Tag: encouragement

Posted in joy, prophecy

Studying the Bible brings joy in seeing God as sovereign

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

EPrata photo

Societal, cultural, financial, economic, political collapse. Some say all this collapse is near. It may be, or not. But either way, things seem in disarray.

A prophecy from Peter: “They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” (2 Peter 3:4).

They say such things because they believe them. Satan has blinded the lost to the things of Christ. It has always been so. The Israelites taunted Jeremiah with the same:

“Behold, they say unto me, Where is the word of the LORD? let it come now.” (Jeremiah 17:15)

And why are people willing to believe the Zombie/Mayan/Cayce/Nostradamus apocalypse and not the Christian Revelation of the promised Apocalypse? Because the aforementioned are from satan. Satan, they’ll believe.

Technically, the world has been ending since Genesis 3, but the feeling of chaotic flying apart has increased dramatically in the last few years.

I’m enjoying the Spirit’s sweet presence every day. I enjoy my walk with Jesus in increasing amounts of awe and joy. I am encouraged by knowledge of the sovereignty of the Father. Far from being depressed personally, I am more joyous all the time. Seeing these world events and understanding where we are on the timetable of God’s prophetic clock, (that every day we are one day closer to the culmination of all things) I’m wonderstruck at the vastness of His intelligence and the scope of human history- and grateful that I am a part of His kingdom.

Yes, the days are difficult, and I mourn for people who are lost in sin and for my own sins. But the events we read about here and elsewhere far from saddening me, make me think of Exodus 15:11.

“Who among the gods is like you, LORD? Who is like you—majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?”

In the current phase of Christianity, many have lost that sense of awe. I think it is because many popular teachers and preachers have taught and preached man, not Jesus. “It’s all about you” too many sermons, talks, books, and conferences emphasize. The excessive focus on our prosperity, our self-esteem, our pits, our problems, combined emphasis of His love to us, His friendship with us, His Bridal “romance” of us, has resulted in a lowered God.

The ‘Buddy Jesus’ from the blasphemous movie ‘Dogma’

Too often Western Christianity looks to Him as a friend, (which He is) but in looking at Him only as friend, through that one facet, and not so much as Sovereign King, Judge, and Holy God. This looking exclusively at Jesus through one facet has allowed many to devolve His status in their minds from friend to ‘old buddy, pal o’ mine.’

Realizing that the lower society sinks the higher we can see Him is a balm to the soul. It is as if He is stripping away the layers and revealing us to be the depraved sinners we are and by contrast, we can’t help but see Him as August Holy One. At least, I hope you see it that way.

Quite simply, western Christianity does not have a transcendent view of God anymore, and thus a sense of awe is lost. This particularly applies to prophecy. Only a Sovereign God expressing His will upon the world knows the end from the beginning. Only He at His will and pleasure states what will happen in a thousand years, or six thousand years, and it comes to pass exactly as He said!

We are living in the times of Romans 1. Our nation is being judged, Romans 1 IS the judgment as He gives them over to their depraved minds. This is an awe inspiring thing- to see the Bible pages ripped from its bindings and come to life on earth in the news. It makes me fear Him and it makes me love Him.

That He stays His hand of execution despite seeing the perversity in the world makes me love Him even more.

So when I write of judgments to come, rather than be completely sad, I also focus on how compassionate He has already been. “It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.” (Lamentations 3:22).

He has been giving the Spirit time to grow seeds, waiting for us to repent, bringing many sons to come to Glory! (Hebrews 2:10). His wrath is tinged with patience, and I am in awe of this God who loves us despite the perversity and rebellion we see in the world today!! THAT is how I stay positive. I hope you do too.

Habakkuk finally got it, saying in chapter three:

“Yet I will quietly wait for the day of trouble to come upon people who invade us” and then he said,

“Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. GOD, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places.”

No matter how low the world gets, the Lord makes me tread on high places. My Holy awe of Him is a reverence mixed with fear: “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our ’God is a consuming fire.’” (Hebrews 12:28-29).

