The Dark Side

Posted on July 8, 2018 by Jennifer Van Allen

Me: Howdy Prodigal!

Prodigal: I was just alone with my thoughts.

Me: Do you care to share?

Prodigal: Not these thoughts…lol

This is from Michel de Montaigne

There is no man so good, who, were he to submit all his thoughts and actions to the laws, would not deserve hanging ten times in his life.

We are sinners. That is why we need Jesus. Do not put any leader on a pedal stool including me. This is the reason why. We may have done a lot of good that day with our interactions with others.
We may have said all the right things, but can we go a day without some of our thoughts turning negative. “I wish they would just be quiet.” “Why are they even here.” “They are not as deserving as I am.” I will not list the thoughts that are even more evil. Praise God though we can repent, we can see that we really do need our savior everyday. We may have perfected the outside that fool many people, but we always need Jesus to keep us surrendering out hearts to him.

Genesis 6:5

Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

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Women Lovin Jesus

Posted on July 7, 2018 by Jennifer Van Allen

Prodigal: What are we doing today!

Me: We are introducing my new you tube channel called Women Lovin Jesus. This is about women lovin Jesus in all aspects of their lives and in all circumstances. We will learn, grow and support each other! Be sure to head over and check it out.

1 Corinthians 2:5

That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

Significant Things

Posted on July 5, 2018 by Jennifer Van Allen

Me: What are you looking at?

Prodigal: All the children’s artwork.

Me: Children’s artwork is precious

This is from C.S. Lewis Mere Christianity

One part of the claim tends to slip past us unnoticed because we have heard it so often that we no longer see what it amounts to. I mean the claim to forgive sins: any sins. Now unless the speaker is God, this is really so preposterous as to be comic. We can all understand how a man forgives offences against himself. You tread on my toes and I forgive you, you steal my money and I forgive you. But what should we make of a man, himself unrobbed and untrodden on, who announced that he forgave you for treading on other men’s toes and stealing other men’s money? Asinine fatuity is the kindest description we should give of his conduct. Yet this is what Jesus did. He told people that their sins were forgiven, and never waited to consult all the other people whom their sins had undoubtedly injured. He unhesitatingly behaved as if He was the party chiefly concerned, the person chiefly offended in all offences. This makes sense of if He really was the God whose laws are broken and whose love is wounded in every sin. In the mouth of any speaker who is not God, these words would imply what I can only regard as a silliness and conceit unrivalled by any other character in history.

Your Father already knows your needs.

Luke 12:30

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

Boundary Development

Posted on July 3, 2018 by Jennifer Van Allen

Me: You are with some nice folks!

Prodigal: Yep, I haven’t seen y’all in a coon’s age.

Me: I was going to speak about children today.

This comes from the book Boundaries by Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend

The Scriptures advise parents to “train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it” Proverbs 22:6. Many parents misunderstand this passage. They think “the way he should go” means “the way we, the parents think he or she should go.” Can you see the boundary conflicts already beginning?

The verse actually means “the way God has planned for him or her to go.” In other words, good parenting isn’t emotionally bludgeoning the child into come clone or ideal of the perfect child. It’s being a partner in helping young ones discover what God intended for them to be and helping them reach that goal.

Sometimes the hardest thing to do is just let your child be a child and for us not to interfere.

Matthew 28:20

I am with you always to the end of the age.

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

The Hammer, The File, and The Furnace

Posted on July 1, 2018 by Jennifer Van Allen

Me: You are starting a fire?

Prodigal: Yes, which means it is a perfect time to share.

This is from Charles Swindoll

It was the enraptured Rutherford who said in the midst of very painful trials and heartaches:

“Praise God for the hammer, the file, and the furnace!”

Let’s think about that. The hammer is a useful and handy instrument. It is an essential and helpful tool, if nails are ever to be driven into place. Each blow forces them to bite deeper as the hammer’s head pounds and pounds.

