By Elizabeth Prata
SYNOPSIS
In this essay, I speak of the importance of small acts of faith and obedience to God. I share my humble perspective as an ordinary individual, asserting that even minor contributions can create significant spiritual impacts, likening these efforts to a domino effect that can influence future generations for the Kingdom.
Continue reading “The Domino Effect of Faith in Everyday Life”By Elizabeth Prata
People accuse Christians of having “blind faith.” They charge Christians of being “dumb” or a “robot”.
This is not so. The Bible is evidential. Evidential is an adjective that means serving as evidence. From Vocabulary.com, we read, “Often used as a legal term, evidential is sometimes paired with the words “proof,” “burden,” or “hearing.””
The Bible has many external and internal proofs that the information contained in it is reliable. Believers know that it’s reliable because it’s from God, who is perfect. It’s the revealing of Himself to humanity, and everything He does is good, therefore the Bible is good.
However, unsaved people are blind to the glories of God. They cannot please God. Their mind is clouded with sin and their foolish hearts are darkened. So they do not believe the Bible as credible, true, or good.
Yet sometimes, a person gets curious about the Bible. They want to know, logically, why so many people find the Bible fascinating. They want to know if it is true, or the things in it are trustworthy. They investigate.
Pause that thought for a minute…
I am a writer, I always have been since I was able to write. I love language…words…phrases. How they sound, their origins, choosing words for my blog writing. It’s fun. I spend a lot of time with words.
When someone posts something on social media, I look at what they wrote, and I comment on it. Recently a woman took issue with something I replied to on a person’s large ministry page. She said I didn’t have the whole context, I didn’t know the story, I didn’t know the person’s heart, all that. Sure, I agree, more context is better than less context, but the point of social media is that someone writes something and publishes it for the world to see, and people in the world who read it, reply based on what they read.
What we respond to are the words the person chose in their published piece. What they put in, and what they leave out. The words they pick, the language the chose, gives insight into a person’s mind.
Here is a Cold Case Detective explaining his profession’s approach to forensic language. His name is J. Warner Wallace. He was unsaved but curious. He was interested in the Bible as an evidential document. It is a true cold case. I bought his book “Forensic Faith” and I’m looking forward to reading it.
Wallace said: “Detectives will have the perpetrator write down everything they did on the day of the murder from the time they woke up to the time they went to bed. I will analyze that looking for deception indicators, how they compress time, how they expand time, how they use pronouns, how they use tenses and verbs. I’m looking for adjectives and adverbs. These are really important. Optional words are really important.”
His story is that he examined the Bible using the same forensic methods he uses in his profession in solving cold cases. He found the Bible to be truly trustworthy. As a side note and a praise, he was saved shortly after that, and is now an apologist for Christ in the faith.
So while we can’t determine everything about a person from reading their words on a screen or on a paper, we can conclude some things. We might not be a cold case forensic detective, but we do have the mind of Christ and our mental faculties can detect word patterns.
Pay attention to the words they use and the words they don’t use. That second one is harder, I agree. Omissions are hard to spot. Oftentimes it takes a pattern of omission to detect something is off. Take Joel Osteen for example. He never uses the words ‘sin’, ‘repent’, or even ‘Jesus’. He will say broken, or messy, or God, but he doesn’t choose the Bible’s power words that convict a soul.
Beth Moore rarely uses the word repent in her speeches or her writing. Oh, she’ll speak or write a verse that has the word repent in it, but she rarely directly calls for repentance from sin. To my knowledge, and I checked this to the best of my ability a year or so ago, she has never taught either in person or a published Bible study, on 1 Timothy. Hmmm. That’s the Bible book that forbids women to teach men or hold authority over them.
Some people have occasionally made remarks on what I’ve written based on a conclusion they’ve come to, and after examining their statement, I’ve found them to be right. I didn’t even know I was revealing myself but they concluded something about me based on the words I use, the topics I write on.
So watch for a pattern of omission, while you are watching for the words they choose to use. Does the Bible teacher use important words like hell, death, wrath, repent, sin, Jesus. Do they overuse words like grace, mercy, forgiveness, without a balance of the other words?
And that is the point. When a person gives a sermon or writes something on social media or on paper, they are choosing words. Words and phrases are important. It is a glimpse of what is in their mind and heart. (Matthew 12:34; Luke 6:45).
What I’ve described is one aspect of discernment.
By Elizabeth Prata
Sister, I hope you are eating solid food in your walk with Christ. If you have been saved for a while but still regard the Bible as too deep, can’t understand it, and don’t get much out if it, this is a problem.
“Concerning him we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern both good and evil.” (Hebrews 5:11-14).
It is critically important for every believing man, woman, youth, and child to be bathed in the word constantly. And not just head knowledge, though that is where the transforming begins- the mind. (Romans 12:2). But we also need to take what we know and apply it to our lives.
Otherwise the babe in Christ is at risk-
“Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.” (Matthew 7:15)
How can you be wary of something if you don’t know what it is or what it looks like? If you were never taught what a wolf was, you’d be likely to think it was a dog and go up and pet it!
We are in an evil and corrupt time, when abominable demons stalk the people of the world, when satan and his masquerading minions do all they can to deceive you, when spies are entering the church to put you back into bondage, – And you are still on milk?
“Although satan and his minions know they can never destroy your salvation, they will do everything under their power to destroy your enjoyment of that salvation.”
~Sinclair Ferguson, Ligonier course, “Union with Christ”
One way they destroy your enjoyment of His salvation is to enslave you like the Pharisees did and bind you with rules. Another is to draw you away from good teaching and instill in your mind false teaching that clouds your vision of who Jesus actually is and gives you a different picture of His character.
