The Prodigal’s Pain

The Prodigal’s Pain

Isaiah 66:9

“Shall I bring to the point of birth and not cause to bring forth?” Says the Lord; “shall I, who cause to bring forth, shut the womb?” Says your God.

This verse is powerful, God is saying why would I cause pain and not let something good come out of it. Why would I waste a trial in a persons life? why would I let the test not be a testimony? Why would I let the very pain that my child is experiencing not have any good come from it?

I have been brought to this verse many times in the past. With the passing of a loved one, a broken relationship, we’ve all experienced pain. And there was always a purpose behind it.

You see, “…He has put eternity into man’s heart…” – Ecclesiastes 3:11. God put in our heart, eternity. There’s nothing that this World offers that replaces, fills, permeates the desire that our hearts long for — the Creator, God. Your friend or family member who has once tasted and seen and felt the love of God at one time who is now living life to the fullest, so they think. In the World. They feel the pain, and so do we. But we have to remember that there is a purpose with the pain.

Much like the Prodigal in Luke 15 who packed all his belongings and moved to a distant land. He spent all that he had carelessly, and he began to starve. He persuaded a local farmer to hire him, and the man sent him into his fields to feed the pigs. “When he finally came to his senses” the pain had finally caught up with him and he said to himself “At home even the hired servants have food enough to spare, and here I am dying of hunger!” So he returned home to his father.”

But today, as I was praying for a family member who have strayed away, who once knew Him, the Lord showed me an analogy of Isaiah 66:9 of the person who I was praying for.

A pregnancy is nine months, nine long months of having discomfort, sick, carrying extra weight that they have to carry until the time of the birth. Much like the Prodigal, they too are experiencing pain, discomfort, the shame and guilt. But remember that God has to cause the pain, the discomfort to lead them back to Him. His love is relentless, He is always pursuing the hearts of those who have known Him and have not yet known Him. It’s His kindness that leads us to repentance. It’s all part of His plan.

If you know someone who is a prodigal, don’t stop praying, don’t give up. They are of the Lord’s, He sees them where they are, even if they have forgotten Him, He has not. There is purpose in the pain, your prodigal is coming home!

In Him: We Are Forgiven

It’s a fact: Satan tries to remind us of our past mistakes, our past sins and intimidating us that they are not forgiven. We then if we believe those lies begin to step back, become weak or even retreat from God in shame.

But we have this promise 👇🏼

1 John 1:9

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrightesouness”

We have a responsibility to confess, bring them into the light and repent from them.

“…he is faithful and just.”

It’s not because we were faithful to come to him that sets us free, it’s because when we do come to him, he is faithful and just.

It’s all because of what happened at Calvary that sin has no power over the believer.

Today remind yourself that because he has risen we no longer have to be that person. That sin no longer has a hold on you. You stand today forgiven and cleansed from all unrighteousness — holy in his sight!

A Prayer of Urgency

uI’ve been praying more than I ever have because I have been asking God more than ever to create in me a burden for the lost. And I’m starting to get His attention. I’m feeling an urgency to pray more, not that I have to but I’m wanting to. For Him to create in me a pure heart and actions that follow.

A couple of days ago God had directed me to Matthew 9:13 “For I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” Got it God! I asked Him ” Show me what this really means…in Gary terms.” He spoke ” I AM Mercy.” God is love, and love comes from God. Like the prodigal son who went away for a while, lived his life the way he wanted to and found out that the grass isn’t greener on the other side. God, just like a parent who would want His child back uses His people who are in Him to call out to those who are lost. Simple, but some of us have a hard time with this.

We become busy bees losing track of the time. We have to ” Work while it is day; night is coming, when no one is able to work.”

On a Thursday morning at 6 a.m. out of no where my computer started playing worship music. I staggered into my office still half asleep to turn it off. The presence of God was strong but I was so tired and did not feel like praying. As I began to walk back to my bed God spoke to me and said ” I am coming very soon.” Should I have prayed? Of course but that bed sounded pretty good and the comforts of life got to me that time. What does all this mean? It means that God so desperately loves His children so much that He wants them to be saved. It’s not God’s will that any should perish but have everlasting life.

GFJ

When God Steps In

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God loves the “impossible” situations that we may think are “impossible” but to God they are possible. It’s His specialty.
There are those who try to do the impossible with their own strength but it gets them no where. Only God can heal that person of cancer; deliver the one from years and years of drug abuse, give sight to the blinded eyes or unstop the deaf ears. The list goes on. Whenever you surrender you are letting go of the situation and letting Him step in.

 

They said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” And he said, “She is in the tent.” The LORD said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife shall have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years. The way of women had ceased to be with Sarah. So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?” The LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.” (Genesis 18:9-14 ESV)

 

What God had told Abraham and Sarah was an impossible turned into a possible! How many times have we leaned on our own understanding and thought there is no way this can be done. Until God steps in.

