Salted by Fire

Happy Wednesday!  :)  My worship lately has been reading through first 4 Gospels and trying to glean more about Jesus life and really focus on His messages to His disciples.  I especially love John.  Mainly due to more description and details about Jesus life and it feels more chronological.  I'm no Bible scholar so unsure how chronological it is, that is just the feeling I get when I read John.  However, a verse in Mark jumped out at me the other day.  It was if I had never seen it before.  

• Mark 9:49-50 - "Everyone will be salted with fire.
   “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt among yourselves, and be at peace with each other.” NIV 

I heard this passage about being salty hundreds of times, but never heard the salted with fire!  Pretty cool hu?!

The thing about salt is you don't need very much to make a dish taste better.  A little salt goes a long way.  Fire is kind of the same in the sense all you need a little spark to start a fire and that small fire can set a forest ablaze.

So this verse immediately made me think of when the disciples were given the Holy Spirit.

•  Acts 2:3-4 - " They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit...." NIV

What a awesome connection!  So Jesus talks about salt but not about literal salt or even just general figurative version of salt.  He is almost if not predicting the gift of the Holy Spirit to His disciples and believers!  

• Hebrews 12:29 - "for our “God is a consuming fire.” NIV

So this is God imparting a little part of Himself, the Holy Spirit, on each one of us to light the world on fire for Him!  Even the smallest flame makes a difference and spread far beyond what we think.

So lets pray today...."Help me be salted with fire of Your Holy Spirit"  So we can help set this world on fire for our Loving Savior!  May you be encouraged and blessed this day! And most importantly set on FIRE!  Amen!

Kori :)

Changed For Change

Have you as a Christian wondered how to relate to your non-Christian friends?  This has been a battle for me for the longest time.  I always felt that I never could really show that I was a Christian to my non-Christian friends, and honestly up until a certain age I really didn't even have but 1 or 2 non-Christian friends because of it.  I felt they wouldn't understand me and judge me.   I was scared.  

As I got older I began to feel bitter about my Christian upbringing and felt that the church was too strict and legalistic.  I began to more and more mold myself around the idea I needed to be more like the world for non-Christians to want to be a Christian, or honestly for them to like me.  Out of college I even decided it was more about being a good person and not about any do's and don'ts.  

My thought was that being a good Christian was about being "Culturally Relevant" so I formed myself even more so to the world. Dressing more like my non-Christian friends, I picked up drinking with them, listening to the same music even if it didn't have a good message, going places I knew were not good, going to shows that I knew were just filled with cussing and all kinds of graphic jokes or material that was totally making light or entertainment of sinful things. 

Up until only recently in the last couple years has God been slowly turning my heart around to see things differently.  Now that I am spending more and more time in worship and reading the Bible, it is becoming more and more clear to me that Jesus did not at all command His disciples to conform to the world.  

• John 15:18-19 - " “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you." NIV

Then after Jesus warns His disciples the world with hate them, He then prays for them and defines more they are not of the world and asks God the Father to protect them.

• John 17:14-16 - "I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth." NIV

So these kind of passages have been cutting to the heart for me lately. Mainly because I have changed so much over the last couple years with my decision to surrender to God even my greatest dreams to Him.  I have turned almost a total 180.  There is a list of things that in the last year I have given up or done that I would never in a million years been able to do.  It has only happened by the strength of God in my life, because I could never will myself or even have the desire to change them before, and believe me I've tried.

But these things make me more and more different than my non-Christian friends.  I am feeling the separation and I notice that they notice that I don't do the things I used to with them. No one has written me off or anything, but I notice they look at me a little different, and I see the question in their eyes why is she not doing that?  No one has asked me yet, but I'm sure in the near future it may come up.

So interestingly yesterday the sermon was talking about this. The point being made was of this very thing. The example given by the pastor was one of his own experience.  He stated that he ran into old friends and they got together to eat and drink.  He went with them to hang out and He was the only one in the group that did not drink.  He said it was awkward but it opened up conversation about God and what God had done in his life since they had seen each other last.

This was really encouraging to me and reinforced to me what I think God has been trying to get across to me over the last couple years.  My job as a born again Christian is not to conform to the world, looking more like the world, doing things more like the world.  My job is to focus on God and be renewed my mind in Christ, bathing myself over and over again in worship with Him and His word so He will transform the world around me for His glory!

Did you hear that?  Our job as disciples is NOT to change ourselves to be like the world, but to focus on God so HE can change the world around us for HIS GLORY!

•  Romans 12:2 -  "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is —his good, pleasing and perfect will" NIV

I never could get this before.  I always thought the Christian message is too hard and my church is too legalistic.  Now, churches can be legalistic and my church is no exception.  But the message of Christ stands true ALWAYS and will draw hearts by the power of Jesus and His love.  So the idea of don't throw the baby  out with the bath water.  I'm also Not saying we should hate and banish all our non-Christian friends, just that we should keep to what we know to be right even when we are with them.

