HOW DOES GOD GUIDE US?

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"How Does God Guide Us?" (Audio) - June 20, 2004 Text: Psalm 25:4-9

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Psalm 25: 4-9 4 Show me your ways, O LORD, teach me your paths; 5 guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long. 6 Remember, O LORD, your great mercy and love, for they are from of old. 7 Remember not the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways; according to your love remember me, for you are good, O LORD. 8 Good and upright is the LORD; therefore he instructs sinners in his ways. 9 He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way. Most people realize that we can use a lot of guidance in life. We are faced with decisions all the time about relationships, friendships, family, marriage, and child rearing. We have to decide how to use our time, budget and spend our money, and plan for the future. We have to decide how we will overcome our temptations, handle our challenges, resolve our conflicts, and make the most of opportunities. Even our everyday decisions can have a big impact on our lives, the lives and feelings of other people, and our relationship with God. We need guidance in life. Many people today say: Sure we need guidance, but where are you going to get it? A teaching of the Bible is that there is a God who made us in his image and one of the things he offers us, in a relationship with himself, is the guidance of a heavenly father. One of the things that separate the Christian view of guidance from pagan and modern views of guidance is that Christ and the Bible teaches us that real guidance from God always comes in a real relationship with God. You see that here in Psalm 25:5, guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long. The cult view of guidance is something you get through certain crafts or ceremonies. You read the tealeaves, cast the bones, and look at the stars to get some information. You see into the future and do what you want with what you discover. The modern view of guidance is a product that you buy. Personal trainers, financial advisers, and marriage counselors all have information that you need and pay for. You may or may not have a real relationship with those people, but that is not essential. They have information you need and don't have, and you can get it from them for a fee. When the Bible talks about guidance it is talking about something that is different from both the pagan and modern view of guidance. The Biblical view of guidance is fatherly. You can ask for and receive guidance from your father in heaven. Sometimes even if you don't ask for it you are going to get it. God's guidance is active, concerned, engaged, and committed to you. Sometimes God guides us through the wise counsel of other people. The Bible encourages us to get counsel and advice, and to listen to it. Proverbs 12:15 The way of a fool seems right to him, but a wise man listens to advice.

Proverbs 20:18 Make plans by seeking advice; if you wage war, obtain guidance. Sometimes God guides through the circumstances of life In 1 Corinthians 16:9 the apostle Paul talks about God opening a door of opportunity for effective ministry. Proverbs 16:9 says: In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps life to open doors and close doors and guides us into his will. The counsel of others and the circumstances of life are both important ways that God guides us in life, but they are not the most important ways in which God offers us guidance. There are two other ways that God guides us in life that are stressed more strongly in the Bible. God Guides Us Through the Bible Psalm 25:4 is a heartfelt prayer for God to show us His ways, and teach us his paths. The Bible itself is the primary way God answers that prayer. The word Bible comes from the Greek word for "book. The Bible is the teach us his paths. book God inspired to show us His ways, and Sometimes when we see celebrities advertise products on TV we wonder if they really use what they are advertising. When you study the life of Christ there's no question that Jesus Christ lived his whole life immersed in the light and truth of the same Bible to which he points us as our ultimate source of guidance in life. In Luke 11:28 Jesus said, "Blessed ... are those who hear the word of God and obey it." If you want God's guidance for your life, look first in the Bible. Federal Express once ran a commercial similar to the movie Castaway, in which Tom Hanks played a Fed Ex worker whose company plane went down, stranding him on a deserted island for years. Looking like Tom Hanks in the movie, the Fed Ex employee in the commercial goes up to the door of a suburban home, package in hand. When the lady comes to the door he explains that he survived 5 years on a deserted island and during that whole time he kept this package in order to deliver it to her. She gives a simple, "Thank you", but he is curious about what is in the package that he has been protecting for years. He says, "If I may ask, what was in that package after all?" She opens it and shows him the contents saying, "Oh, nothing really. Just a satellite telephone, a global positioning device, a compass, a water purifier, and some seeds." The irony of the ad is that this man had spent five years on a deserted island, the whole time having in his possession a package that contained a wealth of resources. These resources would have helped him in his situation, but he never dug into the package to discover its contents. The Bible is full of resources. You have the moral, spiritual, and relational guidance that provides you with a wealth of resources for life's greatest challenges. These resources are not addressed to someone else; they are intended for you. Open up the Bible, dig in, and use it. Some people say: "I don't know how to find the guidance I need in the Bible." Let me offer some practical suggestions. 1.) Most Bibles have what's called a topical concordance in the back of them. If yours does not, you can buy an inexpensive paperback Bible that does. You can use that topical concordance to look up key words and it will tell you Bible verses that use that word. You can look up words like Money or Marriage and it will show you verses in the Bible that speak to those issues. One thing to note is that a concordance will only give you

