Category Archives: Crossing Jordan River

CROSSING THE JORDAN RIVER

GOD Who Are You? AND Who Am I?

Knowing and Experiencing God by His Hebrew Names

Part 3 – eBook 3

The Lord our God said to us at Horeb, “You have stayed long enough at this mountain . . . See, I have given you this land. Go in and take possession of the land that the Lord swore he would give to your fathers–to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob–and to their descendants after them.”

Part 3 is comprised of the third three modules of the book and is Part 3 of the FREE eCourse Bonus on this Web site. They are:

Module 7 – Chapter 12: God is Jehovah-Jireh [The Lord’s Provision Will be Seen]

Chapter 13: Because God is Jehovah-Jireh, I Am Free

Module 8 – Chapter 14: God is Jehovah-Rapha [The Lord is Healer]

Chapter 15: Because God is Jehovah-Rapha, I Am Healed

Module 9 – Chapter 16: God is El Elyon [The God Most High]

Chapter 17: Because God is El Elyon, I Am Salt

M9E Salt is the Word-Seed We Plant with Prayer and Love

One of five children, Gretchen G.’s home was unstable after the death of her mother who died of a brain aneurysm. As her father turned to alcohol, she found security in the home of a young family—where she hid out during her high school years. She married David less than a year after high school. It would be years before she learned how important the word of God would be in her life–a literal Rock.

Gretchen Learned the Word Was Her Rock

God Most High our Rock

Gretchen found that her husband was unable to give her what was missing in her heart. While David was in the Navy in Maryland, his brother started telling him about wonderful things that were happening in his marriage. They were going to a Bible study given by the Navigators at Kansas State University. “We’ve come to Christ,” he said. “May we come for a visit?”

What does that mean? Come to Christ! That means he’s going to be whacking us over the head with that religious stuff. I’m not interested, Gretchen thought. If we just clean up our lives and quit fighting, things will get better.

While the couple was visiting, David’s brother asked them, “Would you like us to find a couple out here who would be willing to meet with you to have a home Bible study?” “Sure. That’s what we want to do.” David said.

What’s up with that? Gretchen could not believe what she was hearing.

Wanting to avoid conflict at all costs, Gretchen found herself in the home of another couple the next evening. Through verses of Scripture like 1 John 5:11-12, they found that Jesus was the missing link in their lives. “This is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.”

Especially significant to Gretchen was the Word, “For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men” (1 Timothy 2:5).

 SALT IS THE WORD SEED WE PLANT WITH PRAYER

This couple became their mentors, and taught them how to love one another as God had designed them as husband and wife.

Years later, Gretchen and David found themselves comfortable in their job, but spiritually coasting. David accepted a job in another city which turned out to be a very difficult move for their family.

Life was not easy during this time, but Gretchen confessed the Word, “God has grown me up in the process. Jesus has become my friend. I’ve seen that ‘though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the God my Savior. The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights’” (Hab. 3:17-19).

Understanding that God was more concerned with her character than her circumstance, Gretchen determined to plant the salt seed in others as it had been planted in her. She wanted to mentor one-on-one. From her part-time positions as a fitness tech at Curves and at her church, she met women who needed the Lord or needed to grow as a Christian.

How 2 Women Overcame Heartaches to Learn what FAT Really Means

Using the acronym, F-A-T—something on every woman’s mind—she prayed to find women who were Faithful, Available and Teachable. God brings them across her path, and she meets with each one every week—giving them the Word to memorize in a personal manner. “I will entrust to reliable [wo]men who will also be qualified to teach others” (from 2 Tim. 2:2). Her calendar is packed and overflowing.

Gretchen and David discovered unexpectedly that they came to the Kingdom through the prayer of a man they never met. While attending a Navigator conference, the story was told of a young man who would go out over the campus of K State each week and pray for the students. He was drafted and sent to Vietnam and never came back. They realized he was praying when David’s brother was a student. This young man never knew he impacted their whole family.

