Tag: God

Preserving Truth

by Nicky Wood

Matthew 5:13 (NIV)

“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.”

Last year my husband and I took a trip to a mountain range wilderness area in the northern part of South Africa, called the “Soutpansberge”. The Afrikaans name translates directly to the “Salt pan mountains.” We stayed at a beautiful lodge for 2 nights, and one of the special surprises came during the evening turndown.

When we got back from dinner, on my pillow, instead of a chocolate, I noticed a small vial with the beautiful pink salt of the ancient mountain range in it – along with a note explaining the fascinating history and geological significance of the area.

I took it home and placed it in my bedside table drawer, never to be thought of again. However, about a month ago I re-discovered the same vial of salt…this time around though, I felt a stirring in my spirit to think deeper about the salt…

Most Christians are aware of the Scripture on salt and light in Matthew that forms part of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. It came to my mind again and I decided to explore the use of salt in Biblical times…

There were no fridges of course during those times, so the way food was preserved (especially meat) was by rubbing it with salt. It was a precious commodity during those times but also a significant theological symbol.

I won’t go into all the details here… but what stood out for me was the use of salt as a preservation agent in those times.

By telling his disciples to be the salt of the earth, Jesus is essentially asking them to preserve the world from moral decay…

In the context of preservation, I then envisioned the end times and the start of all the disasters and plagues that John described in Revelation, that would be released upon the earth.

I realised that the Bride of Christ is currently preserving the earth – that is indeed why we are called the Salt of the Earth. But significantly – once we are removed from this world – the decay will rapidly start setting in.

The rapture is a widely debated topic within the Church, and I’m not in a position to claim to have all the answers. It is starting to become very evident though, that there is an element of preservation in this world currently, and I do believe that for the end to come, it needs to be removed. I have no doubt that this event will be quick and unexpected, since Scripture warns us that we need to be ready (Matthew 25:1-13).

My question to you is if you have perhaps lost your saltiness? Potentially being “thrown out and trampled underfoot”, instead of meeting our Maker in Heaven when we ascend into the heavenly realms, is perhaps not something we think about as Christians often enough.

If you do a simple google search on how salt can lose its saltiness, it states that it can lose its flavour through impurities, dilution or environmental exposure.

Impurities:

Christ calls us to be holy just as He is holy. Impurities can start small, like a small lie that you might feel is justified, but it then grows into full on deception as you need to tell more lies to keep up appearances. Or a bad habit, that you just can’t seem to shake, but you don’t have the humility to take it to Jesus and to other believers for accountability to receive freedom from its hold on you.

Dilution:

I believe this happens when the treasure that we have in Christ is overshadowed by the things of this world. When things like career progression, wealth, education, possessions, hobbies, our image, etc. dilutes our relationship with God, because if other people look at us, they only see this particular aspect of our lives and not Christ in us anymore.

Environmental exposure:

What comes to mind here is what we allow into our homes and into our private space. For example: social media exposure and spending hours a day lost in the algorithms created by the big tech companies to keep us captured and busy every day, instead of creating the space and the environment to hear the still small voice of the Holy Spirit. But it can also be the friends we surround ourselves with that don’t share our beliefs and influence us to behave like they do, the music we listen to, games we play and the movies we watch that don’t honour God. 

I am guilty of allowing all 3 these things to impact my “saltiness”. I am comforted however, by the fact that I know I can still turn to God for His grace while there is still time, and ask Him to restore my saltiness again, enabling me to flavour the world with goodness, so that all people can taste and see that He is good! (Psalm 34:8)

My prayer for you is to know that time is of the essence. We can look at the fig tree and see its leaves starting to come out, and we know the season is about to change (Matthew 24:32). In the same way, looking at events unfolding in the world presently, we can have the discernment to know a season is coming soon where God’s kingdom will be at hand – let’s be ready for it!

The Time Giver

by Nicky Wood

Ecc. 3:1: “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.”

Ecc. 3:11: “He has made everything beautiful in its time…”

Time can either be your friend or your enemy – which one will be determined by the way you treat it…

If you are impatient and you lose your temper with it, time will be your enemy. If you embrace it and learn the art of waiting, it can be your friend. If you know when the right time is for the right action and activity, you can learn to use it in your favour… and what better way to know than asking the One who made it?

He who made the seasons is never in a hurry, yet He is always on time! The faithfulness of God is manifested in our lives if we are willing to wait on His timing. If we take matters into our own hands because of our impatience, we may miss the opportunity of seeing God come through for us and prove His faithfulness.

Moses was tending sheep in the desert for 40 years before God appeared to Him in a burning bush and his life changed in an instant. He must have known how he was destined for greater things but he was stuck in a boring job waiting for God to act.

Abraham laughed when God told him that he would have a son because he couldn’t believe that at his age (100) and that of his wife (90) it would be possible (Genesis 17:17).