verses that use the actual word you are looking for. So if a verse uses the word "husbands" but not "marriage" you won't find it under "marriage". If you want to use your concordance to help you get guidance on an issue in life, write down two or three key words that are related to that topic. Don't just look at marriage, but look at "husbands" and "wives". Don't just look at the "money", but also the words "giving" and "contentment". 2.) Start building your own Bible knowledge through regular Bible reading and Bible study. This is one of the key purposes of our Sunday Morning Fellowship Bible Studies. The more you read, study, and memorize the Bible the more it's teachings and thought patterns become yours. 3.) Draw on the resources of the community of Christians to which you belong. Christ Community Church is not just a service to attend on Sundays, we are a fellowship of Christians, a community of faith, and we are here to help and support each other in a life of Christian discipleship. If you don't know where to look in the Bible for the guidance you need, ask others to help you. If you don't know where to find something in the Bible, ask the members of your growth group, the leader of your Fellowship bible Study, or call the church office. In every situation and choice you face, the Bible should be the first place you look for guidance, the constant source for checking and evaluating the choices you are making, and the final authority for the direction you take. Get into the Bible and get God's guidance into your life. When looking for God's guidance in the Bible don't just look for what to do but how to do it. The most important guidance the Bible gives us is guidance into an empowering relationship with Christ as our Savior and source of life. Notice at the heart of Davids prayer for guidance in Psalm 25 there is an expression of faith in God as Savior. Psalm 25:5-7 says: Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long. 6 Remember, O LORD, your great mercy and love, for they are from of old. 7 Remember not the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways; according to your love remember me, for you are good, O LORD. The Bible tells that we need a Savior because our sins separate us from God. We deserve the judgment of God, but God loves us. Jesus Christ, who is God the son in human flesh, came to suffer and die on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins and rise again as our Lord. The Bible tells us that if we admit that we need God and His forgiveness and turn to him humbly trusting Christ as our Lord and Savior, He will come into our life with incredible grace and love. The love relationship into which He brings us, the forgiveness with which he enfolds us, the promises he makes to us, and his own presence always with us are things that empower us and set us free to not only receive but to follow His guidance. God's guidance first of all (and continually) guides us into a relationship with him and his grace that empowers us to do what he leads us to do. Let God's guidance in the Bible continually guide you into a deeper, richer, empowering relationship with God and guide you into the specific things he wants you to do. The Bible is the primary means of guidance in our lives, but it is not the only way God guides us. God Guides Us Through His Holy Spirit The Bible often talks about being led by the Spirit. Romans 8:14 says, ... those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. The leading of the Holy Spirit is something that goes on within your heart. It's an impulse, impression, motivation, or thought leading and guiding you into God's will for your life. The Holy Spirit often gives us specific guidance in areas the Bible does not address. In the book of Nehemiah 2:12 Nehemiah speaks of "what God had put into my heart to do for Jerusalem." This was something very specific that God was guiding Nehemiah to do.

