Luke 13:20-21 “Again he asked, “What shall I compare the kingdom of God to? It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough.”

What is the kingdom of God like? Here it is described as a yeast that works itself into all of the dough. What this seems to be speaking about is influence. When we seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness this godly influence will eventually spread through the culture. If this is not happening, perhaps it is because we are not seeking the kingdom of God the way we should with all of our heart, mind and soul.

We are told in Luke 6:40 “A student is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.”

In other words, we produce what we are. Seldom will we raise our disciple above ourselves. This is true with children as well. How often I have heard someone say that he will not be like his father, but others close to him see how much like his father he has already become.

It would seem that the type of influence we have is brought about by our thinking. So true it is that how we think in our heart so shall we be.

Proverbs 23:7 “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.” (KJV)

If our perspective on life is off so will be our influence off. For example, I think of C.S. Lewis who has had and still does have tremendous influence through his life as well as his writings. What gave him this influence? Was it his ability to take complex matters and put them into simple English? How true it is that to understand complex matters is one thing, but to put them down into something understandable is something else. C.S. Lewis had tremendous influence in this regard.

We know that all scholarship proceeds from some kind of worldview (the lens by which we view all of life) and C.S. Lewis believed in the Christian worldview and not the inferior worldview of secularism. One of the problems that we face in the Western World is that we get intimidated by those who hold a secular worldview compared to our biblical worldview. This, I believe, is one of the main tactics of the enemy today: intimidation and confusion.

Yet we see that our Christian worldview is the only one that answers the perplexing questions that we have in the world today. Where did this universe come from? Why is the world in such a mess? What is the solution? These are some of the questions that come out, not only here in the Western World, but throughout the world.

The only reasonable answer to these questions is the biblical worldview. God created the universe. Sin: man going his way and not God’s way, brought in the confusion and mess, but Christ is the answer. “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (KJV)

The secularist asks where is God or where did God come from? We know that the God of the Bible is not affected by time, space or matter, and if He is – then He is not God.

Like someone said: “Time, space and matter is what we call a continuum, because they would have to come into existence at the same instant. If there was matter, but no space where would you put it? If there was matter and space, but no time when would you put it? Time, space and matter would have to come into existence simultaneously. The Bible answers that in ten words: In the beginning (time) God created the heavens (space) and the earth (matter). Genesis 1:1

Here we have the trinity of trinity. Time is past, present and future; space has length, width, breadth and space has solid, liquid, gas, you have a trinity of trinities created instantaneously. The God who created them has to be outside of them. If He is limited by time He is not God. He is outside of the universe. He is above it, beyond it, through it, He is unaffected by it. The idea that a spiritual force cannot have any effect on a material body then you would have to explain things like emotions, love, hatred, envy, jealousy and rationality. If your brain is only chemicals that are formed over billions of years then how can you trust your own reasoning process of the thought that you think?

The question: where is God and where did God come from is assuming a limited God and that is the problem of those who ask the question.”

God, whom I worship, is not limited by time, space or matter, but if I could fit the infinite God into my three-pound brain then He would not be worth worshipping. So, the Christian worldview answers the questions that plague mankind.

Paul, speaking to Timothy a young man, and what we would call today a “millennial” said that he ought to study to show himself approved of God. “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” 2 Timothy 2:15

DOES PRAYER REALLY WORK?

Luke 11:1 “One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.’”

Jesus is teaching us how to be effective in prayer.

First, we are to come with the right frame of mind – praying for His kingdom to come. In Matthew 6:33 we are told that we are to seek first His Kingdom and then all of these things will be added. What things is He talking about? Things that we worry about: our shelter, clothing, health, food and our future. We are to put first things first and the first thing is the Kingdom of God and all these things (shelter, clothing, food, health and future) will be added. So why worry when we can pray, or like most seem to do: why pray when we can worry?

God knows what we need. He has made us and He knows what we need to sustain ourselves. In Luke 11:11 Jesus tells us: “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead?” Most human fathers want the best for their son and if wondering off in a wrong direction a father will seek to pull his son back to the right path. We want the best for our children. “If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” Luke 11:13 God, our heavenly Father gives us the best.

Secondly, praying for our own daily needs. We already mentioned what our daily needs are but I think it is interesting to see how Jesus frames the discussion in Matthew 6. He does so by asking a question. For example, He says “Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?” (Matthew 6:25) What does He mean? If He has given you life will He not give you what you need to sustain that life? The answer is yes. So why worry? The same with the body. He made it and will He not give what the body needs. So why worry?

Thirdly, we are to seek His will in all things. It is not my will or plans, but His will and plans that need to be forthcoming. We need to understand that Jesus is the Head and not us; HE is the brains. And yet so often we think that we are the brains, that we know what is best. However, we need to keep in mind that all His ways are perfect.

Fourth, making sure that we do not have a grudge against anyone. In Luke 11 Jesus said that a house divided cannot stand. Broken relationships within a family, church community is a great hindrance to seeing prayers being answered. We are told that the prayers of a husband and wife are powerful, but when the relationship is broken or impaired, our prayers are hindered.

