Scripture:
Mark 9:49
49 “For everyone will be seasoned with fire, and every sacrifice will be seasoned with salt.”

Context is important. In the previous verses, the disciples are arguing about who is the greatest, and Jesus tells them it is the least, the one who serves. Then, in verses 43–48, He talks about cutting sin out of our lives, the very things that separate us from God. In verse 49, Jesus shifts and gives us this picture:

“For everyone will be seasoned with fire.”

Fire has many purposes: to purify, to refine, to warm, and to cook. But I want to focus on two things. First, the Christian life is one of being refined and purified, whether by trial or by the work of the Holy Spirit. Second, the work of the Holy Spirit (fire) prepares us for His presence.

“And every sacrifice will be seasoned with salt.”

In Jesus’ day, salt was a very valuable commodity. In fact, people were sometimes paid their wages in salt, which is where we get the expression “worth his salt.” Salt brings flavor to everything it touches, and it preserves. Your greatest value and mine is our Kingdom contribution, our relationship with Christ. The salt is the work of Christ in our lives that is meant to spill out into the world, bringing something of worth and value into the lives we sprinkle it on. We are the flavor of Christ in a tasteless world, so we must guard our walk and stay salty.

Today’s God-Shot is more of a reminder that we are intended to be an aroma pleasing to God. Our purpose is to please Him, which means allowing the work of the Holy Spirit (fire) to refine us. We are also intended to bring Christ to a world that needs Him so desperately, just as salt brings flavor to everything it touches. May we be salty. Let that simmer a bit.

Lord, I pray that we would be the salt of this world, that we would bring Your presence into everything we do, and that we would change the world around us. Help us guard our walk and be tempered by fire, driving out the things that don’t belong and honoring You with what does. May our lives bring You glory. In Jesus’ name, amen!

Scripture:
Matthew 16:18
18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.

When I read this passage, I am reminded that God is in the business of reframing us. This is not the only time He has changed someone’s name: Abram became Abraham, Sarai became Sarah, and Jacob became Israel, to name a few. But here, just after Simon declares, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God,” Jesus says to him, “You are Peter” (Petros), meaning a stone, an individual rock, or a boulder. What a fitting name, considering what Jesus says next: “and on this rock I will build My church.”

What rock? We can easily be confused by this statement, or miss it entirely, thinking Jesus is saying that Peter is the rock the church is built on. But what He is really saying is that Peter’s declaration, that Jesus is the Christ, is the rock on which the church is built: Christ came to redeem humanity and to save us from death and hell, and nothing could stop it.

But here is where Peter comes in: Petros. Peter is an individual stone fitted into the solid-rock foundation that is Christ. His declaration makes him part of Christ’s plan to redeem you and me, and anyone who will receive Him.

Today’s God-Shot is a reminder that you and I are part of the foundation that is Jesus. Our calling is to tell others about Christ, to bring them onto the foundation of His sacrifice for them, to see them redeemed from sin and death, and to bring them into the plan of God, the solid rock that not even the gates of hell shall prevail against.

The truth is, God is still in the business of reframing us: transforming lives, changing our future, and shoring up the foundation of our today, so that the life we live is lived in His purpose and His plan.

Q: Who will you bring into this unshakable foundation that is Christ?
Q: Whom do you love who needs to know Him?

Father, I pray for those we will encounter today. Give us a God-Moment with someone, an opportunity to “build Your church” and share the truth of the Gospel, so that someone today might come to the saving knowledge of Christ that we have. I pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen!

Scripture:
Matthew 15:34
Jesus said to them, “How many loaves do you have?” And they said, “Seven, and a few little fish.”

Whenever I read this story in Matthew and Mark, I am reminded that even those who had been with Jesus struggled to understand the power of a life lived with Him. Notice their words: there is an underlying idea of “We only have…” While it is true that you and I are limited by our own strength, that limit is broken when we are with Him. “I can do all things through Christ…” (Philippians 4:13). In my hands, what I have may not be enough, but when I surrender it to Him, nothing is impossible.

