Powering UP AMerica! 22

Key Scripture.   “You are the salt of the earth.  But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor?  Can you make it salty again?”  Matthew 5:13

Power Point:

      I like salt.  I grew up with LOTS of salt being added to everything. My daughter in law makes eggs without salt. NO!  It’s just wrong, don’t you think?

     At any rate, I’ve learned over the years, to add less salt but I still like it.

Sigh.  Do NOT send me emails telling me about the health risks. I’m too old. 
     Jesus likes salt too. He likes adding it to everything and He says that we are the “salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth.” (Matthew 5:13).  Have you ever met someone who may have just become a Christian? Frequently, they are “salty”. I know I was. I tried to bring Jesus into every conversation and every activity. My phone stopped ringing after awhile. Over time I began to learn how to add the right amount of salt instead of smothering everything with it. Jesus knew exactly how much salt to add didn't He? He always added just enough to make things tasty.

     As a country, it seems that we’ve lost our flavor haven’t we?  Instead of being the salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors, we’ve put our salt shakers on the back shelf and we’ve been eating bland, tasteless, worthless things. We’ve allowed the tasteless things to rob us of the life that we’ve experienced in the past.  

     In Nehemiah the people had inherited a kingdom that was definitely tasteless. Ezra, the prophet, comes before them on the day the walls are rebuilt in Jerusalem. He assembles them and begins to read the Book of the Law. As they listened they began to shout  “Amen!” when they realized the Covenant they had with God. Then they began to weep at what they had lost and at how far short they had fallen from that Covenant.  The Lord tells them to feast on the joy of the words they are eating.  They took Him at His Word and feasted for eight days.  (It probably included some kosher salt.) And there was “a very great gladness.” Things began to taste good again.

     My friends, we have a Divine Covenant. We have the author and signer of that covenant living within us.  If we would only remember His faithfulness, trust Him for His goodness, and start seasoning our lives with more and more of the salty Truth that transforms us, we would become living proof of the goodness of God for every person; black/white. Muslim/Jew, liberal/conservative, Baptist/Pentecostal, Democrat or Republican. Yes. Even them.

     The reason people loved Jesus so much when He walked among them was that He was always more thoughtful for their needs than His own. He was kind. He healed them. He was fun to be with and most of all He loved them. He never dishonored anyone.  He’s given us a good model to follow hasn’t He?  Would today be a good day to find that salt shaker?

     Would it be a good day to throw yourself on the mercy of the court, ask forgiveness and then ask Him how to add just the right amount of God-flavors to your life so that everyone’s life is well seasoned? Look at how Jesus walked through the opposition forces and then ask Holy Spirit to help you do the same.  

     Teddy Roosevelt once said:  “The teachings of the Bible are so interwoven and entwined with our whole civic and social life that it would be literally…impossible for us to figure to ourselves what life would be if these teachings were removed. ...Almost every man who has by his life-work added to the sum of human achievement of which the race is proud…has based his life-work largely on the teachings of the Bible.”

     Abraham Lincoln put it this way:

It is the best gift God has given to men.  All the good the Savior gave to the world was communicated through this Book. But for it, we could not know right from wrong.”     

     These men took a stand for the Bible. They were not ashamed of it.  Will you fight for it to become the standard in our nation again? Where are you going to add your seasoning?

Powering UP Prayer For America:

Father, I am so sorry that I’ve lost my flavor. Forgive me for being apathetic and passive and thinking I’ve been a victim of my circumstances. Holy Spirit, I am so thankful that You are IN me to bring out the God-flavors in my life. Thank You Father that because of You I can bring heaven to earth. And I’m supposed to. In Mark 16 it says that wherever I go and whatever I do You would go with me, validating Your Message with indisputable evidence. I am the living proof that You are alive and well and ready for action. Let’s GO Jesus, and bring the taste of the goodness of God back into America.

Let Your Truth keep marching on!

