Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.

I am blessed to be married to an incredible woman who is extraordinarily anointed. One of several powerful messages she brought a while back was reinforced by the Spirit the other week. I re-packaged it and it blessed me again.

Salt had several uses in the Scriptures. It was used to punish a disobedient wife (Genesis 19:26); it symbolized a covenant (Numbers 18:19); and was used as an offering (Ezra 6:9) just to mention a few. Even today, salt is used for a variety of things: as a preservative, to melt ice, for traction and a spice for food. I have been told that salt is used in some baking recipes to bring out the flavor of other ingredients that would otherwise be dormant or bland.

In this text, Christ begins by explaining the Lord’s interpretation of those who are blessed: the poor in spirit, the meek, the peacemakers, those who are reviled and those whom men curse. This had to have been quite a change in what the people were accustomed to hearing and living. However, as only He can do, Jesus goes on to explain why …ye are the salt of the earth. If the salt has lost its flavor, it is good for nothing but to be trampled on.

God expects us to be salty. As Chosen people of God, we are expected to preserve our surroundings. Our families, place of employment, classrooms, communities and place of worship should not slip into decay while we stand unable to prevent it. Our lives should reflect the power of God and cause people to see an alternative; as Paul stated, a more excellent way. As people of God we should make life more exciting and interesting for those around us. Not with gossip or ungodly communication, but merely by living a holy life and being living epistles read of men. We should also be bold about it.

Have you ever sat down to eat and picked up a fork full of bland collard greens? You may have reached for the salt shaker and sprinkled a little on the greens. The salt doesn’t ask the greens if it is okay to change their taste. The salt doesn’t ask your tongue permission to alter the flavor of the food it has been sampling. As soon as the salt makes contact with the greens, there is a difference. As soon as the greens enter your mouth, there is a difference. Salt doesn’t ask meats or other perishable foods if it is okay to keep bacteria and other micro organisms out; the salt just takes over. Christians should be the same.

I believe everywhere my feet step I have an obligation to make things better. My co-workers should be blessed because I work with them. My family should be better because I live and interact with them. Every worship service I attend is great because I am there and I add a little salt. Though Paul and Silas were locked up in jail, didn’t they add a little salt to the prison and those around them? Their praise was so salty that even though the doors were opened, the other prisoners remained because they enjoyed the service so much. Fearing the inmates had escaped, the prison guard started to commit suicide – but not so. Paul and Silas testified that everyone was accounted for and the guard was spared.

The next time there is unrest at your office – put a little salt on it; the next time there are problems in your marriage – put a little salt on it; the next time you’re in worship service and things are a little bland – don’t just sit there, put a little salt on it. What’s the salt? It could be your praise, your testimony, your anointed prayer or just your godly presence. It is anything and everything you do to invite God’s presence.

I bless you in the Name of the Lord!

Pastor Eddie B Pruitte, Jr.

Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! Psalm 133:1

I say this safe and secure in the knowledge that my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will sustain me and He will guard, guide and keep me from all harm and danger. He will strengthen me in all things. Nothing is impossible for my God. He favors me; all I have to do is ask for it.

Faith is the key to releasing the blessing that He has for me. When we go through trials in our lives, it is to make us worthy to receive God’s blessings that are to come out of these trials, while providing a testimony to encourage others. Our trials bring us closer to God because, through it all, we are walking and talking with God and we are able to hear His voice a lot clearly. I believe that our trials are spiritual exercises meant to grow our faith. It makes us stronger and wiser children of God and makes us more effective teachers of the Word of God through Jesus Christ. We were taught that to keep or get the body healthy we must do physical exercises, but to keep in touch with God we must have spiritual exercises.

God keeps revealing more and more to me daily; I can feel my spirit getting stronger and stronger in the Lord. I can stand on solid ground and proclaim that Jesus Christ is the Lord of my life. He is the Master of everything I do. God is touching my life and my family’s lives. My son recently came to church with me, God heard my prayer and He answered me. The seed was planted in his heart and now God will do the rest. He will draw him at the appointed time.

May the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ guard, guide and keep you till we meet again. Amen.

I admit I was guilty; it seemed that I had allowed myself to forget. God had picked me up out of the sin I was in and saved me from a terrible death! He blessed me yet again when He allowed me to move into a place of my own. I knew that God had done these things for me, so why did I allow present circumstances to cloud my judgment?

I knew that Philippians 4:19 said, “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus,” but I still worried when my bank account was nearly empty. I allowed myself to forget.

