Poetry by Kay Cude. Used with permission. Right click on image to open larger in new tab. Artist’s statement below.
I keep returning to our (me!!) needing to “remember” God’s promises and provision. GOD THE I AM is the only fortress in Whom we find a righteous protector, defender and provider. He is the only place of eternal refuge from the world’s continuing tragedies and chaos. He is the stronghold Who is and Who will provide peace, wisdom, understanding, instruction and endurance.
By Elizabeth Prata
Moses pleaded with God for Him to show His glory to Moses. What does this tell us about Moses? What does this tell us about us? But first, the passage in context: Exodus 33:17-23,
The LORD said to Moses, “I will also do this thing of which you have spoken; for you have found favor in My sight and I have known you by name.” 18Then Moses said, “Please, show me Your glory!” 19And He said, “I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the LORD before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion to whom I will show compassion.” 20He further said, “You cannot see My face, for mankind shall not see Me and live!” 21Then the LORD said, “Behold, there is a place by Me, and you shall stand there on the rock; 22and it will come about, while My glory is passing by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by. 23Then I will take My hand away and you shall see My back, but My face shall not be seen.”
Moses had communed with God already on the Mount. He’d heard His voice. He had seen the burning bush, a manifestation of God’s power and sovereignty over creation. He’d been given the privilege of learning God’s own name from God’s own lips. He’d been told he had favor with God.
So why ask to see His glory? Is Moses being pushy? Selfish?
What’s happening here is that God had told Moses that he would continue leading the people to Canaan…BUT that God would not be with them. Moses then makes 3 pleas:
“In verses 12–14 he asked for something for himself as the mediator;
in verses 15–17 he asked for something for Israel as the people of God;
in verses 18–23 he asked for something for himself as a man who wanted to know God.“
Source- Ryken, P. G., & Hughes, R. K. (2005). Exodus: saved for God’s glory.
Moses have been as close to God as any man till then and almost till now. But Moses wanted to know God MORE. The more we get to know God, the more we should want to know Him more. He should be our cornerstone of life.
“What Is the Glory of God?”
“The glory of God is the holiness of God put on display. That is, it is the infinite worth of God made manifest.” ~John Piper at Ligonier.org
Moses knew he could not successfully lead that fractious group of stiff-necked people to the Land. He needed God. Moses had spent decades in Egypt trying to do things his way. It didn’t work. He needed God.
More than that, he wanted God. He desired a close relationship with Him, to be in constant communication. To see God’s glory is to be reminded of his own station (lowly) and God’s station (Holy and perfect). Who wouldn’t WANT someone like that in your life? And God wasn’t just anyone, He is THE Someone.
What this shows us is that the more you are with God, the more you want Him. Our Bible reading and prayer life should motivate us to want to know more and more of Him. Have you ever been so overwhelmed with the majesty and wonder of God that you just cry out, MORE!?
Matthew Henry said of Moses,
“He had enjoyed as intimate a communion with God as ever any man had on this side heaven; and yet he is still desiring a further acquaintance.“
Do we?
By Elizabeth Prata
Yesterday I posted about how Jesus Intercedes for Us. My goal was to encourage and assure ladies that the Triune God hears our prayers, supplications, appeals, and repentances.
Doesn’t it just crush you to pray to Jesus…and know He hears us? It’s incredible, and a privilege we always remember in gratitude.
As Isaiah cried in his wonder and grief, “I am a man of unclean lips!” (Isaiah 6:5). In my case, a woman of unclean lips. Why should I be able to use these lips to pray to Jesus when I am the chief of sinners, wretched woman that I am? What is man that God should be mindful of us? (Psalm 8:4). Why should He hear us?
But He does.
Though ‘El Shama’ is not an official name of God, it refers to the fact that God hears…He listens. God told Hagar to name her soon to be born son Ishmael. Ishmael is is a combination of el and shama, “God hears” or “God listens”. The name would be a reminder to Hagar and all who knew them that He heard Hagar’s cry in the wilderness. (Genesis 16:11). He listens.
Psalm 17:6 says
I have called on you, for you will hear me, O God: incline your ear to me, and hear my speech.
Gill’s Expositions says of the Psalmist’s plea in verse 6,
“for thou wilt hear me, O God; God is a God hearing prayer; he is used to hear his people, and they have frequent experience of it, and they may be assured that whatsoever they ask according to his will, and in the name of Christ, he will hear; and such an assurance is a reason engaging the saints to a constant calling upon God, Psalm 116:2; and such confidence of being always heard Christ had, John 11:41;”
1 John 5:14 says,
And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.
Did Peter forever relive his anguish each morning of his remaining life, when he heard the rooster crow the day awake and remembered his own perfidy? Owww, Peter, I understand your grief, the pain of betraying Jesus in word or in deed from our own sinful actions. Yet…Jesus prayed for Peter. Luke 22:32. He did not pray for Judas. Both men betrayed Jesus, but Jesus prayed for Peter.
