...Come home...
…The Lord laid this in my heart a few days ago. He was actually speaking to me about me but I thought this might bless a few believers who are not where they should be spiritually…
11-12Then he said, "There was once a man who had two sons. The younger said to his father, 'Father, I want right now what's coming to me.'
12-16"So the father divided the property between them. It wasn't long before the younger son packed his bags and left for a distant country. There, undisciplined and dissipated, he wasted everything he had. After he had gone through all his money, there was a bad famine all through that country and he began to hurt. He signed on with a citizen there who assigned him to his fields to slop the pigs. He was so hungry he would have eaten the corncobs in the pig slop, but no one would give him any.
17-20"That brought him to his senses. He said, 'All those farmhands working for my father sit down to three meals a day, and here I am starving to death. I'm going back to my father. I'll say to him, Father, I've sinned against God, I've sinned before you; I don't deserve to be called your son. Take me on as a hired hand.' He got right up and went home to his father.
20-21"When he was still a long way off, his father saw him. His heart pounding, he ran out, embraced him, and kissed him. The son started his speech: 'Father, I've sinned against God, I've sinned before you; I don't deserve to be called your son ever again.'
22-24"But the father wasn't listening. He was calling to the servants, 'Quick. Bring a clean set of clothes and dress him. Put the family ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Then get a grain-fed heifer and roast it. We're going to feast! We're going to have a wonderful time! My son is here—given up for dead and now alive! Given up for lost and now found!' And they began to have a wonderful time.
Luke 15: 11- 24 (The Message Translation)
Again, this is one of the most widely read, cited and known scripture in Christendom but God opened my eyes to a lot of things in this scripture.
Here is my interpretation of the scripture.
Our scene opens with P a beloved son (daughter) of God who has tasted of the glory of the Father. He (or she) has spoken in diverse tongues, led choirs in various churches and practically dragged down the presence of God in the gatherings, laid hands on the sick and they had received their healings, preached to friends, neighbours, colleagues and won souls and more souls to Christ.
But one day, something sets in. Pride? Greed? That’s a debate for another day. What I am sure of, is that there was a shift in focus from the father to something else.
'Father, I want right now what's coming to me.'
This line of the scripture suggests to me that he (the son) no longer looked at/ focused on the father. He now looked at the material rather than the abstract spiritual and intangible love he had enjoyed with the father. He had shifted his focus.
The first step to falling out of the presence of God is to shift your focus from HIM. It might be a nagging problem, it might be an illness, it might be material needs. It might be tall dark and handsome – whatever it is that is hovering around, no matter how urgent the need seems, DO NOT SHIFT YOUR FOCUS FROM THE LORD. Scripture says
“Turn my eyes away from worthless things…” (Psalm 119:37)
All aside from the word of God is worthless!
There, undisciplined and dissipated, he wasted everything he had. After he had gone through all his money, there was a bad famine all through that country and he began to hurt. He signed on with a citizen there who assigned him to his fields to slop the pigs. He was so hungry he would have eaten the corncobs in the pig slop, but no one would give him any.
Stepping out of God’s presence ushers you directly into servitude. Bondage. Captivity. The hedge is broken. It leads you into a life of waste and famine. Notice how the famine began only after all P’s money was gone….That is the device of Satan. He lures you out of the presence of God, he seemingly sustains you for a while and then dumps you. At that stage, you feel you have gone too far for even God to forgive you (another of satan’s devices).
P was the son of a King. He was a prince but he had broken his relationship with the King. He had sinned. Now, he was doing jobs that even the slaves in his father’s palace were forbidden from doing. Stepping out of God’s presence throws things your way that should not happen to even the least of God’s children. The arrows of the enemy begin to penetrate easily. Vices that had been dropped begin to resurface and satan has a filled day toying with your life and destiny.
The bible records that P wished he could have eaten the food of the pigs.
