In Matthew 5:13 Jesus said:  “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything; except to be thrown out an trampled under foot by men!”  Jesus makes His message personal by saying YOU are the SALT of the earth!  Jesus is talking to you and me – Believers, Christ Followers, People that have relationship with Him!  We live in a rotten, decaying and dying world and our job as Christians is to ARREST THE ROT!

Notice that Jesus says:  “You ARE the SALT of the earth!”  He does not ask us to be a representative of salt.  He does not ask us to supply the salt.  He does not challenge us to act as a salt substitute!  Jesus is telling us that if we are in relationship with Him – we are the salt of the earth!  The earth that we live on, while it is a rotten and dying earth, it is not what it could be.  Because Christians are here, the rot is not near as bad as it could be or should be.  This earth could be a place of great blessing, but because of the rot of sin and disobedience, much of the blessing has been replaced with rot, but still the rot does not have complete control – not as long as we as Believers are busy doing and being what God created us and Jesus saved us to do.

Realize it or not – YOUR INFLUENCE MATTERS!  You may feel like you are the only one trying to live the right life and you may feel like you are not making muchof a difference, but stop and think for a moment:  What if your influence and contribution was not around?  Would rot gain a little more ground?  Please don’t think that you and your life lived for Christ does not matter, because it matters and it matters a lot!  YOU ARE THE SALT OF THE EARTH!

Jesus said:  “I am come that you might have life and have life more abundantly!”  We can’t have this life that Jesus is talking about just by pretending that we have it.  We try so hard now a days to look spiritual, I think in an attempt to try and convince others of something that we can’t even convince our-self of!  My relationship with Jesus is the most important thing in my life.  Without this relationship, I am nothing and my life means nothing!  Jesus is more than my salvation – Jesus is my life!  I cannot and I will not try and do life without Him!  Some people will respond to my giving Jesus as the answer to life with:  “But, if you just knew my problem!”  To which I would like to respond:  “If you just knew my Jesus!”  It is time for the people that really know Jesus through a real, personal and meaningful relationship to share Jesus in a real and relevant way.

I am a Christian.  I have a relationship with Jesus!  I love life and I have a good time and that’s more than okay – that’s the way that God has always intended for it to be.  Having a relationship with Jesus is not about restriction, but freedom.  Jesus does not restrict me, Jesus sets me free and I have the power to say no to the things that would rob me of the abundant life that He has for me and yes to the things that would build and grow me into the special person that He has created me to be!

God wants each one of us to have an amazing, abundant and incredible life.  A life that is full of His love, overflowing with grace, mercy, forgiveness and restoration.  I am saved from my sins and from a horrible place called hell.  I am saved for my Savior and for a magnificent place called Heaven.  I am looking forward to Heaven, but until the Lord carries me there, I am going to enjoy the Heaven that is living inside of me!

John 10:10 tells us that the thief comes to steal, kill and destroy!  When things don’t go the way that we want them to, we tend to want to blame God.  If your life is not where you want it to be and things are not working the way that you think they should, please understand, it is not God’s fault!  We blame God for a lot and tend to forget that there is a devil on the loose!  We let the devil get away with way to much!

God has given us authority as Believers and we need to use our authority to claim the victory and blessing that God says is ours!  You are the prophet of your own life.  What is God speaking through you about you?  There is power in your words!  So much of what we say is influenced by te negative thinking of the world – no wonder we live negative, defeated and depressed lives.  Start thinking and speaking the positive promises of God.  God gave you authority, use it for His glory and your blessing!

Now, please understand that the good stuff of God takes time!  We want to speak it and see it immediately as if there is some magic that makes everything fall into place.  The fact is you need to start today and if you start today, you will be one day closer to the victory that God has for you and yours!  Don’t wait – start today!  Talk to God and find out His will and purpose for your life!  Talk to yourself and remind yourself that you are a child of the Most High King of Kings!  Talk to the Devil and let Him know that He can’t push you around anymore!  Stealing, killing ad destroying are not the will of God.  Stealing, killing and destroying are the work of the Devil.  Stealing, killing and destroying is something that you can do something about – so do it and give God the glory!