Year: 2016

Salty Tears, Bright Truth

​“You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless. “You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden.  No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house.  In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.

Matthew 5:13‭-‬16 NLT

We are to be the salt and the light. The LIGHT OF TRUTH that shines upon the poison of sin and produces conviction,  and the SALT that comes from our TEARS OF COMPASSION for our fellow man’s struggles. 

If we lose our compassion, our love for our fellow man,  regardless of his state,  station,  or circumstances – our words,  our actions, our everything is worthless – because it lacks love. Without the salt of compassion we are just loud, proud, self righteous gongs clanging against each other in the midst of a storm where others need peace. They will trample us underfoot as useless to them. 

If we compromise truth, or we find ourselves ashamed to stand firmly upon the whole truth – if we do not let the truth of our following in His footsteps shine forth into this dark world, if we refuse to preach as He did, “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near” because we fear the opinions of men more than we fear being unfaithful to our God who commands us “Go make disciples of all nations” – what God is that? Will we allow the comfort of pleasantries today to weigh on our minds more heavily than the questions of “why didn’t you warn me” as we find their blood on our hands?  

Leave out the salt and only bring light and you will find yourself very religious but very loveless. You might know the history lesson about Jesus and God, but your lamp is empty of the annointing oil that feeds the flame of love. You have lost that love and mercy towards others that you claim so boldly from God for yourself. Repent and remember love.

Leave out the light and only bring salt and you will find yourself sinking in the sand of tolerance and apathy towards sinfulness, and you will realize the very real need for sanctification and righteousness. You will be welcoming religious converts into a synagogue of Satan that denies the power of God to driver lives and overcome sin. You will find yourself surrounded by lasciviousness and wickedness rampant and quickly choking out the saints who dwell amongst your favorite demons. Repent and remember truth.

Walk in both salt and light, hand in hand with Christ Jesus as your Lord and Savior, and you have found that narrow path. Remain and abide. Do not turn back. Set your eyes upon your goal, and run your race to the finish. 
Peaceful and wise.
Go.

Worth Waking Up

​

I got home from the jail around midnight last night, and the moon was behind a cloud,  but it had the whole sky lit up like day. It even looked like rays were shining down at the edges of the cloud like you’ll see with the sun. (I should have taken a picture, but since I didn’t, I found this one online.)
It was so beautiful that I woke Mandee up and asked her to come out and look. Since she was already deep in sleep, and I was still coming down from an exciting night with the guys in the cell block, I’m not sure that she was as excited about it at the moment, but she got up and came outside to look,  and she couldn’t deny the beauty. 
Some things are worth waking up those we love so we can share with them, even if they think we’re crazy for doing it.
Yep, that’s exactly why I talk a lot about things that are beautiful that we can’t see or touch or take pictures of. The most valuable things in life can’t be held in bank accounts, garages, hands, or pockets. But it’s easy to forget about them, to overlook them if we aren’t reminded once in a while that there is something more beautiful that can be seen with the eye of our heart. Wake up, open your good eye, and I think that you’ll be able to see love and all kinds of blessings that you’ve forgotten – I think that you’ll even be able to see my Jesus in others if you look deep enough,  if you listen hard enough, if you forgive strong enough. 
“For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.” – Romans 1:20 NLT

Which way?

Do we insist on going our own way, even when the Lord makes it clear to us what we should not touch,  what we should not taste, what we should not indulge in, what we should not say,  what we should not do?
Do we not believe? Do we not believe that He has good advice and instruction for our lives? 

Then they said to Jeremiah, “May the Lord your God be a faithful witness against us if we refuse to obey whatever he tells us to do! Whether we like it or not, we will obey the Lord our God to whom we are sending you with our plea. For if we obey him, everything will turn out well for us.” 

Ten days later the Lord gave his reply to Jeremiah. He said to them, “You sent me to the Lord , the God of Israel, with your request, and this is his reply: ‘Stay here in this land. If you do, I will build you up and not tear you down; I will plant you and not uproot you. For I am sorry about all the punishment I have had to bring upon you. Do not fear the king of Babylon anymore,’ says the Lord . ‘For I am with you and will save you and rescue you from his power. I will be merciful to you by making him kind, so he will let you stay here in your land.’ 

“But if you refuse to obey the Lord your God, and if you say, ‘We will not stay here; instead, we will go to Egypt where we will be free from war, the call to arms, and hunger,’ then hear the Lord ’s message to the remnant of Judah. This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘If you are determined to go to Egypt and live there, the very war and famine you fear will catch up to you, and you will die there. That is the fate awaiting every one of you who insists on going to live in Egypt. Yes, you will die from war, famine, and disease. None of you will escape the disaster I will bring upon you there.’ 

“This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘Just as my anger and fury have been poured out on the people of Jerusalem, so they will be poured out on you when you enter Egypt. You will be an object of damnation, horror, cursing, and mockery. And you will never see your homeland again.’ 

“Listen, you remnant of Judah. The Lord has told you: ‘Do not go to Egypt!’ Don’t forget this warning I have given you today. For you were not being honest when you sent me to pray to the Lord your God for you. You said, ‘Just tell us what the Lord our God says, and we will do it!’ And today I have told you exactly what he said, but you will not obey the Lord your God any better now than you have in the past. So you can be sure that you will die from war, famine, and disease in Egypt, where you insist on going.”

Jeremiah 42:5‭-‬7‭, ‬9‭-‬22 NLT

Home Blessings

We are building a house and they are pouring 10 ft high concrete walls around 3 sides of the basement. That’s over a 1000sqft of concrete that we can etch on each side (inside and outside). Since the outside will be backfilled with dirt, no one will ever see it, but we will know that it is there. I thought that some home blessing scriptures would be awesome for us as a family to write into the walls after they have gone up but before it is filled in.

Feel free to comment with any that you think would be nice to add.

 

But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine. Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness. Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.

Death doesn’t fear Death, Just Life

​The enemy has no fear of good and positive messages being spoken – 
no fear of good intentions being shared amongst a group of people – 
no fear of emotions getting stirred up into a furious uproar – 
no fear of religious celebration and rejoicing –
as long as there remains no conviction and dedication afterwards –
as long as there is no real accountability to self or brother or God –
as long as no one actually steps out of the comfort of the “business as usual” of the boat,

into the “absolute unknown” of the storm – 
as long as there remains no action that exercises our faith somewhere there is a guarantee of no glory, no honor, no reward, and no praise for ourselves.
“How foolish a man would have to be to actually move in that circumstance,  right?”, the enemy whispers in their ears. 
“What would you have to gain from such a foolish and unwise endeavor?”, the enemy taunts. 
“It’s clear that is simply a plan that will never work.”, the enemy justifies. 
“But it doesn’t matter if it works, it just matters that I’m faithful to the Word of God, and what He has called us to do. The glory, honor, reward,  and praise isn’t mine to covet, but it’s mine to offer the only one worthy of receiving it.”, the servant replies, as the enemy shrinks back.
Yes,  this is what the enemy does fear – those who do not deceive themselves – those who do not shrink back from the calling – those who love and obey the Lord – those who have faith that abides,  that remains,  that lives.

Hebrews 10:39
But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.