Jesus message, the word of God, and His example of reaching the world, by being different, being love to the world and standing for what is right and true, should be our compass! What does the verse above say? " Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is"  We do not have to be more like the world to reach the world.  It is Jesus job to save it, is our job to be like Him, vessels full of Him, so HE can Save through us!

Contemplating this is such a relief isn't it?  Takes the pressure off. But also comes the understanding that the world will not like us either sometimes and treat us badly.  But the Savior Himself has prayed for us so we can endure and be protected from the devil and his evil schemes.  What a Loving Awesome God we serve!

So as I was looking for a picture for this post I also ran into this picture too.  I thought It was so beautifully symbolic for this message as well.

Even me going to Church since a baby, I looked like my friends, like these matches.  But when God touch me and with the flame of the Holy Spirit I became a new creation!  I became Changed!  Guess what happens to all the matches standing next to the one touched?  They catch fire!  

So don't worry about what the matches around you are doing.  Your job as a Christian is to let the Holy Spirit's fire in you, set the rest of the world around you on fire, For Our Loving Savior and His sacrifice for Us!  Isn't that So COOL!!!! 

So Take Courage My Friend!  When the world around you tries to pressure you to change to be the same, remember let the change in you be your witness!  You might be surprised what God can and will do!  

Amen!

Kori

 

ALL IN! not a fan

I just finished this book called not a fan by Kyle Idleman.  This book has totally blown out of the water some of my thoughts about being a follower of God.  The idea that Jesus has lots of fans but few true followers.  Being a fan is easy, but being a follower is way harder and demands much more than some of us are willing to give. It has really made me re-evaluate what I'm really willing to surrender and do for my Savior and my Love. How serious am I? 

On this weekend focused on human love, there are all kinds of overtures people make to show love.  Some of them are cards, candy, nice dinners, and romantic get-a-ways. But you don't see people selling all they have to following their love around the city or to then ends of the earth very often.  Oh people love to sing about how they would run 500 miles, and 500 more, just to be the person that walks a 1000 miles to fall down at their door.  :D (yes I'm a little silly blame it on me being a late gen X 'er) LOL
But not many are truly serious about it.  If we were, the divorce rate probably wouldn't be so high.

Kyle tells a story about a person that comes up to him and complains about their family member being to crazy about God and talking too much about good sermons and giving too much of his hard earned money away to the church.  The person asks him to tell the family member that the Bible says "everything in moderation" and it doesn't have to be all or nothing. I paraphrased a little there... but basically, what was said.  Kyle as nicely as possible quotes part of Revelation 3 and tells them God asks us to go ALL IN.

• Revelation 3:14-22 - "  “To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:
  These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other!
   So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.
   You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing. ’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.
   I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.
   Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.
   To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne. Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches" NIV

So I have a tendency to want to be a fan.  Don't we all! Our sinful natures want the benefits but not the hardships and the trials that come with being a true follower of Christ.  We think we look like the picture above.  Cool collected fashionable with a little bit of the world and God mixed together in one so the non-believer can swallow Christianity easier.  We look in the mirror and say secretly to ourselves and say "I don't look half bad today, someone out there is going to want to be a Christian like me" I confess I have had this thought sometimes.  "Thanks God looking pretty good now"  But really the times we think that, are the times we look like this.

The minute I'm thinking I'm all fly and strutting my stuff, I'm looking in the mirror the devil threw up.  I really traded my gold and my white robe for wretched, pitiful, and blind.

Now this said I don't think we need to wander around thinking we are garbage and get stuck in guilt. But we have to keep things in perspective and remember that, wretched, pitiful, and blind is where we come from and if we want to be more than lukewarm.... We have to go ALL IN.  We have to give up Everything to experience the full measure of His love.  He gave EVERYTHING for ours!  He walked more than a 1000 miles in the dust for us to knock at our hearts door!

Won't we let Him in?! Won't you let Him in?! Don't settle for lukewarm.  Don't just be a fan.  Lets go ALL IN! What does He promise?  Jesus promises He will come in and eat with us! Personal and real, giving us gold refined by fire (riches this world cannot buy), white robes to cover us, and salve for our eyes so we can REALLY see.

Oh Great the Fathers Love For Us! How Vast Beyond All Measure! That He should give His ONLY Son. To make a wretch His Treasure!

The best Love EVER!

Not a fan......  Follower!

Praise to you God!

all my <3 ....kori

More Light!

Happy Friday!  I love Friday because it means the Sabbath is coming. A day of rest to learn more about God and connect with other Christians. :)

I am reading in Luke right now and came upon these verses that I have read over and over but this morning really spoke to me.  

