Tag Archives: scripture

Just a mound of clay in the Potters Hands!

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adult arts and crafts clay dirty

Remember how the school field trips would inspirer you when you were young and inquisitive? There’s one that seems to stand out in my mind. It was when we were taken down along the Snake River to a potter’s house. We were given an extensive tour and explanation of the whole process of digging your own clay from the banks of the river to making of a beautiful finished vase. I can still remember how intriguing it was then and how helpful it has been to me through my life.

This illustration of the potter and clay along with the whole process is played out in many different passages in scripture and has helped me to be acquainted to Gods working in our lives. The scripture says, “We are the clay, and You our potter; And all we are the work of Your hand”. In the same manner that God fashioned Adam out of the ground He also molds us into His image for our lives. (Gen 2:7, Isa 64:8) On my shelf I have a pitcher that I made from the inspiration of that fieldtrip which is a constant reminder of His molding and shaping of our lives.

We read in Jer. 18:1-9 that even Jeremiah was instructed to go to the potters shed so God could give him understanding on His workings and His will. In verse 3-4, it says, “I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something at the wheel. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make”. Then he says to the children of Israel through this prophet, “…can I not do with you as this potter”? The master potter personally shapes and creates us as a vessel of honor for His service. Just as the man who showed us young students how he takes a raw lump of clay and begins to work it into his desired and planned shape, so the creator does the same with us.

The raw clay that came from the banks of the river was put into a barrel to soak in water. Then once it softens and becomes pliable it was worked over a screen to eliminate any rocks or hardened materials that would cause a flaw in the finished product. Isaiah describes it as the potter treading the clay. (Isa 45:25) It’s the same in our own lives that we must have times of soaking and being worked to get any deposits in our lives out as not to later bring devastation in us. When Jeremiah went down to watch the potter he describes it in such a way, “there he was, making something at the wheel. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again.” (Jer 18:4) You see once the hunk of clay is put on the potter’s wheel, he then begins to spin the wheel and balances the mound of clay adding more water at times making it easier to shape. But if there is any small dry areas or pebbles it will put a defect in the shape as it is being worked. Therefore, the potter then remakes it. As Job declares in Job 10:8-9, “You made me like a handcrafted piece of pottery”. It’s a process with the end masterpiece in mind. (Eph 2:10)

The great potter is at work in us and is trustworthy as He shapes and molds us as He sees fit! Why would we ever question the Potter how he has molded the clay. (Rom 9:20-21) We can be at Peace knowing He has our best interests in mind!

Don’t be a Grinch trying to Steal the Hope of Christmas?

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a- grinch      Most of us are acquainted with Dr. Seuss’s Grinch, the Green grumpy creature, which is intent on ruining Christmas for the village of Whoville. Theodor (Dr. Seuss) Geisel’s written rhyme in 1957 has over the years been made into various movies. The green self-seeking creature is embedded in most of our memory as the one that would do anything to steal the joy, hope and blessing of Christmas. Though it is just a story full of humor and fun it brings out a message that we are faced with each and every year. There are always those who want to steal the message of hope during this incredible season.

Interestingly enough we read a very similar story in the gospel of Mathew. Even though there are no green monsters and the setting is not Whoville but Jerusalem. We read in Matt 2:1-3, “…in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? …When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled”. Jesus had been born a couple years earlier and now the wise men of the east had come to Jerusalem looking for the child King, to worship Him. King Herod was agitated and was shaken to his core at the Wise men’s report. Keep in mind every since the angels had announced Jesus was born King of the Jews to the Sheppard’s years earlier, the news had spread throughout the social media of the day becoming common rumors in the region. (Lk 2:8-20)

For an insecure King this new development only threatened him the more. He had worked and managed to become the representing King over the Jewish people for the Roman Empire and now the reality of the Jewish prophecies, the talk of the city and now the Wise men’s intentions have come to haunt his self-ambitions. The news that the “King of the Jews” had been growing up amongst them is more than he could grasp.

This troubled Herod turned into a raging maniac that wanted to get rid of any threat to his kingship. It was after he deceived and lied to the wise men that he ordered every male child two years and younger to be killed around Bethlehem and the region in hopes of doing away with any future threat. (v.16) Herod was so self-adsorbed and fixed on doing whatever he wanted to do that he became obsessed in not allowing any other King to threaten his kingdom and therefore tried to destroy any hope for the people and the nation. He was the real life “Grinch” of the ages!

