What to Say

Posted on November 15, 2020 by Jennifer Van Allen

Prodigal: Are you ready?

Me: Sometimes I struggle with finding the right words.

Prodigal: I think everyone does.

This is from Bold Love by Dr. Dan Allender & Dr. Tremper Longman III

There are many who share their feelings or ask, “May I be honest with you?” and proceed to unleash a stream of invective that comes from the bowels of hell and not from the sanctuary of beauty. I am advocating a view of love that is consistent with doing ultimate good for the other. There are times when a hard, painful rebuke is good. There are other times when it would crush a broken reed. There are moments when the gentle wind of encouragement deepens a resolve to live for God. There are, of course, other times when encouragement will be misheard as support for a direction that is deadly. Therefore, confrontation may be the kindest word possible. Love is the offer of a good gift that fits the circumstance, needs, and personal variables of the one being loved.

Love embraces another for the great work of redemption. It captures someone by a goodness that is anything but “unconditional.” It is remarkable conditional in that love cannot flourish and bring forth fruit in arrogant and unrighteous soil. Therefore, love must be an intrusion of a good gift of word or deed that makes the greatest demand of life: Follow Christ and serve Him with your whole heart, soul, strength, and mind. Bold love is the tenacious, irrepressible energy to do good in order to surprise and conquer evil.

Matthew 5:3

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

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Shaping Gold

Posted on November 13, 2020 by Jennifer Van Allen

Prodigal: Is that real gold?

Me: I am not sure, but gold is discussed in the bible.

Prodigal: Tell me about it.

This is from the book Joseph: A Man of Integrity and Forgiveness by Charles Swindoll

You see, there is no hurry-up process for finding and shaping gold. The process of discovering, processing, purifying, and shaping gold is a lengthy, painstaking process. Affliction is gold in the making for the child of God, and God is the one who determines how long the process takes. He alone is the Refiner.

Job was not saying, “When He has tried me, I will make a million!” Or, “When He has tried me, I’ll get everything back that I lost.” Or, “When He has tried me, my wife will say she’s sorry and will make things right.” Or, “When He has tried me, everything will be like it once was.” No, it’s not the externals that are promised, it’s the internals. The Lord promised Job, “When the process is finished, you’ll come forth as gold. Then, you’ll be ready to serve me where I choose. Then, you’ll be able to handle whatever promotion comes your way.”

1 Peter 1:5

Who are guarded by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

Women Lovin’ Jesus

Posted on November 11, 2020 by Jennifer Van Allen

Me: I am putting all the blocks together!

Prodigal: That looks fun!

Me: I think it is!

This is a short video devotion on Proverbs

click here to watch the video

Proverbs 5:16

Should your fountains be dispersed abroad, streams of water in the streets? (NKJV)

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

Two Parodies

Posted on November 9, 2020 by Jennifer Van Allen

Prodigal: Sometimes I wonder if I have complicated things.

Me: Yes, we can complicate matters, but the Lord brings clarity.

This is from the book Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis

There are two parodies of the truth which different sets of Christians have, in the past, been accused by other Christians of believing: perhaps they may make the truth clearer. One set were accused of saying, “Good actions are all that matters. The best good action is charity. The best kind of charity is giving money. The best thing to give money to is the Church. So hand us over 10,000 and we will see you through.” The answer to that nonsense, of course, would be that good actions done for that motive, done with the idea that Heaven can be bought, would not be good actions at all, but only commercial speculations. The other set were accused of saying “Faith is all that matters. Consequently, if you have faith, it doesn’t matter what you do. Sin away, my lad, and have a good time and Christ will see that it makes no difference in the end.” The answer to that nonsense is that, if what you call your “faith” in Christ does not involve taking the slightest notice of what He says, then it is not Faith at all–not faith or trust in Him, but only intellectual acceptance of some theory about Him.

The Bible really seems to clinch the matter when it puts the two things together into one amazing sentence. The first half is, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling”-which looks as if everything depended on us and our good actions: but the second half goes on, “For it is God who worketh in you”-which looks as if God did everything and we nothing.

Where are you? Is it all your works? Is it all God’s works? Or are you trying to make sure you work together?

1 Peter 1:4

To an inheritance which cannot decay, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

A Closing Plea

Posted on November 7, 2020 by Jennifer Van Allen

Prodigal: It looks lonely and dark in there.

Me: We all have our times that seem dark.

Prodigal: What are we to do?

Me: Remember that it will not last.

This is from the book Joseph: A Man of Integrity and Forgiveness by Charles Swindoll

Listen to me, victims of mistreatment; more importantly, please listen to God’s truth. He has a hundred different messages to give you during a hundred different dungeon experiences. He knows just the right message at just the right time, and all it takes to receive it is a sensitive, obedient, trusting heart. Not one preoccupied with revenge or bitterness or hostility, but a heart that says, “Lord, God, help me now. Right at this moment. Deliver me from my own prison. Help me to see beyond the darkness, to see Your hand. As I am being crushed, remold me. Help me to see You in this abandonment, this rejection.” Pray that prayer. Turn your trial into trust as you look to God to tenderly use that affliction, that dungeon, that abandonment for His purpose. I plead with you–do that today! If Joseph could survive those years of mistreatment, loneliness, and loss, I am confident you can too!

1 Peter 1:3

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

Women Lovin’ Jesus

Posted on November 5, 2020 by Jennifer Van Allen

Prodigal: Today we can say thank you to the Lord.