Salt attracts other salt. A salt crystal held in a container of brine (salt diluted in water) will grow larger the longer it is there.[1] The longer Gretchen and David lived in the town where they moved, the more they impacted the lives of couples and families through prayer as this young man had prayed for them. Through one-on-one mentoring, they work hard at planting salt of Scripture (the Word seed) memorization, “putting off the old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of [their] minds” (Eph. 4:22-23).

They can say of God Most High, “Who is the Rock except our God?” (Ps. 18:31).

SALT IS SHARING GOD’S WORD, LOVE, CARE AND COMFORT

God's Word of comfortCheri B. praises God Most High, “the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God” (2 Cor. 1:3-4). Her salt is sharing God’s Word, love, and care to those going through similar heartaches as she did.

From Cheri’s earliest memories, all she wanted was to be a mother and a writer. At age eighteen, she was married and had given birth to a premature baby boy. She asked the nurse, “Will he live?” All she was told was, “Aw, 50/50.”

While her husband was attending a chiropractic college and studying night and day, Cheri cared for a crying baby around the clock. At six months of age he was only seven pounds. She was isolated and alone and unable to take him into the Chicago air.

Cheri wasn’t sure what she believed spiritually and continually called her pastor to ask him, “What do we believe about _____?”

Tired of her calls, the pastor gave her a Bible, and said, “If you knew the Word of God, you would not have to call me.”

Cheri read through the whole Bible. Getting through Chronicles was hard, but it laid a salty foundation that grew and grew. Stripped of everything she had leaned on, she learned to pray to a different level.

She instilled the Word in her children, total of five—who have been her ministry. At age four, one son brought his little brother to her and said, “Mama, pray so he will get saved!” That son has an evangelist’s heart and went to Australia at age fourteen to build a camp where eighty people received Christ. At age twenty, he went to Brazil. The youngest son went to Albania with Teen Missions International when he was fifteen.

Her daughter went to India where she got typhoid of the worse type. Before Cheri learned of it, a friend gave her this Word,

Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west. I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’ Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth— everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.—Isaiah 43: 5-7

yellow lillies with text Because El Elyon I am in balance

Satan fought hard for all Cheri’s children, especially her first born, but failed to win. She says, “My heritage is that ‘no weapon forged against [me] will prevail’” (Isa. 54:17).

Family is Cheri’s ministry. When she was a small girl, she was pushed aside. Her little brother had been in a car accident and required round-the-clock care. Today Cheri is always looking for the little angels being pushed to the sidelines and not being noticed. Her heart is tender toward mothers fighting for their children. She fights alongside them claiming God’s word in prayer.

Sometime after forgiving her dad of past hurts, and while at the stove cooking she heard the Lord’s voice tell her, “Your grandpa is going to die.”

“I don’t know if he’s ready yet. Don’t take him until I know he’s ready, Lord.”

She invited her dad to get a hamburger. Suddenly, the restaurant’s lights went out. As they sat in the dark, she told him how the Lord spoke to her and what she prayed.

“Cheri, don’t waste any time.” Tears rolled down her dad’s eyes, “I’ve gotten a phone call saying he almost died already.”

“Will you go with me, Dad?” Both went to see Grandpa.

“Grandpa, do you know the Lord?” Cheri popped the question.

“No, I don’t know the Lord.”

“I don’t know Him, either,” her dad spoke up.

Both men wept as Cheri had them repeat the sinner’s prayer after her, “Heavenly Father, I have sinned against you. I want forgiveness for all my sins. I believe Jesus died on the cross for me and rose from the grave. Father, I give you my life to do with as you wish. I want Jesus Christ to come into my life and into my heart. This I ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.”

Cheri can say of God Most High, “He trains my hands for battle . . . . You give me your shield of victory, and your right hand sustains me” (Ps. 18:34-35).

# # #

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[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/sodium_chloride (accessed April 7, 2007).

M9D We Are Salt Because God is El Elyon

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 by men.—Matthew 5:13

We need to look at salt before we can fully understand what it means to be the salt of the earth for our own purposes. So, what is it? What does it do? How can we use that knowledge to be better “salters” of the earth?

What is salt?