But it the nail had feelings and intelligence, it would give us another side of the story. To the nail, the hammer is brutal, relentless master–an enemy who loves to beat it into submission. That is the nail’s view of the hammer. It is correct. Except for one thing. The nail tends to forget that both it and the hammer are held by the same workman. The workman decides whose “head” will be pounded out of sight…and which hammer will be used to do the job.

This decision is the sovereign right of the carpenter. Let the nail but remember that it and the hammer are held by the same workman…and its resentment will fade as it yields to the carpenter without complaint. The same analogy holds true for the metal that endures the rasp of the file and the blast of the furnace. If the metal forgets that it and the tools are objects of the same craftsman’s care, it will build up hatred and resentment. The metal must keep in mind that craftsman knows what he’s doing….and is doing what is best.

Heartaches and disappointments are like the hammer, the file, and the furnace. They come in all shapes and sizes: an unfulfilled romance, a lingering illness and untimely death, and unachieved goal in life, a broken home or marriage, a severed friendship, a wayward and rebellious child, a personal medical report that advises “immediate surgery,” a failing grade at school, a depression that simply won’t go away, a habit you can’t seem to break. Sometimes heartaches come suddenly…other times they appear over the passing of many months, slowly as the erosion of earth.

Do I write to a “nail” that has begun to resent the blows of the hammer? Are you at the brink of despair, thinking that you cannot bear another day of heartache? Is that what’s gotten you down?

As difficult as it may be for you to believe this today, the Master knows what He’s doing. Your Savior knows your breaking point. The bruising and crushing and melting process is designed to reshape you, not ruin you. Your value increasing the longer He lingers over you.

Matthew 6:8

Your Father knows what you need before you ask Him

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalipig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

Islamic State

Posted on June 30, 2018 by Jennifer Van Allen

Prodigal: I was just wondering about Islam with all the talk going on.

Me: I was just reading about it so let me share.

This is from Beyond Opinion Living the Faith We Defend by Ravi Zacharias

The Doctrine of the Universality of Muhammad’s Message and Mission

First is the doctrine of the universality of Muhammad’s message and mission. Sura 7:158–“Say O mankind I am an apostle of Allah unto all of you”–means that since all people need to be brought back to Islam, then Muslims are obligated to implement this goal by every means necessary. The resulting political implications divides the world into two territories: the land of Islam and the land of war. The land of Islam is to be fully governed by the Islamic state armed with the Sharia law, and the land of war is to be subdued by every means necessary.

John 14:1

Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in Me.

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

Religious Complexity

Posted on June 28, 2018 by Jennifer Van Allen

Me: There seems to be a lot going on.

Prodigal: Yes, there does.

Me: We need to focus on Christ though

This is from the book The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer

Every age has its own characteristics. Right now we are in an age of religious complexity. The simplicity which is in Christ is rarely found among us. In its stead are programs, methods, organizations and a world or nervous activities which occupy time and attention but can never satisfy the longing of the heart. The shallowness of our inner experience, the hollowness of our worship, and that servile imitation of the world which marks our promotional methods all testify that we, in this day, know God only imperfectly and the peace of God scarcely at all.

If we would find God amid all the religious externals we must first determine to find Him, and the proceed in the way of simplicity. Now as always God discovers Himself to “babes” and hides Himself in thick darkness from the wise and the prudent. We must simplify our approach to Him. We must strip down to essentials (and they will be found to be blessedly few). We must put away all effort to impress, and come with the guileless candor of childhood. If we do this, without doubt God will quickly respond.

John 10:11

I am the good shepherd The good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

In His Presence

Posted on June 26, 2018 by Jennifer Van Allen

Me: Prodigal, what are you talking to Freud about?

Prodigal: Counseling.

Me: I was just reading about counseling. I will share.

