Obtaining Mercy

"I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living."

~Psalm 27:13

David did not see God's goodness.

He only – by faith – believed that he would see it.  This belief is what kept him from fainting.

Our encouragement comes not so much from seeing God answer our prayer, but rather from our believing that He will. 

This morning, as I gargled, I thought of my pastor.

I know…weird, huh?

I've been gargling with salt water every morning.  It's a habit my mom started about a year ago; and she has not been sick since she started the process.  So, I've started the same routine, and every time I do it now, I will think of my pastor.

You see, he recently preached a sermon entitled "We are God's Salt Shaker."  🙂

Salt flavors our food, but it also helps in the healing process.  It preserves foods.  It cleanses wounds.

Salt burns when it gets into a cut.  Salt soothes when it is used as a rinse for a sore throat.  Salt flavors our food when added in careful amounts.

I am salt. 

There are times that I need to soothe a fellow Christian.  Sometimes I just add my personality nicely into the mixture of believers worshipping.  Other times, my very presence stings those around me – especially those with wounds that haven't healed.

I want to be carefully used, only by the leading of God's Holy Spirit. 

I never want to dump a handful of my opinion into a conversation – too much salt is disgusting.  However, if I say nothing when given a chance to speak for Christ, I give a bland, unsatisfying taste to those around me.

It's a fine balance.  I must follow the gentle nudges from within.  I must be always ready to represent Him.

And you know what?  I don't want to be the cheap, bleached, processed salt from the blue, round canister on the grocery shelf – so full of additives that is rendered dangerous, rather than helpful.

I want to be that fabulous Sea Salt!  It's so full of flavor, free from harmful chemicals, good for a healthy diet, and incredibly rich in minerals that are helpful.

Lord, help me be a pleasing savor – both to you and to others around me.

Luke 14:34 Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be seasoned?
35 It is neither fit for the land, nor yet for the dunghill; but men cast it out. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

"We ought to have enough power with God to worry the world when we don't agree with them."

~Dr. Mickey Carter

"The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein.
"Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? his fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him.
"The LORD is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him."  ~Nahum 1:5-7

"Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." ~Galatians 6:7

Will you be counted among those who agree with God,

    or will you suffer the fate of those who do not?

Do not criticize the intensity of my Christianity…

    I am just remembering.

If you only knew
All that I've been through
Then you would understand
Why I love Him so.
If you could only see
Just where He found me,
If you'd been there when He lifted me
Then you would know.
~Crabb family

Psalm 34:1, 6 – "I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth…This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles."

"Oh, let us rejoice in the Lord, evermore,

    When darts of the tempter are flying,

For Satan still dreads, as he oft did of yore,

    Our singing much more than our sighing."

~Streams in the Desert