Sometimes we need very specific guidance from the Spirit of God. The Bible tells me to love my neighbor, but I don't have a generic neighbor popped out of a cookie cutter. I have to learn how to best show love to a very specific person and I need wisdom and guidance for that. Where do I get it? Common sense, sure that helps but you also need specific wisdom and guidance from God. The Bible tells us that if we ask God for guidance we will receive it. Psalm 25 teaches us to pray for guidance, verses 4-5 again: Show me your ways, O LORD, teach me your paths; 5 guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long. James 1:5 gives us a promise about this kind of prayer. It says: If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. What this means in practice is that we need to set time aside to pray and say: "Lord, what do you want to say to me that I need to hear today? Ask him specifically, "Lord, what's the next step for me? What areas of my spiritual life need to be developed? How am I doing with my family? How should I face these issues?" Ask for wisdom and when you ask, ask expectantly, listen quietly and respond with humility and obedience. God promises that when you ask in faith for his guidance for the purpose of receiving that guidance and doing his will, he will answer you. Deep hurts will be healed, spiritual breakthroughs will occur, and needed solutions to difficult problems will take shape and become clear and God's guidance will be given. Prayer is a two-way conversation. In the ALPHA course we're asked to imagine going to a doctor with a number of problems. You say, Doctor, I have a fungus growing under my toenail, my eyes are itchy all the time, I have joint pain in my right elbow, lower back pain, I think I'm running a fever, and may I have the flu. You go through all these problems and then you glance up at the clock and say: Wow, it's late, I've got a lot to do so I've got to go now. Thanks for listening. The doctor might want to say, Hold on a minute. Don't you want to hear what I have to say? If whenever we pray we only speak to God but never take time to listen, we make the same mistake. In Psalm 46:10 God says, "Be still, and know that I am God." I believe that teaches us that when we are still or quiet there is a greater spiritual receptivity or capacity to receive God's truth. Being still and knowing that He is God goes together in the same way that being quiet and receiving God's guidance goes together. The truth is we can easily miss God's most helpful and beautiful interventions and messages because our minds are so distracted, cluttered, and busy. When we are quiet we can better recognize the thoughts that God is interjecting into our hearts, and we can better receive the guidance that begins to surface in our hearts as the Spirit of God stirs our thoughts. Sometimes you find the apostles saying that the Lord led them to do certain things, but sometimes the apostles say things like; "We thought it best," or "It seemed good to us." They are not saying the Holy Spirit had no place in those decisions, they are saying the Holy Spirit worked in and through their natural thought processes as they asked for guidance and relied on Him. Listening for God's guidance in response to our prayers does not mean waiting for a dramatic vision or an audible voice. It does mean being spiritually receptive to the Spirit of God within us, working together with our reflections to bring clarity and direction. When we pray for God's guidance we need to listen to God expectantly and quietly. Whenever we believe we are receiving God's guidance we need to be sure to test it. 1. Any guidance that isn't in harmony with the Bible isn't from God; reject it. Don't claim to have a leading from God to something sinful, destructive, or clearly contrary to the Bible in some other way. The Bible tells you that you are to live in wisdom and that love does not behave itself unbecomingly.

2. Any guidance that doesn't promote the fruit of God's Spirit isn't from God; reject it. The fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22 is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Any guidance that fails to promote those qualities is not from God. 3. Any guidance that might affect others ought to be confirmed by others; test it. We need to be committed to obeying God, but we need to be humble enough to receive counsel and advice from others. God often works through others to guide us. Conclusion Have you ever been in an unfamiliar building and you stopped someone to ask for directions? Sometimes they say: OK, what you do is take these stairs to the third floor, turn left at the second door, go down the hall to the water fountain... Have you noticed how much better it is when the person says, Follow me and I'll show you where you need to go? In this life, all of us need some help in getting where we need to be. The good news is that we have a guide who not only gives us direction, but also goes with us in life. Our guide is our God and our Savior. Christ died and rose again for us, we can trust in him. Trust in Him as your Savior and follow his guidance. Look for it in the Bible and respond with faith and obedience. Listen for it in your heart and be led by the Spirit. God, hear my prayer, And let my cry come to You. Do not hide from me in the day of my distress Turn to me and speedily answer my prayer. Eternal God, Source of healing, Out of my distress I call upon You. Help me sense Your presence At this difficult time. Grant me patience when the hours are heavy; In hurt or disappointment give me courage. Keep me trustful in Your love. Give me strength for today, and hope for tomorrow. To your loving hands I commit my spirit When asleep and when awake. You are with me; I shall not fear.

Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for you are my praise. I praise you, mighty Father. You forgive all my iniquities, and you heal all my diseases. Thank you, Lord. When I am sick, you send your Word, and it heals me and delivers me from all destructions. Your Word is life to me, and it brings healing to my flesh. Thank you for the healing power of your Word, Father. I will never let it depart from my eyes. I will keep your Word deeply implanted within my heart. Praise your name, holy Father. I love you, and I thank you for healing me and keeping me in good health.

