Scripture Review

Good day Beloved in Christ Jesus. Welcome to this week's episode of scriptures review. Remain blessed as you read.

Topic: HAVE SALT IN YOURSELF

Text: Mark 9:50, "Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his saltness, wherewith will ye season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another."

Good is used in the Bible as God's divine standard. First, Jesus said no one is good but God. For God is good and His mercy endureth forever. When God created the earth and everything therein, including man, God said everything was very good. Genesis 1:31, "And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day." In like manner Jesus said, in Mark 9:50, that salt is good. It is the goodness in salt that makes it a necessity in very home. Not everything on earth is good. Somethings are good while somethings are obviously evil. A typical example of evil was the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the garden of Eden. Some may say, but there's also good in the fruit of that tree apart from the evil. The truth is, the good in the fruit of knowledge of good and evil is as poisonous as the evil in it. Can you eat a poisoned food because the food is tasty? Regardless of the taste of that food, the poison in it has contaminated it. The good in that tree is limited to its beauty, attraction, and taste. It is seductively good to the eyes, but poisonous to the body. Eve, got attracted and enticed to the tree by it's seductive power.

The evil in the tree is so deadly that the moment Adam and Eve tasted it, it corrupted their DNA, and they lost the original image and likeness of God. Exactly what Jesus said in His remarks- salt is good but if the salt has lost its saltness how then can it proof its originality. It's like draining blood out of man. How would a man stay alive without the blood, because the live of man is in the blood. What is the usefulness of salt that cannot season your meal. The same way blood flows in man in order for man to stay alive. Jesus said have salt in yourselves, and have peace with one another. This makes sense to me. The reason being that if Jesus has not interpreted salt as peace, it would have created an open ended debate. Some people may misinterpret salt as having a good conscience, which sounds good, but its not it. Some may liking salt to giving cheerfully for the propagation of the gospel. How can you advance the gospel with money? The word propagation in itself is taken from the word propaganda. It's an artificial pressure exerted to promote numeric strength of the church. Emphasis on bumeric strength of the church is not a growth propelled by the Holy Ghost in most cases.

Numeric centered growth is man's selfish desire for competitive church at the expense of qualitative dynamics. In the heart piece of God, there are two basic quality God desires to see in man. First, the light, and the second is the salt. The gospel light is the live of Christ that men see in us, which shines darkness and darkness cannot overcome it. While the peace of God, is the power of God in us to maintain and sustain environmental harmony regardless of the enemy's attacks. This is what Jesus referred to as "have peace with one another". Wherever there is crisis, we use the weapon of peace to restore hope. Wherever there is darkness, our lives shine as light for men to see the way, the truth and the life. And wherever there is sorrow, we bring joy, because, the joy of the Lord is our strength. The light of Christ is the wheel of the gospel, while peace, is the weapon that quenches all forms of spiritual assaults. Salt has five basic functions: it's used as seasoning to add value to your meal; it's used as healing agent applied to internal injury; it's commonly used as preservative agent; it's used as protective shield; and finally, salt is used as repelling agent.

You may be thinking why didn't Jesus liking believers to sugar instead of salt. The reason being that, sugar attracts unwanted guests like ants, bacteria and all forms of corruption. Salt is one of the most used chemical powder for different purposes. Salt constitute one of the most important substances used in both homes and industry, because of its high demand for value. At home salt can be added to food as seasoning to give your food a desired taste. If you want to cook soup or stew, you must add salt to it. Without salt in your food, stew or soup, your meal would be tasteless. Salt can also be used for medical purposes domestically. For instance, if you have tooth ache, or you mistakenly bite your tongue, it is impossible for you to put cotton wool with iodine, or ethanol on your tongue or tooth. The best remedy is to use salt and water solution; gargle it in your mouth for a minute or two and then spit it out. This can be repeated at intervals until your tongue, or tooth gets healed. In case you don't have refrigerator, and you want to preserve your raw meat or fish. Just coat it with salt and your meat and fish will be preserved for weeks or months until you're ready to cook it.

Salt is a very good preservative agent because it prevents the growth of bacteria in our food. Salt is also used as protective agents when installing earthing and lightening arrestor in the house, to prevent electric shock, and lightening strike. Spiritually, salt has been used over time as repelling agent in the house to drive away negative energies. This is mostly used by paranormal investigators and those who practice metaphysics. Jesus said we are the light of the world. Then He said, we should have salt in ourself. This means our personalty is the Light, that is who we are. But our quality is the salt, which we must have in our possession. Light represents our character, while, salt represents our behaviour. Our personalty and character as light is a message for others to read. What we preach is minor while, who we are and what we do is major. Salt as seasoning means, our behavioural and disposition must add value to people around us. Salt as healing agent, speaks of our contribution to healing controversial issues. We must also preserve the truth undiluted. Our words should protect rather than being destructive. And finally, the salt in us must repel all appearances of evil.