Posted in theology

Courage

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Podcast link-

https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/elizabeth-prata/episodes/Episode-476-Courage-e27kqhg

“Esther Denouncing Haman” 1888. Ernest Normand (1857–1923). Public Domain.

The other day Grace To You’s Phil Johnson tweeted this:

@Phil_Johnson_“Devil give you colic! How dare you say the Mass in my ear?” 386 years ago today, Jenny Geddes threw her stool at the Dean of Edinburgh as he read from the prayer book in St. Giles Cathedral. Her act stirred the courage of the Covenanters.

Jenny was in church that day and she was sitting on her stool. The problem had been that ever since King Charles I had had his coronation service in Scotland, he’d wanted to bring more Anglicanism to Scotland churches. The Church of England was the Church of England which was a United Kingdom after all, and that also meant Scotland. But the Scots were more Puritan in their beliefs than Anglican.

Always independent, the Puritan Scots had become suspicious of the increasing encroachment of liturgy and rigid traditions a la the Roman Catholic Church. They had observed the coronation rites King Charles I used, and were displeased with his use of Anglican rituals. Next came forced use of the Book of Common Prayer, a high Episcopalian book, with its readings in the Apocrypha. King Charles issued a warrant in 1635 declaring his spiritual power over the Church of Scotland, insisting that the Church would be issued with a new book of liturgy which would be read at services. And on July 23, 1637 in St. Giles Cathedral, the Common Book of Prayer was opened and John Hanna, Dean of Edinburgh, began to read.

Jenny disagreed.

Her act reputedly sparked a riot, which led to the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, which included the English Civil War.

In 2013 a concert called “The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace” written by Welsh composer Karl Jenkins, was scheduled to be performed in a church in Speyer, Germany. The church was built to honor the great reformer Martin Luther. This church is considered an important place in our Protestant history, it’s where the ‘Protestation at Speyer‘ sealed the schism of the Christian church and is considered the birth of Protestantism. From this time on the adherents of the reformation movement were called Protestants.

So in 2013, in this church, at this concert, Heidi Mund had heard that the program included a Muslim Call to Prayer. Heidi was concerned. She prayed, and asked her brother to accompany her. They bought tickets. The officials had designated a protesting place outside, and one of the restrictions was the protest must be silent. Heidi chose to see for herself and bought a ticket with her brother and settled in her seat in the balcony.

Rahab hiding the spies

There is a 6-minute opening song called The Armed Man, and then a Muslim is supposed to call to prayer for two minutes. The rumors were true, the muezzin stood up and began to ululate his call. At that moment, a righteous anger rose in Mund, as she said later. She unfurled her German flag-banner emblazoned with “Jesus Christ” and shouted “Jesus Christ alone is Lord over Germany! I break this curse [of Muslim prayer]. I am standing here, I cannot do otherwise! [As Luther had said]. This is the church of Martin Luther! I stand here, I cannot do otherwise!” It was about that time she was approached by security and escorted out. Her brother kept filming.

It takes courage to directly oppose authorities. It takes courage to behave in ways contrary to societal expectations- to cause a ruckus in church or to yell out in disruption at a concert. Jenny and Heidi had that courage. The spotless name of Christ was being impugned- IN church.

It also takes wisdom to intuit a pivotal moment. Is this the tipping point? Is THIS? Now, I do not recommend disruption for the sake of disruption. A civil society has unwritten rules of conduct and we all know how to act in whatever venue we find ourselves.

I remember my first trip to Italy. In America, you form a line and wait patiently for your turn. You don’t rush the line, cut in line, or maneuver for better position in line. But in Italy it’s a free-for-all. It’s totally acceptable and expected that you rush the counter, jostle, and finagle your way to the closest clerk. Doing the opposite in the opposite country would be considered weird.

Yet there are some behavioral standards that are universal. Being a respectful audience member, especially in church, is one of them. There comes a time though that even in those situations we must obey God rather than man. In Acts 5:29 when Peter was told not to teach in the name of Jesus in public, he stated that very fact. We must obey God rather than man.

