/Persians were encamped outside. The King was having this drunken orgiastic God-mocking festival in the midst of armies surrounding the city, but all Cyrus had to do was dam the river and as the water levels fell, the scouts advanced into the city, killed the guards, and threw the gates open. Done.

Remember, the best preparation, the ONLY preparation, for the future is to know Jesus as your Lord and Savior. If you confess your sins to Him in repentance, acknowledging Him as the risen and living God whose substitutionary death on the cross and accepting God’s wrath for sin, made it possible for us to know Him as friend and not an enemy, you are prepared! Relying on a Doomsday Bill isn’t going to cut it.

When the nation falls it falls fast. Though Babylon’s slide was long and slow the end came quickly. The empire fell that very night. America’s slide has been long and slow. Those who know God and even those who do not know God understand the writing on the wall has appeared. We don’t know what will be the precipitating event to cause God to say His cup of wrath is full, but we do know one thing. No amount of preparing, no amount of doomsday bills, no amount of blue-ribbon task forces will withstand God’s anger at a nation whose light has gone out.

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Posted in bible, grace, trials

How do you go through trials?

Posted on by elizabethprata

At my church, we are studying 2 Corinthians on Wednesday nights. We looked at chapter 11 this week. We got to the end where Paul was reluctantly boasting in his sufferings for Christ (verses 22-39). Our teacher asked us something like, (if I remember correctly), “How do you handle sufferings? What do you do?”

I thought about that for a few days. I like when our teachers and pastors ask us questions, because I really think about the answers. I like having something biblical to chew over. Here is my answer:

1. I tell myself that this present trial is not permanent. Even if I were to receive a fatal diagnosis or were to suffer in an accident where I was totally disabled, the trial is not permanent. It is temporary. This life is short, being but a vapor (James 4:14). A 20 or even a 40 year trial is nothing, compared to eternity. And thus far, thanks to God’s grace, I have NOT received a trial that has lasted all my life. At most, one has lasted 5 years, and most of the rest only a few weeks or months. So whatever I am going through will end. I tell myself that often, because it is true.

2. My trial is not as bad as someone else’s. There is always a Christian out there who is suffering more, and usually with more grace than I am, too. Am I in jail for my faith? No. Have I lost employment for my faith? No. Have I lost a child because of Jesus’s name? No. And in reading Paul’s resume of sufferings, being the epitome of how His grace is sufficient, I have nothing to complain about, even when I am at my darkest or my lowest.

3. I tell myself that He is Good. He IS Good therefore everything He does is good. “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28). Therefore everything He does is Good. Even Job, who lost all, suffered much, went through one of the bible’s most difficult trials, it was Good. How so, you say? Job’s trial, his righteousness in looking to God in all things, his victory over the devil as a result, and his restoration was set into the bible, to be read by countless millions of Christians going through trials and needing encouragement. Job’s trial was bad, but it helped millions, over thousands of years. Now that’s good! So as dark as my trial is, I know something good will emerge out of it.

4. I stay positive. I do not dwell on the bad part I am going through, but pray, read the bible, and tell myself repeatedly that it is for the good. I apply 2 Corinthians 10:5 here, “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” I refuse to dwell on how low I may be feeling, because feelings are ephemeral. I concentrate on God’s sovereignty, because I know I can rest under His control, even in the seemingly “bad” things. I take the negative thoughts captive while I allow the positive thoughts in. I focus on the promises, not the trials. Romans 5:3-5 helps here, “And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” James 1:12 too.

5. Every time I have gone through a trial, I have gotten closer to God. Jesus is my Savior and Lord, and though I can never know all His ways nor ever plumb the depths of His grace, each time I emerge from something bad, I feel closer to Him. This is a good thing! I have that to look forward to on the other side. I have been the recipient of His grace, His comfort, His faithfulness. So even in the bottom of the valley I tell myself that the reward will be a closer relationship with Him. It keeps me going.

6. I read the bible a lot. When I am going through a dark time, I wash myself in the Word even more than usual. I cling to it. I read it and chew on it and it fills me up instead of the darkness and negativity that would be there instead. His gift of spiritual armor is in place for a reason. It can withstand the fiery darts of the evil one. The bible is truth, and it sustains us. I turn to it and appeal to the Spirit for encouragement. The Spirit assures us, “Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”” (Galatians 4:6). The Spirit empowers us, ““And behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”” (Luke 24:49). He helps our weakness! “In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words;” (Romans 8:26). If I do not read the bible I would not be reading these truths about His work in our lives and His power to help us overcome.

These are a few of the things that I do when I come upon a trial, and I do have them. I am relentlessly joyful despite them, because the Most High is in my heart, helping me. I surely cannot do it on my own. But He is there, in so many ways. Never forget that, even as dark as it may get in your own life, dear brethren.

What do you do when you go through a trial?
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Posted in bible jesus, end of days. prophecy, jerusalem, millennium kingdom

Riots in Jerusalem, whirlwind tour of Jerusalem past and future

Posted on by elizabethprata

Two stories for you, well, same story, from two different points of view. The first is from the Jordan Times. The second is from the Israeli daily Haaretz.

Jordan warns Israel over Al Aqsa mosque as Jerusalem reaches “boiling point”
“Jordan warned Israel on Sunday over attempts by right-wing activists to storm Al Aqsa Mosque as fresh clashes broke out in Jerusalem in the latest sign that simmering tensions are threatening to transform the third holiest site in Islam into a flashpoint for conflict. Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh denounced the use of force by Israeli authorities against worshippers during clashes that erupted yesterday morning after Israeli police accompanied a group of non-Muslim visitors into Al Aqsa Mosque through the Bab Al Magharbeh gate.”

