Prodigal: Ready?
Me: This is a piece o’ cake.
This is a short video devotion on Proverbs.
Proverbs 8:24 When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water. (KJV)
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Prodigal: This looks like a lot of temptation to my waistline.
Me: Yes, how could we deal with it?
Prodigal: Maybe you could share from one of the books you have read.
Me: Good, starting point.
This is from the book The Imitation of Christ by Thomas Kempis
The beginning of all evil temptations is inconstancy of mind, and small confidence in God. For as a ship without a helm is tossed to and fro with the waves; so the man who is careless, and apt to leave his purpose, is many ways tempted.
The reason the temptation has grown is that you feel God’s way is not the best way. God is holding out on you. How could this behavior really be a big deal? Remember though God is not just looking at behavior. He is looking at your spiritual, and emotional growth. God also is trying to protect you.
The beginning of temptation means that you may not understand all the reasons to say no, but you trust God and say no.
Psalm 90:12
So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Prodigal: I’m getting tired.
Me: Quit your hemmin’ and hawn’ and keep moving.
Prodigal: I guess we don’t have a choice sometimes.
This is from the Great House of God by Max Lucado
Nature is God’s workshop. The sky is his resume. The universe if his calling card. You want to know who God is? See what he has done. You want to know his power? Take a look at his creation. Curious about his strength? Pay a visit to his home address: 1 Billion Starry Sky Avenue…..
He is untainted by the atmosphere of sin,
unbridled by the time line of history,
unhindered by the weariness of the body.
What controls you doesn’t control him. What troubles you doesn’t trouble him. What fatigues you doesn’t fatigue him. Is an eagle disturbed by traffic? No, he rises above it. Is the whale perturbed by a hurricane? Of course not, he plunges beneath it. Is the lion flustered by the mouse standing directly in his way? No, he steps over it.
How much more is God able to soar above, plunge beneath, and step over the troubles of the earth!
Psalm 36:5
Thy mercy, O LORD, is in the heavens; and thy faithfulness reached unto the clouds.
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Prodigal: It was rough last night.
Me: Well here is some encouragement, The storm shall pass. Meanwhile, dance in the rain!
This is a video devotion on Proverbs.
Proverbs 8:23 I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was.
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Me: Sometimes we just need to hear from someone.
Prodigal: That makes all the difference
When you’re lonely,
…..we wish you LOVE.
When you’re down,
……we wish you Joy.
When you’re troubled,
……we wish you PEACE
When things look empty,
…..we wish you HOPE.
-source unknown
Proverbs 4:2
I give you sound learning, so do not forsake my teaching
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Prodigal: The sun is about to set.
Me: Yes, but God works the night shift.
Prodigal: Praise the Lord for that!
This is from the book God Works the Night Shift by Ron Mehl
It was midnight in Last Chance, Colorado.
There wasn’t much moving but an aging International Travelall with four sleepy, long-legged Bible college guys stuffed inside. Representing our college in that summer of ’64, we were traveling cross country on a public relations tour. We were on the basketball team, sang in a quartet, and took turns preaching and running the slide projector.
We were on a narrow stretch of Highway 71, approaching Last Chance. My big buddy Herb–all six-foot-nine, 240 pounds of him–had a girl-friend who lived down the highway in Sterling. We planned to camp in her living room that night.
I guess it could have happened to any of us, since we were all dead tired, but our driver fell asleep at the wheel. In the back seat, I woke as the Travelall lurched suddenly to the right, then back to the left. I hollered something, then blacked out as our van launched itself over a sheer embankment, rolled again and again and came to rest, upright, facing up the slope.
When I came to, the van was still rocking and dirt seemed to be sifting down on me from the ceiling. I became aware that the little dome light was on, that I had a lap full of broken glass, that my back hurt, that the luminous hands on the dash clock pointed at 12:02, and that I was all alone.
Alone? Why was I alone? Where were the guys?
The rear passenger door next to me suddenly popped and swung wide open, but there was no one there. I got out.
Am I hurt? Where am I? Where is everybody?
A full moon shone down on the grassy slope, but I couldn’t see anyone at all. Shock and a growing sense of fear began to claw at my insides.
Then I heard something. Some kind of moan or sob. I followed the sound and found Joe. Joe was a big guy, too–six-six, 250 pounds. But this thing on the grass didn’t look like any Joe I’d ever seen. His face, in the moonlight, was a mask of blood. He was staring at me.
“Ron,” he moaned. “Ron. Help me.”
