healthy – BCU

The Power of Salt: Spiritual Meaning and Promises

Hey there BCU Family!

I was honored to teach on the subject of salt years ago, last month, and I recently had a very special request for an encore of “salt talk”. For part 2 of this three-part series, you will have the option of listening to our podcast (click here, or the BCU avatar below to listen), or, if you are short on time, reading the basic notes below, or you can do BOTH! In any case, we pray the podcast blesses you. If so, please thumbs up or leave a comment! Thank you and enjoy your study!

BlenCouragesU · BCU Podcast | Salted Promises | (Ep 381)

Podcast highlights:

Last post, I started on a “salt series” that talked about salt production and how vital it is to our natural body and in the body of Christ on a spiritual level.
In today’s conversation, let’s take a look at what salt has to do with promises.

Anchor Scripture: “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men (Matthew 5:13 NKJV).

Let’s see why we need to keep salt in us relating to promises.

One of the earliest mentions of salt is in Leviticus 2. That chapter outlines detailed instructions on how sacrifices had to be prepared to be given to the priests and then offered to God. In verses 4-6, you’ll see God was very specific about the flour, oil—and even if the grain sacrifice was made pan versus a frying pan. (Side note: note how you just couldn’t bring God a sacrifice any ‘ol way. That’s important for us to think about when we bring Him our sacrifice of praise, worship, time, money….anything we have for Him, we should give Him our best). Looking at the verses 11-12, God specifies the “seasonings” on the offering—-that there should be no leaven or honey, but:

“Every offering you shall season with salt. You shall not allow the salt of the covenant of your God to be lacking from your grain offering. With all your offerings you shall offer salt” (Leviticus 2:13).

Okay, Blen, so what does that mean? I am glad you asked! Salt was just not a food enhancer or monetary trade items like we learned last time, it was also used as a covenant symbol.

History mentions that people used salt as a sign of binding loyalty and a symbol of alliance. In fact, in Europe and parts of the Middle East, salt and bread are offered to guests as a sign of friendship (hence the phrase “we have salt between us”). Additionally, treaties and truces were formalized using salt. Each person would take a lick of salt (similar to shaking hands) to “seal the deal”.

Salt was also used to heal a rift between parties as well. If there was a disagreement between folks, you would invite the person into your home to share a dish of salt. Each of you would lick your finger, dip it in the salt and then eat the salt together. As peculiar as this may sound, when a promise was seasoned with salt, it was so serious, that people would rather die than break that promise! Let’s examine another Scripture on the Covenant of salt.

2 Chronicles 13 tells of a war between Israel (King Jeroboam) and Judah (King Abijah). Jeroboam had the bigger army and was pretty sure he could take Abijah down. King Abijah reminded Jeriboam of God’s promise.

“Should you not know that the Lord God of Israel gave the dominion over Israel to David forever, to him and his sons, by a covenant of salt? Now look, God Himself is with us as our head, and His priests with sounding trumpets to sound the alarm against you. O children of Israel, do not fight against the Lord God of your fathers, for you shall not prosper!” Then the men of Judah gave a shout; and as the men of Judah shouted, it happened that God struck Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah” (2 Chronicles 13:5,12,15 NKJV). Yessss———God ALWAYS keeps His word and Judah triumphed!!!!!!

Are you connecting the dots, BCUFamily? Isn’t it wonderful to see how God shows us how He keeps promises with something as simple, yet as powerful as salt? How about the promises we make? 🙊Are they “salt-worthy”? Solomon warns us think before we vow:

Do not be rash with your mouth, and let not your heart utter anything hastily before God. For God is in heaven, and you on earth; Therefore let your words be few (Ecclesiastes 5:2 NKJV).

I cannot speak for you all, but if someone promises they will do something and they don’t follow through, I am so disappointed! Because the Lord has made me more mindful about keeping my word, He reminds me to say “with God’s help I will”…or, “if nothing changes, I plan to”, or “Lord will, I’ll…” Keeping that last verse in mind, it really helps us to rely on our perfect God to help us keep our word. Also, if we something does happen, it’s a good idea to circle back to the person quickly and fulfill your promise as soon as possible.

Bottom line: If you can’t season your promise with salt, it really best not to promise at all. I heard a cartoon character say, a broken promise cannot be easily put back together. That’s heavy, right? So keeping that in mind, we should pray before we promise. Amen? Amen!

As a reminder, if you have not subscribed to BlenCouragesU.com, please do so! It’s free and a good place to get the encouragement, inspiration and information based the Word of God! Additionally, you can also see what we are up to on Facebook, X, and Instagram. Also, if you so inclined, join us Thursday nights––we are LIVE on YouTube at 8:05EST/7:05CST. You can also listen in and subscribe to the podcast on Apple podcasts, Pandora, and Spotify!

Thank you SO much for stopping by. God bless, keep and make His face to shine upon you as you #StayOnTheWall!

Love,

BCU

11 Feb 2025

BlenCouragesU1 Comment

The Essential Role of Salt in Our Lives

Hey there BCU Family!

