Tag: holiness

Posted in end time, parable of the fig tree, prophecy, signs

Are you running your race well?

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

A ladybug traversing the concrete walkway meets up with a bird feather but keeps going despite the hindrance. EPrata photo

I am “holding fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I will have reason to glory because I did not run in vain nor toil in vain.” (Philippians 2:16)

Are you running well, or toiling in vain? Christian, when at the end of your life are you able to say, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith;”? (2 Timothy 4:7)

The journey is long and we are small, only humble servants and wretched sinners. There are obstacles and there are hindrances to our course. Some stumble when hindrances are met. “You were running well; who hindered you from obeying the truth?” (Galatians 5:7).

Keep running! Keep one step in front of the other! The time is but a vapor, so short, and what is hunger or cold or discomfort to us when we have an eternity of peace and joy to look forward to?

 Martyn Lloyd Jones, a noted Welsh preacher from the mid 1900s, preached a series on holiness from 1 John. He said,

[Holiness] “is not some mystical experience that suddenly comes to us, but the outworking of the doctrine and the truth which we claim to believe.”

…”holiness is not something we are called upon to do in order that we may become something; it is something we are to do because of what we already are. . . . I am not to live a good and holy life in order that I may become a Christian; I am to live the holy life because I am a Christian.”

The first thing a Christian does to run the race well, in practical terms is:

“…that I try to separate myself from the sins which I have committed in the past; it includes that, but it goes well beyond it. It means that with the whole of my being I shun sin, I avoid it.”

Actively avoid all sins, big ones, little ones. In fact, it’s the little ones that get us. Why? Because little sins open the door to incrementalism. In the Good News Club, (evangelism for children program) we would teach the children that sin is “anything we think, say, or do that angers God.” It begins with a thought. Thinking about your favorite pub. Thinking about the next swimsuit issue of Sports Illustrated. Wondering what that secretary will be wearing today. Musing about your easy access tot he boss’s business checkbook. They’re just thoughts, right? Nothing harmful, nothing active.

But the thoughts are active. Next, you buy the swimsuit edition, you open the drawer to see if the checkbook is there, you go out of your way to see the secretary, you drive by the pub ‘to see who’s there’.

Soon the sin grabs hold and you are doing what you though you would never to. Porn, adultery, embezzlement… it all began with a thought you did not hold captive.

It’s our pride. We think ourselves capable, strong. But we are weak, pitiful, and stupid. We are sheep needing guidance every moment. Apart from Christ we can do nothing.

Run your race well. Pray, stay close to Jesus in His word, immediately banish sinful thoughts when they occur. Congregate with the saints, building them up and being built up.

Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let’s cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. (2 Corinthians 7:1).

And we desire that each one of you demonstrate the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you will not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and endurance inherit the promises, (Hebrews 6:11-12).

Therefore, treat the parts of your earthly body as dead to sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. (Colossians 3:5)

Posted in bible, God, holy, salvation

We are to be holy because He is holy

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

The section in 1 Peter 1 titled “Called to be holy,” especially verses 10, & 13-21. This blog entry is about sharing my thoughts of the parallels between 1 Peter 1:1-21 and Zechariah 3. Chapter 3 in Zechariah is a tremendous passage in a tremendous book.

Perhaps the reference Peter makes to the prophets of old prophesying about the grace of God can be seen in view here in Zech 3:1-5. Let’s see.

“Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right side to accuse him. 2The Lord said to Satan, “The Lord rebuke you, Satan! The Lord, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you! Is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?” 3Now Joshua was dressed in filthy clothes as he stood before the angel. 4The angel said to those who were standing before him, “Take off his filthy clothes.” Then he said to Joshua, “See, I have taken away your sin, and I will put fine garments on you.” 5Then I said, “Put a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him, while the angel of the Lord stood by.”

My understanding is that Joshua the High Priest here is a picture of all Israel, called to be a holy (priestly) people before God and a light to the Gentiles. Now, I don’t want to spiritualize this passage or make it be about the Church.

In this vision, God was giving direct comfort and an explicit message to Israel, but there is a wider view that I think I as a NT believer after the cross can safely take in seeing the character of satan in this scenes and the character of God, because those things don’t change.

In looking at the nature of the uncleanliness of Israel in their sin … the words used here refer to their uncleanness as human waste of the filthiest kind. That is what “Joshua”/Israel was covered in. That is how God looks at sin. This is always instructive to see. Sin is not just ugly, but it is the worst sort of pollution. It’s absolute corruption.

