Me: What a beautiful tree!
Prodigal: Yes, we need to stop and admire the beauty.
It is time for another video.
Thank you for watching!
Proverbs 3:25
Have no fear of sudden disaster or of the ruin that over takes the wicked.
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Prodigal: It is so beautiful!
Me: The sky, flowers, water, and sand.
Yes, God has been working on me. We think we should get a break. We think that it is about time. We think isn’t this our vacation day. God ignores all those thoughts, and continues to focus on our growth.
I must be an endless chore that seems never to be complete. It is how the floors always need mopping, dishes in need of scrubbing, and clothes that need washing. One day it seems finished, but it doesn’t take long until your attention is back to the same chore you did yesterday, or two days ago.
Unlike chores at times, the Lord looks on me with love. He looks on me with compassion, and patience. I am not so much a chore but an act of love. I am precious, and cherished. So as the Lord my God sees me today, He is loving me, no matter where I am in my relationship with Him, or my growth.
Since God is with me, God is teaching me. He wants me to praise Him more. Sounds simple doesn’t it? But this test is not about praising Him because I got a paid vacation to Hawaii for a month. (I am still waiting on that test). No, He had me start by praising Him when I was complaining.
I had a list that night. I decided me, and God were going to have a heart to heart. I was going to be open, and communicate. I started going down my list. Then I waited for a response. What was God going to do with all of my list? He whispered, praise to my soul.
I sighed. I did not want to praise. I wanted everything to change. I started small. Thank you Lord for my life. Words flowed after that. Before several minutes, I had several praises. Then I noticed my mood had changed. I really was grateful for everything. I also remembered all the blessings that I have in my life.
Test number 2. Someone close to me hurt my feelings. This person has hurt my feelings several times. I was angry, I was weary, and I just cried. I sat on my bed crying out to the Lord. This person was just being so insensitive toward me. After crying my heart out, I prayed, and asked God what to do. I began reading and there in what I was reading talked about praising. There was that whisper to may soul again, praise.
I praised God for this person and then sent them a text praising them so that they could hear. Within 24 hours, the Lord had made sure that the hurt that was created would not continue, but was stopped. I praised God, and started remember all the blessings that God worked in my life.
Test 3
I was walking outside. I just stopped, and looked around. The first thing I noticed is that the temperature was perfect for me. I was not hot, and I was not cold. I could walk, and enjoy how the air felt around me. I did not have to shiver from a cold breeze, or did I have to run from the sun that caused me to sweat from the heat. I then looked up, and the sky was a solid blue. Not a dark blue and not a light blue. A solid blue with no white clouds at all. I was walking in a perfect day. I just praised God for allowing such pleasure from His conditions. A started to remember how blessed I was.
See after praising God in the first two tests. It naturally happened when life appeared good. When all was well. I think that is God’s point. If we don’t learn to praise God in the difficult times, we tend to forget Him in the good times. We forget to praise Him, because it is not on our mind. We forget we are blessed, because it is not on our mind. Trials and difficulties allow us to learn a spirit of praise that will continue with us rather it is a perfect day or a day of trials.
That is how God is trying to mature us. When we learn that spirit of praise, we have that joy. We are able to appreciate the love of God, we are able to see the good in every situation. Lord, I had been a poor student at times. I have been a slow student at times. Thank you Lord for not dropping me as a student, and for those test you gave me!
For thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy. I will abide in thy tabernacle forever: I will trust in the covert of thy wings.
Psalm 61:3-4
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Isaiah 41:6
They helped every one of his neighbour; and every one said to his brother, Be of good courage.
Prodigal: I would love to go to a picture show!
Me: Yes, but I’m down to my last dollar.
Prodigal: Well, maybe you can just share a story then.
This comes from the book Revolutions in World Missions by K.P. Yohannan
One Sunday when we were down to our last dollar, I drove our old Nova to a nearby church for worship. I knew no one and sat in the last row. When it came time to take the offering, I quickly made an excuse to God and held on to that last dollar.
