The Salt

Matthew 5:13 - "You are the salt of the earth. but if the salt should lose its taste, how can it be made salty? It's no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled on by men."

While walking on the treadmill last week, I listened to a message about the parable that Jesus taught on how we, the body of Christ - the believers in Jesus, should be the salt of the earth.  After listening to this message, for days, thoughts filled my mind and spirit....thoughts that I began to write down.  This morning, the Lord laid on my heart that today was the time to publicly write these thoughts...so here it goes...

First and foremost, let me pray, "Lord, in the name of Jesus, help me to get this message across in a way that magnifies your name and your ways. May YOUR words touch the heart of someone who needs it today. Thank you for the Holy Spirit and the revelation that He brings those who seek Him."

When reading and studying the Word of God, I always ask the Lord to show me my weaknesses and to give me revelation and insight into ways that I can grow my relationship with Him. I also ask Him to make me aware of sins that need to be repented so that I can cleanse and renew my mind.  So...after reading Jesus' words, "You are the salt of the earth," I asked myself...am I the salt of the Earth? You see - salt enhances - it preserves - it seasons. If I am the salt of the Earth, then I will enhance the lives of others around me.  I will enhance them through the gospel of Jesus.  If I am the salt of the Earth, then I will improve situations around me through my access to the power of Jesus' through the Holy Spirit.  If I am the salt of the Earth, I will prevent decay - in other words, I will prevent others from going to Hell because I will be living proof of the Kingdom of God. I will not only talk about Jesus and the Kingdom of God, but I will strive to live as Jesus desires me to. I will not seek worldly pleasures but will seek the desires of God's heart.

We have all heard the saying, "Walk the walk, don't just talk the talk." That saying is an old one but, boy, it is so true.  You see - if I talk about Jesus and how much I love Him but my life doesn't truly show an example of how Jesus would have lived - how Jesus would have loved, how Jesus would have reacted and how Jesus would have healed and restored, then I am not leading people to Jesus, I am only confusing them....I am being lukewarm.

Revelation 3:16 says, "So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I am going to vomit you out of My mouth."  Wow!  I DO NOT want to be lukewarm. You know what? There was a period of time in my life in which I was lukewarm. And, I cannot encourage others and finish my message from God until I come clean myself about my lukewarm life.

I grew up in church - a good church, a church that taught me the foundations of God's word. I went to church every Sunday - day and night. I went to church on Wednesday nights. I was a huge part of our youth group - participated in backyard Bible schools, sang and traveled with the youth choir - all the time claiming to love Jesus and claiming to put Jesus first in my life. Unfortunately, behind the scenes, I was far from a true relationship with Jesus. If someone would have watched me on a regular weekday, they would NOT have seen Jesus.  Yes, I will admit it - I drank, at one point, I even smoked, I cursed, I gossiped, I was immoral in a lot of ways - far from the way Jesus would have wanted me to behave.  I WAS LUKEWARM! I am not proud of that behavior - matter of fact, I am ashamed of the way I claimed to represent Jesus. I lived a lukewarm lifestyle for a long time - longer than I can believe....much too long.

It wasn't until June of last year, that the Lord started dealing with me, deep in my heart, about my lukewarm behavior.  He got my attention through my struggle with fear.  With the passing of Obamacare, the Lord brought to my attention some very scary realities that the USA was getting ready to face. He brought to my attention that our country is facing and will continue to face the judgment of God.  This scared me - scared me to death! I began to wonder - if something happens to me tomorrow, where will I go - to Heaven or to Hell?  I know I was saved as a young child, I was baptized, I used to do work for the Lord, but am I really still saved?  I began to think about how often I truly read the Bible, how much I prayed....what my relationship with Jesus was really like. Was it a relationship with Jesus at all? After a message from our pastor about preparing to meet our Maker, I asked myself, "If Jesus returned today, would He recognize me and take me with Him?"  The saddest part of this all....my answer to all of these questions was..."I don't really know."  And, that answer shook me to the core....

I used this uncertainty to draw near to God.  I began to read and study the Bible daily, diligently...I began to pray everyday, all day and with each new day, I began to see the love of God. I began to see how He wanted me to live.  I continued to struggle with fear so at church one Sunday, I had our pastor,  Pete, pray with me and I cannot describe to you what happened to me.  I was touched by Jesus on that Sunday morning. My fear subsided - I had the most joy and peace and comfort than I have felt in my whole life.  Through that touch of Jesus, I was healed - I was healed of fear, doubt, uncertainty...I was brought into a relationship with Jesus that I knew I never wanted to turn my back on....my life was changed forever....I was no longer lukewarm....I was ON FIRE FOR JESUS!  If you have been following my blog and Facebook, you probably noticed this difference too - I hope so, not for my sake, but for the sake of God's kingdom.  I hope others were able to see an overnight difference in me - I was changed friends, changed forever - from the inside out.

After that awesome day, my whole being desired to be a light for Jesus - to be the salt of the Earth. I had such a sense of urgency to bring others into the Kingdom of God.  As God and I got closer and closer, my heart ached for other members of the body of Christ (other members of churches all over America and especially here in Thomasville) to have this same zeal for the Lord.  God has reminded me that I cannot change the hearts of others without allowing the Holy Spirit to work first.  God is teaching me DAILY that I have to call out the names to God of these people that I want to see ON FIRE for Jesus through praying in the Spirit and then as the Lord prepares their hearts, He will open their eyes and ears to the messages from God.  So...today, because God is laying this message on my heart...someone's eyes and ears have been opened and my prayer is that they receive this message with all of their heart and that someone's life (even if it's just one) is changed forever...just like mine was back in early December.