The thought of standing before God in my own waste is a jarring enough picture. Satan is right to accuse Israel, they were filthy. They were idolatrous, blasphemous, and sinning upon sin. How does that old adage go? ‘When satan talks to us he lies but when he talks to God he tells the truth’. He is truthfully pointing out the sin that was staining Israel.

Satan accuses us New Testament believers also, including me. (Rev 12:10). I can imagine him standing next to Jesus saying, “Did you see that? She is filthy with sin!” Ow!

But the wondrous part is when I read in Zechariah that the LORD rebuked satan for pointing it out and making the accusation!! He reminds satan that He has pulled Israel out of the fire (and us too, after the cross, 1 John 2:1). How great is His mercy that despite our filth, He loves His chosen people (and by extension, us)! It is a tremendous, tremendous scene.

And then His mercy deepens by His decision to place clean garments on Israel. They truly are a people close to His heart aren’t they! And His Holy, Merciful nature is that He also put clean garments on us when we become justified. Perhaps I can say that as Peter says in verse 7, the faith that is “more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire” is this garment of salvation! The clean garments he places on us, and it is an amazing thing. Faith in His word He’ll cleanse us of our sin and have it remain so, forever, despite satan’s accusations.

“Robe of Righteousness”, by Lars Justinen

As Zechariah closes out the section saying that the LORD ordered that a clean turban be put on the High Priest’s head, we read in Exodus 28:36 that the turban had an engraving on it that said “HOLY TO THE LORD”.

Replacing Israel’s filth stained garments, and after the cross, replacing the Church age believer’s filth stained garments, is to me the most incredible act in the entire universe. Is this what the angels think also, and is why they long to look into such things? (1 Peter 1:12). I dare to speculate perhaps so.

As we read further in the 1 Peter 1 chapter, the upcoming verses 13-15, the call of Peter for us to be holy is contrasted by this scene in Zechariah of the grace and mercy of God, who cleans His children of our own excrement, calls us holy, and gives us the garments to prove it so. Though the scene in Zechariah is discrete to Israel, I can use that picture to extend it through the cross to understand that He rebukes my accuser, cleans me of my filth, places on my head His name, and ordains over me the call to be Holy. We are to be holy because He is holy (Lev 11:44).

Understanding where I came from and what God has done for me through Jesus, and seeing the scene described so graphically in Zechariah helps me want to adhere fervently to the call of Peter to be holy for His sake- and not mine.

God is so great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted in theology

This body of death/This body of life

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

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

We all have a sin-nature. Every person born on the planet (except Jesus) has inherited the sin of their Federal Head, Adam. All humans are sinners, and therefore all people are worthy of death, according to God.

After our salvation, when we repent of our sins and trust in Jesus, we are no longer under the penalty of death. We have been transferred to the gift of eternal life. Jesus absorbed the wrath for all who would believe when He was on the cross, and more than that, HIS righteousness was imputed to us who would believe. So we no longer have the death penalty hanging over our heads. His death and resurrection cleared those who would believe back to zero on God’s books. In addition, we do not remain at zero, for we would naturally sink again. Being sinners, even forgiven sinners still sin. We have the plus of His righteousness, which launches us from zero to infinity and beyond. Thus when God looks at a believer, He sees the righteousness of His Son.

Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? (Romans 7:24).

It was Jesus who delivered us from this body of death.

I have read that in the ancient days, a penalty for a murderer was to strap the dead body of the person he had killed to him. As the dead body putrefied, the corruption would seep into the convict’s pores and soon he would begin to decay as well. The dead consumed the living person’s life. Perhaps this was what Paul had in mind when he cried out for deliverance from “This body of death” in Romans 7:24.

Every person alive today has one of two types of a body ‘strapped’ in him. The unsaved person has a body of death, he IS a body of death. The saved person has a body of Life. Every genuinely saved person possesses the Holy Spirit indwelling him or her. God resides IN us!

We have a body of life strapped on us: we have two persons of the Trinity with us at all times: the Spirit IN us (indwelling) and Jesus with us never forsaking us

the Helper is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him; but you know Him because He remains with you and will be in you. (John 14:17).

The Spirit is in a believer and the Lord is with us, never to leave or forsake us. Two Persons of the Trinity are with us and in us at all times.

