Believers are Salt and Light

13 “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. 

14 “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. 

15 Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 

16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

In today's world, there is a constant search for purpose and meaning in this life. As believers, we should know our purpose, we should know who the Lord has called us to be and what we should do. In His sermon on the mount, Jesus has called those who believe in him and those who choose to follow him to be Salt and Light.

I have often wondered why Jesus compared believers and followers to salt and light. There are many insightful commentaries available, and some explanations resonate deeply. Reflecting on this has encouraged me to explore another perspective of the same scripture for our Bible study.

Jesus said "You are the Salt Of The Earth." Why did he say salt of the earth and not salt of the world? I discovered, as a young child on a trip to a local farm, that salt is used as a fertilizer. A fertilizer nourishes and aids in the growth of a plant. Jesus was saying that we are called to be that essential mineral to help with the growth of others.

When God created man, he used the dust of the earth (Genesis 2:7). This creation connects us to all mankind as God created us all. However, we are set apart as believers because we are called the Salt of The Earth. Therefore, Jesus is calling us to be that fertilizer that is necessary for mankind to truly live and grow as we are all connected to the earth. If we choose to call ourselves Christians or believers of Christ, and follow God's word then this too is a part of our mission while on this earth. As salt, we are called to help others grow in Christ, believers and unbelievers. If we cannot be the salt and light, we lose our worth and become good for nothing (Matthew 5:13)

Jesus also called us the Light Of The World.  Now when we go back to Genesis again, after creating the heavens and the earth, the first thing that God SPOKE into being was LIGHT (Genesis 1:3). Furthermore, it states that God divided light from darkness (Genesis 1:4). There has to be a separation between light and darkness, the two cannot co-exist. If we are called to be light then we cannot mix or meddle in darkness or have darkness in us. We are in the world but not of the world. (John 17:14-15)

The light that radiates from a lamp is used to light up a house. This house that Jesus refers to is The World.  He calls us to be the Light of The World. The world is filled with darkness to those who do not see the light, the unbelievers. We have to let our light so shine before men so that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven (Matthew 5:16). Our lives have to be examples to others. Our light has to radiate so intensely that it causes others to turn from darkness and glorify our Father in Heaven!

Brothers and sisters, God loves you and wants us to live the life and purpose He has called for us to live. We need to spend time in prayer, meditating on the word of God, and developing our relationship with God. Therein lies the true meaning of life and the keys to fulfilling our purpose.

Take care of each other, truly love each other, pray for each other and be the Salt and Light Christ has called you to be and that He in his infinite knowledge knows that we can be.

God bless you!

Blessed Are You When They Revile And Persecute You...

Jesus' sermon on the Mount covers a variety of teachings that provide valuable guidance for believers in their journey of faith. In Matthew 5, Jesus starts with the Beatitudes and in this account by Matthew, our focus will be on the last beatitude.

       
11 “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. 12 Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Persecution can take many forms, and we may not always recognize it for what it truly is. To persecute means to persistently harass, oppress, torment, afflict, torture, annoy, or cause trouble for someone. 

But Jesus says "Blessed are you" when they do these things to you for My sake. 

The word blessed means to be divinely favored, to have good fortune, and to be worthy of deep reverence and respect. We as believers are blessed when we are reviled and persecuted for Jesus' sake.

There are stories of people in other parts of the world who are continuously tortured and killed for declaring Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. Some people are unable to pray as they would like just like the early Christians who were killed for believing in Jesus and declaring His word. For those of us who have the freedom to serve the Lord and worship him freely, we are blessed. Let us continue to pray that the same freedoms are given to our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Being persecuted comes in all forms. It may even come from those who claim to love us. I know a friend whose family turned against him for speaking the word of God. They oppressed, tormented, and degraded him in any way they could because they did not want to hear him preach the word of God. Those same family members almost cost him his life, reputation, and sanity because of the many evil things they did to him and said about him. Looking back he said, he never thought his own family would do those things to him but he loves them nevertheless because He realizes that Jesus was persecuted and we too will be persecuted for His sake. He's happy he went through that, for now, he has a testimony that encourages others going through the same thing.

Jesus said, "A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also" John 15:20. Jesus' persecutions are comparable to what we have to go through. It is not too much for us to bear, we are more than conquerors through Jesus Christ!

In verse 12 it says, Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.


Rejoice! Be exceedingly glad! How many of us can say that when going through persecution? Not an easy feat! But it is attainable! We have to remember that great is our reward in Heaven. The Prophets, Jesus, and The Disciples were all persecuted before us, so if we are partakers in the faith, declaring the word of God, we too are subject to the same decree.

Continue to persevere brothers and sisters in Christ! When going through those turbulent times, if you need to cry, scream, vent etc. do so in a way that honors God and pray continuously. Pray your way through it all. In the end, our reward is greater than what we have to endure.