God is our Father. He will only give us what is good. God will not give us a scorpion even if we ask for it thinking it is a boiled egg. (Luke 11:12). He does not give out wormwood or poison. God answers our prayers as a bonus to salvation, not as a substitute for it. That is why we must have faith and let Him award our petitions in His own way.

Increasing the Power of Prayer 1. Pray to God in the name of Jesus and the Holy Spirit. 2. Surrender your problem entirely to God. 3. Your release should be total and complete. 4. Be humble. This is why many kneel. 5. Forgive all your enemies by name. 6. Have faith. Do not doubt. 7. Know that your prayer has already been answered. 8. Have patience. God is granting a perfect fulfillment. 9. Do not impose limitations which restrict God's answer. 10. Thank God in advance and praise Him. 11. Pray in a group of at least 2 or 3. 12. Petition church prayer groups to include your prayers. 13. Encourage small children to also pray. 14. Do not discourage prayer in tongues. 15. Persist. Do not give up. To this list most ministers would also add: Confess your sins to God. Repent in earnest And if you have not aleady done so, Commit your life to Christ. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Bible tells us that if we ask God for guidance we will receive it. Psalm 25 teaches us to pray for guidance, verses 4-5 again: Show me your ways, O LORD, teach me your paths; 5 guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long. James 1:5 gives us a promise about this kind of prayer. It says: If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. What this means in practice is that we need to set time aside to pray and say: "Lord, what do you want to say to me that I need to hear today? Ask him specifically, "Lord, what's the next step for me? What areas of my spiritual life need to be developed? How am I doing with my family? How should I face these issues?" Ask for wisdom and when you ask, ask expectantly, listen quietly and respond with humility and obedience. God promises that when you ask in faith for his guidance for the purpose of receiving that guidance and doing his will, he will answer you. Deep hurts will be healed, spiritual breakthroughs will occur, and needed solutions to difficult problems will take shape and become clear and God's guidance will be given. Prayer is a two-way conversation. In the ALPHA course we're asked to imagine going to a doctor with a number of problems. You say, Doctor, I have a fungus growing under my toenail, my eyes are itchy all the time, I have joint pain in my right elbow, lower back pain, I think I'm running a fever, and may I have the flu. You go through all these problems and then you glance up at the clock and say: Wow, it's late, I've got a lot to do so I've got to go now. Thanks for listening. The doctor might want to say, Hold on a minute. Don't you want to hear what I have to say? If whenever we pray we only speak to God but never take time to listen, we make the same mistake. In Psalm 46:10 God says, "Be still, and know that I am God." I believe that teaches us that when we are still or quiet there is a greater spiritual receptivity or capacity to receive God's truth. Being still and knowing that He is God goes together in the same way that being quiet and receiving God's guidance goes together. The truth is we can easily miss God's most helpful and beautiful interventions and messages because our minds are so distracted, cluttered, and busy. When we are quiet we can better recognize the thoughts that God is interjecting into our hearts, and we can better receive the guidance that begins to surface in our hearts as the Spirit of God stirs our thoughts.

The secret to effective prayer is faith in Jesus Christ and absolute trust in the Word He has spoken. Know in your heart that the prayer you are asking for will be answered -- know this even at the moment you ask. Believe with all your heart that God has already answered your petition even before you finish praying. As Jesus' disciples stood looking and discussing in astonishment the results of one of His miracles, the Lord told them: "Have faith in God. I tell you solemnly, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Get up and throw yourself into the sea', with no hesitation in his heart but believing that what he says will happen, it will be done for him." "I tell you therefore: everything you ask and pray for, believe that you have it already, and it will be yours. And when you stand in prayer, forgive whatever you have against anybody,so that your Father in heaven may forgive your failings too." (Mark 11:20-25). Jesus attached these two directives, prayer and forgiveness, on purpose. Prayer is related to purity of heart. Our Lord went to the cross for one purpose, to take away our sins so that we could stand chaste before God. Jesus has shown us in the quotation above that the power we receive from the cross is perpetually renewed by forgiveness. The cross is not historic. It pours out God's sanctification continuously. And we have been given power by God to daily bathe our soul in the divine river of atonement that floods from it. As we forgive others, God perpetually forgives us. This is a dictate of Christ from the throne of God. In that act of faith the power of our prayer is intensified. We know this because Jesus minced no words when He said it: "This is my commandment: love one another, as I have loved you. You did not choose me, no, I chose you; and I commissioned you to go out and to bear fruit, fruit that will last; and then the Father will give you anything you ask him in my name. What I command you is to love one another." (John 15:12-17).

