In Matthew 5:13, we are told, “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how will it be made salty again? It is good for nothing any more, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men.”
   The salt reference is important. We are told that we are the salt of the earth, but if we don’t do the work of salt, we are ineffective and worthy to be thrown out! God is serious…we have received from Him the ability to make a difference by having His Spirit flow through us and change the world.
   Let’s look at what salt is and does. Do we match up, also, in the things of the Lord?
Salt:

• Adds flavor – do we leave a good taste, so to speak, in others’ mouths?
• Preserves/prevents decay – do we help prevent the decay of sin?
• Cleanses and heals – do we bring the balm of Gilead to the wounds of others?
• Penetrates – are we vessels that are used to deeply affect others?
• Changes what it goes into and on – do we bring change?
• Is quiet/no snap, crackle and pop – are we willing to work quietly behind the scenes?
• Is visible, but works silently – can we hold our tongues and keep our own opinion?
• Spreads – do we spread the word of God?
• You can’t stop its process once it is present – do we let the Spirit rule and have His way?

   ​Endure the fire…it’s producing pure gold!

    Our nature cannot obey God, not in the manner God requires. The only way to serve God without sin is to walk by the Spirit. The scriptures tell us that when you walk by the Spirit you cannot sin...problem solved!
   Today, there is an ongoing debate on "what" is right. That is like a dog chasing its tail! It is not "what" is right - it is "WHO" is right. God's wisdom lays down the principles and the direction in which we are to go and, in obedience to Him, right-ness comes. Mankind keeps changing what is right and wrong, acceptable and unacceptable. Just look at what is considered modest and immodest today, compared to 40 years ago - BIG CHANGE!
   God is stable, He never changes, nor do His principles. Don't go by your flesh (natural ideas, feelings, desires). Be a part of God's stability. Stand up and be a part of changing our world...in Christ.

Jeremiah was a humble prophet of God who was used mightily by God in his time. He frequently felt the sting of ridicule and rejection for proclaiming God’s word to a rebellious people. He was on fire for God’s purpose in his life and was not about to be silenced.

There was good reason for his devotion to the living God, for he testifies in Jeremiah 15:16 saying, “Your words were found and I ate them, and Your words became for me a joy and the delight of my heart; for I have been called by Your name, O Lord God of hosts.” He consumed the words of God and he spoke the messages he had received. Jesus said that a man’s mouth speaks from that which fills his heart. (See Luke 6:45.)

Paul also confessed with an unwavering conviction that, “I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose (or counsel) of God.” (Acts 20:27) Let us be encouraged to seek and discover GOD’S WORD for ourselves. Let us eat the heavenly manna (Jesus) and proclaim the mighty gospel of grace in our generation – and witness a bountiful harvest of souls for the kingdom of God.

There is a tremendous responsibility for a mother to raise up a child in the love and admonition of the Living God. (See Proverbs 22:6)

I thank God for the example we have in Jochebed, the mother of Moses. We read about her, her husband Amram, and Moses in Exodus 2:1-10. However, in Hebrews 11:23, we discover the reason for her actions - she moved in faith! "By faith Moses' parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king's edict." (NIV)

Although we know little about Jochebed, we can learn much about her faith in God to surrender her child into His hands. She placed Moses in a well-prepared and sealed papyrus basket into the dangerous and crocodile-filled Nile River (symbolic of our present world).

Acting on faith, this mother was moved to release her son unto God's care. She did not now he would be the very man God would use to deliver Israel after 400 years of bondage and enslavement. What a mother of faith! What a child of God!

Change is strange for most of us. We get "comfortable" in our habits, our thoughts, and our behaviors. Many times, those things are full of broken ways that keep us in the grip of sin.

Break free! Get on your face before God and ask for that "new life" and "new creature" existence God tells us about.

2 Corinthians 5:17 tells us that if any man is in Christ he is a new creature and the old things start passing away. "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, this person is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come."

This message of the new nature is not a dark and dire message ... it is a message of supreme hope! The Spirit of God can accomplish a life-changing transformation for anyone who comes to Jesus and remains bound to Him.

God's kind of change – oh, yeah – that's worth all the coins in the world!

