Yeast and Faith

As with the mustard seed, faith in God starts small. As you learn and apply yourself to God’s ways, it is like the small amount of yeast found in a loaf of bread.  It spreads itself throughout your mind and behavior and you rise to the Lord’s call on your life. 

Luke 13: 20-21  (TLB) 20-21 “It is like yeast kneaded into dough, which works unseen until it has risen high and light.”

5/28/2023

Wheat among the Weeds

 

The enemy loves to disrupt your connection with God each time you progress in understanding and faith. The promises of God exist among the lies of the world just as weeds grow with good crops. Keep to God’s Word and he will remove the weeds at harvest.

Matthew 13:24-30 (TLB)  24 Here is another illustration Jesus used: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a farmer sowing good seed in his field; 25 but one night as he slept, his enemy came and sowed thistles among the wheat. 26 When the crop began to grow, the thistles grew too. 27 “The farmer’s men came and told him, ‘Sir, the field where you planted that choice seed is full of thistles!’ 28 “‘An enemy has done it,’ he exclaimed. “‘Shall we pull out the thistles?’ they asked. 29 “‘No,’ he replied. ‘You’ll hurt the wheat if you do. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and I will tell the reapers to sort out the thistles and burn them, and put the wheat in the barn.’”

5/21/2023

The Two Sons

The sons in this parable represent why you look at what others actually do, not what they testify to.  Evil men and prostitutes can see this distinction more easily than those who think they are good people and point the finger at those they consider their lessers.

Matthew 21:28-32 (TLB)  28 “But what do you think about this? A man with two sons told the older boy, ‘Son, go out and work on the farm today.’ 29 ‘I won’t,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went. 30 Then the father told the youngest, ‘You go!’ and he said, ‘Yes, sir, I will.’ But he didn’t. 31 Which of the two was obeying his father?” They replied, “The first, of course.” Then Jesus explained his meaning: “Surely evil men and prostitutes will get into the Kingdom before you do. 32 For John the Baptist told you to repent and turn to God, and you wouldn’t, while very evil men and prostitutes did. And even when you saw this happening, you refused to repent, and so you couldn’t believe.

5/14/2023

If you have ears, listen!

 

Your listening varies, depending on what motivates you. To listen for God, you must know it is worth it and spend time each day consciously building your relationship with him.  When you really listen to God, the results are exponentially beyond comparison. 

Mark 4:3-9 (TLB) 3 “Listen! A farmer decided to sow some grain. As he scattered it across his field, 4 some of it fell on a path, and the birds came and picked it off the hard ground and ate it. 5-6 Some fell on thin soil with underlying rock. It grew up quickly enough, but soon wilted beneath the hot sun and died because the roots had no nourishment in the shallow soil. 7 Other seeds fell among thorns that shot up and crowded the young plants so that they produced no grain. 8 But some of the seeds fell into good soil and yielded thirty times as much as he had planted—some of it even sixty or a hundred times as much! 9 If you have ears, listen!”

5/7/2023