“Yesterday’s clashes came on the backdrop of calls by extremist Israeli groups and politicians to storm Al Aqsa Mosque and establish the so-called Third Temple, with eyewitnesses claiming that a number of right-wing activists had accompanied the group of foreign visitors and successfully entered the mosque.”

“According to the Jerusalem awqaf authorities, clashes broke out after worshippers singled out right-wing activists amidst the tour group and attempted to apprehend the “intruders”, prompting 40 anti-riot police to storm Al Aqsa Mosque plaza and use force to dispel Muslim prayer-goers. According to Israeli police, occupation forces arrested 18 Palestinians for their participation in the incident, accusing the men of “throwing stones” at the tour group and injuring several policemen. In a press statement issued yesterday, Judeh stressed Amman’s rejection of the “dangerous and systematic” attempts by Israeli extremist groups to occupy Al Aqsa Mosque, holding Tel Aviv accountable for the series of provocative measures custodians warn may ignite fresh violence in Jerusalem.”

“Minister of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs Abdul Salam Abbadi also condemned Israeli security forces for storming Al Aqsa and clashing with worshippers on Sunday, the latest in a series of acts that the minister said amount to a “declaration of war” on the third holiest site in Islam.”

“[This has] pushed tensions in the Old City to their highest levels since the second Intifada, which broke out in 2000. “Today we have seen the dangerous consequences of the atmosphere of distrust and extremism,” said Zaki Tawfiq, head of the Israel-based Al Aqsa Foundation for Awqaf and Heritage. “We are one misstep away from violence.”

Haaretz:
Muslim worshippers, Israeli police clash at Jerusalem’s Temple Mount
Protesters hurl rocks at Mughrabi Bridge; in rare move, Israeli security forces enter Temple “Mount plaza to scatter the riot; 11 policemen, 15 Palestinians wounded.
Hundreds of Muslim worshippers clashed with police on Friday at Jerusalem’s Temple Mount. Following Friday prayers, hundreds of worshippers began hurling rocks at the Mughrabi Bridge at the entrance to the Temple Mount, which prompted Israeli police forces to enter the plaza and attempt to scatter the protest. Israeli police said that dozens of protesters gathered inside the Al-Aqsa mosque after hurling rocks at security forces, who, in a rare move, came to the entrance of the mosque and used stun grenades to scatter the protesters. Eleven policemen and 15 Palestinians were wounded as a result of the clashes. Four Palestinians were arrested. In light of several violent incidents that occurred at the Temple Mount this week, police heightened their presence at the site on Friday morning.”

O, Jerusalem! Let’s take a whirlwind tour of the history of Jerusalem.

According to Wikipedia, “During its long history, Jerusalem has been destroyed twice, besieged 23 times, attacked 52 times, and captured and recaptured 44 times. The oldest part of the city was settled in the 4th millennium BC, making Jerusalem one of the oldest cities in the world.”

The city is first mentioned in Genesis 14:18 when Melchizedek was King of the city. Abraham made a tithe offering to the King. Melchizedek is a Hebrew word for righteous, and the city was called Salem, meaning peace.

It was the center of Christ’s new Kingdom (Isaiah 33:5). It was depicted on maps as the center of the world.

David was King of Jerusalem, and there were many others, some good, some bad. The ark was housed at the temple in Jerusalem. God graciously gave us His presence there. Nehemiah cared so much for the city…”The words of Nehemiah son of Hacaliah: In the month of Kislev in the twentieth year, while I was in the citadel of Susa, 2Hanani, one of my brothers, came from Judah with some other men, and I questioned them about the Jewish remnant that survived the exile, and also about Jerusalem. They said to me, “Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.” When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.” (Neh 1:2-4).

Jesus entered the city in a (false) coronation. He was tried there. He died there and was resurrected in it. Jesus Himself wept over the city. “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.” (Matthew 23:37)

Persecution forced believers out from the city. It was destroyed in 70AD.

Jerusalem will be trampled by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled (Luke 21:24. It will be the location of the abomination that causes desolation (Mark 13:14).

It will be split into three parts during a great earthquake (Revelation 16:19). But when the Lord returns, “And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, Which faces Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two, From east to west, Making a very large valley; Half of the mountain shall move toward the north And half of it toward the south. And in that day it shall be That living waters shall flow from Jerusalem, Half of them toward the eastern sea And half of them toward the western sea; In both summer and winter it shall occur. And the LORD shall be King over all the earth. In that day it shall be— “ The LORD is one,” And His name one.” (Zechariah 14:4, 8-9)

The miraculous, living water will flow right out from the temple, “Then he brought me back to the door of the temple; and there was water, flowing from under the threshold of the temple toward the east, for the front of the temple faced east; the water was flowing from under the right side of the temple, south of the altar.” (Ezekiel 47:1)

Ezekiel’s final words in his last book of the City are “and the name of the city from that day shall be: THE LORD IS THERE.” Jehovah Shammah! (Ezekiel 48:35b)

People think that because there will be a New Jerusalem coming down from heaven, intended as the dwelling place for the Church (Revelation 21:2) that there will not be an actual Jerusalem in which the LORD will dwell. Not so. Read Revelation 21:9-27. The Church will dwell in New Jerusalem and there will be an actual earthly city of Jerusalem in which David will be king under Jesus. (Hosea 3:5, Ezekiel 37:24-25).

Jerusalem has had a long and turbulent history, and it is not over yet by a long shot. But soon will come the peace for Jerusalem we all pray for. The Lord wants to gather the chicks to Himself as a hen and to reign rightfully from His Holy City. And He will.
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