“This is my last dollar,” I prayed desperately,” and I need to buy gas to get back home.” but knowing God loves a cheerful giver, I stopped fighting and sacrificed that last dollar to the Lord.
As I left the church, an old man came up to me. I had never seen him before and never have since. He shook my hand silently, and I could feel a folded piece of paper in his palm. I knew instinctively that it was money. In the car, I opened my had to find a neatly folded $10 bill.
But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
Matthew 6:6
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Prodigal: This is a great walk!
Me: Yes, and we can grow closer to God at the same time!
Prodigal: Of course.
This is from the book This is My Story, This is My Song by Norman Blosat with Elva Blosat
David Pringle invited me to take a walk with him through the meadow path near his home. As we walked, he told me an amazing story. He said that one Sunday afternoon, while reading the Bible and meditating, he heard an audible voice saying. “Go to Poynton.” It was so strong an authority that he went that very afternoon. As he walked through the town he was drawn to an old brick church with a “For Sale” sign on the front lawn. In brief, David later learned that at the very time he heard the audible voice, five women were holding a final prayer meeting in the little red brick church with the “For Sale” sign, asking God to send someone who could help them keep their church open. With contacts made, David volunteered to preach, evangelize and pastor the church. The church soon began to take on new life. It grew in numbers. Several years later the old brick building was torn down, replaced by a modern functional building. Church growth continued. The Poynton Church developed a vital outreach into the community. In a time of seeming defeat, five faithful women prayed and God turned things around!
Then said they unto him, Where is thy Father? Jesus answered, Ye neither know me, nor my Father: if ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also.
John 8:19
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Me: We need balance.
Prodigal: I agree, let’s remember that.
Thank you for watching!
Proverbs 3:24
When you like down, you will not be afraid; when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Prodigal: I wonder what you have to share today.
Me: Maybe it will help someone out there today.
Prodigal: That is my prayer.
This is from the book The Soul Winner by C.H. Spurgeon
A sinner has a heart as well as a head, emotions as well as thoughts. We must appeal to both. A sinner will never be converted until his emotions are stirred. Unless he feels sorrow for sin and a measure of joy in receiving the Word, there is not much hope for him. Truth must soak into the soul and dye it with its own color. The Word must be like a strong wind sweeping through the whole heart and swaying in the whole man, even as field of ripening corn waves in the summer breeze. Religion without emotions is religion without life.
God loved the world so much that He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:16
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Prodigal: Why are people confused about the Holy Spirit?
Me: A lot of people ignore the topic.
Prodigal: Ignoring something just leaves us ignorant.
This is from the book When God Whispers Your Name by Max Lucado
The Holy Spirit is the presence of God in our lives, carrying on the work of Jesus. The Holy Spirit helps us in three directions–inwardly (by granting us the fruits of the Spirit, Gal 5:22-24), upwardly (by praying for us, Rom 8:26) and outwardly (by pouring God’s love into our hearts, Rom 5:5.
In evangelism the Holy Spirit is on center stage. If the disciple teaches, it is because the Spirit teaches the disciple (Luke 12:12). If the listener is convicted, it is because the Spirit has penetrated (John 16:10). If the listener is converted, it is by the transforming power of the Spirit(Rom. 8:11). If the new believer matures, it is because the Spirit makes him or her competent (2 Cor. 3:6).
Psalm 5:2
Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my God: for unto thee will I pray.
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Prodigal: I just finished digging and finding shells.
Me: Well I am going to talk about some other type of digging.
This comes from the book The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel
Archaeologist John McRay said there’s no question that archaeological findings have enhanced the New Testament’s credibility. No discovery has ever disproved a biblical reference. Further, archaeology has established that Luke, who wrote about one-quarter of the New Testament, was an especially careful historian. Concluded one expert, “If Luke was so painstakingly accurate in his historical reporting (of minor details), on what logical basis may we assume he was credulous or inaccurate in his reporting of matters that were far more important, not only to him but to others as well?”
But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Prodigal: Sometimes times seems as slow as molasses.
Me: Sometimes it does.