Mainly, absorbing His word should be a delight! It is refreshing to be washed by the word, to dive into its jewel-like beauty and its endless complexity but its truths so graciously illuminated by the indwelling Spirit! We glory in His word and are jubilant when we graduate from milk to meat! For we know we are seeing Jesus more clearly, and we can then confidently turn around and extend a hand to those on milk and help them to rise in understanding of it! ALL to have a closer relationship with Jesus through His word.
We are heavily encouraged to feast on the meat of the word.
“Milk does a body good”, but meat sustains you! Get on the meat!
Further Resources
The Cripplegate: The Stages of Spiritual Maturity
By Elizabeth Prata
I’m no Charles Spurgeon, laboring from morning till night on a million different projects that have an impact in my day and 150 years beyond.
I’m no George Muller, trusting the LORD in amazing depth to raise and care for hundreds of orphans.
I’m no John MacArthur, preaching for 50 straight years in one church, faithfully going through every book of the New Testament and seeing the Spirit take the ministry global.
I’m just an old lady in a backwater town in rural Georgia. I go to church, go to work, do my best to obey Jesus daily, confess my sins and ask His help to do better, and move on to the next day. What impact can I have for the Kingdom? I’m not looking for a huge impact or a famous impact, but something, anything for His name, in obedience to His word and gratitude for my salvation. Does what I do matter? Does it have an effect?
Why, yes, what we do in His name when put into His hands will have an impact. Maybe not immediately, but eventually the results will show.
This video is interesting in itself for the science of it, but I’m also thinking of the spiritual reality: One small word spoken in His name can have domino effect that ‘turns the world upside down.’ Amazing. 🙂 Be obedient to His word today and share His truth in word or deed, in even a small way.
so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. (Isaiah 55:11)
For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds.
Video blurb:
A domino can knock over another domino about 1.5x larger than itself. A chain of dominoes of increasing size makes a kind of mechanical chain reaction that starts with a tiny push and knocks down an impressively large domino.
By Elizabeth Prata
Someone sent me this cartoon that was going around. It’s sad and upsetting, but we are not surprised, given the constant diminishing of God’s glory and authority in favor of a human view of love.
In this way, satan continues to day to God’s people, Hath God said? (Genesis 3:1).
Jesus doesn’t ‘use scipture’ to determine what it means. He doesn’t need to consult commentaries or study the original languages to understand it. He is not only the author of it, He IS the Word! So just on that basis, the cartoon is stupid.
God has revealed Himself through His creation, but the only way we can know who He is, what He desires, and how to obey Him, is through His word. He gave us His word through the Spirit, who is God Himself. The writers recount trials and tribulations writing it, and many martyrs have died preserving it and defending it.
It is not to be dismissed for some version of a human view of an emotion. Further, such a cartoon denies that of utmost importance, God is holy. Yes, He loves, He loves us and sent His son to die for us because He is Holy, and we are not. His holiness is the reason we need Jesus, because the other side of the holiness coin is wrath.
Those who are not in a redeemed position on the day of their death will suffer eternal consequences. Torments in the eternal lake of fire will be their due as penalty for their sin, and though God saves some in love, He punishes others who have not repented of their sins in wrath. Hence, holiness is the utmost attribute one needs to ponder and cherish. He is thrice holy. (Isaiah 6:3).
Myopically focusing on love and dismissing the absolute truth of His word is a deadly position to take.
Here are a few resources on the Word of God.
Here are the women at Naomi’s Table with an essay on the Sufficiency of Scripture. It begins like this:
Did you know that the Bible is all we need to equip us for a life of faith and service? It’s true! And in fact the doctrine of the sufficiency of Scripture is a fundamental tenet of the Christian faith. Sadly, it’s a tenet that has long been under vicious attack from within our own visible, modern churches.
But be assured that no other writings are needed for the Gospel to be understood, nor are any other writings required to equip us for a life of faith. Everything else – entertainment, extra-biblical revelations, mysticism, spiritual deliverance ministries and some forms of psychological counseling all declare that the Bible and its precepts are not enough. But Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me” (John 10:27). His voice is found in every word of the Word; the Scriptures are His voice, completely and utterly sufficient.
Noah’s Ark: Cute and Cuddly, or Wrath and Fury?
What is the first image that comes to mind when you think of Noah’s Ark?
Is it cute bunnies, giraffes, and kangaroos; or is it the death and destruction of sinners at the hand of God?
If you are like most, your mind immediately goes to the various childhood images of a lot of cute animals on a large boat. However, despite its overemphasis, the preservation of animals is not the primary lesson to be learned from the story of Noah’s Ark.
Both Jesus Christ and the Apostle Peter taught about the flood, yet neither of them even mentioned the animals. Instead, they used the flood account to teach on more serious matters such as sin, judgment, and salvation.
Someone I know recently expressed an opinion that surprised and in some ways disappointed me. I said to myself, “I thought he would have more discernment than that.”
The experience caused me to reflect on the importance of discernment and the lack of it in our world. We know that people often do not see issues clearly and are easily misled because they do not think biblically. But, sadly, one cannot help reflecting on how true this is of the church community, too.
But what is this discernment? The word used in Psalm 119:66 means “taste.” It is the ability to…
Michelle Lesley had a thing or two to say about Bible studies aimed at women that sadly focus on narcissistic navel gazing and a skewed version of “love”.
I am so sick of women’s ministry/discipleship/”Bible” study that centers around narcissistic navel-gazing I could vomit. MY hurts, MY feelings, MY opinions, MY self image. Newsflash- You’re not the only person on the planet who’s ever been hurt or had problems. And wallowing …
And let’s finish with a very short clip from John MacArthur about Dumbing Down the Message:
the-end-time.org 