Me: I glad that you could join me today.
Prodigal: We could use some encouragement to begin our day.
This is a video devotion about Proverbs
Proverbs 4:17
For they eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence.
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Me: Looks like you have a busy day.
Prodigal: My calendar is full.
Me: You might want to squeeze in time to read this devotion.
I type in the last couple of letters, and I am finished. A pink block pops up on my screen. I have just finished putting another appointment in my Google Calendar. Google Calendar has been tracking my life for years, and I love the options it gives. One problem remains with Google Calendar.
Even though I have told God He can have access to my calendar, He has yet to put on the schedule the date. and times He will answer my prayers.
Wait a second, you have the same problem? God has not written in purple ink on your soft rose stationary planner? God has not typed out in Times New Roman font on your phone calendar?
What could be going on?
Acts 1:7 (ESV)
He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.
It is not that God does not love us, or that He does not care. I use to think that God showing me love meant that He would have a Monday morning meeting to go over my week with me. We would discuss the plan. He would say Jennifer, your friend will be healed on Thursday around 4:00pm. Then let’s say Friday that neighbor of yours is saved. Then you have been praying for that opportunity at work. How about we schedule that at the first of the month. I kept waiting for that meeting, but it just didn’t happen.
I then became confused, upset, feeling I was unloved. Why did God not answer my prayer, and tell me when? Why can I not have everything planned out?
What I learned instead is, that God likes to answer with vague responses that mean we have to lean on Him. Instead I begin to get an answer that says “wait”. So, is that a wait for two hours, or is this something more like two weeks? Then the follow up answer is “wait”. Are we talking about years? The answer remains “wait”.
What I began to figure out, is a lot goes on, in this waiting on the Lord. I have learned more patience, faith, trust in God. I have learned that there can be joy in the process of our journey, and not in just what we receive. It has made me focus more on today, and not so much my calendar of tomorrows. Who knows may be today will be the answer to a prayer? Maybe tomorrow will be.
I believe God cares so much, that he does not want us discouraged in our wait. Sometimes that takes a while to apply in our lives. After knowing these truths, we can still get discouraged, then the Lord uses the body of Christ to remind us again.
We are not alone, and God does have a plan fixed by His authority. We can trust in that Love. In the meantime, let’s wait together. Let’s agree to, keep your calendar, phone, screen open, so that if the Lord chooses, He may pencil in an answered prayer at any time.
Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentile and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
Matthew 11:28-29
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Prodigal: So tell me the plan of the trip again?
Me: You want to know all the details.
Prodigal: Yes, I want all the details.
Me: Sometimes God doesn’t tell you everything and you have to have faith.
This is from the book Abraham by Charles Swindoll
Think of all that Abraham didn’t have. No precise destination, no map or GPS, no travel agency, no AAA membership, no insurance, and no written contract promising safety. He had no security team–and as a wealthy man, he could have easily been robbed. No hotel accommodations. No prayer support from home; everyone he knew worshiped idols. It was a calling most of us would have extreme difficulty following. Some wouldn’t even consider it. If God should command us to go somewhere far from home, we at least want a map. But God responds, “No, I want to cultivate your faith in Me, so I’m holding back all the details. You won’t know ahead of time what you’re going to encounter, so you’ll have to stay close to Me.”
Great rewards await if you obey without knowing all the details. It’s a principle God wants each of His followers to experience. Learning to trust Him is like making a journey step after step. Faith builds upon faith. When we trust, we receive unexpected blessings. This strengthens our confidence and inspires us to trust God again as we take another step. It isn’t complicated, but it goes against our nature. Regrettably, faith is a hypothetical concept for most. The great majority of people never experience the joys of this faith journey because they won’t take the first step without knowing the precise destination. But if we know the destination and have all the details, we don’t need faith, and we will never experience its rewards. (Read that last sentence again.)
Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee: thou saidst, Fear not.
Lamentations 3:57
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Me: Fun activity for a fun day!
Prodigal: I agree, and there is no rain in site.
Below is a video devotion on Proverbs.
Proverbs 4:16
For they do not sleep unless they have done evil; and their sleep is taken away unless they make someone fall.
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Prodigal: I am ready for bed.
Me: Would you like a story before bed.
Prodigal: That would be great!