We are four sided salt

Salt is a chemical with the formula NaCl, or sodium chloride. Salt’s chemical structure is a cube with depth, width, breadth and height. This four-sided crystal shares biblical significance with the earth. The “four corners of the earth, the four winds of the earth” (see Rev. 7:1), four regions (north, south, east and west), and the four seasons (fall, winter, spring and summer) are all biblically significant. The number four is also the biblical number which means “creation”—God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth (see Gen. 14:19-20).

Salt is in crystalline form, transparent like glass, but before refinement, comes in rock form—discolored and misshapen.

The physical, chemical truth is that salt cannot lose its saltiness without sodium chloride changing its physical structure (and actually becoming something else entirely). Therefore, what can it mean when Scripture says, “if salt loses its saltiness?” Mark 9:50 sheds light on the subject. It records, “Have salt in yourselves . . . .” The only thing in heaven and earth that does not change is Jesus himself, the Word made flesh, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Heb. 13:8) and does “not change like shifting shadows” (James 1:17). Therefore, salt is Christ—the Word of God.

Dwight discovered it was God’s Word that pierced the heart, and until he put it to use he knew nothing about being the salt of the earth. He had to be refined before he was transparent so Jesus could be seen in his life—no longer misshapen. It was the Word which gave him depth as it transformed his life in all four dimensions—physically, spiritually, mentally and emotionally.

What does salt do?

Too much salt killsSalt preserves foods and is used as a de-icer for roads and highways, but loses its melting ability in extreme cold conditions. Salt softens hard water, making everything it touches more effective. It has healing qualities, disinfects wounds, and is used in spas for treatment of the skin. Salt was used as a cleansing agent in medieval times.[1] Ezekiel 16:4 tells about newborns being rubbed with salt.

Salt is used as a seasoning. Job said, “Is tasteless food eaten without salt, or is there flavor in the white of an egg? I refuse to touch it; such food makes me ill (6:6).” Salt is good, although the body needs only one teaspoon (6 grams) per day, of which three-fourths comes naturally from prepared foods.

Too much salt kills. The Dead Sea (Salt Sea) in Israel is 30% salt, nearly ten times the amount of normal sea water. No fish can live in it nor anything on the land surrounding it.[2]

Years before Dwight learned how to share the gospel in humility, his exuberance took over and he said, “Like taking the delicious gospel like an ice cream cone, I stuck it in a person’s face, killing any hope of the Gospel message being received.”

Dwight learned the Word was salt seed he must be ready to plant in the right way. He witnessed that only the Holy Spirit could make it grow—water it and bring the increase—at just the right time God was working with a heart to receive—before it became so cold it could not.

HAVE SALT—BUT USE IT IN BALANCE

Salt is good, but it must be kept in balance. The body will not function properly unless the ratio of salt to water in the bloodstream remains near constant. Every living cell in the body is bathed in a salt solution. The first intravenous solution given to a hospital patient is saline, or salt water. Salt is critical to life; lack of it causes death, yet the kidneys filter out and eliminate any minor excess. Similarly, when salt intake is too low, the kidneys make every effort to retain all they can.[3]

Carol J.S. learned to have salt in balance

 

3 Things You Should Know About Being SaltCarol J. S. is an excellent example of a Christian—having salt “in season and out of season” (see 2 Tim. 4:2). Plus, she learned the importance of balance. Carol was saved at a young age and baptized in her church. She grew up in the best of best of Christian homes and never heard a cuss word from her father or fighting from her parents. Still, she had to overcome feelings of not measuring up to siblings and learned to make her parents’ faith her own. Growing up learning the Word through a mission’s organization named Girl’s Auxiliary planted her in a salty foundation.

One day when she was twelve a missionary spoke at her church. Listening to him called forth a longing to be used by God for this same purpose, “Yes, I will do that!” Without a doubt she knew this was her destiny—but “life” happened.

Carol fell in love at age sixteen, married at eighteen, and had four children. Many times she thought about her heart decision to go wherever God wanted her to go. Why had it not happened? When her daughter came home from youth camp and said, “I’m going to go to Venezuela!” God’s fulfilling my dream through my children, she thought.

“No, Mom, you are supposed to go, too.” Carol decided to test the door; it opened; she was chosen to go, which was unusual since it was a teenaged team by design.