​(Romans 6-8; Ephesians 4:4-6, 4:23-24; Ephesians 1:13-14, 2:4-10)

All who have come to know Jesus Christ have been saved to serve.

Isaiah was a humble and devoted prophet of God in his time. He even saw the King, the Lord of Hosts seated on a throne in glory, majesty and splendor (See Isaiah 6:1-8).

During this time before the Lord, Isaiah heard the Lord say, “’Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?’ Then I said, ‘Here am I. Send me!’” But to whom was Isaiah being sent? He was to go to a rebellious nation who had forsaken the Lord, urging them to repent and turn back to the Living God.
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Today, we are living in a degenerate world of moral decay and decline, and many are calling evil good and good evil - just as it was in Isaiah's time. They are substituting darkness for light and light for darkness and substituting bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter (See Isaiah 5:20).

For so many, the annual pilgrimage to church occurs on Easter Sunday, perhaps out of tradition or feelings of guilt if they do not attend.

But what do the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ mean to you? What is the significance of the power of God to raise His Son from the Dead, and is it relevant in your life today?

Let's visit what the sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus meant to Paul in Philippians 3:10-11, "That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being confirmed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead."

Paul diligently sought to know Jesus - not intellectually, but experientially and intimately in his daily walk. He hungered for and pursued God for a flow of the Holy Spirit that the life of Jesus would be seen in him and witnessed by others. All his passion was due to the identification, ownership, and commitment he had to Jesus who had surrendered His life for him.

How about you? Are you experiencing and encountering the resurrection power of Jesus Christ in your life today? Remember - He arose that you may live!

​Some time ago, when our children were younger and still at home, Shirley and I decided to have our entire family “take a break” from TV. Shirley put a note on front of the television that read, “The view gets better when you look up.” One day, a pre-teen nephew was visiting. He read the sign that could not be missed and looked up with a curious and puzzled expression, seeing nothing but a ceiling. It was a humorous yet a great teaching moment.
 
As Christians, we are encouraged, admonished, and warned by God to “Set your mind (affection) on things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” (Colossians 3:2-3)
 
Paul also speaks of the miraculous change in his life and how he viewed life after his conversion. He said, “I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them but rubbish in order that I may gain Christ.”. (Philippians 3:8)
 
How about you? Are you willing and desirous to look up to Jesus and enjoy the view He has for you?

It’s such an assurance to know that what God promises He will always bring to pass. (See Romans 4:16-22.) The Lord also appeared to Paul and, standing by his side, told him that as he had been a faithful witness in Jerusalem, so he must also witness at Rome. (Acts 23:11)
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Sure enough, and directed by the Holy Spirit, Paul sailed from Jerusalem to Rome in very violent and stormy seas. It was dark with no sunshine for two weeks. It was cold and rainy, and the ship was battered and fragile. The 276 men aboard grew hopeless and in great fear of losing their lives.

However, Paul was encouraged and confident upon receiving a message from an angel of God that he would stand before Caesar and that all on board would live. Paul announced to all on board, “Keep up your courage men, for I believe God, that it will turn out exactly as I have been told.” (Acts 27:24-25)

Yes, there is an assurance in knowing Jesus; an assurance that proclaims that I know where I came from, I know what I am doing here on earth, and I am confident to know where I am going – no matter the storms and trials I encounter.

​We learn from Exodus 34 that Moses descended from Mt. Sinai, having met with God, and holding two stone tablets engraved with the Ten Commandments. Because Moses’ face was aglow with the glory of God, he would put a veil over his face when speaking with the Hebrew people and remove it when meeting with God in the tabernacle’s Holy of Holies.
 
Today, however, the veil is removed through Jesus Christ and, in His name, we have access to God’s throne where we can receive an abundance of mercy and grace. (Hebrews 4:16) This access into the presence of God with unveiled face has given us the ability to commune with God and to be transformed into the image of Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:18).
 
When Jesus was crucified, the veil (curtain) in the temple was torn from top to bottom symbolizing the opening of a new and living way directly into the presence of God (Matthew 27:51).
 
With hope in your heart, and no matter the hardships and trials you will continue to face, go forward trusting God to transform you into the glorious image of His Son.