Have you ever wandered why he could not just reach out and eat the food with the pigs? What was preventing him? After all he was in charge of feeding the pigs anyway!
He was so hungry he would have eaten the corncobs in the pig slop, but no one would give him any.
Why did anyone need to give him what he was in charge of? That my brethren is the extent of the servitude we get into when we step out of the presence of God!!!
The devil is out to get you. To kill you! To destroy you! Whatever happens, stay in God’s presence!
At this stage, P obviously needed what we call in Christendom today “deliverance”. The next line of scripture is my favourite in this story
That brought him to his senses. He said, 'All those farmhands working for my father sit down to three meals a day, and here I am starving to death. I'm going back to my father. I'll say to him, Father, I've sinned against God, I've sinned before you; I don't deserve to be called your son. Take me on as a hired hand.' He got right up and went home to his father.
One version of scripture says “…and he came to himself…” There are bondages we get into that only us can deliver ourselves there from. No deliverance minister helped P out. Nobody. He came to himself and proposed in his heart to go back to his father.
Someone reading this may have committed an abortion and just decided to stay in sin (as a result of the guilt). Someone else may be struggling with guilt as a result of sexual sin. Whatever it is, propose in your heart to go back to God.
Propose in your heart to return to abundance.
P the bible says, got right up and went home. Do not stay where you are any more! Get up now. Return to God! Don’t bother about how you will stop the fornication with tall, dark and handsome that you love so much. Don’t bother about how the stealing or the gossiping will stop. Don’t fret about your vices or your habits – those are not your issues! Get up right away! Go back to the father and He will handle these for you through the power in His name and His word!
"But the father wasn't listening. He was calling to the servants, 'Quick. Bring a clean set of clothes and dress him. Put the family ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Then get a grain-fed heifer and roast it. We're going to feast! We're going to have a wonderful time! My son is here—given up for dead and now alive! Given up for lost and now found!' And they began to have a wonderful time.
God gave me an amazing revelation here. The Bible records that before P could download his rehearsed speech, the father ordered for the following:
1. Clean clothes to be put on Him – this signifies the workings of the Blood of Jesus. The blood of Jesus changes your filthy clothes to Pure clothes….Remember, though your sins are red as scarlet, the precious red supernatural blood of the Lamb, makes them white as snow!
2. He put a family ring on his finger – The ring is a symbol of authority! When you return to God, he gives you the same authority he gave the disciples of old! He gives you the symbol of sonship. He gives you that same power that raised Jesus from the dead! For P, there was a transformation from a beggar who was not allowed to eat the food of swine to a prince, an heir of an entire dynasty!
3. Sandals on his feet: Think about going out even in the city without shoes on. This is how exposed P was. Stepping out of God’s presence exposes you to danger! P’s feet must have been bruised and battered. Stepping back into God’s presence brought protection! The sandals here signify God’s protection!
4. Rejoicing – When men rejoice! There are grand feasts….think about the rejoicing of the one who made the heavens and the earth! Surely there would be evidence in the life of the returnee!
Do not mind the skill or lack of it of the writer.
All you need is the message.
Say a prayer with me.
Father,
We come to you in the precious name of your son. We pray today for as many prodigal sons and daughters. We pray that you may order their steps towards you. We pray that the hold of Satan may be loosened upon their lives in the name of Jesus!
We pray that we believers may stand so that we may not be cast away. Preserve us from wilfull sins dear Lord. Keep us away from spiritual arrogance. Help us to love the way you love. Help us to care the way you care and help us to live the way you lived while you were on earth as a man!
We cannot do it on our own.
Help us Lord!
Have mercy!
We love you very much.
In the name of Jesus!
Amen
11-12Then he said, "There was once a man who had two sons. The younger said to his father, 'Father, I want right now what's coming to me.'