How often have you allowed your insecurities or selfishness to steal the hope of this season? Have you been troubled or threatened by the Lordship of Christ? The scripture says in Matt 6:24, “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other”. We can’t serve King Jesus if we are living to our own pleasures. The “Rich Young Ruler” went away sad because he was unwilling to bow his knee to King Jesus. We are only troubled and agitated by the presence of the King when we refuse to live a surrendered life before Him. Jesus said, “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me”. (Mk 8:34) It’s time to stop being the Grinch who is stealing others Christmas’s hope and surrender to Jesus’ Kingship and bow down and worship Him.

 

Getting the Hindrances Out of your life

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Felsengruppe Externsteine im Teutoburger Wald bei Horn-Bad Meinberg, Nordrhein-WestfalenEager to get on the way, we loaded the car and began our journey. The crisp Sunday morning couldn’t have been any more perfect. We were scheduled to minister in a church on the south side of Chicago that morning. So we got an early start for the trip from Milwaukee, to insure plenty of time to get there.

We had already gone a good distance when all of a sudden there was a loud noise followed by a lot of shaking. We pulled over to the side of the road only to find the tire was shredded to pieces. Surprisingly, it only took a few minutes to grab the spare and get back in the car heading for Chicago. This little setback seemed only to confirm to us that God had great plans in store for the meeting ahead.

Halfway to our destination, another loud noise came from the tire that I had just changed twenty miles earlier. The car began to shake in the same manner it did earlier. Once again, I pulled off the road and took a look at the tire, finding that it was also flat and ripped to shreds. Knowing that we were all out of spare tires, I began to get a little worked up and agitated. Yet, we began to feel more than ever that it was God’s will for us to be at that meeting. Even though it now looked as if something was hindering us. We began to be stirred up in our faith and began asking the Lord to move in the meeting. Before I could finish the prayer, a car pulled in behind us to help. To Continue reading →

Hang On Help is on the Way

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a0048-000162Most people would agree that the Welsh Revival was a revival of prayer. Often the meetings would go for hours without any type of teaching or singing, only with prayer and travail. God used a young man named Evan Roberts as His instrument, who was a true intercessor and a man of prayer.

The goal for his first meetings was to train and raise up intercessors for the coming revival. In his book, Revival, Winkie Pratney says, “A prominent member of a Newport Baptist Church declared that Evan Roberts had been praying for thirteen months for that wave of revival to come. He related how the young man was turned out of his lodgings by the landlady who thought that, in his enthusiasm, he was possessed or somewhat mad. He spent hours preaching and praying in his room until the lady became afraid of him and asked him to leave.”

God is not a respecter of persons, but is looking for anyone who will yield to a life of persistent prayer. (tweet)

Evan was persistent in prayer, knowing the key to revival was through a life totally surrendered to the Holy Spirit. At times it would seem his passion and persistence in prayer was unnatural. Yet, when you look at the results of one hundred thousand souls saved in six months, you can only rejoice for his obedience. God is not a respecter of persons, but is looking for anyone who will yield to a life of persistent prayer.

As we read the parable in Luke 18:1–8, we see Jesus teaching that we should always pray and not lose heart. He uses the illustration of a widow going before the judge to get justice from her adversary. Due to the widow’s continual persistence, the judge chose to grant her plea. For she was wearing him down through her persistent pleading. In verse 7, the Lord said, “Shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily.” God wants us to understand that He will answer the righteous who cry out to him continually and persistently! That’s a promise! There is a blessing to those who will not lose heart! Continue reading →

Determined to Reach the Summit

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605374893Have you ever tried to climb a mountain and felt as though your heart was going to pound through your chest? If you’re like me the answer is more times than I’d like to remember. One of those times was when I was returning back to my parent’s ranch, which is settled in the midst of the beautiful Rocky Mountains. I had decided to climb one of the peaks that I had conquered many times growing up. Whether it was self-deception or a shortage of oxygen that made me think I was in shape enough to start

The ultimate prize of every believer is to achieve the prize of the upward call of God, through Christ Jesus.    (tweet)

out in a full stride, I will never know. I guess you could say I was feeling rambunctious and over confident until moments later everything within me began to scream for me to quit! The more air I needed the less I was getting. My heart was thumping in my chest so loud I thought it would explode.