“I am just going to pray that the Holy Spirit will find me a stud!” I told my brother on the phone. He laughed and said “That sounds like a great prayer!” As we both finished laughing. We said our goodbyes, and ended the conversation.
As soon as the call was finished, I thought to myself. I am serious. I need help. What my humor failed to voice on the phone was my feelings of inadequacy. This was an area that I knew I struggled in. Not only did I struggle in it, to be honest it confused me at times.
I felt to do this all alone was overwhelming. I wanted someone to do it for me. I wanted it all to be finished. That was not an option.
I knew I was alone in all this. It was me and God.
At this point, I know you want to ask. Did God answer my prayer? Why yes He did. He was with me, and He was answered quickly.
By the end of the night God had helped me find a stud. I had a small project that I needed to be done that night, and it was late. I really had not planned it all out. So here I was late in the night attempting to nail some items into the wall so that I could create something that would store new items.
The only problem, was that when it comes to handy man jobs, I am at a complete lost. When my brother said that I need to make sure I find a stud, my mind began to question what I had got myself into.
Lord has blessed me with several gifts, but there is a reason God is never going to ask me to build an ark, or even a birdhouse….
I was faced with not being able to get help, and needed this completed quickly. So here I was on the phone with my brother for a couple of minutes, and he was informing me to find a stud.
I was overwhelmed.
Where do you go when you are overwhelmed? Do you give up? Do you throw money at the problem? Do you go to sleep? How about just doing without? I have done all of these options before. In my weariness of the moment, and also my fear. I just turned to the Lord.
I thought for a second, how is God going to help me find a stud in the wall, and make this project happen? I pretty sure there is not a bible verse on finding a stud. Was Jesus going to show up in my house, and grab a hammer? (I wish). In the logical thoughts, and present situation it seemed even silly to think a prayer, and the Lord would help.
There is another side. The Holy Spirit living inside of me that let me know that God does care. That God wants to help me. So which do a choose?
I chose to pray. I trusted in the Lord that He really loves me, and that He says He will never leave me. So how did God do it?
He didn’t change my environment. Nobody knocked on my door in that minute to complete the task. The project was not suddenly completed without me having to lift a finger. No what happened is as I started, God gave me wisdom. What I was looking for started to make sense when I had never had any of this make sense to me before. God also calmed my heart, and gave me strength to do what I needed to do.
The Lord’s promises were true, and we can trust Him in everything. We can trust Him in the areas we feel overwhelmed, and insecure about. We can trust Him when we have no idea what the next five minutes will look like.
Am I going to attempt a birdhouse now? No, but I do know God will be with me, and when I need Him, I can count on Him. Even if I need to find a stud.
I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the LORD.
PSALM 116 : 13
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Prodigal: I am thirsty after one of those cookies.
Me: Yes, a glass of milk would be great!
Prodigal: I agree.
Me: I will also share while we enjoy.
This is from the book The Soul Winner by C.H. Spurgeon
I hate to hear the terrors of the Lord proclaimed by men whose hard countenances, harsh tones, and unfeeling spirits betray a sort of doctrinal dehydration: all the milk of human kindness is dried out of them. Having no feeling himself, such a preacher creates none. The people sit and listen while he keeps to dry, lifeless statements. They come to value him for being “sound,” and they themselves come to be sound, too. I need not add, sound asleep. What life they have is spent sniffing out heresy and making earnest men offenders for a word. May we never be baptized into this spirit!
Whatever I believe, or do not believe, the command to love my neighbor as myself still retains its claim upon me. God forbid that any views or opinions should so contract my soul and harden my heart as to make me forget this law of love! Love for God is first, but by no means lessens the obligation of love for man. In fact, the first commandment includes the second. We are to seek our neighbors’ conversion because we love them. We are to speak to them in terms of God’s loving Gospel because our hearts desire their eternal good.
See some think that their works mean they are good enough to get to heaven. This is a lie from Satan, and in reality they are going straight to hell. We are called to express the gospel all the time because we do not know who may need to hear the gospel even those fellow members at our church.
Psalm 5:1
Give ear to my words, O LORD, consider my meditation.
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