We cannot truly love one another if we harbor bitterness in our hearts. This is why we must release such bonds, and the way we release them is through the action of forgiveness in prayer. Forgiveness is one of the deepest parts of love because it is one of the most difficult to give. But anger is devastating to prayer. "Enough of anger, leave rage aside, do not worry, nothing but evil can come of it: for the wicked will be expelled, while those who hope in God shall have the land for their own." (Psalm 37:8-9). It is love that relates to prayer, not perfection. Paul said that faith makes its power felt through love. (Gal.5:6). Nowhere in scripture does it state that God answers the prayers only of the perfect. That is because no one is perfect in God's eyes. The only condition imposed on us is that we bear fruit in His name. And the fruit He wants us to bear is that we love one another. (John 15:12-17). His commandments, the four Gospels of God, show us in great detail how to love one another. The Bible tells us that in God, progress is what makes perfection. It says that in progress we are blameless:"Only the man who makes progress, as the blameless do, can be my servant." (Ps.101:2,6). That means that if we live in the faith of Christ and love one another, we will always be blameless before God and heirs to all the promises He has made to us. That inheritance includes control in the use of His Power. All of God's power comes to us through prayer. Prayer is not just a device for communication like a telephone to heaven, it is the actual channel through which the power of God flows. Prayer is like an immense electrical conduit through which power flows from heaven into our bodies and souls, and to wherever we direct it to go. God's religion is based on this conduit. It is totally formed on prayer. It is written in scripture: "My house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples." (Is.56:3-8). When he dedicated in the city of Jerusalem the very first Hebrew temple ever built, Solomon called out to God from the altar and begged Him to listen to the people's petitions if they agreed to confess their sins and repent by prayer in His name. (2 Chron.6:21-39). If they agree to do that, Solomon pleaded with God,"hear their prayer and their entreaty, uphold their cause, and forgive your people the sins they have committed against you." (2 Chron.6:3639). That very night God appeared to Solomon and answered his plea. "...if my people who bear my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my presence and turn from their wicked ways, I myself will hear from heaven and forgive their sins and restore their land." (2 Chron.7:12-14).

Since these were the conditions formulated in the Bible specifying the mechanism through which God's power could flow to earth, this template of the agreement between God and Israel has been followed by Jews and Christians ever since. Jesus did not change this agreement. "Do not imagine that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have come not to abolish but to complete them." (Matt.5:17-19). That is why we see confession and repentance stressed in scripture so heavily in relation to prayer and the atonement that surrounds it. (Psalm 32:1-8; 51, etc.). There are scores of quotations throughout the Bible in both Testaments telling us that God rewards according to behavior. (Matt.16:27; Jer.17:10). So it is faith that makes all of this work. And that faith is simple. It does not require perfection, only complete surrender to Christ and belief in His power. People who do not pray -- people who do not believe in prayer -- are convinced that they can do everything themselves. They surrender nothing. They have no faith. The Holy Spirit has instructed us to do and be otherwise. "Do not be like senseless horse or mule that need bit and bridle to curb their spirit (to let you get near them)...Many torments await the wicked, but grace enfolds the man of God." (Psalm 32:9-10). "If you are willing to obey, you shall eat the good things of the earth. But if you persist in rebellion, the sword shall eat you instead." (Is.1:19). Those who fall to their knees in humility and supplication to God, surrendering their power to Him completely and trusting in the integrity of His promise are rewarded in overwhelming measure for their faith. "They cry for help and God hears and rescues them from all their troubles; God is near to the broken-hearted, he helps those whose spirit is crushed." (Psalm 34:17-18). When faith is accompanied by humility, it is turbocharged, because a crushed spirit always brings God close. "I live in a high and holy place, but I am also with the contrite and humbled spirit, to give the humbled spirit new life, to revive contrite hearts." (Is.57:15). While praying (and after praying) believe that you your request has been granted before you see the answer. Scripture is clear that we must live by faith. "Only faith can guarantee the blessings that we hope for..." (For a long and Spirit-filled dissertation on this, see the Book of Hebrews, Chapter 11).