12-16"So the father divided the property between them. It wasn't long before the younger son packed his bags and left for a distant country. There, undisciplined and dissipated, he wasted everything he had. After he had gone through all his money, there was a bad famine all through that country and he began to hurt. He signed on with a citizen there who assigned him to his fields to slop the pigs. He was so hungry he would have eaten the corncobs in the pig slop, but no one would give him any.
17-20"That brought him to his senses. He said, 'All those farmhands working for my father sit down to three meals a day, and here I am starving to death. I'm going back to my father. I'll say to him, Father, I've sinned against God, I've sinned before you; I don't deserve to be called your son. Take me on as a hired hand.' He got right up and went home to his father.
20-21"When he was still a long way off, his father saw him. His heart pounding, he ran out, embraced him, and kissed him. The son started his speech: 'Father, I've sinned against God, I've sinned before you; I don't deserve to be called your son ever again.'
22-24"But the father wasn't listening. He was calling to the servants, 'Quick. Bring a clean set of clothes and dress him. Put the family ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Then get a grain-fed heifer and roast it. We're going to feast! We're going to have a wonderful time! My son is here—given up for dead and now alive! Given up for lost and now found!' And they began to have a wonderful time.
Luke 15: 11- 24 (The Message Translation)
Again, this is one of the most widely read, cited and known scripture in Christendom but God opened my eyes to a lot of things in this scripture.
Here is my interpretation of the scripture.
Our scene opens with P a beloved son (daughter) of God who has tasted of the glory of the Father. He (or she) has spoken in diverse tongues, led choirs in various churches and practically dragged down the presence of God in the gatherings, laid hands on the sick and they had received their healings, preached to friends, neighbours, colleagues and won souls and more souls to Christ.
But one day, something sets in. Pride? Greed? That’s a debate for another day. What I am sure of, is that there was a shift in focus from the father to something else.
'Father, I want right now what's coming to me.'
This line of the scripture suggests to me that he (the son) no longer looked at/ focused on the father. He now looked at the material rather than the abstract spiritual and intangible love he had enjoyed with the father. He had shifted his focus.
The first step to falling out of the presence of God is to shift your focus from HIM. It might be a nagging problem, it might be an illness, it might be material needs. It might be tall dark and handsome – whatever it is that is hovering around, no matter how urgent the need seems, DO NOT SHIFT YOUR FOCUS FROM THE LORD. Scripture says
“Turn my eyes away from worthless things…” (Psalm 119:37)
All aside from the word of God is worthless!
There, undisciplined and dissipated, he wasted everything he had. After he had gone through all his money, there was a bad famine all through that country and he began to hurt. He signed on with a citizen there who assigned him to his fields to slop the pigs. He was so hungry he would have eaten the corncobs in the pig slop, but no one would give him any.
Stepping out of God’s presence ushers you directly into servitude. Bondage. Captivity. The hedge is broken. It leads you into a life of waste and famine. Notice how the famine began only after all P’s money was gone….That is the device of Satan. He lures you out of the presence of God, he seemingly sustains you for a while and then dumps you. At that stage, you feel you have gone too far for even God to forgive you (another of satan’s devices).
P was the son of a King. He was a prince but he had broken his relationship with the King. He had sinned. Now, he was doing jobs that even the slaves in his father’s palace were forbidden from doing. Stepping out of God’s presence throws things your way that should not happen to even the least of God’s children. The arrows of the enemy begin to penetrate easily. Vices that had been dropped begin to resurface and satan has a filled day toying with your life and destiny.
The bible records that P wished he could have eaten the food of the pigs.
Have you ever wandered why he could not just reach out and eat the food with the pigs? What was preventing him? After all he was in charge of feeding the pigs anyway!
He was so hungry he would have eaten the corncobs in the pig slop, but no one would give him any.
Why did anyone need to give him what he was in charge of? That my brethren is the extent of the servitude we get into when we step out of the presence of God!!!
The devil is out to get you. To kill you! To destroy you! Whatever happens, stay in God’s presence!