Therefore,

  • Knowing that we have been given deliverance from the body of death,
  • and knowing that we have been given Jesus’ righteousness,
  • and knowing that two persons of the Trinity are in and with us at every moment…

then…

Is what you’re doing right now honoring to Him? What you’re saying? What you’re watching? What you’re thinking? Just as the putrefaction of the dead body strapped to the murderer seeps in, so does the holiness of adhering to the statutes of Jesus. What pleases Him will seep into us. The Spirit holy thoughts and holy words and holy acts to expand our righteousness, further cleanse our sin nature, and wash our conscience.

It’s truly simple: sin corrupts … holiness cleanses.

EPrata photo
Posted in theology

They SHALL be filled…

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. (Matthew 5:6).

Barnes’ Notes on the Bible: Blessed are they which do hunger … – Hunger and thirst, here, are expressive of strong desire. Nothing would better express the strong desire which we ought to feel to obtain righteousness than hunger and thirst. No needs are so keen, none so imperiously demand supply, as these. They occur daily, and when long continued, as in case of those shipwrecked, and doomed to wander months or years over burning sands, with scarcely any drink or food, nothing is more distressing. An ardent desire for anything is often represented in the Scriptures by hunger and thirst, Psalm 42:1-2; Psalm 63:1-2. A desire for the blessings of pardon and peace; a deep sense of sin, and want, and wretchedness, is also represented by thirsting, Isaiah 55:1-2.

Interesting, isn’t it? When I’m hungry, all I can think about is getting food. When I’m thirsty, I’m not satisfied until I drink. Jesus wants us to be the same way about righteousness. Hunger for it. Thirst for it. Seek filling it. Don’t do anything else until it’s satisfied.

The way John MacArthur described the current state of chaos in “A World Gone Mad” explains a lot of the unsettled feeling I’m having these days. I recommend the article. Here is the excerpt-

On top of the endless chaos surrounding us, our society is drowning in a sea of lies, such that the culture is permeated by a sense of devastating insecurity. We no longer have confidence in politicians, health experts, social activists, academics, or the media—all of them have lost credibility by pursuing agendas over honesty. Even religious leaders have shown a knack for doublespeak and outright deception when it suits their purposes. We have been lied to so routinely that we treat every claim as dubious. Living in that constant state of doubt and suspicion is both exhausting and exasperating.

There are two points. The deplorable state of affairs in America right now is doing a good job of spotlighting sin. The corruption in systems, in people, in society, in organizations is oozing out in more quantity than the Great Molasses Flood of 1919, and a lot of people are getting swept away in its sickening draw.

Sin is ugly, isn’t it? We sinners tend to forget that, having it in us and all around us all the time. We dwell in it, and so, make peace with it, pet it, weakly slay it, only to allow it to return, grinning. But sin is the ugliest thing in the universe. The current scene in America with obvious moral and ethical corruption in academia, politics, law, government, science, and so on shows us that. This is good.

It should make us hunger and thirst for righteousness all the more, shouldn’t it? Seeing sin exposed in its putrid corruption should make us hasten to the cross in agony, pleading for forgiveness for even the most ‘minor’ sins of our own that we’ve committed. If there is anything we can call ‘good’ about the sin-saturated United States, it’s that. When we hold a puppy’s head over his waywardly dropped feces and say “Look at it, just look at it! Bad dog!” God is doing likewise with His children.

Secondly, the last part of the verse: “they shall be filled.” For those that hunger, the promise is not perhaps they will be filled, or maybe they’ll be filled, or later they will be filled. They SHALL be filled. Barnes’ Notes again:

They shall be filled – They shall be satisfied as a hungry man is when supplied with food, or a thirsty man when supplied with drink. Those who are perishing for want of righteousness; those who feel that they are lost sinners and strongly desire to be holy, shall be thus satisfied. Never was there a desire to be holy which God was not willing to gratify, and the gospel of Christ has made provision to satisfy all who truly desire to be holy. See Isaiah 55:1-3; Isaiah 65:13; John 4:14; John 6:35; John 7:37-38; Psalm 17:15.

The desire to be holy should be in each one of us, if we are saved by His grace. The pursuit of that holiness should be a fervent goal daily. Imagine what a life filled with hunger & thirst for righteousness is like contrasted to the darkness all around!

One who pursues righteousness and loyalty Finds life, righteousness, and honor. (Proverbs 21:21).