Normally we strive to obey God AND man, by adhering to His Law and to societal laws and even unwritten rules of conduct. But sometimes it’s important to disrupt. It will take wisdom and discernment to know which is which. The time is coming upon us and soon, where we will have to make decisions like Jenny did and Heidi did. Heidi knew it was coming and had prayed fervently beforehand, and had a plan of what to do in case it played out the way she heard it might. (She brought her Jesus flag with her).

Jenny’s situation was a surprise. Not a total one, there had been indications the Book of Common Prayer was going to be used, and soon, but when it happened, it happened. Jenny’s reaction was, well, a reaction-at-the-moment. She had just a few moments to react until the prayer was over.

In the Bible, Barak’s courage failed when he needed it most. Rahab’s didn’t. David courageously faced Goliath. Esther defied a social protocol at risk of her life. At the moment he needed courage most, Peter failed, denying God three times to a little slave girl.

There are many instances in the Bible of strong courage and failed courage. It just shows us we are human. Sometimes we don’t know at the moment it’s time to stand up and the moment passes us by. Other times we know it’s time but we choose to remain silent. Still others we see it coming and can fortify ourselves for a response.

As you read your Bible and come across examples of people who passed or failed the test, ponder the fact that we are all called to make decisions for Christ. Some of them are private decisions within our own conscience. That happens almost daily. Others, we might have to decide publicly, as Jenny and Heidi did. As the restrictions against Christians happen more frequently, there may indeed come a time in your life where you must make a stand in a pivotal moment. What will you do? What will you do? Prepare now.

Posted in theology

So much grief and loss…But God!

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Susannah Spurgeon and her husband Charles had a close relationship. When Charles passed away in 1892, she was left a widow in deep grief. They were married 36 years. Charles had called her  “the greatest of all earthly blessings.” Susannah herself said of their life together they were “two pilgrims treading this highway of life together, hand in hand,–heart linked to heart.”

Susannah knew grief. She also knew Jesus.

Susannah Spurgeon, from “A Basket of Summer Fruit” (written after the death of her beloved husband, C. H. Spurgeon)

As this is a “personal note”, I may be allowed to tell you that, in my deep and increasing loneliness, I still find sweetest comfort in praising God for His will concerning my beloved and myself, and have even been able to thank Him for taking His dear servant from this sorrowful land of sin and darkness—to the bliss and glory of His eternal presence. Fixing my heart on the blessed fact that what the Lord does is right and best, simply because He does it, I feel the anchor hold in the depths of His love—and no tempest is powerful enough to drive faith’s barque from these moorings. It can outride any storm with anchorage in such a haven. Many a time, when the weight of my dreadful loss seemed as if it must crush me, it has been lifted by the remembrance that, in Heaven, my dear one is now perfectly praising his Lord; and that, if I can sing, too, I shall even here on earth be joining him in holy service and acceptable worship.

How many of you, dear readers, will be “chief singers” unto our God, and resolve that, henceforth, His praise shall be continually in your mouth? Let us, each one, say to the Lord, with good Isaac Watts—

“Long as I live, I’ll bless Your Name,
My King, my God of love;
My work and joy shall be the same,
In the bright world above.”

She acknowledged her grief and loneliness, but also acknowledged that God is good. Here, ‘Susie’ Spurgeon focused on God’s goodness, the firm foundation of her faith, and the fact that her beloved husband is now with his beloved savior, worshiping Him in perfect glory.

Losing someone you love is not easy. Without Christ it’s almost impossible. But God…He knows the grief and loss that batters the Christian heart. He wept at Lazarus’ tomb.

To the folks that have lost someone recently, please know that I grieve with you. The loss of a friend, husband, family member or child is mournful. It is especially sad when we are fairly sure the loved one was not saved. But God…in His inscrutable ways, gives love to those whom He gives life, and death to whom he gives death. It’s not a comfort in the moment of highest grief, perhaps, nor a comfort in the deep of night’s loneliness, but is it a fact. A good fact. Cling to it, and perhaps if you are suffering, it may make the suffering a molecule less painful…

Posted in end time, prophecy

A word of encouragement

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Fellow Christians, as the Church Age draws to a close, the anger, mocking and scoffing grows. On internet chat boards, forums, blogs, and e-mails, the unsaved rail and rebel in unloving and unforgiving manner. In real life, they mock and sneer, scorning our beliefs. Oppression, ridicule and persecution grows. Marriages dry up. Children go prodigal. Even witnessing to family members can be heart-breaking, as the most polite response is usually simply a deafening silence or at worst, rifts grow.