I was honored to teach on the subject of salt years ago, last month, and I had a very special request (Hi Lydia and Mark!♥️💙), for an encore of “salt talk” just this week! For this three-part series, you will have the option of listening to our podcast (click here, or the BCU avatar below to listen), or, if you are short on time, reading the basic notes below, or you can do BOTH! In any case, we pray the podcast blesses you. If so, please thumbs up or leave a comment! Thank you and enjoy your study!

Podcast highlights:

For years, salt have been told to lower or not to consume salt. On the contrary, God designed us to need salt in our lives.
In today’s conversation, we will take a look at the history of salt and why it is essential to have in our diets and in our daily interactions with people.

BlenCouragesU · BCU Podcast | The Essential Role of Salt in Our Lives | (Ep 380)

Photo by Quang Nguyen Vinh on Pexels.com

A while back, the Lord blessed me teach on salt at a conference, and I thought I’d share a condensed version of what He gave me with all of you. In Matthew 5:13, Jesus said, “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.“

Why salt? Let’s start by taking a look at the history of salt and why we need it in our natural bodies and in The Body of Christ.

Salt comes from the ocean, and the salt water is usually channeled into smaller, shallow pools of water. The wind and sun evaporate the water and as the salt crystallizes, it is, in some cases, hand-harvested by sauniers. Depending on the type of salt being harvested, this labor-intensive process can sometimes take up to five years to complete!

The Latin word for salt is salarium, meaning ‘pertaining to salt’, but also is where our word “salary” comes from. History tells us salt was a precious, expensive, highly valued item of trade and sometime used for monetary exchange. In fact, some sources say Roman soldiers were even paid in salt! That may sound strange now, but back then when salt was your salary, you were living LARGE! Now that you have some background, let’s take a look at why we need salt.

Salt gets a bad rap in part, because our diets have changed to include more processed, fatty and preserved food that has lots of table salt. Table salt is not all bad, just not as good as natural sea salt is. Pure sea salt has minerals like sulphate, magnesium, calcium, potassium, bicarbonate, bromide, borate, strontium, and fluoride—–the body needs micro-nutrients to function. While table salt originally comes from sea salt, in its processing, those minerals are stripped away and iodine added in. (Side note: Speaking as a researcher, and not a trained and licensed medical professional, rather than consuming processed table salt, I suggest getting the sea salt and eat more wild-caught fish and certain veggies for iodine). 😉

Pure sea salt is needed in your body because it:

–Prevents muscle cramps
–Provides essential nutrients
–Enhances nutrient absorption

Pure sea salt also regulates:
–Blood pressure (in conjunction with water)
–Blood sugar
–Sleep

This is just a fraction of what this needed nutrient does for us!! In essence, salt regulates your body, helps you function and keeps a lot of the “bad” out. Now let’s look at the spiritual need for salt.

Salt regulates the body of Christ by keeping the bad out:

Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like, which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God (Galatians 5:19-21 NKJV).

It also keeps us functioning by keeping the good in like love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, temperance, faith and meekness (Galatians 5:22). With the salt Jesus gives you on the inside, it shows up on the outside!

As a needed spiritual nutrient, Jesus commanded that we “have salt in yourselves and peace with one another” (Mark 9:50). In our next installment, we’ll take a look at what that means and why salt is vital in friendships and covenants, Amen? Please stay tuned!

So what are your thoughts on our topic-du-jour? Did you know that salt was so vital to your body? How awesome is it that God made it so we need salt for regulating our spiritual lives as well? Isn’t God amazing? Please head to the comments section below and let’s chat some more!

As a reminder, if you have not subscribed to BlenCouragesU.com, please do so! It’s free and a good place to get the encouragement, inspiration and information based the Word of God! Additionally, you can also see what we are up to on Facebook, X, and Instagram. Also, if you so inclined, join us Thursday nights––we are LIVE on YouTube8:05EST/7:05CST. You can also listen in and subscribe to the podcast on Apple podcasts, Pandora, and Spotify!

Thank you SO much for stopping by. God bless, keep and make His face to shine upon you as you #StayOnTheWall!

Love,

BCU

4 Feb 2025

BlenCouragesU3 Comments

Making “salted promises.”

Hey there BCU Family!

You have the option of listening to our podcast (click the BCU avatar below to listen), reading the notes or BOTH. In any case, we pray the podcast blesses you. If so, please thumbs up or leave a comment! Thank you and enjoy your study!

Last post, I started on a “salt series” that talked about salt production and how vital it is to our natural body and in the body of Christ on a spiritual level. This time around, lets see what the Word is on salt. Here is our anchor scripture.

“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men (Matthew 5:13).

Let’s see why we need to keep salt in us.

One of the earliest mentions of salt is in Leviticus 2. That chapter outlines detailed instructions on how sacrifices had to be prepared to be given to the priests and then offered to God. In verses 4-6, you’ll see God was very specific about the flour, oil—and even if the grain sacrifice was made pan versus a frying pan. (Side note: note how you just couldn’t bring God a sacrifice any old way. That’s important for us to think about when we bring Him our sacrifice of praise, worship, time, money..anything we have for Him, we should give Him our best). Looking at the verses 11-12, God specifies the “seasonings” on the offering–that there should be no leaven or honey, but:

Okay, Blen, so what does that mean? I am glad you asked! Salt was just not a food enhancer or monetary trade items like we learned last time, it was also used as a covenant symbol.