In Jesus Name.  Amen!

                                                        

Power Of The Question

Key Scripture:  “As for Mephibosheth, (said the king), he shall eat at my table as one of the king’s sons.”  2 Samuel 9:11

Power Point:

I don’t know if you are familiar with the story of Mephibosheth. He was Jonathan’s son, and King Saul’s grandson. After their deaths, Jonathan’s servants hid him away because they feared that David would kill him. To the contrary, David mourned the loss of his friend Jonathan and asks his servants, “Is there anyone left of Jonathan’s family to whom I can show kindness?” Eventually Mephibosheth is summoned to the king's table. He anticipates being killed or at the very least, sitting at the servants tables. Imagine his surprise when the King says, “He will be as one of my sons. He will eat at my table for the rest of his life.”

Thanksgiving can be a difficult time for me.  I have so many memories of days gone by. For me those memories are very intertwined with family. Being the  youngest of four children, our house was the place people gathered. I remember the big dining room table and my brothers coming with their families and my sister with hers. The children, the babies, the “fun”. Of course in retrospect it wasn’t always “fun” but I remember my mom laboring over it all and thinking how much she must enjoy it. Then when I got older and began to do the laboring myself, I found that I didn’t enjoy it quite as much as I thought I would. Every Thanksgiving I would be up before dawn, stuffing the turkey, baking the pies, and seeing to all the details of everything. Wonderful smells filled the air and as people briefly passed through the kitchen the question I would hear most often was, “How soon will it be ready?”  (Ah yes,  those were the good old days.) Then my husband would carve that luscious turkey; my mom would whip up her fabulous giblet gravy; and we would gather around the table for a prayer and our meal.  Of course, it wouldn’t have been complete without me asking everyone, “What are you must thankful for today?”   The question was usually accompanied by groans, except for my husband who knew better.  At any rate, that was the part I loved the most because we were all together in the same place at the same time at a table I had prepared for us. I loved that part!

Then, all to soon, it was over and everyone scattered in different directions; off to do their own thing again. One wonderful gift my husband gave me, was that he and Stefanie would do kitchen duty. I was very thankful.

This Thanksgiving I don’t have a table to prepare. My husband and my mom and dad are with the Lord, eating at His table.  But I do have a table prepared for me.  So do you.  

Will you sit down and heap your plate full of all the blessings God has given you in His Son?  Will you remember to be thankful to Him for the table He has prepared for you?

Isn’t it true that the “faithful” have a better time at that table? They tend to come to it with excitement and anticipation, and a good appetite! They are always asking for “more” please. They know that there’s always room at the table for them and they know that as the King's children, they have the perfect right to fill their plates full to overflowing and they can eat as much as they want.

Beloved, before you go to “your” table will you come to His table today?  Will you come boldly and expectantly to fill your life full of all the tasty things Jesus died to give you? Will you make sure you come with anticipation of a good experience and a great time with the other people of faith who are gathered there? Will you first say “thank You” to Him for all the things set before you on His table?  He's done a lot to prepare it for you and He wants you to fill your plate.

My question to you today is, “What are you thankful for?”

Power  Thought:

When you really begin to “dwell on” on what Jesus died to give you and explore it, you can’t be anything but thankful, and hopeful, and full of faith  can you?

Power Of Good Fruit

Key Scripture:  “But what happens when we live God’s way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard-things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart…” Galatians 5:22, The Message

Power Point:

We’ve heard the phrase, “Choose Life”, many times. Like every good thing we hear over and over, we tend to forget its value.  Have you thought about what choices you are making when you say you “choose life”? 

Aren’t you saying that in that situation or with that person, you are choosing to let God’s Life flow?

Aren’t you saying:

I choose love.

I choose peace.

I choose joy.

I choose patience.

I choose kindness.

I choose faithfulness.