All this can bring a Christian down. It can cause one to despair and stumble, as we wonder if the tears that Jesus wipes from our face will be falling in grief because our loved ones are absent in glory.

Remember, Jesus knows this would be the circumstance in the end of days. (The last days are the time between His ascension and His second coming, i.e. now). He inspired Jude to write these words, as comforting to the church then as to us now:

A call to persevere

But you, beloved, must remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, that they were saying to you, “In the last time there will be mockers, following after their own ungodly lusts.” These are the ones who cause divisions, worldly-minded, not having the Spirit. But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life. And on some, who are doubting, have mercy; and for others, save, snatching them out of the fire; and on others have mercy with fear, hating even the tunic polluted by the flesh.

To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen. (Jude 1:17-25)

The NKJV has these section titles, which I think is a good outline of Jude’s epistle. While we worry about everyone else and that is fine, we should at some point turn our attention to our own walk and Jude does partway down:

Greeting to the Called
Contend for the Faith
Old and New Apostates
Apostates Depraved and Doomed
Apostates Predicted
Maintain Your Life with God
Glory to God
Amen.

Dear reader, witness in love, pray for the lost, and persevere. For He is able to keep us from falling, He is the most Worthy One to whom we shall be presented in due time and in great joy.

Posted in theology

The glorious promises of God

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Originally tweeted by B&S (@_B___S) on November 17, 2022.

Bear: RAWR I’M A BEAR 🐻 Dog: I DON’T CARE 🐶

I saw this clip on Twitter. I laughed. I got to thinking about how we should respond to sin and satan. I was reminded of Jesus’ exhortation to Peter when Peter said no, Lord you won’t die, and Jesus said,

“Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s purposes, but men’s.” (Matthew 16:23).

It also reminded me of the scene in John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress where Christian was met by two lions on a narrow path. The lions were chained, but Christian saw not the chains. Christian halted his way, and paused, thinking to turn back, but the Porter above at the House Beautiful said:

Fear not the lions, for they are chained, and are placed there for trial of faith where it is, and for discovery of those that have none: keep in the midst of the path, and no hurt shall come unto thee. Then I saw that he went on, trembling for fear of the lions, but taking good heed to the directions of the Porter; he heard them roar, but they did him no harm. 

The Porter quoted Mark 4:40, And He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

Faith includes trust. We must trust the Lord when good things happen and when (to us) bad things happen. We trust the promises of God.

What is promised to the believer

Salvation is the greatest promise. If you are saved, rest in this magnificent blessing. If someone you know is not saved, pray earnestly for their salvation.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written: “BUT THE RIGHTEOUS ONE WILL LIVE BY FAITH.” (Romans 1:16–17)

Are you weary?

Yet those who wait for the LORD Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary. (Isaiah 40:31).

Trust God to do what He said He will do in you:

For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work among you will complete it by the day of Christ Jesus. (Philippians 1:6).

HE HEARS US

He hears your night cries from your prayer closet! He hears your appeals from the hospital bedside! He hears your supplications through the sobs.

LORD, You have heard the desire of the humble; You will strengthen their heart, You will make Your ear attentive. (Psalm 10:17).

HE GIVES US HIS COMPASSION

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. (2 Corinthians 1:3-4).

The LORD makes promises. He does not have to interact with the people He created, but He does. He doesn’t have to make promises to us, but He does.

“by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.” (2 Peter 1:4)

I think this is remarkable. We have an incredible Father.