May God continue to bless you!

The Battle of The Word

Matthew 4 details the temptation of Christ and the beginning of His ministry. 

The very first verse starts off with, "Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil." This verse here conveys that this temptation was inevitable and almost a rite of passage for Jesus, seeing that he was led up by the Spirit. Something monumental occurred before this temptation and something even more monumental was ahead of Jesus after the temptation. The temptation occurred right after Jesus' baptism which further illustrates that this was something that Jesus had to go through. This temptation revealed to us that even Jesus was not immune to the temptations of the devil. However, Jesus was able to overcome the devil's temptations using the word of God.

The temptation of Jesus is what I like to call the "battle of the word." Jesus who is referred to as the Word of God (John 1:1) was using the word of God to rebuke the devil's words. Isn't it interesting that the devil would use the very thing that Jesus embodied? 

The devil contorts scripture to get Jesus to do what he wants. Remember that this was after Jesus had fasted for forty days and nights in the desert. Jesus was weak physically but mentally, emotionally, and spiritually He was quite strong. The devil comes to tempt us at our weakest moments or times in our lives, we are not immune to this. It will happen. However, do not be worried or fearful, Jesus showed us that the only way to win this battle is to be armed with the word of God. Speak God's word, defeat the enemy.

Jesus was about to begin his ministry, he was fasting, connecting with God and that is when the devil saw an opening to deter him from his path, from his purpose. Jesus was prepared. As believers, it is important to know the word of God. The devil showed how one can take the scripture out of context just for the purpose of leading you astray. 

Therefore, it is so important to read the scriptures, the word of God, the bible. As Paul states in 2 Timothy 3:16 "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness." As we see here every temptation that the devil set before Jesus, Jesus used the word of God to rebuke and overcome the devil.

Imagine if Jesus had fallen victim to these temptations, where would we, as humanity, be? Take a minute or two and really ponder that. I honestly don't want to imagine it. I'm just grateful that Jesus won the battle for us.

Jesus serves as an example for us all, that regardless of what temptation comes our way, even at our lowest and weakest moment, we should hold on to the word of God. Fight your battles, armed with the word of God. I know firsthand how speaking the word of God gave me strength and kept me moving forward when all seemed dark and bleak. My only defense was the word of God. That is all I needed and it is all you need. Whenever we feel overwhelmed by whatever is going on in our lives, find a scripture that will encourage you and keep you moving closer to God.

What is amazing about the temptation of Christ is that after Jesus rebuked the devil, the angels came and ministered to Him (Matthew 4:11). This serves as another example that after we have fought our battles and held on to the word of God as our pillar, as our defense, God will send His angels to minister, to help, to tend to us and to aid us.

Let us continue to fight the "battle of the word" and the only way we can truly win this battle is to know the word of the living God. Let us get absorbed in it so that when those temptations, trails and tribulations come our way, we may win the battle, just like Jesus showed us that we can.

I pray God's blessing upon you and your household. Shalom!

Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand! Matthew 3:2

In Matthew 3, John was preaching and baptizing people in the wilderness telling them to "Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at Hand" - Matthew 3:2. All the people of Judea and the regions around Jordan were baptized and they confessed their sins Matthew 3: 5-6.

When the Pharisees and Sadducees came to John's baptism, he said, 

“Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Therefore

Gifts Given to Jesus

Matthew 2 describes what happened after Jesus' birth in Bethlehem and how the wise men were on a search for Jesus, The King of the Jews. They went to Herod the king, thinking that a king should be born in a palace but however he was not there. Herod and all of Jerusalem were

A prostitute in the genealogy of Jesus..?

Matthew Chapter 1 it begins with the genealogy of Jesus Christ. This is the verse that caught my attention.

                   ⁵ Salmon begot Boaz by Rahab, Boaz begot Obed by Ruth, Obed begot Jesse

Did I just read Rahab? Is Rahab in the genealogy of Jesus Christ? 

Rahab was the prostitute who helped Joshua's spies when they came to Jericho. She helped them from being caught and they stayed there with her. This same prostitute later married one of the spies, Salmon, and had a son, Boaz who married Ruth and they had Obed who had

Reading the Word of God

Reading God's word is enjoyable. In this life we need to keep our focus on God. It is His words that we need to encourage, motivate and to keep us going. God's word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. We need His word to guide and direct us and when we keep our focus on Him and His words, we can't go wrong.

Sometimes we get so frustrated, depressed, agitated by things and situations in this life but all of the things that we struggle with will pass away but God's word will still stand! The daily struggles that we go through each day are not more important than God's word and it's through His word that we know how to deal with issues that we face on a daily basis. Let's strive to learn more of God's word and strive to meditate of his word as they are the Words of Life.

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Let's learn together! God bless you!