Salt

As Christians we are commanded to be salty. In (Matt. 5:13 )Jesus said that “ye are the salt of the earth,” and in ( Mark 9:50) he commanded us to “have salt in ourselves,” and just as every sacrifice was salted in the old testament, he said that “everyone (every believer) shall be salted with fire.” John the Baptist told us in (Matt. 3:11) that when Jesus comes he will “baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire.” From the moment of our new birth in Christ, we have been salted with the fire and power of the Holy Ghost. At that moment we become salty, and according to scripture we need to work at staying salty. Jesus said, “but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.” Of Christian, don’t lose your saltiness because you have decided to become lazy and apathetic. We must daily work at walking with the Lord. Praying daily for boldness, feeding daily upon God’s Word, so that we never lose the savour of God’s fire.

Who hath believed our report?

(Isaiah 53:1) “Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed? The prophet Isaiah spoke these words 700 years before the coming of Jesus, and this message has been given to every generation since. Oh that man would believe this report and be saved. In fact God’s heart has always been, ” Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool,” (Isaiah 1:18). In Isaiah chp. 53, we read of the love of Christ who carried our sins to the cross. “Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. You and I cannot be healed from our sin until we believe and trust in Christ.

Impatience

(James 5: 7) “Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord.” This exhortation by James to the Jewish believers of his day was written in light of the truth that as we see the day of Christ approaching, there will be many that will abandon their faith because of Impatience. 1) Impatience with God. You see, God is not slow, but He is patient and longsuffering! He’s in no hurry nor does He look at things as we do. So, don’t grow frustrated with Him, rather learn to trust in Him patiently. 2) Impatience with Others. James says that impatience with others will breed “grudges.” The word grudge means to murmur about others out of frustration. People are frustrating, and so are we, but since God is very patient with us, He expects us to show the same patience toward others. It’s easy to quit on people, but not so easy to be longsuffering with them. 3) Impatience with Affliction. We must learn that affliction is God’s way of building faith. God’s end is always pity and mercy, so endure and patiently wait for Him.