At this stage, P obviously needed what we call in Christendom today “deliverance”. The next line of scripture is my favourite in this story
That brought him to his senses. He said, 'All those farmhands working for my father sit down to three meals a day, and here I am starving to death. I'm going back to my father. I'll say to him, Father, I've sinned against God, I've sinned before you; I don't deserve to be called your son. Take me on as a hired hand.' He got right up and went home to his father.
One version of scripture says “…and he came to himself…” There are bondages we get into that only us can deliver ourselves there from. No deliverance minister helped P out. Nobody. He came to himself and proposed in his heart to go back to his father.
Someone reading this may have committed an abortion and just decided to stay in sin (as a result of the guilt). Someone else may be struggling with guilt as a result of sexual sin. Whatever it is, propose in your heart to go back to God.
Propose in your heart to return to abundance.
P the bible says, got right up and went home. Do not stay where you are any more! Get up now. Return to God! Don’t bother about how you will stop the fornication with tall, dark and handsome that you love so much. Don’t bother about how the stealing or the gossiping will stop. Don’t fret about your vices or your habits – those are not your issues! Get up right away! Go back to the father and He will handle these for you through the power in His name and His word!
"But the father wasn't listening. He was calling to the servants, 'Quick. Bring a clean set of clothes and dress him. Put the family ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Then get a grain-fed heifer and roast it. We're going to feast! We're going to have a wonderful time! My son is here—given up for dead and now alive! Given up for lost and now found!' And they began to have a wonderful time.
God gave me an amazing revelation here. The Bible records that before P could download his rehearsed speech, the father ordered for the following:
1. Clean clothes to be put on Him – this signifies the workings of the Blood of Jesus. The blood of Jesus changes your filthy clothes to Pure clothes….Remember, though your sins are red as scarlet, the precious red supernatural blood of the Lamb, makes them white as snow!
2. He put a family ring on his finger – The ring is a symbol of authority! When you return to God, he gives you the same authority he gave the disciples of old! He gives you the symbol of sonship. He gives you that same power that raised Jesus from the dead! For P, there was a transformation from a beggar who was not allowed to eat the food of swine to a prince, an heir of an entire dynasty!
3. Sandals on his feet: Think about going out even in the city without shoes on. This is how exposed P was. Stepping out of God’s presence exposes you to danger! P’s feet must have been bruised and battered. Stepping back into God’s presence brought protection! The sandals here signify God’s protection!
4. Rejoicing – When men rejoice! There are grand feasts….think about the rejoicing of the one who made the heavens and the earth! Surely there would be evidence in the life of the returnee!
Do not mind the skill or lack of it of the writer.
All you need is the message.
Say a prayer with me.
Father,
We come to you in the precious name of your son. We pray today for as many prodigal sons and daughters. We pray that you may order their steps towards you. We pray that the hold of Satan may be loosened upon their lives in the name of Jesus!
We pray that we believers may stand so that we may not be cast away. Preserve us from wilfull sins dear Lord. Keep us away from spiritual arrogance. Help us to love the way you love. Help us to care the way you care and help us to live the way you lived while you were on earth as a man!
We cannot do it on our own.
Help us Lord!
Have mercy!
We love you very much.
In the name of Jesus!
Amen
posted by Tehilah at
7:58 AM
4 Comments:
Wow.
Many times we want to shout at the [invisible] prodigal son on the pages of the bible and ask him, "why did you do it?" Needless to say, anyone of us could have been him with our "shifted focus." We become prodigal when our eyes shift away from the focus, even for one second.
And then when we try to put together our words to ask for forgiveness, even in the midst of our scrambled dilly-dallying confused mumbo-jumbled words, our Father would have forgiven us before we even finished speaking.
Beautiful and thought-provoking post.
thanks jaycee....
our God is so loving...so so loving.
i am a living testimony....
many times i have been prodigal myself.....
God help us to stand!!!!
Deep and true. Thanks for this.
and thank you pea. For stopping by!
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