It is a given that during our lives we will face many trials and tribulations. It is during these trials and tribulations that we determine who we are, or who we will be in Jesus. Sometimes, if we are not careful and always prayerful, we allow doubt to creep in. 

Pastor said it best during an evening service when he said, “the devil has a way of putting blinders over our eyes.” The enemy only allows us to see the bad things that are happening in our lives. He wants us to be depressed, to lose sleep and to worry. He knows that if we worry, our minds and hearts are turned away from God. However, we know the truth – that because of our trials and tribulations we are drawn even closer to God.

As pastor continued to speak I couldn’t help but cry. I had been going through one of those valley experiences. When pastor spoke those words, I began to praise and thank God for His abundant grace and mercy!  I had to thank Him for putting me in a place where I was able to hear His voice clearly. I am sure that each and every one of us has a personal testimony.

It was at that moment, as tears fell from my face, that I remembered my testimony. Above everything else, in spite of all that I had done, God was able to save my soul. Because of His love for me, He was able to forgive me!

John 3:16 reads, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.” I remembered that God had brought me out of many difficult situations even since that time. I reminded myself, is anything too hard for God?

Psalms 56:13 reads, “For thou has delivered my soul from death: wilt thou not deliver my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living?” I got rid of my blinders that day. I will never forget what God has done for me!

Theme:

"CHOSEN"

I Chronicles 28:10

Preferred~Privileged~Empowered For The Kingdom

Williamsburg Christian Retreat Center
Toano, Virginia

August 27—29, 2010

Mo. Vivian Pruitte, First Lady
Elder Eddie B Pruitte, Pastor

• From the Pastor's Desk: You Must Be Transformed
• First Lady Day
• Word of the Month and Words to Live By
• and more

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In his letter to Timothy, the Apostle Paul wrote, “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men: for kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour” (I Timothy 2:1-3). The call of the hour is for men and women who are mighty in prayer, masters of supplication, and specialists in the holy art of intercession.

The God of Elijah is the answer. Something happened when Elijah prayed that would not have happened had he not prayed. There was no doubt about the reality of God’s power in the minds of those who heard Elijah pray upon Carmel when they saw the living fire fall from heaven to blaze upon the altar. Listen to his words:

“If my people which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14)

This is a dateless promise; these are timeless words. They are for God’s people of every nation and for all time. If we will only pray, we need not fear even our mightiest foe. 

The world is in a state of utter chaos, and the United States is battled by one crisis after another: millions of Americans seeking work, skyrocketing medical costs, run-away inflation, crime in the streets, deception and greed on Wall Street, and the demise of the family unit. Our political leaders have tried numerous legislative programs to correct these problems, but to no avail. The key to solving these problems is simple: seek the wisdom of God through prayer.

In her book What It Means To Pray Through, Mother Dabney wrote:

Prayer is the key to the Lord’s heaven door. It encourages every leader, minister, and missionary when they observe the ingathering of the Lord’s spiritual harvest. I believe in asking for divine guidance in everything pertaining to business and human life.

It is high time that we learn the futility of our human endeavor, the folly of fighting in our own strength, or in the armor of our own invention. We need the Spirit who came at Pentecost. We perish for the breath of God. Shall we not cry with Elisha, “Where is the Lord God of Elijah?”

What does it mean to live holy, act holy, dress holy, and be holy?

It means living a life without compromise!

Who: HTC Youth Department
What: 2010 Youth Annual Day
Where: Holiness Tabernacle COGIC
When: Sunday, August 15 at 4pm
Why: Because God has called us to live holy… No Compromise!

Join us as we showcase our God given talents and gifts and recommit ourselves to a life without compromise!

“Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goals.” - Henry Ford

“Are you looking at me?” she asked as she stared at me bewildered. She looked back, trying to figure out if there was someone behind her, someone who I otherwise could have been staring at. Of course, there was no one. I thought to tell her I was looking past her, that my eyes were fixated on the black and white poster of Marilyn Monroe bleach blonds silhouette. However, I wasn’t in the mood to lie. Though I should never be in any mood to lie, I was eager to avoid the coming conversation. “Yes, I’m looking at you,” I sighed back. I thought to pause, maybe give her a chance to respond, but before she could say another word, I chimed in. I explained that I was born with strabismus – an eye condition that has as its main symptom a very obvious wandering eye. Medically, it means that I have weak eye muscles. However socially, it means I got called “cock-eyed” as a child.