They SHALL be filled. And bountifully, too-

EPrata photo


Further Resources:

Adrian Rogers: Rivers of Revival, sermon

John MacArthur: A World Gone Mad, essay

RC Sproul: The Holiness of God, teaching series

RC Sproul, The Trauma of Holiness, sermon (A GOOD ONE!!! I loved this)

Posted in discernment, Uncategorized

Tips and resources on using Social Media

Posted on by elizabethprata

social-media-2636256_960_720
Photo Pixabay ,CC

Do you feel trapped by social media? Does it make you sad, or anxious? Do you waste time? Many people say yes to all of the above.

I like social media. I have an account at Pinterest, Twitter, 2 Facebook pages- (a theological page and a personal page), two blogs (one theological and one personal) and an Instagram. My personal blog is 11 years old, my theological blog is 9 years old. I have 4,325 essays at my theological blog.

I am also on GroupMe, a mass group text messaging service. LOL I obtained my very first cell phone last month, solely for the purposes of calling AAA when my car breaks down (and is always does) and to receive church messages. I have photo accounts at Flickr and Unsplash. My account at Flickr is 11 years old and I have 1,936 pictures there. Unsplash is newer. I joined when it began, three years ago.

So you can see that I enjoy social media, to say the least. But then again, I have a lot of time, being unmarried without children. I like to stay-at-home and use the internet for witnessing in discrete and selective quantities. (I also attend church, go to small groups, disciple, and witness in real life, to be clear.) I also use it for my entertainment, having no television.

I’m old enough to remember when the internet didn’t exist, and it was hard to get your message out. I mean in that era when I was unsaved, my message was my secular writing. It was hard to break the gates of publishing in the 80s and 90s. So when self-publishing on blogs and such came along in the 2000s, I was thrilled. No gatekeepers except my conscience.

Being unsaved for most of my early adult life, until age 43, I didn’t have a Jesus message to share. But now that there are so many venues to share about Him and learn about Him from others’ social media pages, I enjoy using it all for that purpose. I like being able to get the message itself out more widely. Therefore, I have a goal, to use social media as a platform to share the beauty and truth of Jesus Christ. I use it to encourage, exhort, teach, and edify. I use it to learn from others.

Even then, I still have to limit my use of it. Temptations abound! I think long and hard about who I am going to ‘Follow’ or ‘Friend’. I do not want excessively negative things passing before my eyes. I liked when FB implemented an option to mute friends, that is, not to unfollow them but to not see their posts. I don’t like to see continual political posts. I won’t look at abortion photos. I won’t follow someone rambunctious or rebellious. Constant ‘woe is me’ pity parties get a mute.

As for my ministries, I also work to get the me-centeredness out of my fingers typing, and stick with my goal and plans: focus on saying something scriptural, something positive about Jesus, and something encouraging to my friends and church members every day. If I don’t, what is the point of all these social media accounts?

Still with all that social media can be very depressing. Often, it displays the worst of man, unsaved and saved. Here are four essays that I hope will help bring perspective and encouragement regarding social media.

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

Social media requires a different kind of brain work than does sitting for long periods with a book. Personally I think the two kinds of reading are at odds. I strive to maintain the ‘book reading’ skills I’d taken for granted most of my life. I do feel a negative impact in this area from social media use. So does Michael Harris:

 I have forgotten how to read

For a long time Michael Harris convinced himself that a childhood spent immersed in old-fashioned books would insulate him from our new media climate – that he could keep on reading in the old way because his mind was formed in pre-internet days. He was wrong

Some people take long breaks from social media, or take the drastic step of abandoning it altogether. Here, Aaron Armstrong has some tips for using (or not using):

You don’t need social media (even if your brain tells you otherwise)

This weekend, my wife and I spent a great deal of time talking about social media—specifically how she responds to it. For a few years she was on Facebook, up until a particularly negative incident led her to abandon it.

In the old Bulletin Bard days (with 300 baud, remember that? lol) something called “flame wars” would erupt. That’s just internet lingo for people fighting online. Arguments are easier online because we forget there are actual people on the other side of the screen. Somewhere. Flame wars ignite on Twitter, Facebook…anywhere there are people. Here, Michael Coughlin reminds us at Things Above Us that

You Don’t Have To Enter Every Argument You’re Invited To

Everyone you meet is made in the image of God. Thus, each person you encounter has a level of dignity because of his or her Creator, and you are responsible to treat folks with respect as a consequence of this fact.

