It’s hard out here for a Christian

Hello Salt of the Earth,

Blessings to you in Jesus’ name. This did not start as a full-length devotional, but a spiritual vitamin. Well, it grew. Either way, long or short, it is a devotional that God can use to draw you closer, convict you, chastise you, reveal your true self to you, and reveal a deeper level of Himself to you.

Many people don’t want to be Christian because they see that sometimes it entails hard work, or no fun.

It’s really not that hard.  For one, we don’t operate on our own strength. Two, we can exchange our burdens with Jesus.

Micah 6:8 asks the question. (NKJV): “He has shown you, O man, what is good (righteous); And what does the Lord require of you? But to do justly, To love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?”

As for fun, the unsaved don’t know the joy that He gives His children. They think they know joy. What they experience is an emotional response to something material. Not the joy that keeps us afloat in seas, and dry in rain, and unburned in a furnace.
God bless, we love you and are praying for you. 

We love you, and we are praying for you.
~SALT

Pastor Erroyl & Sis Pinky

Sis. Pinky’s Prayer: Thank you Jesus for taking away my sin so I can have a joyful relationship with you.

Amen

Pleasing Him

"Gal 1:10 For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ." 

You can't be a people pleaser and a bondservant of Christ at the same time. Serving God, for real, will put you in direct conflict with the world. We must learn the difference between serving others as a Christian, and being a people pleaser. It starts with compromise and ends with frustration. You cannot please everyone, and you certainly cannot keep people happy...not if you are a Christian. The Gospel is offensive to sin. Conflict is inevitable. Wherever you go, you are carrying the gospel with you, just by being Christ-like. It will offend sin, and those living in sin. You may not get invited to certain events. Why? Because sin does not like to be remainder that it is sin. And, even if you do not say a word, the Holy Spirit who lives in you, cannot be hidden.  His presence in you, will cause those living in sin, discomfort. Do not flaunt piety. That’s not Godly either. Show genuine love for the sinner. After all, “...God showed His great love for us, that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.” Roman 5:8. Everyone, on the planet, has sinned. Including the saved. Since this is a fact, we should not and cannot look down on those still in the ignorance that living in sin creates.  

Even though there will be difficult conversations, lots of prayers, maybe tears, and peaceful conflicts find solace in this...In Matt 5:9 the Bible says, “Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called children of God.”  Not peacekeepers mind you. Peacekeepers will compromise to please people. Peacekeepers will overlook sin at times, people pleasers are non-confrontational, and prefer any peace they can get. They even prefer temporary peace over the confrontation and work that peacemaking requires. I'd rather have lasting peace. I’d rather please God, and be called His child. How about you?

We love you, and are praying for you  
~Pastor Erroyl and Sis. Pinky
SALT

Sis. Pinky’s Prayer: Show me the way to be a peacemaker and not a peacekeeper so that I may live a life that is pleasing to you.
In Jesus’s Name,
Amen

Check up time?

     Every 3000 miles our cars have to be checked. Oil, fluids, tire rotation, brakes, etc... As disciples we should also examine ourselves. We need a check up every now and again. Introspection is great and sorely needed. Why? I'm glad you asked... Because the Bible says so.

   2 Corinthians 13:5 "Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test?"  

   Here's something to consider. You might not be in the faith. Here, Paul says, "Test yourself to see if you are in the faith",  examine yourself... Think about that.
    

   So what does the test look like? It's your life... Or rather the proof of your response to the test question is found in how you live every day. The bible says that we are known by our fruit. (Matt 12:33) In other words, our actions really say whether or not we are Christians. Now, so that we are not confused, I am not talking about salvation. I'm specifically talking about being a follower of Christ, a disciple, a person who has not only been saved by grace, but transformed by His blood, into a new creature.

What do our answers look like? Are we saying one thing, yet living another? Do we live differently on Sunday mornings than the other days of the week? Are we so focused on others' issues that we don't recognize the plank in our own eyes? Are we erecting facades to fool the world?