I quickly had an epiphany of the possible health trauma and looming defeat of not accomplishing the summit, so I adjusted from a sprint mentality to a marathon mindset. Taking one step at a time while focusing on shorter distant goals in front of Continue reading →

Keeping the Ax Sharp

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ax1

Have you ever come to the place in your life that you feel dry and dull? Maybe you have had an onslaught of work that seems to be piling up or your visiting family has gotten you to the point of exhaustion. Whatever the case might be you have found yourself totally spent and depleted. You have poured out so much that there isn’t one more ounce you can give. The cook’s statement, “it’s well done and on the verge of being burnt” describes you and where you seem to be.

I believe many find themselves in that familiar place more often than not.  In times of spiritual dryness, we need to be saturated in God. If we have become dry, it’s a good indication that we haven’t been soaking in the river that flows from God’s throne. In other words, when we become dull and to the point of not being effective for the cause of Christ, we need to get in the Lord’s presence.

William D. Boyd in his writing “I Work Too Hard” tells a story about a young man who approached the foreman of a logging crew and asked for a job. Impressed, the foreman exclaimed, “Start Monday!” Then Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday rolled by, and Thursday afternoon the foreman approached the young man and said, “You can pick up your paycheck on the way out today.” Startled, he replied, “I thought you paid on Friday.” “Normally we do,” answered the foreman, “but we’re letting you go today because you’ve fallen behind. Our daily felling charts show that you’ve dropped from first place on Monday to last on Wednesday.” “But I’m a hard worker,” the young man objected. “I arrive first, leave last, and even have worked through my coffee breaks!” The foreman, sensing the boy’s integrity, thought for a minute and then asked, “Have you been sharpening your ax?” The young man replied, “I’ve been working too hard to take the time.”

One of the enemy’s biggest strategies is getting us so busy that we never stop to sharpen our spiritual ax.  If our ax is dull then we use our own strength until we are so ineffective we burn out. Without a discipline of prayer in our lives we will become duller with the more work we do. Even when it is good righteous work that pleases God. Prayer is one of the very things that sharpens our spiritual edge.

Unfortunately, in trying times and being spiritually depleted, many people take a sabbatical, stopping the Lord’s work to gain rest and restoration. But if we look at the scripture it wasn’t until God was done with His work, creating the universe, that He stopped and rested, (Gen.2:2). When we become spiritually dull, we need to run to God in prayer and sit at His feet, soaking in the river of life not run away from Him. I do believe we can get off balance with our work unto the Lord, as we see Martha did in the Gospels. But let me also say stopping your work to do nothing is also wrong. It is essential that we spend time in His presence in prayer. If we are continuously basking in Him we will never get dull or burned out but will instead be fired up and sharp in the things of God. So let me leave you with this last statement. Don’t get so busy doing good works that you don’t have time to pray.

Raised in Prayer

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praying with sonThe April sun broke through our kitchen window. I had sleep in my eyes. My siblings and I sluggishly forced ourselves to eat our morning oatmeal. There was nothing uncommon about this morning in 1967. It began like any other typical day. Until, the telephone pierced the silence and brought all of us to attention. My mother answered in her normal cheery voice, but immediately her tone changed. Her cheerfulness went to a devastating, “Oh my God” and from that moment my life changed forever.

Our daily priorities were obliterated by the news that my dad had just suffered a heart attack (that would later become fatal). As my mother hung up she insistently cried, “Everyone go and pray in the front room for your dad.” The sluggish sleepiness that just moments earlier was so prevalent vanished as we all began to cry out to the Lord. In the midst of disaster, we prayed!

Praying became a natural response in times of crises and need in our household, because it was instilled in us as a daily way of life. I can remember how my mother loved to take walks on our ranch in the beautiful Rocky Mountains to pray. On several occasions we would run up the trail to catch her only to find her deep in prayer. It was memories like this that had a profound impact on my life.

I believe some things must be caught not just taught. Joshua had evidently caught something as he followed Moses. The young Joshua saw the results of Moses’ communion with God. He talked to God and then walked in His power every day. Joshua caught the spirit of prayer and abiding in God’s presence. I love Exodus 33:11 where it says, “So the Lord spoke to Moses face-to-face, as a man speaks to his friend. And he would return to the camp, but his servant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, did not depart from the tabernacle.” Picture this scene: Moses returned to camp and to his responsibilities but Joshua stayed in the Lord’s presence. Evidently Joshua caught something; he understood that a life of intimate prayer and communion with God will result in a walk of power.

