Are you salty is your light shining?

Tuesday Inspiration

Are you salty or bitter? Are you walking in your blessings?

Matt 5:3-16

We are called to be the salt of the earth (Matt 5-13). Salt adds flavor, it comes from the Greek word halas. It is also a preserver. Salt prevents food from breaking down, decaying or spoiling. Salt also has healing powers. Salt provides relief against infections, pains, and virus. When we think about that spiritually we must think of the trust Jesus has in us. He said when we have lost our flavor we are not good for anything. Since salt can heal, prevent decay without it there death. When we lose our flavor the world and everything around us dies. If there was no light only darkness would prevail and the land would decay, the cost of sin is death. Jesus has given us the power through him to change our environment.

Can you imagine sprinkling salt on your food and it was tasteless? We would most likely toss it out. Through Christ we can do all things and Christ has called us to be the salt of the earth. He called us to prevent the world from spoilage, decay, corruption, spiritual infections, and virus through him. If we are standing by and allowing the world to crumble because we fail to pray, to hunger and thirst after righteousness, to have mercy, to be peacemakers, to have a pure heart, to rejoice when persecuted when persecuted then we have lost our flavor (Matt 5:3-12). When we gossip, backbit, curse one another we are causing spiritual infections. When we fail to stand for righteousness and give in to the way of the world, we put out our light and allow darkness to spread like a virus attacking anyone in its path, particularly the spiritually blind. We are to be as stop signs in darkness. We are too put up roadblocks; we are to stop the infections through Christ.

We are called to be the light in dark places. Light can only shine in darkness. We should not become concerned when we see the world becoming darker. That gives us more opportunities to shine brighter. Light travels 669,600,000 miles in an hour. If that is true for natural light what more than the light of Christ Jesus that we have in us. That is the impact we will have if we let our light shine and do not hide it under a basket or a bushel. We cannot become discouraged by what we see, we have to continue to trust and believe in the Lord so he may show himself strong. God said if my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. It is so simple we are the light, we are the salt, we are his people (2 Chron 7:14). This land would be healed if we would walk in what Jesus has called us to walk in.

We are battling things all around us that Jesus didn’t call us to battle. He called us to walk in the light, maintain our flavor, and pray. If God said it he meant it. God is not a man that he should lie neither the son of man that he should repent. He clearly states he will heal the land if we would turn from wickedness, pray and seek him.

When we seek Jesus we find him. He opens our mind to his word, which is his thoughts, he allows the Holy Spirit to guide us to all truth and understanding. We will live an abundant life when we realize that we may be lied on, persecuted, talked about and mistreated, but we have peace knowing that our rewards are in heaven. When we are in our carnal selves we cannot receive that. When we have an experience with the Lord he will give us peace in the storm because we are holding on to the ultimate life saver.

Trust in the Lord lean not to our own understanding and he will direct our path. Be the light, be salty, be blessed.

Jesus loves you. He is absolutely crazy about you!! You are blessed, walk in your blessings. May God bless you and your family in Jesus name I pray.

 Jesus Loves You! Are you in need of salvation? Take the first step. Click here

Seek God First!!

Thursday's Awakening

Seek The Lord in All Things

Joshua 7

Often when God has delivered us out of many battles we believe we can handle the small battles on our own. That can lead to us worshiping ourselves and believing that we don’t need Jesus for all things. Sometimes we even believe we have built up enough credit that we don’t even have to seek God for everything and he will surely deliver us out of all things. God is Sovereign. Some synonyms related to sovereignty are independent, self-governing, dominant, supreme, and autonomous. Jesus doesn’t owe us anything at all; we were purchased with a price. God operates independently. He loves us but he doesn’t owe us. He has given us so much and when we do not consult him before we make decisions we put ourselves at risk. He is not going to automatically do for us because we think we have an extended credit line if he does nothing else he has done enough. There are some places, people and things he doesn’t want for us but we want for us. The only way we can be sure we are operating in his will and not our will is to seek him first.