The Pre-Christmas snowstorm had blanketed a wide patch of rural eastern Pennsylvania, and Chris Clark Davidson probably should have waited until the roads were plowed before she, her mother, and her two small sons attempted a drive. But Chris’s grandmother lived alone more than a hundred miles away, and couldn’t get out to buy groceries.
“We’ll be fine,” Chris reassured her mother. “We’ll take that shortcut we use all summer.” They found the shortcut and turned onto it. Chris had forgotten how narrow the road was, especially with drifts piled high and wind blowing snow across the fields. Usually chatting on previous drives, neither woman had noticed how deserted the area was. When another vehicle roared around a curve, Chris swerved and skidded into a snow bank. The other car kept going.
The wheels spun uselessly as she tried to pull out. “Mommy, are we stuck?” Phillip, her toddler, asked from under his blanket in the backseat.
“Looks that way, honey,” Chris admitted. They had only seen that one care since they’d turned onto the shortcut. How long would it be before someone came along? How long before the freezing temperature invaded the car’s interior? And why, oh why, had she worn sandals and pantyhose instead of warm boots?
Chris got out, her feet plunging into a high snow drift, and she looked around. Lord, please send us some help, she prayed. Then she saw it–a silo and barn roof peeking up from the hills, about a quarter-mile away. “Mom,” Chris leaned in the car, “I’ll walk down to the barn and see if anyone’s there. Keep the kids warm.”
The journey was incredibly cold, and by the time Chris pushed open the barn door, her feet were icy. A welcome blast of heat greeted her, along with the mooing of heifers in their stalls. It was a working dairy, clean and well organized, with a shiny window fan circulating the air.
Even better, Chris heard young male voices behind a stall. Maneuvering around fresh manure, she followed the sound and came upon two farmhands in overalls and flannel shirts, kidding and teasing each other. They stopped and smiled when they saw her, and she quickly explained the situation.
“Stay here!” one said, tramping past the cows and out the door. A few moments later, Chris heard a horn honking in front of the barn. There he was, driving a blue pickup truck. “Get in!” he shouted.
Chris hesitated. She didn’t know these men. And yet there was something so merry about them that she couldn’t feel afraid. She and the other farmhand scrambled into the pickup and bounced down the road. There was the car, her toddlers bundled up and Mom waving. The driver roared across the field, spun in a wide circle and screeched into position in front of it. “Way to go!” his buddy yelled.
Chris gripped the seat. “Do you always drive like this?” she asked, only half-joking.
The driver shrugged. “Well, it ain’t our truck.”
Within minutes, the men had freed Chris’s car, and she opened her purse to reward them. But both backed away. “It was our pleasure, ma’am. Just drive safely.”
You mean, not like you? Chris thought to herself, grinning as she pulled away. What wonderful guys.
Chris didn’t realize just how wonderful until two weeks later when she and her mother decided to make a return visit to her grandmother. Since the snow was almost melted now, the shortcut was safer. Soon the silo and barn roof came into view.
“Let’s stop and let the guys know we made it to Grandma’s that day,” Chris suggested. But when they pulled up in front of the barn where Chris had climbed into the blue truck, she could hardly believe her eyes.
For the barn was vacant, shabby, with paint peeling and door hinges hanging loose. Bewildered, Chris wiped away a heavy film of dirt and cobwebs on the milk house window and peered inside. Where were the heifers? Where were the floors littered with fresh manure? Even the fan was rusty.
“You couldn’t have seen any farmhands or cattle there,” the woman at the next house told Christ when she went to inquire. “No one’s worked that property for years.”
Chris got in the car. “Am I crazy, Mom?” she asked.
“No,” Her mother was firm. “This is definitely the place.”
Then how…?
Suddenly Chris understood, and like the shepherds at that first Christmas, she was filled with awe. Her angels had worn blue jeans instead of white robes. But they had delivered the same timeless message to her and to anyone willing to listen: Fear not. The Savior is here, and He cares about you. Hallelujah!
by Joan Wester Anderson
Proverbs 3:2
For they will prolong your life many years and bring you peace and prosperity.
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincouseling.org
Prodigal: Sometimes I am confused, and unsure what love really is, and how to love others.