Today, God wants you...just like I did, to ask yourself....am I being the salt?  Am I enhancing the lives of others?  If someone would follow me around all day and night, where would my life lead them?  Would it lead them to Jesus or would it leave them confused about who and what Jesus really desires?  Am I claiming to love God but living unGodly?

As you now know, I've asked myself all of these questions and found myself apologizing and repenting to many people who I have led astray.  I have apologized face to face to several friends for not leading them to Jesus.  I have repented to God for my lifestyle years ago and thanks to Jesus, God has forgiven me - He has cast my sins into the sea of forgetfulness.  That is amazing, friends! Totally amazing - that God loves us so much that it is never too late to turn from our sins - saved or unsaved - we can confess our sins and receive total forgiveness because Jesus took our sins to the cross - Jesus had no sin but carried ours for us. That's powerful beyond our understanding and makes me desire as my life's mission to be the salt wherever God puts me.  I want to be the light that shines for Jesus.  Oh, I how I love Him!

Luke 12:35 says, "Be ready for service and have your lamps lit."

Luke 12:43 says, "That slave whose master finds him working when he comes will be rewarded."

So...are we, the body of Christ, are we working for the Lord?  When Jesus comes back, will he find us focused on ourselves and the things of the world or will he find us working for His Kingdom - not because we have to earn our way to Heaven but because we love God and we want to thank Him and our heart is overflowing with His love. Out of that genuine love for our savior Jesus Christ comes the desire to minister and to tell others about what Jesus did for us. God's amazing love makes us want to grow His Kingdom and we can't do that by being lukewarm. When Jesus returns, he won't be reuniting with the lukewarm but with the believers who are on FIRE for Him. Jesus says in Luke 12:49, "I came to bring FIRE on the earth, and how I wish it were already set ablaze!" Jesus wants His people on FIRE for Him - spreading the love of His Father!

Just this morning, the Lord brought the following scriptures to my attention - Luke 12:43 - 48, "That slave whose master finds him working when he comes will be rewarded. I tell you the truth: He will put him in charge of all his possessions. But if that slave says in his heart, 'My master is delaying his coming,' and starts to beat the male and female slaves, and to eat and drink and get drunk, that slave's master will come on a day he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers. And that slave who knew his master's will and didn't prepare himself or do it will be severely beaten. But the one who did not know and did things deserving of blows will be beaten lightly.  Much will be required of everyone who has been given much. And even more will be expected of the one who has been entrusted with more."

These scriptures are filled with lessons...and my intention is not too scare anyone or confuse anyone...but I do feel like the Lord wants us to wake up and realize the day and time that we live in and face our responsibility of being the hands and feet of Jesus here on Earth.

In America, we have been blessed with access to the Gospel. For the most part, we have not faced persecution YET. Yes, we have others around us (non believers) that make fun of us because of what we believe; however, we are not thrown in prison or beaten or our belongings taken.  God has blessed our country and our individual families beyond measure and because we have been given so much, we are expected to do more with God's word.  We don't want to be like the slave who thinks his master is delaying his coming so he continues to go about business his way and then, to his surprise, the master returns and the slave is "assigned a place with the unbelievers." We want to be the slave that is working for the Lord when the master returns so that when Jesus returns, we will be rewarded by being joined with Him in Heaven.  Friends, churches in America are asleep, they are full of "believers" that go to church on Sunday, but never open a Bible or talk to God throughout the week.  They don't strive to do God's work or even strive to seek a true, personal relationship with God - a relationship like Jesus had with God when He walked on Earth.  That's what God wants - He wants us to seek Him, to read and meditate on His word, to talk to Him - he wants us to do all of this because HE LOVES US and wants to bless us and He doesn't want to see anyone miss the Kingdom of God.

1 Timothy 2:3-4 says, "This is good, and it pleases God our Savior, who WANTS EVERYONE to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth."

I, too, like my Father don't want to see anyone miss out on Jesus' return. I pray everyday to be fruitful for God's Kingdom.  I also pray that the churches of America (and all over the world) will wake up and will bring Jesus back to the core of their teachings. I want to see the power of the Holy Spirit accessed in churches and not just people coming to church because it is Sunday and we feel like we "need" to go. We do "need to go" but we need to go seeking the presence of God through the Holy Spirit EVERY TIME!

God does not want us strutting around in our flesh, thinking that we have it all.  We must come to the end of ourselves and that is where we discover God.  God reveals His glory to the humble.  John 3:30 says, "He must increase, but I must decrease."

Friends, I love you - God loves you and he wants to meet you right where you are.  No matter what your past looks like, He will renew you!  It's not too late! God will strengthen you, nurture you, give you peace beyond your understanding. To do this, He only requires one thing - reach out to Him with a humble, sincere heart, with faith and belief in his Son, Jesus.

The time of Jesus' return is near.  According to the prophecies of Daniel, there is a huge war to come between Israel and the countries in the Middle East and after that, the stage is set for the anti-Christ.  Just think of how close we are to a war between Israel and Iran and what that will mean for the other countries in the Middle East. Our country will not escape the hard times - a storm is coming and we must be ready! When Jesus returns, we don't want to be caught off guard. We want to be prepared. We want Him to find us doing the work of His Kingdom.  We want to be a beautiful bride (cleansed and renewed) prepared for our groom.  Oh, how glorious that day will be!  Thank you, Jesus, for this hope!

I love you friends!  Thank the Lord for this time of rest, be safe, and enjoy your families.

John 15:5 - Jesus said, "I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in Me and I in Him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without Me."

Toddy