 

Abraham Intercedes for Sodom so the men turned from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the LORD. Then Abraham drew near and said, “Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? (Genesis 18:22-23 ESV)

The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.  (2 Peter 3:9)

God wishes that no one should perish but to be with Him for eternity. We all know someone who is lost. Are we standing before the Lord just as Abraham stood pleading that God could spare his loved ones?

 

 

Live for Today, Not Yesterday’s

God would not stop speaking this to me, and it goes for all my listeners as well. So I had to post this ASAP

“STOP remembering of what you killed yesterday, live for today”

 You’ve killed it! You laid it on the sacrifice, so don’t go back to it, like a dog returning to its own vomit. Meaning this. You’ve sinned! Ok, ask for forgiveness, and don’t do it again, but what if i do? I can’t get free from this thing, it’s become part of my life; are the thoughts that the enemy throws in our face. For 1. He should be under your foot, not in your face, speaking lies, rebuke that in Jesus name. 2. We look so much on our past that it defines our future (if we don’t let God handle it) ” Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it on my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead.” – Philippians 3:13

Which brings me to my next conclusion. We can’t beat this battle ourself, Mike Matheny the manager of the St.Louis Cardinals made a great quote a few days ago after the St. Louis Cardinals won the game, don’t ask who they were playing, I’m not a sports kinda guy. But Mike said this ” You can’t beat someone who won’t quit”. Did you get that? Spiritually speaking: Stop relying on self and trust in Him! “If you, O’Lord, should mark iniquities, O’Lord, wo could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared.” – Psalm 130:3,4

condemning your sin, feeling bad for yourself will not help out the situation. We must forgive others and also our self which is the hardest person to forgive. ” Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding” – Proverbs 3:5

We have been stealing bases, trying everything in this spiritual warfare to outwit the enemy, friend, stop it. Remember IT IS FINISHED, repent, don’t quit, you are on the winning side.

Awaken

__________________________________________________________________You awaken me

Definition – Rouse from sleep, to stir the interest of; exite

Ephesians 5:14-18 “For anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, “awake, O sleeper & arise from the dead & Christ will shine on you.

Romans 13:11 – Besides this you know the time that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For, Salvation is nearer to us now than we first believed.

As the days have been passing by, I hear the spirit pressing on my heart “Behold, I am coming soon” a reminder of how close we are to His coming. For to be a spotless bride without blemish or wrinkle. Let us get ready, in preparation of our Groom, Jesus Christ. And to let this World our community, our town, our friends that do not know the Lord that there is not much time, An awakening must occur.

~ Diluting the Truth ~

In 2001, a Kansas City pharmacist was charged with diluting the cancer treatment drugs Taxol and Gemzar to make a profit. After pleading guilty, the pharmacist, Robert Courtney, was sentenced to thirty years in prison. Judge Ortrie D. Smith told the man, “Your crimes are a shock to the civilized conscience.” Judge Smith also ordered Courtney to pay $10.4 million in restitution and a $25,000 fine. In his plea agreement, Courtney admitted diluting drugs for profit since 1992, affecting as many as 4,200 patients.

This man held life-saving power in his hands and for the sake of greed and personal gain diluted it to the point where it could not help people. We can do the same with God’s life saving truth.  – “30-year sentence for Druggist,” The New York Times (December 6, 2002)

“Let God awaken us to the reality of His Truth.”

As we all are praying that God would awaken this country, this World, His people to the saving power of Christ. As the Truth is being watered down to the secret sensitive mega sized congregations who have itching ears for the false prophets to stand and proclaim the social drinking, use of tobacco and the profanity that comes out of the mouth tolerable. To have the programs that entice men and women to join by having so called groups “Steaks & Stogies” etc. is disgusting. These messages and group gatherings have become a stench in the nostrils of God. Letting sin overtake a life by never allowing it to be convicted of the Holy Spirit. Being led the wrong way the churches of America are being led by the World instead of the Cornerstone, Jesus Christ.

“so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.” Ephesians 5:27 

“As the pulpit goes, so goes the nation”

To gain influence over the people, most want the fame. To not tell the Truth, Truth hurts, and most times we are led by our feelings instead of a circumstance where we need to be led of the Spirit.

Jeremiah 5:31 “the prophets prophesy falsely,

    And the priests rule at their direction;

 My people love to have it so,

    But what will you do when the end comes?

The Jewish nation at the time of Jeremiah’s reign was given strict warnings of the destruction that was going to happen if they did not repent. The people were being misled by the false prophets, yes their mouth was praising God, but their hearts were far from Him. How different is it today in America than it was in the days of Jeremiah, no different. God never changes, His plan never changes and to see His plan for this country is for the church to wake up, to not put on sackcloth and ashes (not to be sorry) for their mistakes but to repent, to take a change of course!