I was a journalist for almost 6 years. I hunted stories, dug up stores, investigated, published. Of course, a reporter is driven to get the story first. That drive still ignites me when a major even happens, but as a Christian, even a Christian ex-reporter/now-blogger needs to hold back and ‘consider these things’ first. And pray. When everyone is jumping on the bandwagon is takes maturity, patience, and wisdom to know when to speak and when not to speak. Not everyone needs to know my opinion. But then again, if we have some insight that might help a local body, then by all means publish. The wisdom is to know which to do when. Chris Martin has a few ideas for us.

3 Ways NOT to Use Social Media Immediately Following a Tragedy

I made a concerted effort to stay off of social media most of this past weekend because I was already a bit exhausted at a lot of the response I was seeing to the tragedy last Wednesday. … I should say before I continue, what follows are my opinions. These suggestions are not stone-cold social media sins. So, take them as you will. Here are three ways NOT to use social media immediately following a tragedy:

Posted in prophecy, Uncategorized

God’s grief over sin

Posted on by elizabethprata

While reading Psalm 14 in yesterday’s Bible Reading Plan, I was reminded of another set of verses. First, here is Psalm 14-

The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”
They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds;
there is none who does good.

 2The LORD looks down from heaven on the children of man,
to see if there are any who understand,
who seek after God.

 3They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt;
there is none who does good,
not even one.

 4Have they no knowledge, all the evildoers
who eat up my people as they eat bread
and do not call upon the LORD?
(Psalm 14: 1-4).

We’re familiar with Paul’s reference to Psalm 14:3, in Romans 3:10. We are also familiar with the famous verse in Psalm 14, ‘the fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” ‘

But the tone of the Psalmist crying out to God because of peoples’ ungodliness, reminded me of the tragic verses in Genesis 6:5-6,

The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6And the LORD regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.

It’s good to be reminded that as much as we grieve over sin, like the Psalmist, God grieves so much more. When your little one throws a tantrum, or steals his brother’s toy, or hits a kid at school, you’re angry and grieved because we know that behavior is not the best for your child. I wonder what God sees when He looks down upon His children on the earth. According to the Genesis verse, He grieves. We also know He is angry. (Romans 1:18).

Oh, how sweet it will be when all are reconciled in holiness to our Holy God, no more blot or stain to arouse His grief and anger. What a day that will be.

 

Posted in Uncategorized

Surprised by Leviticus

Posted on by elizabethprata

I’ve read most of the Bible. I’ve read through the New Testament all in one swoop, and then I’ve read different Books straight through several times.

I’ve read all of the Old Testament Prophets and loved them. I love Genesis especially. I’ve read Lamentations and Ecclesiastes and loved them too. I’m fascinated by Psalms and Proverbs, even the verses I don’t understand.

I’ve never read Leviticus and Numbers.

Until now.

Going through the Bible in a 90-days Reading Plan does have its upside. I came to Leviticus early on and since this particular plan suggests reading 12 pages a day, I got through Leviticus quickly. I have to say that drinking the Word through a fire hose and moving on while still wet is quite a different experience than sipping it like a hummingbird and then meditating and studying while it digests.

I loved Leviticus. Just as you put anything else off and then finally get to it and it turns out to be not only not bad, but easy and great, and you say “Why did I wait so long to do this?” That was my reaction to Leviticus. Even its repetition was purposeful. I came away with the following reactions:

A renewed appreciation for the blood. Christianity is a bloody religion. All religions are bloody. This one is bloody for a good reason. Christianity  requires sacrifices, blood, and incessant focus on the blood. The reason for this is explained in the short Overview of Leviticus below. Suffice to say, God’s institution of Old Testament ritual and purity laws had great meaning in the original cultural setting. But even today, they have great meaning for us, even though we no longer sacrifice animals. Christianity is ALL about the blood, and in my opinion, in no other book do we gain such an appreciation for this fact.

For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life. (Leviticus 17:11)

Secondly, I gained a renewed appreciation for the holiness of God. His purity, power, and holiness is displayed so magnificently in Leviticus. It is not as dramatic as His power in creating the world in Genesis, or when He parted the Red Sea in Exodus, but it is through His relationship with His people that we see His holiness and purity. It’s always great to learn, remember, and ponder His holiness in whatever form He chooses to reveal it, and for me, Leviticus did that.

Why wait? Perhaps you will have the same reaction to Leviticus as I did. It’s almost like, all scripture is profitable for… Wait, there’s a verse for that.

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, (2 Timothy 3:16).

The Bible Project’s Book of Leviticus Overview. Worth your time either before or after you read.

The Word of God is always wonderful. Always.