Fifth, we do not give up in asking, seeking or knocking. Perseverance is a characteristic that is lacking in today’s society. We live a world of high-speed and when the answers do not come immediately we tend to give up. One of the most common causes of failure is the habit of quitting when one is overtaken by temporary defeat. Every person is guilty of this mistake at one time or another.

Napoleon Hill mentioned in his book called THINK AND GROW RICH: “Before success comes in any man’s life, he is sure to meet with much temporary defeat, and, perhaps, some failure. When defeat overtakes a man, the easiest and most logical thing to do is to quit.” Napoleon went on to describe an uncle named R.U. Darby who went west to dig for gold. He got his family and many others in back of the exhibition, but he found that it was illusive and finally gave up. He was able to sell the mine that he worked on to someone else, but that someone else had perseverance and kept on and in so doing found the vein of gold just three feet from where Darby had left off. How many of us have quit just three feet from the gold?

Sixth, asking for the wisdom of the Holy Spirit or what is needed at the time of prayer or in our daily walk – wisdom, authority, power, etc. We can ask the Holy Spirit to give us what is needed at the time of need. Jesus said, “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”

Sidlow Baxter said: “Men may spurn our appeals, reject our message, oppose our arguments, despise our persons, but they are helpless against our prayers.”

Luke 6:1-5 “One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grain fields, and his disciples began to pick some heads of grain, rub them in their hands and eat the kernels. Some of the Pharisees asked, ‘Why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He entered the house of God, and taking the consecrated bread, he ate what is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.’  Then Jesus said to them, ‘The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.’”

The Pharisees had a real distain for Jesus and His disciples and so they nit-picked everything that He did. Here they saw Jesus doing something that they thought was unlawful and pointed it out. They were looking through what I call colored glasses. They did not criticize King David for when he did something similar – they looked the other way.

When it comes to President Trump and the main stream media I see the same thing in the political world today. Yes, Trump is not your typical politician or president, following protocol and all, and saying things he probably wished he hadn’t, that the media continues to harp on, but what about Obama and the unmasking of Americans? What about Hillary selling 20% of our uranium to the Russians and the next thing we see is millions coming into their foundation and Bill Clinton receiving a whopping honorarium for one speech given in Moscow? Or Hillary’s private e-mail server that contained classified information? Or their foundation when it came to finances meant for the earthquake victims of Haiti? Could it be that the main stream media is looking at President Trump through their colored glasses?

What about us personally? Are we guilty of the same thing as the Pharisees, looking at things through their colored glasses? What about those who preach and teach the Word of God giving prestige to those who are the bigger givers in the churches – as James brings out: “If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, ‘Here’s a good seat for you,’ but say to the poor man, ‘You stand there’ or ‘Sit on the floor by my feet,’ have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?” James 2:3-4

Perhaps we have become judges with evil thoughts, like James said, with politics too?

When it comes to members of our family, are we judging one another with our evil thoughts of colored glasses? Have we looked at our spouse or children and found ourselves judging them in a condemning way for something they did or did not do?

In Romans 2:1 Paul tells us: “Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things.” We seem to forget that people around us are like mirrors reflecting us and reacting to others we are faced with.

Paul goes on to tell us in Romans 2:1 “And do you think this, O man, you who judge those practicing such things, and doing the same, that you will escape the judgment of God?” Sin is sin. We are all sinners. One sin is not worse than another to God.

It is like a tape recorder is tied around our necks that records every word that we speak and God judges us on that basis. Words have the power of life and death. Jesus say “that men will have to give account on the Day of Judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.” Matthew 12:36-37

No wonder James gave us sound advice when he said, “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.” James 1:19

We should learn from Job who said to God when he didn’t understand what was happening and what God was doing, “I put my hand over my mouth.” Job 40:4

The Spin Stops Here

Luke 7:22 “So he replied to the messengers, “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor.”

When John’s disciples came, and asked Jesus if He is the one prophesied of, or should they look for another – it is interesting to see the answer that Jesus gave them.  He tells them to go tell John what they have seen (action/miracles) and heard (apologetics); that the sick are healed, the blind receive sight, the lame walk, etc. In other words, we need to have both. People need to see miracles taking place as well as hearing systematic argumentation and discourse in understanding the foundation of our faith in Jesus Christ (apologetics).

We are to go out and meet the world. We are to be influencers and Jesus showed us some of the principles that will make a difference in the world. Often what it means, is to be just the opposite of what we see in the world.

For example, where there is the spirit of pride, exhibit humility; where there is stubbornness, exhibit flexibility; where there is an unforgiving spirit, exhibit forgiveness.  In other words, we are to exhibit the opposite of the ungodly spirit that is being manifested. We are in a spiritual warfare and we are to use our weapons wisely.

For the last couple of weeks, I have seen in several families a spiritual battle taking place in how what is said is being spun leading to strife within the marriage.

