Prodigal: We are almost finished.
Me: Yes, and I am lovin’ the fabric in this one.
Prodigal: I am also lovin’ that it is time for a video
This is a short video devotion on Proverbs
Proverbs 7:8
Passing along the street near her corner; And he took the path to her house. (NKJV).
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Me: Are you trying to be a turtle now?
Prodigal: You are always poking fun!
Me: It is done with love.
This is from the book Joy in Christ’s Presence by Charles Spurgeon
I think I have known some of Christ’s disciples who have appeared to doubt the wisdom or the love of their Lord. They did not quite say that He was mistaken, but they said that He moved in a mysterious way. They did not quite complain that He was unkind to them, but they whispered that they could not reconcile His dealings with His infinite love. Alas, Jesus has endured much from our unbelief! May this illustration help us to see our spots, and may the love of our dear Lord remove them!
Lord sometimes I cannot see my unbelief. I am afraid to admit that it is there. I think some how having unbelief means that I don’t love you. I cover this up in my soul under layers of knowledge and praise. It is still there O Lord. Help uncover the unbelief and then help remind me that you are the God of the impossible!
Matthew 20:28
In the same way, the Son of Man did not come to be served. He came to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many people.
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Me: I am not sure about what was said by that guy.
Prodigal: He ain’t done a nary thing.
Me: Listen though for what his focus is.
This is from A.W. Pink
The prophet needed further training in secret if he was to be personally fitted to speak again for God in public….The man whom the Lord uses has to be kept low: severe discipline has to be experienced by him…..Three more years must be spent by the prophet in seclusion. How humbling! Alas, how little is man to be trusted: how little is he able to bear being put into the place of honor! How quickly self rises to the surface, and the instrument is ready to believe his is something more than an instrument. How sadly easy it is to make of the very service God entrusts us with a pedestal on which to display ourselves.
John 6:51
I am living the bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Prodigal: Let’s sit for a spell.
Me: Perfect time to watch the next video.
This is a video devotion on Proverbs
Proverbs 7:7
and I have seen among the simple, I have perceived among the youths, a young man lacking sense. (ESV)
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Prodigal: It looks cold out there.
Me: Yes, it is but we still have the sun!
This is from the book Longing for More of Jesus: My Heart’s Cry by Anne Graham Lotz
Years ago, during the day of the powerful Roman Empire, there existed a special forces-type unit referred to as the Thundering Legion. This elite group of fighting men had greatly distinguished itself on the battlefield. It was led by a young commander, Camidus, who, in the course of his daily affairs, heard that God loved him and had sent His own Son, Jesus Christ, to die as a sacrifice for his sin, then had risen form the dead to give him eternal life. The young commander was so impacted that he was converted, placing his faith in Jesus Christ. He then shared his newfound faith with his regiment, and each of the thirty-nine soldiers under his command placed his faith in Jesus Christ alone for salvation.
At the very time the regiment became more and more vocal about their faith in Jesus Christ, the Roman emperor became more and more insistent that he, the emperor, be recognized and worshiped as a god. In the end, and ugly confrontation took place when the regiment was commanded by the acting Roman governor to sacrifice to idols. The entire regiment refused. All forty professional fighting men were arrested by other soldiers and sent to a remote northern province. There they were called upon to renounce their faith in Jesus Christ once and for all. Again, each one refused.
As punishment for their faith, the forty soldiers were marched out onto the surface of a frozen lake, stripped of all their clothes, and loosely tied by a rope that encircled the neck of each and was strung form man to man. The men were then told they would be left on the lake until they froze to death.
However, if any man changed his mind, all he had to do was to slip the rope up and off his neck, walk to the shore, renounce his faith to the guard, and enter a steaming hot bath in order to recover from the exposure.
As the guard went back to his post to warm himself by his fire and to watch the forty nude men shivering in the freezing air, he heard them begin to chant: “Forty soldiers, we stand strong in the strength of Christ and Christ alone.” The chant continued until the darkness fell and the night descended, bringing with it plummeting temperatures. In the frozen bleakness, the chant became weaker, than faded altogether.