This is from The Christian Counselor’s Manual by Jay E. Adams

The scriptures plainly teach, God holds each one of us personally responsible for his thoughts, words, and actions regardless of external pressures and influences:

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

All blame-shifting and excuses will evaporate in that day before the searching gaze of the One whose eyes are “as a flame of fire.” The sophisticated Freudian or behavioristic theories that now seem so conveniently plausible and that are used to justify and excuse men of their responsibility to God will be shown to be futile and false. In His presence, men in anguish will wonder at the naivete that they once called sophistication.

Counseling is not wrong and of course it can help, but remember that the Lord is the best counselor so with His word and Holy Spirit you will get the best results. Sometimes that result may mean that we have to look at our own sin.

John 6:35

I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to Me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in Me will never be thirsty.

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

An Experience with God

Posted on June 23, 2018 by Jennifer Van Allen

Prodigal: What do you think this day will bring?

Me: I think God knows that answer but he always has something to tell us if we are willing to listen.

This is from the book Becoming More Than a Good Bible Study Girl by Lysa Terkeurst

About a year ago I woke up early one morning and saw the strangest sight. Condensation had collected on one of my bedroom windows. Etched in the condensation were two perfectly drawn circles, joined at the center and looking exactly like wedding bands.

Staring at the design, I tried to come up with a reasonable explanation. I could not for the life of me figure out how two perfect circles could have gotten drawn into the condensation of my very-high-up bedroom window.

Later that day I went back to look at the window, but the hot afternoon sun had long since evaporated the moisture. The wedding bands were gone. For days I looked for their return, waking each morning eager to see them and ponder their existence. But when the days turned into weeks I eventually stopped looking.

Then one morning they reappeared. Only this time they were there for several mornings straight. Each morning when my eyes would open, the two etched wedding bands were the first thing I’d see.

On about the fourth morning, my heart started aching as I viewed the spectacle. An urgency suddenly pushed through my chest. I tried to brush it off, but couldn’t. It was a conviction. Not a condemning conviction. Rather, a tender one.

A tender conviction to love my husband more intentionally. And not just in the convenient ways. But in the inconvenient as well. In ways that take a little more thought….intentionality…and effort. Ways that are easy to let stop when the everyday urgencies seem to take precedence or seem important.

I mentally made all kinds of promises and grand plans for a priority overhaul. And for a few days, I did great. But then life happened….lots of life. The window circles soon disappeared and so did my resolve. I slipped back into my comfortable, getting-by pattern.

Well, at the risk of starting to sound like a Hallmark movie, the circles are back. I don’t want to sound presumptuous. But the circles seem so perfectly drawn. And so perfectly times. Do you think that maybe, just maybe, love of the most divine kind has tipped down to touch an ordinary glass window?

I do.

And I’m equally convinced that God wants to speak to and reveal to you in your day-to-day life. If only you will open up your heart to possibilities for Him to use everyday things to change you, grow you, strengthen you, and remind you of His amazing love….you will start to see Him. You will start to hear Him. You will get to know Him more deeply. And you will want to follow Him more boldly. And what a glorious sense of possibility that is!

John 8:12

I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

God Can

Posted on June 21, 2018 by Jennifer Van Allen

Prodigal: Sometimes I am down. I wonder what is going on with God’s ways.

Me: Me too, but that is why we encourage each other.

This is from William Gurnall

God, can in fact, use His saint’ failures to strengthen their faith, which, like a tree, stands stronger for the shaking. Times of testing expose the heart’s true condition. False faith, once foiled, seldom comes on again; but true faith rises and fights more valiantly, as we see in Peter. Temptation is to faith as fire is to gold. The fire not only reveals which is true gold, but makes the true gold more pure…Faith before temptation has much extraneous stuff that clings to it and passes for faith; but when temptation comes, the dross is discovered and consumed by the fiery trial…And here is all the devil gets: Instead of destroying the saint’s faith, he is the means of refining it, thereby making it stronger and more precious.

Some times the test seems to last forever. Sometimes you can see no good that can come of it. But our job is to just stay focused on Christ. He will do the refining.

John 6:47

Whoever believes has eternal life.

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org