Me: There has been a lot said about love, but maybe this will help.
This is from the book Bold Love by Dr. Dan B. Allender & Dr. Tremper Longman III
The “take-care-of-yourself” movement had led many to justify self-centeredness. And yet, this approach has recognized many significant problems with the traditional understanding of love and forgiveness. The take-care-of-yourself movement properly refuses to think of dependent, fear-based compliance and rescuing behavior as love. I could not agree more. Love is far more than merely doing the right thing; in fact, many relationships are so bound by guilt, fear, and neediness that true love is impossible.
For example, many people ignore the harm done to them and call it “forgiving” the other. In fact, one reason it may be ignored is the fear of causing conflict. When fear of the other is the undergirding motive for turning the other cheek, it cannot be called love, or forgiving the other. A lot of activity that is seen as spiritual is infused with fear, pretense, and ritual. The take-care-of-yourself movement accurately sees the potential for what appears to be loving behavior to be based on a heart that is not concerned with love , but with protecting the self or others from difficult truths.
The two options discussed are not without merit, but both leave me empty. The first minimized pain, and the second undervalues sacrifice. Something is wrong with our understanding of love and forgiveness if popular teaching encourages this.
Titus 3:6
whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior,
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Me: That is beautiful!
Prodigal: So is God’s word.
This is a video devotion on Proverbs.
Proverbs 4:15
Avoid it, do not travel on it, turn away from it and pass on.
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Me: You must love cupcakes?
Prodigal: I have been known to eat one, or two before.
Me: Let’s talk about what God loves.
God reminded me of some verses once again in the bible. I love the way King James sounds in these verses.
Revelation 3:15-16
I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
When we look back at this chapter the Lord is talking to the churches. He is talking to Christians. There are 3 types of people in these passages.
As Christians we often think there is only one type of Christian. Really there are two. There are those that are lukewarm, and those that are hot.
Somewhere in the church we started a formula.
Go to church = christian.
Have others call you a christian = you must be good at it.
Get the applause of men = God loves you.
The bible does not include this formulae, instead it says in church you will find lukewarm, and cold.
What is lukewarm, hot and cold. It is a measurement of temperature. God is saying He wants His disciples to be only Hot.
How do you check the temperature? If you think your children have a fever, do you think it has something to do with the temperature of you house, the weather outside, or the clothes they are wearing?
No if they have a fever, something is going on inside of them. The temperature is a result from what ever is taking place with cells, white blood counts, and diseases.
God checks out temperature the same way. If we are hot, or cold will depend on what is on the inside. Hot, or cold is not determined by externals. What people think of us, our title, or our social media friends.
Our temperature tells us what is going on inside with our feelings toward God.
Just as children are healthy, and then may become sick. We as christian may have been hot once, but may have become lukewarm.
God tells us that something may be causes the lukewarm heart just as a fever is caused by something else.
I just challenge you to go to God with your heart. Have you become lukewarm? What caused it?
Has these things taken over in your life, boredom, pleasing people, the title that you have, the friendships of others who are lukewarm, the fear of your life changing. How about money becoming priority or is it someone else that has taken over the love of God.
God is calling you back to being on fire for the Lord again with your heart.
He is calling you to return back to your first love.
You have left your first love, and the only way forward is to go back.
If not, you will remain lukewarm. You will remain something that the Lord hates.
Hosea 6:1
Come, let us return to the LORD. For He has torn us, but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bandage us.
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Prodigal: Sometimes the flock seems to be over there, and I am over here.
Me: Yes, that seems to be the case…what is really the truth?
Prodigal: Yes, I need to be reminded.
This is from the book Men of Faith: Jonathan Edwards by David J. Vaughan
Resolved, to study the Scriptures so steadily, constantly and frequently, as that I may find, and plainly perceive myself to grow in knowledge of the same.
We have God’s word so that he can speak to us so that we can know His thoughts at times. We have words that have touched christian men, and women for centuries. You have studied his word for years, but it can still touch your heart. It can still teach in a moment where you need to grow.
For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Hebrews 4:12
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Prodigal: I am enjoying the squares that you made.
Me: I had fun making the patterns!
Today I have a video devotion on proverbs. You can watch the video below.
Proverbs 4:14
Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go in the way of evil men.
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
