Yesterday I bought a package of sea salt. The cashier and I were talking about the how her day was going; following that, we discussed the tedious task of couponing (which I fail to do); and then she picked up the sea salt from the conveyor belt. She said that sea salt is great for cooking but also good for witchcraft. I thought I misheard her but then she repeated it.
“When you feel an evil spirit in your presence, people believe you can sprinkle sea salt around your room and the evil spirit will go away. That’s witchcraft. I don’t know if you believe in that kind of thing but it’s happened to me before. I get scared so I sprinkle the sea salt around my room.”
I don’t know if I was simply in shock (because I’ve never encountered someone who believes in witchcraft) or if I was… no, I was just in shock.
“Yeah, I gotta be honest with you. I don’t believe in witchcraft. I believe in Jesus.”
I wish I had said more. I wish that I had doused her in the “living and active Word of God, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).
But all I could say, “I believe in Jesus.”
I wish I had said that “the Lord is my strength and my defense” (Exodus 15:2). The Father is the One I run to when I’m afraid.
I wish I had said that “even the demons believe that God is the one true God - and they shudder at His name” (James 2:19). Demons are real but God defeats them, not sea salt.
I wish (and I’m aiming for this) that God’s Word was so deeply ingrained in my spirit that I would be able to say these things to her.
But instead I simply say, “I believe in Jesus.”
Today, my prayer is that “I believe in Jesus” was enough. That somehow God would use my simple, not-thought-out-enough statement to penetrate her heart. That somehow, through the power of the Holy Spirit, she heard me say something a lot more life-changing and pertinent than the real words that came out of my mouth.
While I don’t feel like it was enough, I believe that God can make it enough. I’m clinging to that hope.
I’ve been praying for opportunities to share the Gospel with people. It’s a simple prayer with pure intentions but I forget just how powerfully God can use that prayer to draw others into Him. And my confession to y’all is that I also forget to pray that God will couple those opportunities with the words to share the Gospel with the people He places in my path. I pray for opportunities, but I fail to pray for the wisdom in how to act in those opportunities. Today my prayer is changing.
“When you feel an evil spirit in your presence, people believe you can sprinkle sea salt around your room and the evil spirit will go away. That’s witchcraft. I don’t know if you believe in that kind of thing but it’s happened to me before. I get scared so I sprinkle the sea salt around my room.”
I don’t know if I was simply in shock (because I’ve never encountered someone who believes in witchcraft) or if I was… no, I was just in shock.
“Yeah, I gotta be honest with you. I don’t believe in witchcraft. I believe in Jesus.”
I wish I had said more. I wish that I had doused her in the “living and active Word of God, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).
But all I could say, “I believe in Jesus.”
I wish I had said that “the Lord is my strength and my defense” (Exodus 15:2). The Father is the One I run to when I’m afraid.
I wish I had said that “even the demons believe that God is the one true God - and they shudder at His name” (James 2:19). Demons are real but God defeats them, not sea salt.
I wish (and I’m aiming for this) that God’s Word was so deeply ingrained in my spirit that I would be able to say these things to her.
But instead I simply say, “I believe in Jesus.”
Today, my prayer is that “I believe in Jesus” was enough. That somehow God would use my simple, not-thought-out-enough statement to penetrate her heart. That somehow, through the power of the Holy Spirit, she heard me say something a lot more life-changing and pertinent than the real words that came out of my mouth.
While I don’t feel like it was enough, I believe that God can make it enough. I’m clinging to that hope.
I’ve been praying for opportunities to share the Gospel with people. It’s a simple prayer with pure intentions but I forget just how powerfully God can use that prayer to draw others into Him. And my confession to y’all is that I also forget to pray that God will couple those opportunities with the words to share the Gospel with the people He places in my path. I pray for opportunities, but I fail to pray for the wisdom in how to act in those opportunities. Today my prayer is changing.