Salt was also used to heal a rift between parties as well. If there was a disagreement between folks, you would invite the person into your home to share a dish of salt. Each of you would lick your finger, dip it in the salt and then eat the salt together. Peculiar as this may sound, when a promise was seasoned with salt, it was so serious, that people would rather die than break that promise! Let’s examine another Scripture on the Covenant of salt.

2 Chronicles 13 tells of a war between Israel (King Jeroboam) and Judah (King Abijah). Jeroboam had the bigger army and was pretty sure he could take Abijah down. King Abijah reminded Jeriboam of God’s promise.

“Should you not know that the Lord God of Israel gave the dominion over Israel to David forever, to him and his sons, by a covenant of salt? Now look, God Himself is with us as our head, and His priests with sounding trumpets to sound the alarm against you. O children of Israel, do not fight against the Lord God of your fathers, for you shall not prosper!” Then the men of Judah gave a shout; and as the men of Judah shouted, it happened that God struck Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah” (2 Chronicles 13:5,12,15 NKJV). Yessss–God ALWAYS keeps His word and Judah triumphed!!!!!!

Are you connecting the dots, Family? Isn’t it wonderful to see how God shows us how He keeps promises with something as simple, yet as powerful as salt? How about the promises we make? 🙊Are they “salt-worthy”? Solomon warns us think before we vow:

Do not be rash with your mouth, and let not your heart utter anything hastily before God. For God is in heaven, and you on earth; Therefore let your words be few (Ecclesiastes 5:2 NKJV).

So what are your thoughts on our topic-du-jour? Did you know about the salt covenant? Do you think about your promises carefully before making them? Please head to the comments section below and let’s chat some more!

In the meantime, if you have not subscribed to BlenCouragesU.com, please do so! It’s free and a good place to get the encouragement, inspiration and information based the Word of God! Additionally, you can also see what we are up to on Facebook, Twitter , and Instagram! You can also listen in and subscribe to the podcast on Stitcher Radio , Google Play, and Apple podcasts!

Thank you SO much for stopping by. God bless, keep and make His face to shine upon you as you #StayOnTheWall!

Love,

BCU

25 May 2019

BlenCouragesU1 Comment

Why being “salty” is a good thing.

Hey there BCU Family!

Podcast highlights:

- For years, salt has gotten bad press and that is “fake news”. God designed us to need salt in our lives.
- We will take a look at the history of salt and why it is essential to have in our diets and in our daily interactions with people.

A while back, the Lord blessed me teach on salt at a conference, and I thought I’d share a condensed version of what He gave me with all of you. In Matthew 5:13, Jesus said, 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.

Why salt? Let’s start by taking a look at the history of salt and why we need it in our natural bodies and in The Body of Christ.

The Latin word for salt is salarium, meaning ‘pertaining to salt’, but also is where our word “salary” comes from. History tells us salt was a precious, expensive, highly valued item of trade and sometime used for monetary exchange. In fact, some sources say Roman soldiers were even paid in salt! That may sound strange now, but back themwhen salt was your salary, you were living LARGE! Now that you have some background, let’s take a look at why we need salt.

Salt gets a bad rap in part, because our diets have changed to include more processed, fatty and preserved food that has lots of table salt. Table salt is not all bad, just not as good as natural sea salt is. Pure sea salt has minerals like sulphate, magnesium, calcium, potassium, bicarbonate, bromide, borate, strontium, and fluoride–the body needs these to function. While table salt originally comes from sea salt, in its processing, those minerals are stripped away and iodine added in. (Side note: Rather than consuming processed table salt, I suggest getting the sea salt and eat more wild-caught fish and veggies for iodine). 😉

Pure sea salt is needed in your body because it:

Prevents muscle cramps
Provides essential nutrients
Enhances nutrient absorption

Pure sea salt also regulates:
–Blood pressure (in conjunction with water)
–Blood sugar
–Sleep

Salt regulates the body of Christ by keeping the bad out:

Thank you SO much for stopping by. God bless, keep and make His face to shine upon you as you #StayOnTheWall!

Love,

BCU

13 May 201913 May 2019

BlenCouragesU3 Comments

Wonderfully made..

Hey fam!

This is a quick reminder post from a while back. I was poking around on a couple of sites on the Internet and came across this picture:

I think many of us wish for, fret about, or loathe something about our faces or bodies–believe me, I GET it. In fact, we spend a LOT of time, energy and money on comparisons, youth potions or the latest diet fads. Or we just do nothing. At. All. These are NOT options!

Bottom line: Now, let the record show, I am ALL for looking your best and being healthy, now–we just have to work with what God gave us (not always easy) and if there is something within our control we can improve, then, sure go for it. In the meantime, let’s ask God to help us remember He took the time to make us special, to be you and no one else for a reason!