Today our God-Shot is this: as I surrender my limited strength, time, and resources to Him, they are transformed. This passage is a reminder that God multiplies our limited strength, time, and resources when we willingly surrender them to Him.

Q: What have you not surrendered that you have struggled to produce results?   

Q: What are you muscling out, instead of surrendering to Him?

Lord, today we surrender "What We Have" to you, that you may multiply it, that you may use it for your glory, to produce greater results that we could ever have in our own strength, I pray for the plans that we have be multiplied in your hands, that you would give us more time, more resources, more results as we surrender them to you, in Jesus name, Amen!

Scripture:
John 6:67–69
67 Then Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you also want to go away?” 68 But Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

It’s easy to miss what’s happening in John 6. Jesus tells the crowd that unless they eat His flesh and drink His blood, they have no life in them. He is speaking of the hope you and I have in Him: His sacrifice. They missed it, even though the Scriptures pointed to Him and foretold that He would lay down His life for them. They were educated men, yet they missed that salvation was standing right in front of them. He was speaking of the communion you and I share today, remembering what He did for us on the cross: what His broken body did for us, and what His poured-out blood did for us, freeing us from sin and death. They missed it.

When you read today’s portion, you might think, “Yay, Peter!” But don’t get carried away. Jesus, knowing the hearts of men, turns to the twelve and asks, “Do you also want to go away?” That question tells us that even His closest disciples struggled to understand what He had said, and leaving had crossed their minds.

Let that simmer. Those closest to Him had their doubts and thought about turning away because it got hard. But then Peter snaps out of it and says something that ties into our God-Shot: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”

Today our God-Shot is a decision, not unlike Peter’s. There will be days when we face difficult instruction from the Word of God, instruction that stirs up resistance in us. It will create movement in our lives that brings about change, and not all of that change will be easy.

Pruning is never painless, but it is necessary and fruitful; the hard things create the greatest movement. But if, like Peter, we decide even in our day of struggle to say, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life,” then His Word and our obedience will transform our lives, and we will never be the same.

Lord, it is through obedience to what You say, and by allowing Your Word to change us, that we find life, are transformed, and are redeemed. Even when we struggle, give us the courage to step into Your plan and Your purpose. Let us always stand on what we know is true of You: You are life, You are the Christ, and our hope is in You. In Jesus’ name, amen!

Scripture:

Luke 9:35

35 A voice came from the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.”

We know this portion as the Mountain of Transfiguration, where Jesus takes James, John, and Peter up to the mountain. All of us must have our encounter with Christ; one where we understand who He is. For the disciples (vv. 18-19).  Their first encounter was a question, the same one I will ask you to ponder this morning: "Who is Jesus to you?.   See, we must know who Christ is. Peter said, "You are Christ."  Peter declared You are my Savior; see, He must first be our Lord and Savior.  

Their second encounter (vv. 21-27): Jesus reveals His mission; He said I am going to be betrayed and handed over to die for you.  In this life, we will find that the world is against us, counter to us, but Christ is for us, and we should never deviate from our mission with Him.  

The third encounter: they went on the mountain and saw Him in all His glory; they had a personal encounter with Him, but I will say even at that they almost missed it; they tried to make Elijah and Moses equal to Him, so that tells us that we can even encounter Him and almost miss it, but their third encounter was the most important it is one that reminds you and I the most important thing we can take off the mountain, from our encounter with Christ is this command to not just hear (passive), but to listen (active) to the Lord, put into practice His revelation in our lives. 

Today our God-Shot is to encounter Christ as Peter James and John did to know Him, to walk with Him, and the hear and listen to His words, that our journey would be transformed by our encounter with Him, that we would be changed by it.  

Today I would ask you:

Who is Christ to you?

Are you really walking out your life with Him?

Do you just hear Him, or are you listening and allowing it to transform your life?

Father, all of us need our mountaintop encounters; they prepare us for the road ahead, the difficult days, the days when we need power. Help us to walk with you, to listen, not just hear you, to live out a life actively walking in the word, allowing it to change us, mold us, and make us into your purpose in Jesus' name. Amen!