• Luke 11:33-36 -  "“No one lights a lamp and puts it in a place where it will be hidden, or under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, so that those who come in may see the light. Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are healthy, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are unhealthy, your body also is full of darkness. See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness. Therefore, if your whole body is full of light, and no part of it dark, it will be just as full of light as when a lamp shines its light on you" NIV

Over the last couple years I have been more and more convicted that I need to be careful what I watch.  Mainly cause I'm such a visual person.  My favorite way of imbibing information is through video/TV/movies.  But I realize these things also stay with me after I watch them and either bring good or bad things to my mind. 

As a kid I could not watch anything that was remotely scary because I would go to bed scared and having bad dreams.  I had a hard time washing those images from my mind and it totally affected me.  Even in college my psychology professor made it mandatory to  watch the movie Sybil and I couldn't hardly sleep for 3 nights without nightmares.

I know I may be a little extreme when it comes to sensitivity to visual stimuli.  But these verses ring true.  The eyes are the lamp of your body.  What we ingest through our eyes gives us light or darkness. 

Murder mysteries are one of my favorite things to watch on TV.  I love the problem solving nature of the show figuring out who did it.  However, I realized more and more these shows are about dark things.  Yes they are wrapped up in a pretty package of cool characters out for justice or at least mostly justice.  But at the core it is all about Murder.

This is just one example of something that can add darkness to us. And if I offend you with that example, that was not my intention.  But shouldn't we consider these things?  The devil is really good at packaging things up to look good and seem like good things.  He is good by adding just enough truth to something that we justify it as good.  What little things we let in wrapped in a pretty bow may be the very things that pull us away from God and dull us from hearing Him.

So these verses hit hard this morning and make me realize even more that what I am taking in with my eyes bring light or darkness.  I want a light so bright that is shines up the path in front of me to my loving savior!  Don't you?  Are you feeling yucky and unhealthy and struggling to see God in your life?  Fill your eyes with good healthy things of God's beauty, goodness, love, and mercy and see how your whole view changes and the life it brings to your heart!  Lets resolve together to let in more light! :)

Blessings

Kori   

Straight To The Heart

As some of you know I work in healthcare.  My job is to help fix peoples bodies.  To get them stronger so they can get out of the hospital and get back home, or play a sport, or play with their grandkids again after illness or injury.  I enjoy my job but sometimes I feel I wish I could help heal a persons heart more than their body.  

See there is thing that happens when you start spending more time with Jesus...... You start seeing beyond the exterior to their hearts.  This is an absolutely beautiful thing and a horribly saddening thing.  Some days I feel like I see so much sorrow and pain I can't take it anymore, but then a small God wink and I find a jolly soul with a joyful heart; I'm revived! 

I've been praying God helps me hear him better and be more present with my patients to REALLY See them, not just focused on my own agenda.  To look them in the eyes.  It may seem a little silly to say that, but how many times in the day do we look right through people focused on our own tasks?  

Each one of my patients needs love, needs to be cared for, needs healing, needs God.  No matter how cranky or mean they are to me, they all need someone to care enough to look past that to their heart.  It is amazing what happens when I take the time to do this.  

This week, I had one patient that was really cranky when I saw them, complaining and refusing certain things.  At first I bristled, but then I stopped and took a deep breath and asked God to help me.   I changed my way of doing things a little and the pt. suddenly burst into tears and revealed a very sad personal story to me. The next day I came to see them, half way through treatment they asked me to come near and they gave me a big hug.  If I had not taken the time to breath and ask God what He wanted me to see I would have missed the brokenness in this patient's heart and potentially done more damage. Instead some healing happened :)

• 1 Samuel 16:7 "....People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” NIV

Thank goodness Right?!  On any given day if you caught me at the right moment you might catch my crabby cranky side and say to yourself "Holy Cow that girl's got issues!" But you know in those circumstances when I am that way, are the times I need love the most.  I am probably acting like that because I forgot my connection with God and someone else said something mean to me, or I woke up with bad hair, or my cat wouldn't let me sleep last night. :)  Crazy Cat!  LOL   But honestly if someone really stopped to look at me..... In my eyes.... into my heart.... they would see I just really needed a kind word and a loving smile to turn things around.  

Trying to keep this in mind when someone is chewing you out over something you didn't do is really hard.  Sometimes it is even hard when people are just thoughtless and cut you off on the freeway or cut in line in front of you at the grocery store and you were clearly standing there.  Oh believe me I've been there! :)  But each one of us act like this because we are hurting inside.  Sin has broken us and damage our hearts. 

This week was a good reminder for me to keep daring to look beyond the exterior and pray that God helps me see the heart.  That way maybe through helping people heal their bodies, I can help heal a little part of their heart by the love God pours into mine.  

So I dare you to pray this prayer and see what happens.  Dare to look beyond the rough, mean, cranky exteriors that rub you and look to the heart.  See what God really wants you to see and be prepared to be inspired to give love to another hurting one out there.  The blessing you will receive are far beyond measure! And another heart, maybe even yours, closer to being whole. 

Blessings,

Kori