Authentic change requires work. It's not an event; it is a PROCESS. It requires periodic self examinations, accountability, sound doctrine by which to pattern our lives, and complete and total surrender.

Take the test. Examine yourself and grade your responses, and see where you stand.

I love you, and I am praying for you.
~Pastor Erroyl
SALT

Sis Pinky's Prayer:

Father, I am a sinner saved by grace. I pray that You would continue to remind me to examine myself to see if indeed I am living a life that is fruitful. I thank you Jesus, for dying so that I may have an abundant life. Help me to not let your dying for me be in vain.

In Jesus' name I pray, Amen

Sometimes You Must Encourage Yourself

Be encouraged, God loves you. He didn't put you in the situation you are in by chance, there's a purpose! Be of good courage, face what you don't know with the certainty and assurance that God has ordered your steps. When David was being chased by Saul and he was hiding in caves, and mountains he wrote some of the most beautiful psalms (songs). He did this, not so that you and I would have something to read on Sundays, but as a way to encourage himself and remind himself of who God is. Draw that parallel to you, and your situation. You may in fact be in a situation to where you feel like you are being persecuted, , chased, or maybe you just feel alone. God was with David, and He is with you. Take David's example and encourage yourself, remind yourself of who God is; in the midst of the situation. 

~Erroyl

SALT

Let’s talk about sex

Let’s talk about SEX!

That got your attention, didn’t it?

    I have a friend who is struggling with SEX in marriage…

……………...

    Before I begin, I must say that this devotional message is specifically pertaining to Christian, married couples, and those persons who hope to one day be a God-pleasing, Christian couple.

    Next,  If you are not married, in the eyes of God, you should not be having sex. Stop it, ask for forgiveness, and don’t do it again.

    Finally, nothing here condones any kind of abuse, or control.

………………..

    I have a married friend who is a Christian, and who is struggling with the frequency of sex in her marriage. That’s right, she wants sex more often than her Christian husband (It happens more often than you might think). She asked me, “What does the Bible say about withholding sex? I mean, we are married. Honestly, I have felt tempted to cheat at times, when guys hit on me, or even just notice me. I mean, not really to cheat, I guess. But, tempted to indulge in flirting back...” The short answer is that her husband does NOT have the right to withhold himself, thereby depriving her AND opening the door to Satan in their marriage. That “temptation to flirt” is Satan putting his left foot across the threshold and into the doorway of their marriage. His right foot is busy getting the husband to turn the “lack of sexual desire” into a habitual inaction.

    Let’s be clear. There is more to intimacy than sex alone. There are more ways to show affection. And there are times, of course, when a spouse has the right to refuse sex.  This rejection should be delivered in love. Even still, a rejection delivered the correct way does not supersede the fact that, rejection hurts. How a person is physically, emotionally, psychologically, and spiritually should be considered.

   Though they may be accepted, no one really wants “obligation sex”, or “one-sided sex”. These are given grudgingly and make the recipient feel guilty. Doesn’t the Bible say that God loves a cheerful giver. I know, I know, Paul was referring to giving as a way to support the ministry...but, is not marriage a ministry? Yes, it is. Reread 2 Corinthians 9, and focus on verses 7-8, and ask God if/can both verses apply to sex in marriage. Verse 8 displays “all” rather conspicuously, does it not?

    Sex, within marriage, is important. It is powerfully cohesive to the marital covenant. The act replenishes and revitalizes the individuals, and reasserts the promise of “two being one” in Him. With that level of importance, is there any wonder why the enemy tries to use sex  (lack of sex, perversion of sex, extramarital sex) to destroy marriages. Why do we greatly desire to have sex before marriage, but that desire lags after the nuptials?

    I referred her to 1 Cor 7 with instructions that they should each read and study it.  

1 Corinthians 7:3–5 (NKJV): 3 Let the husband render to his wife the affection due her, and likewise also the wife to her husband. 4 The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. And likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. 5 Do not deprive one another except with consent for a time, that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again so that Satan does not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

We love you, and we are praying for you.