Shalom ...

No studying, no growth

Good day Beloved in Christ Jesus. Happy new month and welcome to this week's episode of scriptures review. Remain blessed as you read.

Titled: GOD'S APPROVAL OF YOU

Text: 2 Timothy 2:15, "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."

Every man craves for a lift to advance him in life, nevertheless, people go extra miles to sacrifice and earn success. Success is not a gift, it is earned; you work for it. Success itself is subjective. Just as a criminal sees smooth operation has success; a soldier also sees victory in battle as success. Same way a rich pastor sees money as success, while, a faithful pastor sees salvation of souls as success. That is why it's important to divide between the lines when it comes to defining success. The way God proposed good success for Joshua shows success is subjective. Joshua 1:8, "This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success." In order to make good success, God recommended the studying of the book of the law to Joshua. There is high degree of assurance that after studying the book of the law, there is a guarantee for prosperity and good success. Prosperity in this context speaks of finishing strong in ministry.

After studying comes evaluation. This evaluation is what apostle Paul described as "approved unto God". The essence of approval is to justify the validity of your studies in daily life. When you study the word of God with spiritual understanding it must reflect in your daily life. This is what apostle Paul referred to as rightly dividing the word of truth. That is, you walk the talk; you practice what you preach; you dissect the word of God without mincing words. If not, shame lies at your door, and unto it shall be your desire. Whatever we do in life echoes in eternity. Any christian or preacher who does not know this is living is darkness. Darkness describes absence of light or degree of blindness. There are three types of blindness: There is physical blindness; there is partial blindness and there is spiritual blindness. Physical blindness occurs when a man loses his physical sight. He cannot see physical things but he can see in his dreams. This shows he has a limited vision. Partial blindness is experienced by all faithful Christians. We can see celestial beings only with the eyes of our heart, but we do not have the capacity to behold God or celestial beings with our physical eyes.

This is the type of darkness that covers the the whole earth. We believe in the reality of the presence of celestial beings, but we cannot see them easily with our naked eyes. Spiritual blindness is a state of gross blindness in the spirit. That is, you're devoid of vision. You cannot see God or celestial beings even with the eyes of your heart. Your vision is only limited to physical things. You're are living in spiritual darkness. Spiritual darkness is not the absence of physical light but the absence of vision. During the journey in the wilderness, God gave Moses law, engraved in stones with God's finger. And He commanded the children of Israel to observe His ordinances, uphold His statutes, and obey His commandments. The essence of the book of the law is for reminder. Children learn from what they can see, but adults learn by repetition. That is why God told Joshua to make it a daily ritual to meditate in this book of the law, day and night. Every servant of God in history gave themselves for personal studies. Our spiritual elevation is embedded in personal studies. Regular attendance in church programs may help you to be faithful in service, but it can not guarantee your spiritual growth and safety.

If you crave for the anointing of Enoch, Elijah, Elisha, Daniel, Peter, John, Paul and the rest, the secret is embedded in personal devotion to studying your Bible and most importantly, studying of Christian books that are written by faithful men of vision. Paul the apostle is not bigger than all faithful apostles of our contemporary time. Everybody is equal before God. Just as Paul wrote several epistles to the new testament churches to edify the body of Christ. Likewise, thousands of faithful servants of God have written several epistles (i.e. books) that will help to build you up in faith. Without mincing words, there's no gain in trying to please anyone by hiding the truth. I'm not a man of the people, I do prefer to be a man for the people. So, I will unequivocally declare to you that without studying of Christian books and your Bible, you cannot grow spiritually. The Holy Bible is the documented order of reference to confirm all truth, but Christian books contain documented truth with standard operating procedure as guidelines for spiritual growth. Bible tells us how God spoke to His messengers, but if you want to know how to hear from God, there are christian books that will guide you to attain that pedestal.

Your spiritual maturity must be assessed and approved by God. This is what brother Paul referred to as "approved unto God". Do not submit yourself to men's approval. Follow Jesus, and stop idolizing vain men. You may call them pastors, senior pastors or G.Os, the truth remains, they will use you to advance themselves in ministry and at the end dump you. If you want to grow spiritually, dedicate meaningful time to personal studies and prayers, and don't allow church programs to keep you busy rather than being occupied. Since you have been attending church programs consistently, have you been able to hear God's voice clearly? God often uses the physical phenomenon to teach us spiritual principles. Success does not come by chance, it comes by tract record of rare discipline and consistent studying for personal development. After studying comes success; after success comes fulfillment; and after fulfillment comes responsibility. It's high time you challenged the statute quo and did something different. You cannot continue to do the same thing all the time and expect different results. When a man sees his end, he want to know there're some purpose to his life, because, activity suggest life filled with purpose.

Shalom ...

It isn't normal for christians to be in lack ...