Isolation.

Sometimes we become confided in the walls we've built around ourselves.
Walls built out of anger, pain, betrayal,
Or possibly be it pride or vanity.
But on all occasions there is a diligent intention to guard ourselves from something we see as opposing,
Something that stands as a threat towards us so we try to block all things relative to it.
For example, 
If Ella had a friend named Belle that betrayed her, it's most likely that she's going to make sure that doesn't happen again right?
But the flaws come in when instead of Ella confessing her upset out of love and talking things through with Belle, she decides to build up this wall of defence laid with bricks like bitterness, bricks like pain and bricks like anger,
And at this moment of time Belle doesn't even realise how much she's hurt Ella until she faces her resentful brick lain wall.
Ella's intentions were to prevent the possibilities of that betrayal occurring again, but what she's really done is entangled herself more with the yoke of bondage.
Now, around her is the brick lain wall of disgust, resentment, and anguish that she built herself to be set free from the betrayal, but as a result she's become captive of her own outrage.

So now that Ella's been imprisoned by her own fury, how then can she be set free?
Many of us are going through Ella's situation, but because these walls that some of us built as a line of defence turned out to be walls of hatred and seclusion, we almost don't even want to be set free.
However, we can't try to convince or justify ourselves that isolation will be able to save us from what we're trying to protect ourselves from, because by not seeking God we are infringing the freedom we have through Jesus Christ!

Now let's take it back and remember our position as Christians!
Are we not free from the guilt of sin because we have experienced God's forgiveness?
Are we not free from the penalty of death because Jesus died for us on the cross?
Through Jesus Christ we have been called to liberty, because God sent forth the Holy Spirit so that we are no longer a slave of sin but a son of God, therefore making us heirs of God through Jesus Christ.
We have no power of our own that is able to free ourselves from our sinful nature which is why we are in need of a saviour.
In John 8:32 (NKJV) it reads : "And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
As we begin to know the truth we will learn about how much God values love towards one another, 
We begin to love each other as Christ loved us and we will be able to respect and grow with each other instead of conflict and dispute.
However, there is a personal accountability for us falling back into bondage which is when we become inconsistent with the Gospel and hearing from God, therefore we need to 'Stand fast' and make that effort and commitment to stay in this place of liberty and maintain our freedom with Christ.

God has given us freedom not to live selfishly, but to live to love and serve one another.
If we conform to the flesh, we'd expect others to conform to us and giving heed to our selfish desires,
But if we conform to the Spirit, we are operating on completely different principles to our One and utmost Master Jesus Christ, who gives us power and strength to conquer the flesh.


We must stand guard of our Christian liberty or else the world will continue to try and entice us from our salvation, therefore "Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage" - Galatians 5:1

Love and Blessings,

Melissa-Ann Rose 

xx

Galatians 5:13

New King James Version (NKJV)

13 For you, brethren, have been called to liberty;
only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh,
but through love serve one another.

Preservatives

As we grow up as Christians and become more indulged in the Word of God, 
The trials we face when it comes to evangelising the Word of God in a decaying society becomes more evident, & this is because we are more aware of the devices the enemy uses in order to destroy the body of Christ.

But before I speak on that,

One of the many things I've become aware of is tasteless Christians.

Christians that have lost their flavour, and most importantly their purpose to preserve.

And these are Christians that proclaim the Gospel in their good will, but their lives don't reflect the glory that they are proclaiming, which ultimately dilutes the message.
Some of us are degrading the value of the Word of God because our lifestyles don't reflect what's being preached.
This hypocrisy makes it seem like its acceptable for people to preach about humility but they take glory in their acts out of pride;
As if it's acceptable to preach about forgiveness but they're holding a two year grudge,
And then they justify it with things that may be said in the Bible but interpret it in ways that are of benefit to themselves instead of what God originally intended.
Such as quoting Psalm 37:4 'Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart' in order to say God will allow them to do what they want so long as they love Him.
There's so much more to it than that alone.

Coming to think of it, 

In order for the enemy to get to Christians that are stood affirm with the Lord, he works in a way that twists with the truth to make it sound like the truth.

And if we are preaching a concoction of the truth mixed with what sounds like the truth, we are unknowingly creating a route which is an invitation for the enemy to deploy corruption, doubt, and denial -

Which is the same way Eve was tempted by the serpent right?

The devil, as crafty as he is manipulated Eve with a question proposed to make himself seem innocent saying “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”
He spoke of God's law to be unreasonable or uncertain and then spoke the opposite of what God had told Eve and said 'You will not surely die.'
Eve knew what God had commanded because she recited it back to the serpent when he asked, however the serpent made room for her doubt which then resulted to the fall by eventually disobeying the command that was given to her.
And these are the same acts some Christians are portraying in their daily lives, we know what God has commanded, but somehow an excuse is made or we take certain things too lightly which results to our disobedience.

I refuse for us to fall in the enemies deception!

God has righteously declared that we are the salt of the earth.
As mentioned earlier, one of salts purposes is to preserve, therefore one of our missions is to preserve the world from the principalities of evil and from those corrupted by sin. 
In a decaying society we have been sent forth to season it with the Word of God equipped with grace and knowledge,
All things that we preach should be agreeable to the scriptures, things that exalt God's glory, magnify His Holy name and encourage those that are lost to turn their hearts back to Christ.
As children of God, we were not convicted by the convincing of man but we were convicted by the Word of God's authoritative power.
And by this conviction we live under the influence of the Holy Spirit, and by His power we will ultimately influence those who haven't found Christ or those who don't believe to turn back to God.

However,
Christians tend to lose their flavour by having a passive attitude towards the Gospel,

therefore ignoring some of the vital components to our Christianity and being involved in the works of the world.
They have become dissolved into the likeness of the world therefore drifting further and further away from God.

But because they have portrayed themselves as Christians before the world, and to many people of the world we are the only representation of Christ,
Many people of the world will begin to receive this half worldly half Christian image, this lukewarm image, this half dead half saved image.
How can a man be half saved?
How can a man belong to the world and belong to Christ?
The middle ground between any two factors is full of contradictions and hypocrisy and eventually people begin to overlook these kind of Christians because they have made way for the enemy to deploy confusion!
Which will inevitably result to being rejected by the world because a saltless Christian has lost its purpose to preserve.

Losing our saltness demonstrates our distancing from Christ.
It demonstrates the incapability of carrying out God's will without being teased with the world's likeness.
We have not been made to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men, for we are more than conquerors and we have power over the enemy's corruption.
God is our strength therefore we must abide in Him, in order to be able to overcome many of the enemy's provocations to bring you back down from our elevated position with Christ.

Love and Blessings,
Melissa Ann Rose
xox

Matthew 5:13 (NKJV)

13 "You are the salt of the earth; 
but if the salt loses its flavour,
 how shall it be seasoned? 
It is then good for nothing 
but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.