~SALT,  Pastor, Dr. Erroyl McGinty, Jr., and Sis Pinky McGinty

Sis Pinky’s Prayer: Thank you Lord for transparency in ALL things so that we can be set free in ALL areas of our lives. Please, Holy Spirit, teach us married couples how to live lives pleasing to God.

In Jesus’ Name we pray,

Amen

………..…

This link is to ©2018 FAITHFUL MAN® and is a great resource for this topic.

Guard your heart— Open hearted

Guard your heart, or open-hearted???

Is it Christ-like to "love from afar?” Is it a necessary evil? Can we fulfill the great commission with walls around our hearts??

Self-preservation versus self-sacrifice. I know that's tough, so give real thought.

If we are supposed to go to every nation and preach the gospel, how can we do so with our hearts walled off? The Bible also tells us to "guard our hearts." The answer is not quite so simple. It has to do with seasons, maturity, and temporal stasis (is it necessary for things to be temporary, or permanent based on circumstances, we slow [pay attention to details, speed excess time...] the things that need to be slowed, and rush through the others).

The season of your life will dictate how open you are to be toward people. If you are young in the word, then you are more susceptible to negative influences and therefore you should not be very open. This however, does not exempt you from fulfilling the great commission. It only means that you are in a season of preparation, education, and equipping. That season can last 5 days, 5 years, or 50 years. That’s up to the Father, and how long it takes us to “get it”.

The next season, step in maturity, is the season of battle, Also known as harvest. If you never enter a season of harvest you have not nurtured the seeds sown into you. In this season you actually put to work the things that you have learned. This is where your faith is tested and grows, the initial season of planting is where your faith was sown.

So, as it says in the book of James, faith without works is DEAD. Without this season of harvest, battle, the faith that was sown into you dies. This is why we enter negative cycles, and also why generational curses are allowed to take root. Once we are saved, according to 1st Peter we are adopted into a new bloodline with an "incorruptible seed". This does not stop the enemy from trying to attack.... but, hallelujah NO weapon formed against me shall prosper.

We love you, and we are praying with you.

Dr. McGinty and Sis Pinky

~SALT

Sis. Pinky’s Prayer: Thank you God for giving us discernment so that we’ll know which season we’re in, and we can act accordingly. We love and praise you.

In Jesus’s Name,

Amen.

Trust God for the Transition

Trust God for the Transition pt.2

When it is time for a change, trusting in the Lord is absolutely paramount to the success of the transition. The story of Abraham (at that time named Abram) is always remarkable to me. God told him to go. No direction... not "go to the east as far as the sun rises". No, “travel south for three days with a herd of migratory camels…”, or, “walk west until you’re too tired to travel on.” Not even a, “go down the mountainside and take a left at the Wal*Mart and wait next to the Olive Garden until you hear from me”... nothing like that. God only said, “Go forth from your country, and from your relatives and from your father’s house, to the land which I will show you.” Gen 12:1  and Abraham went.
We even struggle with simple changes to our regular routine. It can be difficult for us to alter our route to work if we feel God instructing us to go a different way. Or, if on our way to the collection basket at church we feel the Lord saying to give a different amount other than what we’ve already planned. We question if it’s really God.

We struggle with these small things. So naturally, a bigger change will create more anxiety. Whether large or small, they require the same key ingredient for success; Trust in God.

We must learn to 1) trust God through the transition, 2) trust that He has prepared the destination for our arrival, and 3) trust that He is preparing us (hearts and minds) while on the journey, to be ready for the destination. Our hearts must be ready for the transition, AND the destination! We can only achieve that by trusting in God.

We love you, and we are praying with you.

~Dr.  McGinty

SALT (Saved, Anchored, Living, Transformed)

Sis. Pinky’s Prayer:

Thank you God, for being sovereign! You know the plans you have for us; plans for us to prosper and not fail. Thank you for increasing our measures of faith and trust in you. Help us Great Jehovah to trust you with every aspect of our lives. We thank you in advance,

Amen