In other words, those are the basic qualities of “Life” as God has it and wants us to have it. When you choose Life, you are choosing to draw a “red line” around yourself that ensures that you are choosing God in your emotions.

Just as God chose you, you get to choose Him; His way of thinking, His way of responding, His Life in you. A perfect picture of that is going into a grocery store and going to the fruit section. When I’m making a selection of fruit to take home, I am going to avoid the bruised fruit and the rotten fruit. Instead I’m going to select the fruit that is most appetizing and appealing.

We get to do that day in and day out in our emotions.  We never have to eat rotten fruit. God always has a fresh supply of His peace, patience, love, joy, kindness and faithfulness. You get to choose.

As you sit down to eat your thanksgiving meal tomorrow you might want to begin with a prayer of thankfulness for all the blessings God has given you.

You can be thankful that you get to choose His fruit in you today and forever. Amen.

Power Prayer:

You have the fruit in you. You get to choose to taste it. Aren't you thankful for that?

Power Of Over And Above

Key Scripture:  “He gives more grace.”  James 4:6

Power Point:

Have you ever asked yourself, “Why did God let that happen?”  Or, “She’s getting on my last nerve.  I don’t understand why God doesn’t fix her.” Or, “Why doesn’t God just get that thing or that person out of my life.  I’m tired of this.” 

The truth of the matter is that God is in the process of letting you know Who He wants to be for you in that situation or with that person.  They seem to know exactly which button to push and they enjoy pushing it.  You on the other hand, feel defenseless, helpless, and maybe even a little angry. You may be “in the right” but God is strangely quiet.

Having recently gone through a long-standing issue with someone, I decided to ask the Lord why He didn’t seem to be changing them. He said, “I’m changing you.  I’m transforming you into My image.  I want to show you how to tap into the well of living water and living wisdom that’s in you. I want to show you how to resist the devil, draw the water out of your well and understand the depths of my Grace for you. And for them.

     It was a bit different from the picture I had of what I wanted to do. I wanted to throw them into the well and put a lid on it!

Well of Grace

      The thing we most often forget is that God always operates from a place of grace, and He wants us to operate in grace too. I shared a few days ago about a picture I had seen of Jesus. When He asked me how I thought He would act toward me if I had just done the worst thing imaginable He showed me a picture of Himself reaching out His arms to me with a stunning look of love in His eyes.  Today He reminded me of that picture but He asked me, how would I expect Him to act toward me if I had done something amazingly good before He walked into the room.  Although I had expected Him to have different responses, He never does. His love is unconditional. That means it is never dependent on what I do. His responses are totally dependent on who He is. And He never changes remember?

     Beloved, when we really grasp this truth it will set us free and everyone in our lives will be free as well. If God loves us no matter what, and He is IN us, we have the opportunity to love them no matter what they do as well. The fruit of that love is pictured for us in the book of Job.  His friends had to be the worst friends ever. Truly. But when Job saw God with a revelation of who He was for Him, it destroyed the control that fear had over his life. He began to understand that God was good all the time, no matter what he did to mess things up. He was so blessed by knowing God intimately that he immediately forgave and forgot what his friends had done. He began to pray for them. I’m pretty sure that he didn’t ask that God would “deal with them as they deserved”.   I’m confident that he didn’t ask God to get them out of his life. I believe that he wanted those friends to walk through the same doorway he had just entered into. He was so stunned by the goodness of God that he wanted his friends to know it too.

     And the response?  God blessed him with twice as much as he had before.  His friends could see who God really was. Their minds were transformed by His goodness. And I’m sure that as they learned to abide in grace, their lives were changed too.

     Remember these qualities as you head out into your day: unconditional love, amazing grace, and perfect peace. In Job 22 it says, “Acquaint yourself with Him and be at peace.”

Are you well acquainted with His grace today? Then spread it around.

Power Thought:

If you run out of grace, He’s always got more. And the more you give, the more you receive back. Nice.

I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love.
Mother Teresa