She and her husband began to pursue short-term mission trips, taking their children with them. An opportunity arrived for the couple to go to Nepal and Thailand with a medical mission team. With no medical training Carol played nurse, watched surgeries, and helped pray for three days for 900 people before their surgery.

“We are holding a national Christian conference for teachers and pastors in another town. The lady who was to speak to the women cannot get through on the roads. Can you come speak?” asked the sponsoring missionary. Carol agreed.

That night, she prepared a talk for these women. She had no notes or books to reference. All were back in the states where she had been preparing for a women’s retreat about the life of Queen Esther. This was the message already in her heart.

The next day as Carol viewed the Nepalese women, they were looking in their laps— having been taught not to have eye contact, especially with men. Speaking through an interpreter, the main words Carol kept repeating were, “You are the King’s daughters!” Slowly their heads began to rise as she talked. She witnessed their growing smiles and increased excitement as they became receptive to the Lord.

After the conference Carol learned Nepal was ruled by a king. They had more information than she did and God used the salty Word in her heart to bless real, hurting women in a dark place on this earth—a fulfillment of a prophecy spoken to her years before.

Sometime after this, Carol learned that as with salt, balance is the key—the balance of doing vs. being. “I prayed for God to break me. He replied that He did not want to see my heart broken. He wanted to melt it.”

She is transparent and vulnerable in saying, “I worked at a Christian school, doing their bookkeeping, doing payroll, teaching children’s church, a Wednesday night class, and doing praise and worship. I was so busy, busy, busy; I’m not proud of this. Even my prayers were performance. God honored all this, but He wants more. He wants my fellowship. I began to pull out of most things while other people filled the gap.God Most High, El Elyon—our Father El Roi—wants to be wanted. He delights in our smiles.”

Carol operates an on-line email prayer request ministry that spans numerous states. She has gone to India and feels God calling her to the Ukraine. In looking back at the tapestry of her life, she sees how all the dark and light and gold and silver threads have worked for her good. She praises El Elyon, God Most High, Sovereign Ruler of the Universe, “His resurrection life in me is all I need.”

# # #

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[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/sodium_chloride (accessed April 7, 2007).

[2] Epiphany Software\Bible, Explorer 3 (accessed April 7, 2007).

[3] http://www.siftocanada.com/saltbook/yourbody.htm (accessed April 8, 2007).

M9C How the Lord’s Prayer Transformed Dwight: From Darkness to Salt

What Gives Joy to El Elyon our Father?

But we see Jesus . . .” (Heb. 2:9). God sees us, but do we see Jesus? By the time we get to our stage in life of crossing over the Jordan River into God’s best for our life, have we grown as a Christian to be able to see Jesus in everything?

Have we been able to see that all things have worked for good because we are called to His purpose? If so, we have crossed over into spiritual adulthood. Dwight learned the hard way.

joy to El Elyon

First of all, let’s consider the brand-new baby who sleeps for the first six weeks or so of his life (or should); then, one day he looks his parents in the eye and smiles. What joy!

What joy our Father in heaven must receive when we make any little spiritual change, no matter how small! Spiritual growth is no different than every move a baby makes that does not go unnoticed by his mama and daddy—smiles and quirks of the lips, stretches, and yawns, lifting of the head and movement of the eyes. All this happens during the miracle of growth day by day—each day showing a change, even when baby is asleep.

Suddenly, one day he looks straight into his parents’ eyes. It is like he finally wakes up to “life” and smiles real big; then, comes the laugh and the giggles. And our loving, heavenly Father says, “There, that’s what I’m looking for!”

What joy to our Father, El Elyon—Mighty El Roi who is watching us all the time— who has called us by name, hears our every cry, meets our every need, and performs His purposes for us as Sovereign Ruler of the universe.

Yet . . . when we are in the nitty-gritty of life, away from our Father’s perfect will for us, why is it so hard to see Him? Could it be because our eyes are only on self, our babyish needs and wants, turned inward? When we are in this state, we are asleep like a baby, unaware that “nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account” (Heb. 4:13).