He lifted his hands to me and blood ran down his arms. He looked like a monster out of a horror movie. I remember wanting to run–to just turn around and run from the whole scene as fast and as far as I could, and somehow block it from my mind. I’d never been so scared in my life.
“Ron,” Joe cried, holding out that bloody hand. I took it and held it. Then I heard someone else moaning in the distance.
“Hang on, Joe, ” I said, “I’ll be right back.”
Thirty yards on the other side of the van I found Herb. His leg was twisted at an unnatural angle from the hip, and he seemed in horrible pain. Jim was lying nearby. But neither of them looked as bad as Joe.
I went back to Joe and sat by him, sure he wouldn’t–couldn’t live very long. From somewhere, I remembered that you were supposed to keep injured people awake. I said, “Let’s quote some verses, Joe. Do you remember one?” I started rattling off all the Bible verses I could remember.
As I sat there holding my friend’s hand, I began to realize what a horrible predicament we were in. It was the middle of the night. We were out on the dark prairie. Highway 71 was a lonely stretch of road.
I started to pray. “Lord, it’s dark and we’re in trouble. No one knows we’re here. No one travels this road. No one will come by here. But Lord, You see us. You know where we are. Help us, Lord. Please, help us.”
Five minutes later I heard something in the distance. A car? I climbed up the bank and staggered onto the roadway. It was a car! I could see approaching headlights. Standing in the middle of the highway, I waved my arms like a wild man. The car stopped and a young, frightened-looking man rolled down the window and looked at me.
“We’ve had an accident,” I gasped. “We’re young preacher boys…our car’s down the bank…my friends are badly hurt. Thank the Lord you came along!”
The man stumbled down the bank with me while his wife drove to the nearest farmhouse to call an ambulance. While we waited, the man talked to me.
“Let me tell you what’s amazing about this,” he said. “My wife and I were at a camp meeting tonight. After the service, we just looked at each other and said, “Let’s take the long way home. It’s such a beautiful moonlit night–let’s go for a little drive.” It’s strange because we never drive this road–especially at this time of the night.”
All I could think of was that God had heard Ron Mehl’s shaky prayer–in our danger, in our hurt, in our isolation, in the dark. He was on duty. He was putting in another night shift.
1 John 4:18-19
There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts our fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because he first loved us.
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Prodigal: There’s no dollar sign on peace of mind.
Me: Amen!
This is a video devotion on Proverbs
Proverbs 8:22 The LORD possessed me at the beginning of His way, Before His works of old. (KJV)
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Prodigal: This garden is fine as a daisy.
Me: Yes, it is beautiful.
Everything in Christ astonishes me. His spirit overawes me, and his will confounds me. Between him and whoever else in the world, there is no possible term of comparison. He is truly a being by himself….I search in vain in history to find the similar to Jesus Christ, or anything which can approach the gospel. Neither history, nor humanity, nor the ages, nor nature, offer me anything with which I am able to compare it or to explain it. Here everything is extraordinary.
Napoleon
Even with power you can humble yourself to acknowledge how great Jesus really is.
John 17:13
But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Me: I declare, that is a happy face!
Prodigal: Yes, look at how much joy there is!
This is from the book God’s Psychiatry by Charles L. Allen
When we look at Jesus’ face we know it was a happy face. Little children ran to get in His lap and clasp Him around His neck. People invited Him to their parties. Seeing God in Christ, we are not afraid of Him; instead we want to be closer to Him. We listen as He says, “Neither do I condemn thee; go and sin no more.” (John 8:11), and we are ashamed of our sins, we want forgiveness, and we come to Him repenting and asking for His cleansing.
We look as “he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem” (Luke 9:51). Though it meant death, He would not go back on the high purposes of His life. Seeing Him puts the steel in our own backbones to make the right decision. We watch as He walked seven miles to Emmaus to give hope to the downhearted (Luke 24:13-32), or as He gave a new chance to His friends who failed Him (John 20:19-31), and we take new heart and new hope.
How wonderful it is to see God. To encourage the early Christians who were bearing almost the unbearable John says to them that those who are faithful “shall see his face” (Rev 22:4). The promise of seeing Him compensated for any sacrifice.
For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Matthew 16:26 (KJV)
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Prodigal: That is beeutiful!
Me: I love it, wanted to share that, not every cloud brings a storm.
This is a video devotion on Proverbs.
Proverbs 8:21 That I may cause those who love me to inherit wealth, that I may fill their treasuries. (NKJV)
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