It was, and to an extent, is still one of my least favorite features. The extent of my strabismus is not by any means the worst case, but when I get really tired or am sleep deprived, it becomes noticeable. Outside of the infamous childhood ridicule, the worst part about having strabismus is that I have to actively focus my eyes. I can feel my eyes wandering sometimes, mostly when I’ve been staring at the same thing for long periods of time. I have to force myself to keep my eyes straight. It takes real work. Some days, I don’t have the energy and just blink my eyes back into focus.

Thankfully, the older I get, the better I become at focusing my eyes. Thus, the disease becomes much less noticeable. Most people have no idea that I have a wandering eye anymore because now I am an expert at focusing my eyes.

As a rededicated Christian, my walk with God is much like having strabismus. The fact that I call myself “rededicated” says it all. Rededicating means that I obviously must have dedicated myself once (make that many times) before. Well just like with my eyes, I wandered away. Despite knowing that God has always wanted me, I wandered away from him because, just as I said with my eyes, staying focused takes real work.  And living in this world makes it easy to lose that focus.

Today, I was sitting around wasting some time I could have been using to talk with God, so I decided to go read my Bible. I ended up in Matthew 14:22-36. It’s when Jesus walked on water and Peter asked to come to Him. And Jesus obliged. However, when Peter noticed the boisterous winds, he became scared and started to fall. Many Christians, especially those who are not as strong in their faith, wander away from God when obstacles arise. But obstacles only become obstacles when we allow them to be. Peter had Jesus right there. Jesus was prepared, willing and able to carry Peter across the water, but Peter looked away. Peter allowed his eyes to wander. Just like Jesus did for Peter, God carries us. He NEVER wanders away. He is always prepared, willing and able to bring us through anything because he has a beautiful destiny prepared for us. 

Despite God being ready to carry us, we have to trust that He will and not become scared when things become hard. If we spend more time looking to God, He’ll be able to do all that He desires to do for us.

So I challenge you to develop a holy tunnel vision. That way, we’ll only see God and He will become the focus of our lives. In seeing God, we’ll see everything and we’ll accomplish anything.

WHERE: Hammill Mill Park(Pool) 1721 Carter Lane, Woodbridge VA 22193

WHEN: 11:00 – ???

WHY: TO Fellowship, EAT and have some FUN!!!!

WHO: You NEED to come and join us

My brothers and sisters in Christ:

For the past several weeks the Lord has been dealing with me on this topic – transformed. Our Church recently went on a forty (40) day fast (from Resurrection Sunday through Pentecost). It was challenging and yet rewarding. I felt so blessed to see the saints calling, emailing and texting one another as we went through. Then it ended. We had a great service that Sunday, but the next day it appeared as though everything was back to normal – what happened? Some of the saints called and asked, “Pastor, now what do we do?” At first I did not have a response, but the Lord prompted me with this thought.

Are you familiar with the caterpillar and the process by which he becomes a butterfly? The Lord showed me that was what he was doing amongst the saints at HTC. At first the caterpillar is very worm-like. It is often fat, moves very slowly and doesn’t see well. He eats nearly everything in sight and is easy prey for other animals. Then something happens – he spins a cocoon and disappears.

I am not an entomologist so I am not sure how long he stays in the cocoon; I don’t pretend to know what happens in the cocoon, but when the caterpillar re-emerges, he is no longer a slow moving, near-sighted meal for other animals. He has become a butterfly. He is colorful, he is light and he can even fly. What happened? He was transformed. How is that applicable to us?

I have literally seen a transformation in myself, our congregation and, I believe, in the body of Christ. We were expecting and looking for an instantaneous change after our fast, but that is not what happened. However, over the past several weeks I am beginning to see God working in a marvelous way. I cannot identify when it happened. I can not define what He did. All I know is I am not the same, the saints are not the same and neither are our services. God has worked a transformation in us.

In the text the Apostle Paul admonishes us to give ourselves totally to God – and we should not think of this as a big sacrifice. He continues to say in order for us to accomplish this, we cannot be like the world, but our minds must be transformed by becoming brand new. Much like the caterpillar, in his current state, flying is out of the question. However, after his cocoon experience, flying is part of his nature.

My brothers and sisters in Christ, the Lord has called us to a great work. There are feats He wants to accomplish in us, but until we are transformed we will not see it. We have witnessed people being delivered from Crohn’s, strokes and back injuries, and others being filled with the Holy Ghost. We have learned we have the ability to transform our services into upper room experiences. We have learned we have power to transform others around us. However, it first begins with us – until we are transformed in our minds, we will be near-sighted and easy prey. After spending some quality time with God (our cocoon experience) we can soar to heights unknown in Him.

I bless you in the Name of the Lord.

Pastor Eddie B Pruitte, Jr.