A lifestyle of prayer was birthed in my own life through being raised in the shadow of many great men and women of prayer. Even once I had left for college and then continuing down the road to marriage and raising a family; it seemed that God would always place me in the midst of men and women of prayer. Through colleges and seminaries rooted in prayer such as Christ for the Nations Institute and others. Speakers that taught and motivated us to minister out of the place of prayer, as well as, great Pastors such as Dr. Larry Lea, who were used to call a generation to pray. God was definitely orchestrating in me a lifestyle of prayer.

Over the years I have reflected on many of those days and memories and have been encouraged that I had caught an attitude of prayer to sustain me in and through my life. It has kept me through many trying times and has become a lifelong message of mine as well as a book I have published, “Igniting the Power of Prayer”. It is my desire to see God’s people live a life empowered through a life of prayer.

I Caught Something!

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Image   The April sun broke through our kitchen window. I had sleep in my eyes. My siblings and I sluggishly forced ourselves to eat our morning oatmeal. There was nothing uncommon about this morning in 1967. It began like any other typical day. Until, the telephone pierced the silence and brought all of us to attention. My mother answered in her normal cheery voice, but immediately her tone changed. Her cheerfulness went to a devastating, “Oh my God” and from that moment my life changed forever.

Our daily priorities were obliterated by the news that my dad had just suffered a heart attack (that would later become fatal). As my mother hung up she insistently cried, “Everyone go and pray in the front room for your dad.” The sluggish sleepiness that just moments earlier was so prevalent vanished as we all began to cry out to the Lord. In the midst of disaster, we prayed!

Praying became a natural response in times of crises and need in our household, because it was instilled in us as a daily way of life. I can remember how my mother loved to take walks on our ranch in the beautiful Rocky Mountains to pray. On several occasions we would run up the trail to catch her only to find her deep in prayer. It was memories like this that had a profound impact on my life.

I believe some things must be caught not just taught. Joshua had evidently caught something as he followed Moses. The young Joshua saw the results of Moses’ communion with God. He talked to God and then walked in His power every day.  Joshua caught the spirit of prayer and abiding in God’s presence. I love Exodus 33:11 where it says, “So the Lord spoke to Moses face-to-face, as a man speaks to his friend. And he would return to the camp, but his servant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, did not depart from the tabernacle.” Picture this scene: Moses returned to camp and to his responsibilities but Joshua stayed in the Lord’s presence. Evidently Joshua caught something; he understood that a life of intimate prayer and communion with God will result in a walk of power.

A lifestyle of prayer was birthed in my own life through being raised in the shadow of many great men and women of prayer. Even once I had left for college and then continuing down the road to marriage and raising a family; it seemed that God would always place me in the midst of men and women of prayer. Through colleges and seminaries rooted in prayer such as Christ for the Nations Institute and others. Speakers that taught and motivated us to minister out of the place of prayer such as Dick Eastman, Mike Bickle, Bill Bright, as well as, great Pastors such as Dr. Larry Lea, who were used to call a generation to pray. God was definitely orchestrating in me a lifestyle of prayer.

Over the years I have reflected on many of those days and memories and have been encouraged that I had caught an attitude of prayer to sustain me in and through my life. It has kept me through many trying times and has become a lifelong message of mine as well as a book I have published, “Igniting the Power of Prayer”.  It is my desire to see God’s people live a life empowered through a life of prayer

We Can Do It If We Will

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haystack  “In 1806 a group of students at Williams College in Massachusetts sought refuge from a sudden rainstorm in a haystack.  As the rain beat down, they turned their retreat into a prayer meeting.  They asked God to use their lives.  As they prayed, their faith rose to believe God could use them significantly to fulfill Christ’s Great Commission.  When the rain subsided, they left with the rallying cry, “We can do it if we will!” This unobtrusive meeting went down in history as the Haystack Prayer Meeting.  Today this spontaneous prayer time is seen as the beginning of the mission movement in America.  As a result, the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions was birthed.”[i]

Through a simple small non-organized prayer meeting the world would never be the same.  God used a group of young people that had a relationship with Him to shake the world through missions. Not because of who they were or even that they deserved anything.  It was all because they chose to allow God’s heart to be vocalized through prayer. That small group came in agreement with God’s will and because of it changed the world!

If the believers of God would only understand there is an incredible power when we come in agreement with heaven through our prayers. We could virtually change our surroundings and our world. The question is, will we no matter what the circumstances are find a place and time and begin to pray prayers that will make a difference?  Let us also make our rallying cry as did that small group many years ago

“We Can do it if we will!”

 

[i] David Shibley, A Force In The Earth, Florida: Creation House, 1989 P. 85

There’s Life in the Vine!