If you’re a Christian, Jesus prays for you, too. It’s staggering to consider that the God of the Universe prays for us. He hears us, and He prays for us. We have a superlative God, One who is true and kind and loving and compassionate. Sister, no matter what you are going through, Jesus hears your prayer and He takes your cares to the Father in prayer. Be encouraged.
By Elizabeth Prata
Link to Podcast-
https://anchor.fm/elizabeth-prata/episodes/Episode-361-God-is-love–so-he-MUST-hate-e1ut0pb
So many people have followed soft teaching women’s ministries for so long, with their constant focus on “God is love”, combined with an absence of teaching on sin, holiness, and wrath, that now we have slews of women who disbelieve God hates anything.
I had a Twitter interaction with a woman, who began her interaction with me by calling me a liar. I am very sad that civil discourse seems to have gone by the wayside, and people feel so free to resort to name calling to make their point, and worse, at the outset. She was commenting on my tweet thread on things God hates, which was accompanied by the verse from Proverbs 6. Ignoring the verse, she said that God doesn’t hate those He created.
I agree it would seem to be a contradiction, for God to make people and then hate them. But we must remember the beginning. It didn’t start out that way. He created Adam and then Eve. He created them in love, to have fellowship with them and for them to know Him and have fellowship. Then they sinned, bringing upon the world a curse, and upon themselves a sin nature which reverberates down to this generation and every human ever born (except for Jesus). God didn’t start out hating his created beings.
Remember also, He created the angels and He did not hate them either, until ‘Lucifer’ AKA satan the adversary sinned and brought a third of the angels with him in rebellion. Sin entered the world when he enticed Eve and she disobeyed. God hates sin. Always remember that.
And the phrase, “God hates the sin but loves the sinner”? It isn’t biblical. God does not cast only ‘sin’ into the Lake of Fire. He casts sinners into the Lake of Fire.
While I agree it isn’t profitable to focus only on His hate of sin, His wrath, and His punishment, it is also not good to focus only on His love, His care, and His tenderness in saving us. As my pastor says, there are two wings to the airplane. Love-hate, law-gospel, salvation-wrath, sin-repentance and so on. The plane is lopsided with only one wing, and it won’t fly right.
Our believing lives are two sides of one coin. While the redeemed are loved and no wrath is due us (because of our risen Jesus from the cross), even after salvation we should remember the position of the unredeemed. They dwell on an earth that’s cursed and they personally are dangling on an ephemeral spider’s web strand over the Lake of Fire to be dropped into it for all eternity if they fail to respond to the Gospel.
But that is where we are with so many women’s ministries. A decades-long hyper focus on love has given younger women the notion that no matter what, God is love only.
But God … is holy holy holy.
“Can God be good, and not move against wickedness? No. Can God be good and be apathetic towards evil? Absolutely not.” ~Paul Washer
The Hatred of God
God does hate.
God hates divorce. Malachi 2:16
God hated Esau. Malachi 1:3, Romans 9:13
God hates six things, no, seven…Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, And hands that shed innocent blood, A heart that devises wicked thoughts, Feet that hasten to run to evil, A false witness who breathes out lies, And one who spreads strife among brothers. Proverbs 6
God hates the deeds of the Nicolaitans. Revelation 2:6
God hates false oaths. Zechariah 8:17
God hates all workers of iniquity. Psalm 5:5, Psalm 11:5
And it isn’t even a comprehensive list of what God hates. Do you notice the last one? It isn’t just the sin God hates, but people who sin.
The title of this blog essay is a quote from Paul Washer. Below is an excerpt of a sermon he delivered years ago, called “The Hatred of God”. To paraphrase something he said in the excerpt of this sermon, ‘if you love babies…you must hate abortion. If you love African Americans…you must hate slavery. If you love the Jewish people…you must hate the Holocaust’. What he was describing there is the two sides of the same coin. One cannot have a holy hate unless you have love. You cannot have a Christian love unless you also hate. We MUST hate what God hates. Washer said:
You know that wonderful statement that goes something like this “God loves the sinner and hates the sin.” Just look at this text. [Psalm 5:5]. Is that what it teaches? It’s not what it teaches. I’m sorry, I know it’s a pretty thing to say and it looks good on the back of a contemporary Christian t-shirt, but it’s not what the scriptures teach.
[Ps 5:5] does not say here that God’s hatred is manifested towards the wicked deed. It says God’s hatred is manifested towards the one who commits it. ~Paul Washer
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Don’t be fooled by ministries that omit half the Gospel. God does hate. How could He not? He’s perfectly holy. Therefore sin offends Him. Sinners offend Him!
BUT GOD: We are amazed and grateful that even though He is thoroughly offended by sin AND sinners, hates it, He sent Jesus to die for us!
Now- my disclaimer. This is not to say that we go around hating unbelievers who sin. They can’t help it. And, we redeemed are not perfected yet so we falter when we attempt to have a righteous indignation or a holy hate. Our motivations are born out of love for God so we try our best, but our sin nature can still corrupt the end result.
God is love. God does hate. Never forget that He is perfect, so His hate is perfect, always just the right amount and in the right degree and toward the right things. Dear ladies, please try to have a right view of God, a comprehensive view containing all of His attributes. Look at Him as He is revealed, through scripture, not through ourselves and our own notions of what love and hate is.