Dwight learned the hard way

 

Would Dwight Ever Discover Happiness after 2 Divorces_Dwight learned this accountability the hard way—that “God left nothing that is not subject to him” (Heb. 2:8), and that He truly is able to humble those who walk in pride, as Nebuchadnezzar said.

“She’s a Christian. I’m a Christian. I met her during a Bible study. She may have two children, but I’m marrying her anyway!” Dwight defiantly told his friends.

Dwight rebelled against his upbringing, and managed to survive four hellish years in college—drinking and living recklessly. He was not a “good” guy, although he went to church every Sunday out of habit.

He graduated with a mechanic’s degree and used it while working on a farm. Eventually, a friend asked, “Dwight, why don’t you go with me to hear this evangelist?”

After continuous invitations, Dwight finally relented. What he saw astounded him. This evangelist had been burned on 80% of his body; he looked like plastic, absolutely ugly. How dare he ask us to look at him! Dwight thought.

Dwight tried to leave, but he could not move; he started to sob uncontrollably, soiling handkerchiefs of everyone around him. At the end of the service during the invitation to receive the Lord, Dwight found himself at the front, although he does not know how he got there. As he repented of his sins, he knew God saw him and reached down to save him that night. As he walked out of the meeting, He felt brand new inside, completely cleansed.

People told Dwight, “Now your troubles are all over.” Not understanding consequence of choice, he believed them.

Dwight was so excited about his new-found faith that he read his Bible, ten chapters at a time, at 4:00 a.m. each morning. Every Scripture he read told him not to marry the woman he was involved with, so he chose to quit reading his Bible and married her anyway.

Two months later, his wife was pregnant. They spent half of their three-year marriage separated. Before his divorce, Dwight fasted and prayed for forty days and forty nights, pleading with God to restore his marriage and make it right. He felt God spoke to his heart, This will be very hard for you. I can’t fix this relationship you chose, but I do have a helpmate for you.

Dwight met another woman. Rushing into marriage again without seeking God’s wisdom, that marriage lasted five years—two more children without a full-time father.

Absolutely brokenhearted in spirit, he moved back to the Kansas farm—from where he had moved. There, in a small rent house, he got out his Bible and read and prayed night and day; for the first time, he faced himself honestly in the presence of the Lord. For long hours in the dark he sought the Lord. Finally . . . Dwight quit running.

Dwight learns how to pray the Lord’s Prayer

Red flowers with text overlay:Lord's Prayer Transformed Dwight“Dwight, have you ever prayed the Lord’s prayer?” his pastor asked him.

“No, I believe to do so is ‘vain repetition,’ as the Bible calls it.”

“You didn’t like English class, did you?”

“No, why?”

“I thought so, Dwight. The Lord’s Prayer is an outline. Each phrase is telling us how to pray and what to do.”

Dwight took hold of that and began to pray as the Lord’s Prayer directed. When meditating on “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6: 10), he realized he had wanted his own will to be done and for God to bless it. He also realized if he had not gone through what he had, he wouldn’t understand that now.

It took Dwight months to pray through the whole prayer, struggling with forgiveness until finally, he learned how to forgive himself and others. During the time of praying the Lord’s Prayer, he met a lady at his church, but he was deathly afraid of any relationship, and his heartfelt prayer was, “Lord, I want only what you want for me.”

Strange from what his life had been before, Dwight noticed fruit springing forth—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (see Gal. 5:22-23). He had gone to another meeting previous to this where he had received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Only now after relinquishing his life—dying to self and surrendering his all to the Lordship of Jesus Christ—did he find lasting joy.

Meanwhile, the other lady was still there attending his singles’ group. They were friends and talked a lot, did a few things together, but Dwight did not pursue the relationship. He told God, “If you want this to continue You will have to make it happen, not me.”

Happen it did, and two years later . . . they kissed. They honored God in their relationship by abstaining from sex before marriage. They prayed about everything and made the only One in control, El Elyon [God Most High], number One in their lives. With his new wife’s son, they had four children in their intermittent blended family. Some times were very hard, but God saw them through and He blessed Dwight’s business.

One day, at odds with his supervisor at work he walked outside to take a break. In the stillness He heard the Lord’s voice, “Why are you still here?”