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Image    There is a definite difference between the life that is separated unto prayer and the life that has separated from prayer. One has the power of God flowing through it and the other is powerless. We must understand that Jesus is the vine and we are only the branches. (Jn. 15:5). As long as we stay connected to the life-source then we will walk in His power.

Paul encouraged the Christians in Ephesus with these words: “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might,” (Eph. 6:10). We walk in His power as long as we are in fellowship and communion with Him. I remember my former pastor, telling the church that some things must be caught not just taught. I believe Joshua caught something as he followed Moses.

Joshua saw the results of Moses’ communion with God. He Talked to God and then walked in His power every day.  Joshua caught the spirit of prayer and abiding in God’s presence. I love Exodus 33:11 where it says, “So the Lord spoke to Moses face-to-face, as a man speaks to his friend. And he would return to the camp, but his servant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, did not depart from the tabernacle.” Picture this scene: Moses returned to camp and to his responsibilities but Joshua stayed in the Lord’s presence. Evidently Joshua caught something; he understood that a life of intimate prayer and communion will result in a walk of power.

We cannot survive without being grafted into the vine. Joshua was committed in making sure that he was grafted into the vine. It was a daily choice he made. Just as it must be a daily choice in our life to make sure we are connected into the life source of the vine.  As we come into the place of prayer and communion with God, we are strengthening our connection in the vine!

The Harvest is Ready…So Just Do It!

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 The flashing police lights and news cameras drew our attention across the street. The assembling crowd was all gazing to the other side of the yellow police tape.  People stood in awe as they covered and took away a body, apparently a victim of a mugging.  We were shocked and dumbfounded at what we were just exposed to. 

            My three younger girls, my wife and I were coming to speak at a church in Houston, Texas.  We had never been to this church before.  So after arriving in town, we began to look for its location.  To our amazement and literal shock we had come upon this crime scene, which ended up being right across the street from where we were scheduled to speak.  At that moment, words could not express the feelings that rushed through my very being.  All I could think about through the night was eternity!  The thought of how totally lost people are without Christ and how close eternity really is to each one of us. 

            This experience has stuck with me through the years.  It has given me an eternity awareness that just cannot be shaken.  The fact is there are people dying and going to hell every day around us.  We sit in our stained glass churches every Sunday, hearing the Word of God.  Yet, we leave and never change our society with the message of Christ.  Like we read in Matt. 9:37, “…The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few.”  The harvest of souls is ready to be harvested.  They are ripe and in their prime to be picked.  Yet, it says that the laborers are what is holding up or hindering this great harvest, for they are few in number!

  • How many people do you know that need to hear the Gospel?  
  •  Today, Will you choose to be a part of God’s great plan of salvation?   
  •  Will you not only PRAY for the laborers to be released into the harvest field, but be one of the laborers? 

 It’s time to stop talking about reaching people for Christ and just do it.  We go to conferences about soul winning.  We listen to great messages about reaching the lost for Jesus.  We pray about our friends and family coming to know the Lord. But…. We don’t act on it.   

     It’s time to shake off the dust of complacency and be about the God’s business!      

 

Make a change…Just Do It!

Radically Convinced brings radical Actions!

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Image When Revival comes upon any people and place, people will do whatever it takes to get their friends to Jesus.  The harvest will truly come in, whether you are ready or not! And it will probably look differently than you had pictured it in your mind.  Let’s look at the story in Mark 2: 1-13.

One extremely afflicted individual, an overly crowded meeting and four radical friends. It doesn’t sound like a recipe for a move of God, but in the gospel of Mark we read that God moved mightily in a situation just like that. Why, because Jesus was in the midst of it!

The news rushed through the streets of Capernaum that Jesus was back in town.  Before long there were so many people coming to see Him, that there wasn’t even room about the door where He was teaching. Though the room was full to overflowing, it didn’t stop four individuals who were carrying their friend, a paralytic, to the meeting. They were so determined to get their friend to Jesus that they went to the roof and lowered him down in front of Jesus.  Now, think about it?  The house is full to the brim, Jesus is speaking words of life and then out of the blue, four individuals whether they ripped a hole in the roof or just came to an opening in the ceiling began lowering their apparent friend down to Jesus.

Talk about being downright disruptive and rude!  Either they had never been to a church service or they were totally ignorant of the protocol of such a meeting.

In churchanity of our day, in the same situation we would have had the head usher and security on top of the commotion immediately. The atmosphere of the room would most likely had been filled with a rumble coming from the sounds of the saint’s praying and rebuking the enemy, as the security dragged the men off to jail. With the only testimony being how we put to silence the enemy and regained the focus of the meeting back to waiting for God’s miracles to be manifested in our midst.