Me: Yes, Lord you give us life!

This is a short video devotion on proverbs

click here to watch the video

Proverbs 5:15

Drink water from your own cistern, and running water from your own well.

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

Our Faith

Posted on November 3, 2020 by Jennifer Van Allen

Prodigal: You know people talk about the Holy Spirit, but people seemed confused by it.

Me: Yes, sometimes people talk about the Spirit, but the Spirit does not transform their lives.

This is from the book Vocabulary of Faith by Hampton Adams

When the Old Testament was translated from Hebrew into Greek, the word for spirit which was chosen in one which you will recognize–“pneuma.” Pneumatic! In Hellenistic Jewish and Christian circles in the first century this word stood for the activity of God. And in another sense this same word was used to indicate that part of man’s nature upon which the Spirit of God could operate.

The Holy Spirit is active in our lives by conviction, peace, giving us words to speak to one another. Also the Holy Spirit will give us insights into truths as we read and hear God’s word. The Holy Spirit guides us with decisions. The spirit gives us a peace of God about what is made with God’s wisdom and what is an uneasiness because it is folly of man. We have the Holy Spirit when we are saved, we just have to pay attention to the leading.

Daniel 6:13

Then answered they and said before the king, That Daniel, which is the children of the captivity of Judah, regardeth not thee, O king, nor the decree that thou hast signed, but maketh his petition three times a day.

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

Forgiveness is Relationships

Posted on November 1, 2020 by Jennifer Van Allen

Prodigal: I need to be more grateful of my relationships.

Me: Me too, relationships can be tough but the core of forgiveness is that love is present.

This is from the book Bold Love by Dr. Dan Allender & Dr. Tremper Longman III

It is commonly assumed that forgiving another is a one-time event. It is viewed as a climactic releasing of bitterness and hatred, and a return to a state of kindness and compassion. Forgiveness is often talked about in the past tense, “I was so hurt by my father that it took years before I forgave him,” rather than being viewed as an ongoing work of the Spirit of God.

It seems that many experience one major moment when a transition takes place from holding on to bitterness to releasing the rage. This moment is often viewed as the point when forgiveness occurred; therefore, it is now finished and resolved. Forgiving another may often have an actual moment of climactic transition, similar to conversion when a person goes from death to life, but it is naive to believe forgiving another for any one failure or for a lifetime of harm is every entirely finished. The fact seems to be that as any harm is more fully faced, then it requires the deepening of forgiveness to overcome. To forgive another is always an ongoing, deepening, quickening process, rather than a once-and-for-all event.

Forgiving seems so quick and sometimes an afterthought. We can think the work of forgiveness is done. Then one word brings emotions to the front that need to be dealt with. God designed forgiveness in the most amazing form, when Jesus came to this earth. Then the Lord gave us the Comforter to help us after Jesus left. Today the Comforter will have to help you.

Proverbs 12:18

There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

Women Lovin’ Jesus

Posted on October 30, 2020 by Jennifer Van Allen

Me: Doggone, if I did not forget about today.

Prodigal: I reckon you can be forgiven.

Me: I pray so!

This is a short video devotion

click here to watch the video

Proverbs 5:14

I was on the verge of total ruin, in the midst of the assembly and congregation. (NKJV).

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

Hero

Posted on October 28, 2020 by Jennifer Van Allen

Me: Looks like you have someone to protect you there.

Prodigal; It feels good to have a protector.

We imagine a hero receiving the applause and the cheers. He is bowing to the crowd. He receives the trophy, money, title, reward or praise. We have seen the movies, shows and novels that have the grand scene of the hero defeating his foe and everybody cheers.

I want to remember another hero, one we know. David against Goliath. When did you first hear this story? Maybe you don’t remember, because you have seen and heard this story over a thousand times.

The story is one of a hero. A small young man fights against a giant of a soldier. He fights in the name of the Lord and wins. He saves the day for God’s people.

Then we get inspired. We want to be a hero. Is that wrong? Of course not. What the Lord wants to show us is that His way of being a hero can look different. I want to show you some verses first.

1 Samuel 17:33-37 (NKJV)

And Saul said to David, you are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are a youth, and he a man of war from his youth.”

But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep his father’s sheep, and when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, I went out after it and struck it, and delivered the lamb from its mouth; and when it arose against me, I caught it by its beard, and struck and killed it. Your servant has killed both lion and bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the living God. Moreover, David said, “The Lord, who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.”

And Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you!”

After examining this scripture, we learn something about God’s heroes. David first became a hero, alone with only God as a witness. David already had two major battles before he ever saw Goliath. He had fought a lion and a bear. Not a teddy bear. Not a lion cub. He fought them with a gun? He fought them with his brothers? He fought them from a distance? No, he fought them alone with his bare hands. He grabbed at them by his hands all alone with God by his side.

Before you are a hero in public, you have to fight your battle in secret with God. That is where many of us fail. David could have let that one lamb be eaten and shooed the lion and bear away. Nobody would have blamed him from losing one lamb to a huge beast. David stood his ground and risked being hurt to do what God called him to do. God had called him to protect the lamb and that is what He did.

He risked his life without anyone ever really know why he did it. He risked his life for a lamb who would not tell others about what he did.

That is God’s hero. I know you want to be a hero in public. God wants you to be a hero in secret first. He wants you to fight and risk your life, with only God as a witness. Then and only then can you be a hero for God.

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org