I guess nobody could have blamed him or Sarah for thinking that it’s all a joke on the one hand, but on the other hand, Abraham was well aware that the God he served was and is a miracle working Father and nothing is too hard for him. He should also perhaps have known that his finite human mind couldn’t possibly comprehend what God can do with the time He gives to each of us. Be it a few years or a few seconds. Even if we think time is running out for us, the final word goes to the One who holds it in His hands.

Sometimes we lose our hope and joy if God does not act within our timetable. Yet this brings us back to the example of the Potter and the clay… Isaiah 45:9 (NLT): “What sorrow awaits those who argue with their Creator. Does a clay pot argue with its maker?” In the same way shall we ask the One who made time why He doesn’t act when we think with our limited capacity, that the right time has come?

Can I encourage you to be willing to wait in a society that believes in instant gratification? A prayer that hasn’t been answered might just mean that it is not the right time for it yet to come to pass. Don’t give up hope.

Set your mind on things above, and He will come through for you at just the right time. Moreover, Ecclesiastes tells us that He has made everything beautiful in its time. Not only does He arrange everything for our good (Rom 8:28) but he makes it all beautiful.

Great Expectations

by Nicky Wood

Proverbs 29:18 (KJV) “Where there is no vision, the people perish.”

What is your vision for the rest of your life? And how has it been influenced by unmet expectations?

We’ve all been hurt by unmet expectations. Every day when we wake up, whether we admit it or not, we have expectations of the people we love the most. Yet people will always disappoint you in some way or another… our humanity makes us fallible.

We can perhaps still comprehend it to a degree when other people fail us even though we might be heartbroken.

But what of the expectations we have of God?

How does it influence our prayer life, our vision and our purpose when some of our earnest prayers have not been answered and it feels like God is not listening to us, or some unexpected tragedy strikes? Will we admit to ourselves (and to God) that we are disappointed and discouraged?

God knows all about you. He knows what your next prayer will be. He knows what your next sin will be. He knows you completely and still He loves you infinitely. Even though you might be angry and disillusioned, He is not angry or disillusioned by you.

The worst thing you can do is to withdraw from Him because that which you have expected from Him has not materialized. I want to elaborate on this concept in my next few posts because I want you to find out more about who He is and what He wants to do in your life through His faithfulness.

I truly believe that when we have a revelation of His faithfulness and when we pray knowing who He is and what He is capable of doing, when we have faith the size of a mustard seed, we will see mountains being moved. When we pray within the will of God, for the glory of God and not ourselves, and in a trusting manner, we will start to see the manifestation of our prayers. When we keep record of all He has done in the past for us and meditate on this, our future prayers can become even more powerful.

Jeremiah 29:11-13: ““I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.””

You can count on His promises for your future. He never changes and He never fails…Numbers 23:19: “God is not a human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?”

I pray that you won’t fall into the trap of letting your vision die because of past disappointments and unmet expectations.

Paradise lost

by Nicky Wood

If God is faithful, why does He allow all the pain and suffering that is consuming this world?

A valid question – to find a glimpse of the answer, will take you back to the beginning of Creation.

In the beginning, man was literally made for paradise. A perfect world. A perfect plan and a perfect creation. No hate, no pain, no disaster or famine or hunger or war. This was God’s plan for you and me.

God made us from love, because He is love, and love was made alive when Adam and Eve walked the earth, so God could manifest His love to them personally. The earth was created for us, out of His eternal love. But love is not just one dimensional, and in God’s omnipotent plan, he desired a relational love – he desired Adam’s love in return.

Yet love can never be forced or required or expected, so the only way to complete the picture was for God to give man a free will. A choice to love or not. If I didn’t have a choice, if I was forced to love you, it would and could never be called love at all.

Eve made the wrong choice. Chose the wrong tree. In an instant Satan received power over this world because of her choice. And forever man would have to choose between good and evil. Whether you choose to believe in God or not does not take away from this Truth. The reality that Adam and Eve were banished from paradise and paradise turned into the hard reality of life on earth as it is now. Our enemy was given control of this world. And the choices people make are not all godly.

So God gave us an opportunity to choose again. We can have paradise again. God decided that it’s not the end. After life on earth man can spend an eternity in Heaven with Him and no man will ever be able to change that because of the one thing that the One man, Jesus, did on the cross.

My intentions are not to oversimplify all the problems of this world, and I know that not everything is a matter of choices. As I mentioned in my first post – time and chance happens to all.

Yet the key here is this:

Romans 8:28: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

Whatever happens to you in this world, if you love Him, God will work everything out for the good.

That includes all things that might seem wrong or a mess to you or the things in your life that are there because of your own mistakes or weaknesses. God is able to work all of it out for your good. That is how much He loves you.

God’s heart is for you to know the extent of His love for you, the extent of a love and faithfulness that knows no end. That has no boundaries and that can never be extinguished or diminished. A love that is more than likely impossible for a human mind to comprehend in its life time.

He is a God that is faithful, even if we are faithless. (2 Timothy 2:13)