Suffering is a part of our training (Heb.12:7), so we must endure in faith even while God is reprimanding us in His love, and not get discouraged. By faith we must know that God will -and has already -- answered our prayers. We do not see it, but it has happened, and it has happened through faith. And finally, as you finish praying, thank God for having already answered your prayer. Praise Him and thank Him in the name of Jesus and in the name of the Holy Spirit. And then have patience. Accept like a little child that God has answered your prayer completely. The prayers of children are extremely powerful. Their faith is pure. So encourage children who are in Christ to add your petitions to their own. "People brought little children to him, for him to lay his hands on them and say a prayer. The disciples turned them away, but Jesus said, 'Let the little children alone, and do not stop them coming to me; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs'." (Matt. 19:13-15). Do not doubt. Filled with faith, Peter began to walk on water. "But as soon as he felt the force of the wind, he took fright and began to sink. 'Lord! Save me!' he cried. Jeus put out his hand and held him. 'Man of little faith,' he said 'why did you doubt?'" (Matt.14:29-32). Those who put their faith in the Gospel have left this world, and Jesus said there is no one who has left this world to follow Him that "would not be given repayment many times over in this present time and, in the world to come, eternal life." (Luke 18:28-30). God wants good things for us. (Is.1:19). He has surrounded us with the shield of heaven for our protection. "Should anyone attack you, that will not be my doing, and whoever attacks you, for your sake will fall." (Isaiah 54:15). God's Spirit enters us and guides us along a sure path. It teaches us, keeps us safe and it does not leave in the face of trouble or disaster. Worry is an enemy to faith. So"Do not worry." (Matt.6:31). "Nothing but evil can come from it." (Psalm 37:8). Instead fill your mind with the peace of complete trust in His power and presence. God is not impressed with one person more than another. (Eph.6:9). Everyone has been given God's power equally. It is the inheritance of everyone who has faith in Jesus Christ. It is the power of the Holy Spirit. God's word created the heaven and the earth. With a single command from His mouth everything that is came into existance. (Psalm 33:6). And by that same word, and that same mouth, God has promised to give us anything we ask for in prayer. More than that, He has given us His guarantee in writing. This is an absolute promise. It is not equivocal.

God's word cannot ever fail. It is all-powerful and can do anything. And we have been given great control over its power through our faith in Jesus Christ. And it is compounded when multiplied. Jesus said: "I tell you solemnly once again, if two of you on earth agree to ask anything at all, it will be granted to you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three meet in my name, I shall be there with them." (Matt.18:19-20). thats why there is power in group prayer. There are some cases where our petitions run counter to God's interests. Paul discovered this when he tried to cast out a "thorn in his flesh", an "angel of satan" Paul said, that beat him so that he would not become too proud. (2 Cor.12:7-10). Try as he did, three separate times, to remove this thorn through prayer and faith, it stayed with him. God said to Paul, "My grace is enough for you; my power is at its best in weakness". (2 Cor.12:9). God needed Paul to stay humble so that he would remain very powerful because He had been given such an important role to play on earth. We should also remember that not all evil spirits are the same. Jesus told His disciples that some of Satan's processes are more potent than others. Confronted with a demon they could not cast out, the Apostles were chided by Christ for their lack of faith. Yet He also revealed that the demon they were working against on that occasion required special treatment. It needed to be augmented, He said, by prayer and fasting. (Mark 9:29). The biggest problem, however, Jesus stressed over and over again, is not the power of the demon confronting us; it is our lack of faith. "The Apostles said to the Lord, 'Increase our faith'. Jesus replied, 'Were your faith the size of a mustard seed you could say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea', and it would obey you." (Luke 17:5-6). Since almost no one has trusted themselves to such an ultimate faith, God has given us measures which augment our access to His power. Jesus said, "...persistence will be enough to make him get up and give his friend all he wants. So I say to you: Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. For the one who asks always receives; the one who searches always finds; the one who knocks will always have the door opened to him. What father among you would hand his son a stone when he asked for bread?" (Luke 11:8-12).

"If you then, who are evil, know how to give your children what is good, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!" (Luke 11:13).