It’s extreme and out of balance to think that every commotion is of the enemy.  But one thing for sure is when we stop giving room for the supernatural activity of God in our services it will lead us down a road into legalism and lifeless religion.  So often in our feeble attempts to please the Lord we catastrophically blunder and reflect a wrong picture of His heart to others.

Now back to the story. I believe that they were so convinced that their friend’s answer was in Jesus, that they came to desperate measures?  It definitely paid off, because at the words of Jesus, this paralytic’s life was change forever.  He arose and walked out the doors that he couldn’t get in.  Also, the people were so amazed at what they saw, that the multitude followed Jesus to the sea and He taught them.  Not only was this paralytic made whole, but a whole multitude followed after Christ.  It started with four courageous friends who had a radical unction!  Or maybe a better way of saying it is they understood who Jesus was. They were convinced Jesus was the answer and because of that confidence their friend was made whole!  Being radically convinced brings radical actions.  Revelation of who Jesus is and what is on His heart will fuel the passion for revival.

Revival changes the most reserved person into a radical servant of God. It will motivate friends to do whatever it takes to get their friends to Jesus.

  •  Are you convinced Jesus is the answer?
  •  Which one of your family or friends need you to get radical and do whatever it takes to get them to Christ?
  •  Today, It’s time to get desperate and radical about bringing the hurting to Christ?

Because we are His children through the blood of Jesus, we can come boldly before His throne and ask for our inheritance, which are the souls of men. It’s time for Radical results from being radically convinced of who Jesus is.

It’s Time to get Radically Convinced!      

Salt is to Be Poured Out

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salt shakers                      Years ago revival flooded through the countryside of New England, where the total population was just around 300,000 at that time.  Through the preaching of such renowned men as Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield from England and others, thousands were transformed by the power of God.  During the two years between 1740 and 1742, there were estimations of 25,000 to 50,000 people in the New England states who came into the kingdom of God.  This radically changed the whole atmosphere of the society.  The moral fiber of society was changed for the better.  Benjamin Franklin said, “…it seemed as if all the world was growing religious; one could not walk through a town in an evening without hearing psalms sung in different families in every street.”[i]   He said this of the results of one of Whitefield’s meetings. That poses an interesting question that we should ask. If someone walked down the streets of your neighborhood would they be as impacted as Benjamin Franklin?

            In our day can we say that there is a noticeable difference when it comes to the church and the world? If we turn to and look at the scriptures we can quickly see that there is supposed to be a radical difference. The church by biblical definition is supposed to have a direct impact on its surroundings.

            The Body of Christ or the church must become effective salt.  Then and only then will we begin to change communities and surroundings for the better.  Either we will be effective or we will be defective.  How often do we feel the Church is being trampled under society’s feet? Maybe it’s because we have lost our edge or our effectiveness.  If we are doing what we’re supposed to be doing, we will affect our surroundings.  To understand this better, let us look at the uses of salt.  To begin with, we know salt flavors things and makes things have a better taste.  Secondly, salt is a preservative.  It keeps things from rotting and going bad.  Thirdly, salt melts the hardness of the cold ice.  Fourth, it has been used to keep weeds from growing in certain areas.  When we are revived by His spirit, the Church will be seasoning to society, a preservative in society, melting the hardness and coldness of society and keeping unwanted weeds from growing in its midst. 

  •  Today will you be salt that is effective or salt that needs to be thrown out?
  •  God has placed us in various places to effect it for His kingdom and purposes.
  •  The job you’re at, whether a school, a bank or a construction site, it is all for a reason.

             When Jesus spoke to His followers in Matt. 5:13 we see where it says, “You are the salt of the earth…”. Jesus was saying that they as followers of His must penetrate and impact their society. He wasn’t saying hide and be ineffective. No, not at all! That’s a defective believer! Therefore as followers of Jesus we need to use our talents, hobbies and everything else we possess to further God’s plan for His kingdom. This is to impact our surrounding with the beauty of His holiness. Each on of us has a certain hobby or something that they love to do…right?  And you gravitate to others with the same like mindedness as yourself. In the same manner many that don’t know the Lord but have the same passions are drawn to you. So, use that as a open door to impact their lives with the Gospel.  Therefore USE IT!

 Today choose to be SALT!

[i] Winkie Pratney, Revival, Pa. Whitaker House, p.112