Matt 6:33 says seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you. The text does not say seek God after we have done an assessment. It doesn’t say seek God only for big issues. It says to seek him first. After you seek him wait Psa 27:14. Jesus knows what is best for us and we have to trust him for the big and the little. We are as dust, he created us, and we need to walk under his covering in everything.

Joshua experienced God’s many wonders. He witnessed the parting of the red sea as a child, he witnessed God parting the Jordan (Jos 3) and the fall of Jericho (Jos 6). When Joshua sent men to spy on Ai and his spies advised him to go in to battle with minimal forces he agreed (Jos 7:2-3). The text does not say he consulted the Lord. We are soldiers of the Lord and any battle we fight we must arm ourselves with the favor of the Lord regardless of the size of the battle.

We will often seek God when we are going into battle on our jobs or with people we have no control over. We seem reluctant to seek God when we are dealing with our loved ones. We tend to believe those battles are small and we can handle them on our own. Battles are spiritual. The enemy will use anyone that will allow him, and he will use them to attack us. Every time we go into battle we must consult the Lord. The big battles we may consider to be our “Philistine battles” that David had to fight and he always sought the Lord.  The Amalekites battles are the ones that fight us when we are not looking, when our backs are turned, they come after our children and the spiritually vulnerable (1Sam 30-1-3). We have to seek God and acknowledge him in all things and he will direct our paths (Prov 3:6). When he directs our paths our backs are not turned, our eyes are focused, we are aware of any impending threats to our household, our mind, or our spirit and we are prepared everywhere we go.

When Joshua’s men went into battle they were defeated. Immediately Joshua fell to his face and cried out to the Lord (Josh 7:4-9). Joshua should have consulted the Lord first and he would have known that someone in his camp had sinned against God. If he would have consulted God he would have ensured his house was right before God, before battling anyone else. We are in some battles today and we are wondering why things aren’t changing. It could be that we haven’t consulted Jesus in our actions or we haven’t repented before the Lord. We see that sin can keep us defeated.  There are so many consequences to sin and we often don’t see the connection. Jesus sees the connection; he knows the damage of sin.  Before we go into battle we should check ourselves, repent, ask and wait for direction.

Society tells us to grow up and be independent. Jesus wants us to come as little children and depend on him (Mark 10:15). We have to believe the report of the Lord and trust in him. Every time you think about doing anything on your own think of the little toddler that doesn’t want any help but is too little and doesn’t understand the consequences. As adults we laugh at them and help them any way. That is how the Lord looks at us, he knows we can’t handle it on our own and often helps us anyway but seek him first.

Just like in this video. The Lord is saying give it to me.

  http://youtu.be/h63BmK1LcSo

Jesus wants us totally dependent on him. Seek him before battle, before you start your day, before you make a decision, before you engage your family, friends, enemies, or workday. Acknowledge God, seek is face and allow him to direct your path.

God bless you and your family! Jesus is crazy about you he loves you dearly. He died just for you.

Pray

Most holy and righteous father, Creator of the heaven and earth. You are the only true sovereign King. In you we put our trust. We repent today for taking matters into our own hands. Forgive us for failing to seek you first in all things. Forgive us for failing to acknowledge you in everything so you could direct us. Teach us how to grow dependent on you. Teach us how to be obedient after you have given us instruction. We thank you Lord Jesus for all you do for us. I thank you for shedding your blood on Calvary and coming back for me. Help us to do your will in all things. We love you and we thank you for all your continued blessings.  

 Jesus Loves You! Are you in need of salvation? Take the first step. Click here

 

Calling For Prayer......Staggering World Stats..Prayer Still Works!

Calling For Prayer

World Stats
38M Abortions This Year
36M AIDS/HIV Infected People
1.5 M Deaths AIDS/HIV This Year
7.5M Deaths by Cancer This Year
4.6M Deaths Caused by Smoking
2.3M Deaths Caused By Alcohol

Please pray the prayer below or your own prayer. We are called to pray for one another. Praise, Repent, Ask, Yield.