In the middle of the night, one of the freezing soldiers struggled to lift his arms, then unwrapped the rope from his neck and stumbled to the shore. In a barely audible voice, he told the guard he could not stand the cold any longer and renounced his faith in Jesus Christ. He then fell into the warmth of the steaming Roman bath.
As the guard returned to his post, he strained his ears to hear a sound coming from across the surface of the frozen lake: “Thirty-nine soldiers, we stand strong in the strength of Christ and Christ alone.” He held his breath to listen more carefully–then heard it again! This time the chant was repeated louder, with more strength. The guard was stunned! Who could provoke such conviction and commitment from such men? The guard knew it was Jesus! Slowly but surely, the guard walked across the surface of the lake to where the thirty-nine men were still standing. He quietly stripped of his clothes, stepped into the line of soldiers, wrapped the rope around his own neck, took the place of the soldier who had gone to shore, and shouted, “I am a Christian.” The chant rang out once more, only this time it was stronger and louder than it had been before: “Forty soldiers, we stand strong in the strength of Christ and Christ alone.” When the sun rose early the next morning, forty soldiers lay dead on the frozen surface of the lake.
Where does such strength come from? Where do you find courage and convictions like that to live for–and die for?
We love him, because he first loved us.
I JOHN 4 : 19
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodialpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Me: Sometimes we need to be told loud and clear.
Prodigal: We often want to get our hands over everything and we really do not need too.
This is from the book Joy in Christ’s Presence by Charles Spurgeon
In this way I have deliberately given up many a trying situation into the Lord’s care. And when any of my friends have said to me, “What about so and so?” I have simply answered, “I do not know, and I no longer take the trouble to know. The Lord will interpose in some way or other, but I will trouble no more about it.”
No horrible turn of events has ever occurred in a matter that I have left in God’s care. Keeping my hands out of such things has been pure wisdom. “Stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD” (Exodus 14:13) is God’s own precept. Let us follow Jesus in this.
The LORD on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the sea.
PSALM 93 : 4
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Prodigal: That quilt is dandy!
Me: I am glad that after all the long hours the quilt is enjoyed.
This is a short video devotion on Proverbs
Proverbs 7:6
For at the window of my house I have looked out through my lattice, (ESV).
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Me: I think for my decision, I am choosing ice cream.
Prodigal: That is a good decision but I was thinking something else.
I have made my choice forever
I will walk the narrow way,
‘Till with Christ I dwell forever
In the realms of endless day.
Take the world with its pleasures
They can never satisfy,
Give me Jesus my precious Savior
He will all my needs supply.
by Helena Steiner
1 John 2:15-17
Do not love the world or the thing in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world–the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions–is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Prodigal: I think that its a perfect place for the turtles to be.
Me: They have the perfect place to receive the son.
This is from the book Open Heart Open Home by Karen Burton Mains
The church should be the ideal environment to provide safe places for people to touch each other’s lives. Safe places are small groups with whom we can be who we really are in our brokenness and disability and receive assurance of acceptance and spiritual nurturance. We must have guarantees that confidentiality will be maintained; that what we say in the group will not be repeated outside. We must have massive applications of love and loving correction. We must find people who will be truthful without being harmful. When we find safety we are often able then to receive the strength we need to do the hard work of growth that we can only do ourselves.
Being a friend means that we do not repeat what is being told us in confidence. We show love, patience and acceptance. We then tell the truth in love and not in attack mode. We make sure that we look at ourselves and we are not contributing to the problem due to our own sin. This takes work and it is the first step is all about us and our own work.
Mark 10:29
And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Prodigal: So many books….
Me: So little time….
This is a short video devotion.
Proverbs 7:5
That they may keep you from the immoral woman, From the seductress who flatters with her words. (NKJV)
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