,Ladies please take a listen to this 19 minute clip. Washer at his best.
Poetry by Kay Cude. Used with permission. Right click on image to open larger in new tab. Artist’s statement below.
I keep returning to our (me!!) needing to “remember” God’s promises and provision. GOD THE I AM is the only fortress in Whom we find a righteous protector, defender and provider. He is the only place of eternal refuge from the world’s continuing tragedies and chaos. He is the stronghold Who is and Who will provide peace, wisdom, understanding, instruction and endurance.
Poetry by Kay Cude. Used with permission. Right-Click to enlarge in new tab.
By Elizabeth Prata
All religions are not equal. All other religions except Christianity are false.
See, the problem is sin. It’s not which god to worship. It’s not how to worship. It’s not how to be a better person. It’s not how to ‘connect with the divine.’ The fundamental human problem is our sin before a holy and just God. Only God is God, not Allah, he is no god. Not Shiva. Not Brahman.
I am the LORD, and there is no other;
Besides Me there is no God.
Isaiah 45:5
Since our fundamental problem is how to be holy as God is holy, we must do something to restrain our sin. We must be forgiven of it. We must partner with a power outside of ourselves who is holy and perfect. Deep down we all know we’re rotten, we do bad, we need help, however you want to phrase it. So they seek ‘noble paths’ (Buddhism). They create second chances. (Hindu reincarnation). They worship the observable earth (Wicca, Druids). None will help man in his fundamental problem; restraining the flesh.
See? (Go here for 20-second vid)
All other religions can do nothing to restrain the flesh. In all other religions, the flesh is god, not God. Only God, who is transcendent, above us and His creation, the very Creator, can pass His hand over us and declare us just, through His Son Jesus. What Christianity has that all other religions do not is the ability of God to solve our sin problem.
“The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” (Mark 1:15)
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoiced in hope of the glory of God. (Romans 5:1-2)
If you repent to Jesus, who died as the sacrificial lamb, shedding His blood, and absorbing and exhausting God’s wrath for His people, then you will be saved. he is the door to heaven. The only door.
I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. (John 10:9).
By Elizabeth Prata
Satan made 5 ‘I will’ statements, declaring what he planned to do. Jesus made 7 I AM statements, declaring who He is.
Satan boasted:
‘I will ascend to heaven;
above the stars of God
I will set my throne on high;
I will sit on the mount of assembly
in the far reaches of the north;
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.’
(Isaiah 14:13b-14).
Jesus declared:
Then Jesus declared, I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. (John 6:35)
When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. (John 8:12)
I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out and find pasture. (John 10:9)
I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. (John 10:11)
Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. (John 11:25-26)
Jesus answered, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6)
I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. (John 15:5)
You notice that satan boasts of what he plans to do. God already IS.
The amazing thing is that satan, whose name is Lucifer, (satan is a title meaning adversary or accuser) actually thinks he can become superior to God. More amazing, is that satan convinced a third of the Angelic Host of it. They followed satan in a heavenly rebellion.
Tomorrow, the origin of Satan. We will look at the scriptural record to see who satan is and why and how he fell.
Amon, Asherah, Bel, Dagon, Molech, Artemis, Zeus, Ganesh, Mot, Pele, Gok Tengri, Tekkeitsertok, Auseklis…
These are false gods. Every culture from Inuit to Polynesian, European to Mongolian, has created a god of their own making. There are many more false gods than just those few listed.
Yahweh the True and Only God created man and gave him imagination. Sadly, using his God-given imagination, man rejects Yahweh and formulates gods of his own creation. The creature creates gods, how absurd. Yet these gods abound.
These gods do not speak.
The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of human hands. They have mouths, but do not speak; they have eyes, but do not see; they have ears, but do not hear, nor is there any breath in their mouths. (Psalm 135:15-17).
They have never spoken, and they never will. These gods do not exist.
God is the only God. He is the only deity who speaks! More than that, He is an involved God. He listens and He hears. See below, the rapidity with which He responds at times!
He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” (Matthew 17:5).
While I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the first, came to me in swift flight at the time of the evening sacrifice. (Daniel 9:21)
While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were listening to the message. (Acts 10:44).
While the word was in the king’s mouth, a voice came from heaven, saying, ‘King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is declared: sovereignty has been removed from you, (Daniel 4:31).
It will also come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear. (Isaiah 65:24).
What a great God we have, who is so involved with us. He hears, He listens, and in His timing He even responds while still speaking! While. Still. Speaking.
Our glorious God is involved, compassionate, and interested in His people. Praise Him in thanks.
Poetry by Kay Cude. Used with permission. Artist’s statement below.
I keep returning to our (me!!) needing to “remember” God’s promises and provision. GOD THE I AM is the only fortress in Whom we find a righteous protector, defender and provider. He is the only place of eternal refuge from the world’s continuing tragedies and chaos. He is the stronghold Who is and Who will provide peace, wisdom, understanding, instruction and endurance.
the-end-time.org 