Praying over this I have come to realize that there is a Leviathan-spirit and one of its main tactics is to twist our words and spin the truth. This spirit causes misunderstanding and strife within relationships. It is like a crocodile that gets its kill in its mouth and will spin as fast as it can to bring its kill under its control. We see this spirit being played out in the political and media realm in how truth is being spun.

One of the most successful programs on the Fox News has been Bill O’Reilly’s No Spin Zone. He has now been fired by Fox, because of sexual innuendos. How true those accusations are I do not know, but what is interesting to me is that his “No Spin Zone” is no more. Could this be a spiritual battle taking place?

We live in a world where there is so much deception and the possibility of being deceived is great, because the truth is being spun. Did not Isaiah speak of a day like this?

Isaiah 59:14-15 “Truth has stumbled in the streets, honesty cannot enter. Truth is nowhere to be found, and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey.”

When John the Baptist’s disciples came to Jesus asking if He was the real one, the true one, what did Jesus do? He showed them that He was – by what He was doing.

In all of the spinning taking place in the world today as well as in our families – what are we to do? We show the opposite spirit. We put up ‘no spin zones’ in our area of influence within our families, jobs, professions, etc., and we say to the Leviathan spirit: ‘the spin stops here!’

Luke 10:38-41 “As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, ‘Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!’”

‘Martha, Martha,’ the Lord answered, ‘you are worried and upset about many things, But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.’”

We need balance in all that we do. We need ‘to be’ like Mary more often sitting at the feet of Jesus and listening to what He is saying, along with the work of each day like Martha. This is why I like the early morning when I get up and sit at the feet of the Lord to hear what He has to say, giving me instructions for the day. When I miss this time it is to my own detriment. We are always wanting ‘to do,’ but God is often wanting us ‘to be.’

In Psalms 37:7 King David gave us some good advice: “Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him; do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass.”

The Hebrew word for “rest” is daman: to be silent, still, dumb. Calmly resign and leave all things in the hands of God. This is a sure cure for dissatisfaction.  The idea in back of the word ‘wait’ is to set yourself to expect God to answer.

A danger of not waiting on the Lord is that we will run ahead of Him and do the work of the Lord in human energy and not in the Holy Spirit. Not only do we build on wood, hay and stubble, but we can put into effect circumstances that have far reaching consequences. We see with this Abraham’s wife, Sarah, when the promise of God was late in coming, so she thought. What she put into motion is now affecting Israel and all of us today.

In our Western culture, we find it difficult to wait. We live in a world where success takes on the form of doing, what we achieve, being super busy, etc. and when this is not happening there is that feeling of not accomplishing anything. When it comes to sitting at the feet of Jesus, waiting on Him we find hard to do because we cannot measure what is being done. It is not something that we can see. This is where faith comes in because “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”  (Hebrews 11:1)

Yet the idea in back of the word ‘wait’ is to set yourself to expect God to answer.

Faith is being in God’s waiting room and while there – God is teaching us some precious lessons. We find that we are being:

1. Tested by uncertainty. We know that something we have been waiting for, praying for, is coming, but we do not know when. Faith is trusting God in the uncertainty. When we have been praying about something and it does not immediately manifest we will go through a time of uncertainty. This is where real faith comes in. Do we trust God during these times?
2. Tested by fear. Fear is what paralyzes us from doing and being all that God wants.  It was fear that kept me from responding to God’s calling for almost three years. There was a fear that He might call me do something that I did not want to do or felt incapable of doing.  I was afraid that if I surrendered to God that He would call me to preach, the one thing that I hated was public speaking. God had given me a promise in Matthew 28: 20 “I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” 2 Timothy 1:7 “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.” It was also through 1 John 4:18 that God spoke to me: “There is no fear (fobos, fobou, fear, dread, terror) in love. But perfect love drives out fear.”
3. Tested by disappointment. We live in a fallen world and there will be disappointments. What we thought would happen did not; people that we depend on can let us down.
4. Tested by delay. God keeping His promises. This is probably the biggest test and that is delay. It ties in with uncertainty, because when something does not happen that we thought would, we begin to doubt if what we were believing and working towards was really of the Lord to begin with.   Satan is very clever coming in at this time to throw doubts and discouragement our way. We may also begin to manipulate and in our strength try to bring the desired result.
5. Tested by blessings. In Genesis 22:1 we see that Abraham after waiting for a number of years is finally blessed with what God had promised that he would have the son of Sarah as promised in her old age: Isaac (whose name means laughter). It was a few years after this that Abraham was tested when God told him to take his son to a certain mountain and there sacrifice him. What thoughts must have gone through Abraham’s mind at the time; what a battle, but he obeyed and Isaac was replaced with a ram. What was happening here was to establish priority. God must be first.

If we will seek FIRST the kingdom of God and HIS righteousness, God will add all good things to us. Nothing good will He withhold from them who walk uprightly.

Psalms 27:14 “Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.”