We read this parable of the unjust judge in Luke 18:1-8:

1 Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart,

Okay so, this is about praying and not losing heart. I’ll give you an example of this. For years and years, my mother knew that I had an addiction to prostitutes. And for years, she prayed that I’d find release. She loved me as a son but she knew that I was in sin. I had trouble with mental illness. It came to a point where Satan caused me to be very angry. I had a lot of bitterness and pain towards God and towards my father. I had a lot of unforgiveness and pain. I was going through a transition and Satan just didn’t like it. He was using my mental illness, anger and bitterness. I struck out against my mom and just crossed her off. With furious white hot anger, I banished her by saying, “Don’t ring me anymore.” I did the opposite of respecting and honoring my parents. I totally abused her; I swore my head off and told her I wanted nothing to do with her.

I told my pastor and she was so concerned. Meanwhile my mother just went on to pray for her son. Not so much to see me, not so much to get me back, but she just prayed that I’d be okay; and she hoped in her heart that one day her relationship with me would be restored.

I know I really broke my mother’s heart. I haven’t talked to her for a long time. But God heard her prayers. And I finally got in touch with her and restored our relationship.

Let us continue with the passage:

2 saying: “There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man. 3 Now there was a widow in that city; and she came to him, saying, ‘Get justice for me from my adversary.’ 4 And he would not for a while; but afterward he said within himself, ‘Though I do not fear God nor regard man, 5 yet because this widow troubles me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.’”

Here was a woman who kept coming back to court. She went to see the judge continually. We can’t do that in the modern court of our land. Here in Australia, we can go to one level of court and if we don’t get justice, we can appeal to a higher court. There are three levels of court in our country. And if we lose them, we won’t get justice. In verse 3, it looks like this woman was able to come back to this judge over and over. And the judge, for selfish motives said, “I’m gonna give in to this woman because she’s just gonna wear me down.”

And verse 7 goes,

And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? 8 I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?”

Many of us have the wrong idea about God. Many people believe that God is the source of all the disease, suffering and calamities in the world. Many of us have been taught that God is in control and in some sick way He enjoys to see us suffer.

Many people see God as an unjust judge. Many people are actually bitter and secretly angry with God. Life can be hard and we struggle in many ways. And we assume that if God loves us, He should remove the struggles from our life. When people suffer for forty years it hardly seems that God has avenged this person speedily. So much of our lives are dependent on what we know and believe. » Read more: The Parable of The Unjust Judge Made Simple (Luke 18:1-8)

This is “The Parable of the Watching Servants”. I hope that you will enjoy what I’ve got to share here. Starting from Luke 12:35-40, it reads:

“Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning; and you yourselves be like men who wait for their master when he will return from the wedding, that when he comes and knocks they may open to him immediately. Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching. Assuredly, I say to you that he will gird himself and have them sit down to eat, and will come and serve them. And if he should come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants. But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” (Luke 12:35-40)

I have to ask you: Do you know the Lord? Do you know Jesus? Do you know His timing? Do you know when He is coming back? Are you girded? Have you got your pants on? Are you prepared? Are you in clothes that you’d wear to bed or are you in those that are good for house duty? Are you sitting, watching and waiting for the return of the Lord?

People want to know what they need to be doing in order to prepare for Jesus’ return, so they look at the Scriptures, particularly Revelation.

What we need to be doing is simply going about the business that Jesus set us to do – the business of God’s Kingdom. Jesus has explained what He wanted us to do. In some of the parables we’ve covered so far, Jesus wants us not to neglect the poor, the hungry, the homeless and the depressed. I suppose I’ve gone on and on about the homeless in this group of parables and in this book simply because they’ve got no homes, simply because they’re the most needy. I’ve got a special empathy for the homeless because I went through what they are into. I hope that one person who buys this book might actually go, make a friend of the homeless, feed and clothe them and make them feel special.

What is the first hour? What is the second hour? What is the first watch, the second watch and the third watch? These were certain times during the night. I think that each watch was about three or four hours. It could be like the twelve hours in the night, it’s basically the whole evening.

Now, why would you be waiting all night? Your master was away at a wedding and he was coming home to get ready for bed. He wanted to know that his house was being looked after and that no one could break in. He wanted to be sure that everything was in order. Through the course of these parables, we’ve come to realize that there are a lot that we can do. We can minister in the gifts that God has given us. We can fully utilize our money, time and resources to further the Kingdom of God. We cannot be stagnant or be standing in one place. We can be swimming upstream and not floating downstream like a dead fish. We can be going against the ways of the world. We can be shining our light in our community. We can be a house on a hill and a shining bright light to everyone we meet. You don’t have to be an introvert all your life. You can have confidence in the Holy Spirit. It says in the Bible that we’ve got the mind of Christ. We can put on the mind of Christ. » Read more: The Parable of The Watching Servants Made Simple (Luke 12:35-40)