God is our Father. He will only give us what is good. If our own children were to come and ask us to let them play ball on a freeway, or give to the three-year old a razor blade, we could not grant them their literal requests for safety's sake. But we could give them something better. God has the same problem with us. That is why we need to trust Him so implicitly. Because just like little children, we often do not know what the razor blades and freeways are in our own lives, or what their danger is to our souls. That is because we live in exile in a place the Bible calls Babylon. What we see by its godless and highly publicized light are images of the things most glamorous to those who dwell here -the wormwood they eat and the poisoned water they drink. (Jer. 23:15). God will not give us a scorpion even if we ask for it thinking it is a boiled egg. (Luke 11:12). He does not give out wormwood or poison. God came to rescue us from Babylon. There is a great catastrophe coming to this place because of sin and God has sent His Christ to rescue everyone willing to listen to Him and follow Him to the place of safety God has prepared. God answers our prayers as a bonus to salvation, not as a substitute for it. That is why we must have faith and let Him award our petitions in His own way. If time goes by and you still cannot see that your prayers have been granted, ask God why. Persist in this if you do not agree with, or understand His answer. If you persist, He will explain in terms that you will totally understand. And when He does, you will know that God did, indeed, hear you, and that He did for you much more than what you asked of Him.

Increasing the Power of Prayer 1. Pray to God in the name of Jesus and the Holy Spirit. 2. Surrender your problem entirely to God. 3. Your release should be total and complete. 4. Be humble. This is why many kneel. 5. Forgive all your enemies by name. 6. Have faith. Do not doubt. 7. Know that your prayer has already been answered.

8. Have patience. God is granting a perfect fulfillment. 9. Do not impose limitations which restrict God's answer. 10. Thank God in advance and praise Him. 11. Pray in a group of at least 2 or 3. 12. Petition church prayer groups to include your prayers. 13. Encourage small children to also pray. 14. Do not discourage prayer in tongues. 15. Persist. Do not give up. To this list most ministers would also add: Confess your sins to God. Repent in earnest And if you have not aleady done so, Commit your life to Christ.

Revelation Revealed: Chapter 5 [Read Chapter 5 in the NASB version via Biblegateway.] As chapter 5 opens, the focus shifts back to Jesus. He appears as the Worthy Lamb. In the midst of the glorious scene of worship which John describes in Chapter 4, he suddenly notices a little scroll in the right hand of God, a scroll that is sealed with seven seals. A mighty angel asks, "Who is worthy to open it?" John is very concerned about that scroll because he knows what it is. It is the title deed of the Earth. That title deed is important because this Earth was created for man. God gave man dominion over it, but mankind lost that dominion to Satan when Adam and Eve sinned against God. One of the reasons Jesus died on the cross was to restore the Earth to the children of God. That's what He meant in the Sermon on the Mount when He said, "The meek shall inherit the earth." He was quoting a promise made in the Old Testament in Psalm 37. Jesus paid the price on the cross to redeem this promise. It will be fulfilled when He returns.

So, John is concerned about the Earth's title deed, especially because no one in Heaven seems worthy to open the scroll. But, he is suddenly told that his concern is unfounded because there is one who is worthy. He is the "Lion of the tribe of Judah." John turns to look at the lion, and what does he see? A little bloody lamb! Of course, what he sees is Jesus Christ who is both the Lamb and the Lion. He came the first time as the lamb to be sacrificed for the sins of the world. He is going to return as the Lion of Judah to pour out the wrath of God upon those who have rejected the grace, mercy and love of God. When Jesus steps up to the throne and He takes that scroll, all of Heaven breaks forth in a mighty song: "Worthy are you to take the book, and to break its seals; for you were slain, and purchased for God with your blood, men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the Earth." Notice the promise that the redeemed, "will reign upon the Earth." Those who deny a future reign of Jesus try to argue that He is reigning now through his saints, the Church. But, if that is true, then He is doing a very poor job because all the nations of the world are in revolt against Him and the Church is caught up in apostasy. Furthermore, the Word says that when Jesus reigns, "The earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea." And no such condition exists today. The Heavenly host is clearly singing about a time yet future when the Redeemed will reign with Jesus upon the Earth. Again, this is the reiteration of an Old Testament promise found in Daniel 7. In that chapter, Daniel tells us that he saw a night vision in which the Son of Man was presented to God the Father and was given dominion over "all the peoples, nations, and men of every language." He then adds that "The saints of the highest one will receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever." In the next part on this series on Revelation, we'll witness the terror of the first six Seal Judgments in Chapter 6 and be introduced to the 144,000 witnesses in Chapter 7.