“Well, Lord, I’m making $30,000 a year and have a 401K retirement plan.”

“Don’t you think I can take care of you?”

Dwight quit his job that afternoon—in the first year of his marriage. After getting home, he realized he still had a lot to learn. Even though his new wife’s previous marriage was to a man who thrived on get-rich-quick schemes she supported Dwight. Before he could paint his truck with his new business name he had mechanic jobs waiting. Taking each step one by one, with the Lord as his shepherd, within four years his gross income was over one million dollars.

Dwight learns to share Jesus without fear

yellow lillies with text Because El Elyon I am in balance

One day while on the job in his new building, Dwight’s part’s manager, Sam, came to him and said, “I’ve noticed things are done differently around here. Do you mind sharing with me why you believe the way you do?”

Dwight had not been talking about God at work—only working . . . honestly. He tried desperately to share about Jesus with Sam that day but felt he had botched it up good. At church the next Sunday, he shared his frustration with an older lady. She told him about a book by William Fay (with Linda Evans Shepherd) called Share Jesus without Fear. William had run a house of prostitution until he found Jesus. The lady felt Dwight could learn from this man who had led 25,000 people to the Lord one by one.

Dwight bought the book and devoured reading it in two days. He bathed the situation in prayer for God to prepare Sam’s heart. After going through all he had, Dwight wanted more than anything to share his faith, and hopefully help someone else avoid making the mistakes he had made.

“Sam, will you allow me to try again to share my faith with you? I feel I did a lousy job the other day.”

“Well sure. Go ahead.”

Dwight highlighted Romans 3:23 in the New Testament, plus other Scriptures as indicated in the book. He knew which page it was on and opened the Bible to it. “Sam, will you read this verse out loud?”

“You want me to read it?”

“Yes, and when you finish, at the bottom of that page is another Scripture. Turn to the page number listed and read it too.”

After Sam read the verses out loud to Dwight and voiced what they meant to him he said, “If I receive Christ I will have to change my entire life!”

There was nothing in there that told Sam he would have to change his life, Dwight thought. He witnessed the Holy Spirit working through the Word—convicting of sin and righteousness—that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, that the wages of sin is death, and that all must be born again spiritually to have eternal life.

Sam made no decision right then, and Dwight said, “Okay. Just remember . . . if you die tonight without choosing Jesus . . . you will go to hell. Drive carefully!” [This is not a recommendation from the book he read, but the words that came to his mind to say to Sam.]

About one week later, Dwight arrived at work. Sam was already there and announced, “I got saved last night!”

Sam’s wife had kicked him out of the house. With nowhere to go, he went to the shop and read and reread the Scriptures from the New Testament Dwight had given him. He asked Jesus to come into his heart. God restored their marriage. They now serve the Lord and have a new baby. [These are the Scriptures Sam meditated on that night: Romans 3:23; Romans 6:23; John 3:3; John 14:6; Romans 10:9-11; 2 Corinthians 5:15; Revelation 3:20.]

After this experience, Dwight taught a class at his church to forty other Christians who felt inadequate to share their faith. He told them what he learned: “It takes between six and seven times of hearing the Gospel for a person to make the choice to follow Jesus. We want to be the one to reap the harvest, but we are successful in sharing if we have shared in a clear manner. It’s like a chain where we are only one link. If we are silent when given opportunity, we break that link. God cannot use our silence—we must be prepared!”

Dwight could say of God Most High, “You, O Lord, [kept] my lamp burning; my God [turned] my darkness into light” (Ps. 18:28).

Dwight learned God had to allow him to reap the consequences of his own choices, as any wise father does. Through that whole process, Dwight’s heart was broken before he humbled himself. He chose to be salty again, but only after being shaken to the core and trampled by [wo]men, as it says in Matthew 5:13, “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 by [wo]men.”

Dwight learned he could be salt. Because of the Godly life Dwight eventually lived, Sam saw something he wanted. Dwight’s being the salt of the earth meant he broke up fallow heart ground through prayer and deliberately planted just the right amount of salt. This salt-seed melted and softened a hard, cold heart—cleansed and healed, while preserving a soul for the kingdom of heaven.

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