HE DELIVERS US

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23)

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. (Romans 10:9)

For great is thy mercy toward me: and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell. (Psalm 86:13)

HE SENDS THE SPIRIT

But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me: (John 15:26)

HE GIVES PEACE

And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:7)

I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid. (John 14:27)

HE SEES TO OUR NEEDS

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. John 6:35

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. (Matthew 11:28-29)

And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:19)

HE GIVES GRACE

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. (2 Corinthians 12:9)

HE GIVES LOVE

Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him. (John 14:21)

HE GIVES TENDERNESS

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. (Revelation 21:4)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There are so many more promises, too, than can even be recorded here. He supplies all that His children need for a joyful, grace-filled, loving life here and forever in eternity. He delivers us, cleans us, makes us righteous, removes His wrath from our shoulders, fulfills our needs, grows us, sets an inheritance in heaven for us…through and because of His Son- the biggest gift and promise of all. (Genesis 3:15).

Because He is God, and there is no deceit in His mouth (1 Peter 2:22) every promise given to His children in the bible will come true.

Stand on His promises!

Put sin behind you, never mind the lions roaring at your feet. Move forward in joy and security, sister. Hold tight to His promises, lift your eyes above circumstances to see the glory that is above and will soon be ours in person to dwell with forever.

Tomorrow I’ll post a Thanksgiving blog and Friday I am starting the Thirty Days of Jesus, an advent series I post each year. May the Lord bless you today and every day.

Posted in theology

See what the Lord is doing: Update from Justin Peters

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

I subscribe to Justin Peters Ministries because I like how Justin operates in truth and kindness, I like what he does (evangelism and his rebuttals against false doctrines like health/wealth or word-faith), and I like the encouraging things I read about what the Lord is doing through him.

His reports are uplifting. We need encouragement these days. I like Paul Washer’s mission updates, too. (HeartCry Missionary Society). We can get so caught up in our own spheres we might overlook the grace that is bestowed elsewhere.

Justin’s Youtube Channel is a wealth of information.

I would like to re-post his latest ministry update. I hope you find it encouraging too! Here is Justin:

Continue reading “See what the Lord is doing: Update from Justin Peters” →
Posted in end time, prophecy

A word of encouragement

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Fellow Christians, as the Church Age draws to a close, the anger, mocking and scoffing grows. On internet chat boards, forums, blogs, and e-mails, the unsaved do rail and rebel in unloving and unforgiving manner. In real life, they mock and sneer, scorning our beliefs. Oppression, ridicule and persecution grows. Even witnessing to family members can be heart-breaking, as the most polite response is usually simply a deafening silence and at worst, rifts grow.

All this can bring a Christian down. It can cause one to despair and stumble, as we wonder if the tears that Jesus wipes from our face will be falling in grief because our loved ones are absent in glory.

Remember, Jesus knows this would be the circumstance in the end of days. He inspired Jude to write these words, as comforting to the church then as to us now:

A call to persevere

But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. They said to you, in Jude 1:18-23, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.“

These are the men who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit. But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. Keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. Be merciful to those who doubt; snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh. Jude 1:18-23

Doxology
To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen. (Jude 1:17-25)

Witness in love, pray for the lost, and persevere dear Brother and Sister. For He is able to keep us from falling, He is the most Worthy One to whom we shall be presented in due time and in great joy. Until then, “to others show mercy.”

Posted in theology

Are things spinning out of control? (Answer: No)

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

So many spheres of our lives feels like they are unraveling, undergoing pressure, or otherwise getting worse than it was even a few years ago. It sure feels like things are spinning out of control.

They’re not.

I was musing on God’s orderliness. Time and time again in the Bible He shows us just how much He is in control. Everything happens in His schedule, in His timetable, in His timing, for His reasons. Nothing escapes His notice. Nothing happens unless He causes it, allows it, or oversees it and then brings it all to the good for those who love Him.

Continue reading “Are things spinning out of control? (Answer: No)” →
Posted in bible, God, prayer

Peter’s impetuousness

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Picture Peter and friends on the boat, in the middle of Lake Galilee.

Suddenly one of the men in the boat looked out and said, “Someone is walking on the water!” Sure enough, with robes flowing in the wind, here comes Jesus walking across the whitecaps.

Peter cried out, “Is that You, Lord?”
The Lord answered, “It is I”
Peter said, “Can I come?”

Continue reading “Peter’s impetuousness” →