Most holy and powerful God, who produces fruit in barrenness, provides shelter and shade, judges and reigns in righteousness, heals the sick and the broken hearted. You are faithful in your love and protection. You are sovereign, majestic, omnipresent, zealous and exalted above all. There is no one greater or higher than you. We thank you that we serve the most high God.

We repent for the sins we have committed knowingly and unknowingly. Only you can understand our faults, cleanse us from our secret faults. Keep us back from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over us. Cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We repent for the land and ask that you forgive us oh Lord. We stand in the gap praying for those that are in need of you today.

Father there were over 38 million abortions, forgive us for destroying what you have given to us. Help us to receive your gifts. Father bless each and every mother that felt they needed to make that decision. We ask that you forgive them and be with them. Please help in family planning to ensure every life you give will be a life that is received. We know all abortions aren’t by choice some are spontaneous and we asked that you heal those that suffered through spontaneous, and traumatic abortions. Jesus please heal all those impacted by abortions.

 

Jesus we ask that you heal all manner of sickness. Heal those suffering from HIV/AIDS, Cancer, Malaria and all other sicknesses that are plaguing your people. We ask that you heal those suffering from mental and emotional illness. We ask that you comfort the bereaved and the orphans today. We ask that you heal as only you can Jesus.

We ask that you heal those suffering with additions. We know you are the master of intervention. We ask that you meet them where they are and remove the taste of alcohol, cigarettes, drugs and any other addition that is destroying the vessel that you have given us. Help us to honor what you have given us. Restore them to righteousness. Help them to become whole again free from additions.

Lastly, we pray for salvation for everyone in the world. We pray that everyone would come to know you as their savior. We ask that you go with the missionaries that are preaching and teaching your gospel abroad and protect, lead, and guide them to those who are lost and are in need of a savior. We ask that you send your gospel to those places where only prayer can go and save those that are in need of you. I ask that you bless each and every person that reads this prayer. I ask that you bless them from the crown of their head to the sole of their feet. I ask that you pour out a blessing they don’t have room enough to receive. I ask that you bless their homes and their family. Please save each and every member of their family. I ask that the person that is reading this would be encouraged for praying for others. I ask that you bless them with that secret request they have been seeking you for in Jesus name. Help our ways to line up with your ways so you would hear from heaven and answer our prayer.

We yield our heart and mind to you and only you. Help us to be what you have called us to be. Help us to walk in the gifts you have given us. Help us to love one another and extend compassion to one another as you have extended to us.

Let the word of our mouths and the meditation of our heart be acceptable in your sight, or Lord our strength and our redeemer. In Jesus name and for your glory Amen

God Bless you and yours!
Jesus Loves You! Are you in need of salvation? Take the first step. Click here

 

Blessing Blockers! Take Inventory.....

Monday Motivation

Topic: Identifying Blessing Blocker

Joshua 7

God has called us to be obedient to his instructions. Unfortunately our disobedience rarely only impacts us. Our disobedience usually has a domino effect. It usually impacts those around us. We have to be obedient even when we don’t understand the purpose.

We are not in this world alone. We are all connected to each other. We can think about some sinful acts in our past and how affected those around us or even our present. Even those things we felt that only God knew impacted someone inadvertently.

We pay a premium for our disobedience. It can cost us receiving God’s promises. God gives us grace & mercy but he is not in the habit of continually blessing disobedience. There are many definitions for grace and one of them is time. When we sin and we do not know any better God gives us time, he gives us grace to get it right. He favors and protects us during our grace period. He covers our sins because he has mercy on us. Jesus has compassion on us, which is why we must repent and ask for forgiveness.