“For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?” – 1 Peter 4:17

“An awakening must start with the church, His bride, to perfect us. Holiness is the key to having a pure life before God.”

Matthew 5:8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God”

My short time of ministering to the clients of the Farmington AA Clinic, also known as Aquinas; I had seen the full effect of tolerable sin take place over so many lives, ranging from the age of 17 all the way up to the 90’s of men and women who have been a victim of the bite.

~ The power of the Bite ~

I would hear stories of their life before their addiction of drugs and other habits of the flesh that took a hold of them. I referred to it as a baby wolf. Every creature on this Earth has to be fed in order to grow, and just like sin, it takes one look, one taste, one experience and you’re hooked onto the ever so dangerous downward spiral in a person’s life. We may tolerate it, thinking that it’s okay, but one day that wolf (pet sin) will outgrow you to the point where it overtakes you.

~ No grey area’s ~

“So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth”

Rev. 3:16

“Hear this, O foolish and senseless people, who have eyes, but see not, who have ears, but hear not. Do you not fear me? declares the Lord. Do you not tremble before me? I placed the sand as the boundary for the sea, a perpetual barrier that it cannot pass; though the waves toss, they cannot prevail; though they roar, they cannot pass over it.  But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart; they have turned aside and gone away.  They do not say in their hearts, ‘Let us fear the Lord our God, who gives the rain in its season, the autumn rain and the spring rain, and keeps for us the weeks appointed for the harvest.’  Your iniquities have turned these away, and your sins have kept good from you. – Jeremiah 5:21-24

God has set boundaries for us to live by, commandments to follow by, teachings to learn from. But we see how far we can go without Him knowing it, (so we think). “If we are hiding in God, we don’t have anything to hide”. We can fool the preacher, the teacher, but we can’t fool God.

~ Getting back to Holiness ~

While God commanded that His chosen nation of Israel be a holy nation, we also find that those called and chosen in New Testament times, including our day, are also to be holy: “But as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, ‘Be holy, for I am holy’” (1 Peter 1:15-16)

“When things are made holy, when they are consecrated, they are set apart unto purity. They are to be used in a pure way. They are to reflect purity as well as simple apartness. Purity is not excluded from the idea of the holy; it is contained within it. But the point we must remember is that the idea of the holy is never exhausted by the idea of purity. It includes purity but is much more than that. It is purity and transcendence. It is a transcendent purity.

In today’s society mentioning the word Holiness is briefly described as being a lunatic or some kind of legalism pushed onto someone else for not wearing the proper attire. Holiness happens within the heart. The primary meaning of holiness is defined as separate, It comes from an ancient word that meant, ‘to cut,’ or ‘to separate.’ Perhaps even more accurate would be the phrase ‘a cut above something.’ In todays churches and many lifestyles It has taken a backseat by complacency. God commands holiness in a believer’s life, without it we cannot see God —“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God”. Matthew 5:8

“do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,”

1 Corinthians 6:19

We are made holy when God calls us out of this world and gives us of His Holy Spirit in order to live as He does. His Holy Spirit gives us understanding of God’s purpose for creating us, and sets us on the road of overcoming the carnal way of life and living His way in obedience to Him.

~ Striving towards Perfection ~

Who said were perfect? None, except the only person who can help us strive towards the prize which is in Jesus Christ.

“Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.” – Phil 3:12

Who said were righteous? Without Christ we are as filthy rags.

“We have all become like one who is unclean,

    and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.

 We all fade like a leaf,

    and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.” – Isaiah 64:6

But one thing must happen before there is a change. By allowing God to change us, baptize us in anguish, having the heart of God, not to be led by our emotions or concerns, but in anguish. Habakkuk, one of the twelve minor prophets of the Old Testament, Habakkuk had one question for God, as he labored in prayer for Judah; His country.

Hab. 1:1-4

1 O Lord, how long shall I cry for help,

    And you will not hear?

2 Or cry to you “Violence!”

    And you will not save?

3 Why do you make me see iniquity?

    And why do you idly look at wrong?

Destruction and violence are before me;

    Strife and contention arise.

4 So the law is paralyzed,

    And justice never goes forth.

 For the wicked surround the righteous;

    So justice goes forth perverted.

~ Voice of One ~

“I am  the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,”

John 1:23

The voice of one, the body of Christ; The head, we the body that make up the church

“so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another”

Romans 12:5

Where are the John the Baptist’s? Where are the men and women of God who say yes to holiness, no to complacency in order for God to baptize the heart of the believer with His anguish, His love for His people, to bring them back to the Cross?

~ Be Ready, Stay Focused, & Never Look Back ~