We find multiple examples in the bible of disobedience/sins that impacted others. Moses and almost an entire generation were kept out of the Promised Land due to sin and disobedience. Mankind fell for disobeying God in the Garden of Eden. Two cities Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed due to sin. Sin is contagious. Once we begin, we bring others along and the cycle continues. Then it spreads like a fast moving cancer destroying everything in its path.

Think of this minor example of sin similar to speeding and breaking the speed limit. When we are in our cars, speeding the very competitive person next to us is encouraged to speed as well. The person that is in front of us feels pressure to increase their speed because we are behind them speedily approaching their bumper. We have then influenced at least two other drivers to break the speed limit. The first few times we may receive grace, we may not get pulled over by the authorities. Suddenly we begin receiving camera speeding tickets in the mail. Spiritually we have speeding tickets coming in the mail. Those things we shouldn’t do and we haven’t felt the full effects of our actions but the Lord is warning us. Then we are pulled over by authorities, ordered to pay a fine and given points against our license.  We are given multiple chances to reduce our speeding and if our behavior doesn’t change we lose our license and our ability to drive.

Disobedience is the ultimate blessing blocker! God has things he wants to get to us but we are blocking our blessings due to disobedience. God delivered the children of Israel out of the wilderness to the other side of the Jordan to the Promised Land. When they arrived, God turned the city over to them, he specifically instructed them not to take anything from the land for themselves as it was cursed (Jos 6:18-21). Later they went up for a minor battle and lost (Jos 7:1-5). Joshua prayed to the Lord asking why he didn’t save them, why did he bring them across the Jordan without protection (Jos 7:6-9). Joshua prayed to the Lord and the Lord informed him someone in his camp had disobeyed his command and had taken that which was cursed, which he instructed against (Jos 7:10-13). One man’s disobedience put an entire nation at risk. Our sin is not our own. We take others with us.

Sometimes we are praying and doing what God has called us to do but we have some blessing blockers in our home that are sinning against God. Some of them we can remove or manage and some we have to continually offer up prayers on their behalf. Either way we have to recognize it, pray and seek the Lord for guidance. We have to be careful who and what we allow in our homes or into our space. There are blessings the Lord has for us but cannot get to us because we have some blessing blockers that we are trying to satisfy and make comfortable in our space. The blessing blocker is usually us.

God is gracious and merciful and he never gives us what we deserve for the wages of sin is death (Rom 6:23). He gives us mercy and he always he gives us a way out. He gives us the opportunity to repent. There is still time to repent, ask forgiveness and obey. There are things the Lord has instructed us to do that we have repeatedly disobeyed. There are people around us, which are influencing us to disobey God, and we continually allow ourselves to be influenced. We need to seek the Holy Spirit for assistance to resist and obey.

The Lord wants the absolute best for us and he cannot give it all to us if we are disobedient. He can’t give us a new car if our license is suspended. He can’t bless us with health if we continue to eat fatty foods and refuse to exercise. He can’t give us joy if we won’t let go of those things he instructed us to release. There is no lack in Jesus there is only lack in us. If we find ourselves not receiving what God has promised us we need to take an inventory of ourselves and our space. We need to determine what our blessing blockers are, pray and seek the Holy Spirit for guidance.

Pray

Most Holy and Sovereign God. You are the Most High God. Creator of the heavens and the earth. You are a strong tower and in you we run and find protection. You are the only one that upholds the kingdom and each of us with your right hand of righteousness. You are wonderful in all your works of wonder and glory. You and you alone are exalted, lifted up and praised for your wonders abound. We repent today for being disobedient and causing those around us to disobey your will. We ask for forgiveness for allowing ourselves to be influenced and for when we influenced others to disobey your will. We thank you for covering our sins. We ask that you give us the will and the strength to obey. Teach us to lift you up when sin and doubt assail us. Help us to walk ever sensitive to your upholding hand. Open our heart to you and flow inside us. In Jesus name we pray. Amen

God Bless you and yours!
Jesus Loves You! Are you in need of salvation? Take the first step. Click here