Not Weak or Passive

 

 

Me:  How is the pig racing going?

Prodigal:  Good, there ain’t no grass gowin’ under that ones feet.

Me:  Looks so. I will share when the race is finished.

 

This is from the book When Sinners Say I Do by Dave Harvey

 

Meekness has nothing to do with being weak or passive.  Meekness is power harnessed by love.  It is an expression of humility that will not bristle or defend when challenged about motives.  In fact, a meek person realized that he could have selfish motives and must evaluate himself.  This fruit of the Spirit helps us govern our anger, restrain our tongue, and maintain our peace.  A.W. Tozer said, “The meek man…will have attained a place of soul rest.  As he walks on in meekness he will be happy to let God defend him.  The old struggle to defend himself is over.  He has found the peace which meekness brings.

 

 

Thank you LORD!  How God is good to remind of us the truth over and over again.  I love to try and win an argument with words.  Aaron so do you.  Sometimes though we need to be reminded that it is about meekness and not the most intellectual speech.

 

Phlippians 4:8

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

 

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

Power of Healing

 

Me:  Are you trapped Prodigal?

Prodigal:  Well ain’t I God’s own fool, I am!

Me:  Don’t worry, that is what friends are for.  I will help you out.

 

This is from Chicken Soup for the Nurse’s Soul by submitted by Bernie Siegel.  This is for all the hard working nurses out there!  Thank you for all the small things you do that seem to go unnoticed!

 

The real power of healing is not about curing diseases.  This was revealed to me by a male nurse who spend a lot of time with a woman in a nursing home who hadn’t been able to walk for six years.  Edward lifted her in and out of her chair or into the bed, depending on her schedule.

She always wanted to talk about God and forgiveness.  Because Edward had had a near-death experience, he felt comfortable doing this.

One night it was so late that Edward slipped out without being the one to put her to bed.  He was heading for his car in the parking lot when he heard her call, “Edward!”  He snuck back inside and into her room.

“Are you sure God forgives us for everything?” she asked.

“Yes, I’m sure, from my own experience,” he said.  “You know the gospel song that tell us, “He knows every lie that you and I have told, and though it makes him very sad to see the way we live, he’ll always say “I forgive.”.

She sighed.  “When I was a young woman, I stole my parents’ silver and sold it so I would have enough money to get married. I’ve never told anyone and no one ever found out.  Will God forgive me?”

“Yes,” Edward reassured her.” God will forgive you.  Good night.”

When Edward returned to work the next morning, he was told to see the administrator who asked what he had told the woman the night before.

“As usual,” Edward explained, “we talked about God and forgiveness. Why?”

“At 3:00 am the woman came out of her room and, with no help, walked the entire length of the nursing home, put her Bible and teeth on the nurse’s desk and said, “I don’t need these any more.”  Then she turned and walked back to her room, laid down and died.”

 

Philippians 4:19

And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

 

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

Life to Death

 

Me:  How is the baby?

Prodigal:  He is doing great!

Me:  Here is a story for you about babies.

 

This is from the book Psalm 91 by Peggy Joyce Ruth and Angelia Ruth Schum

The whole family was rejoicing when our daughter-in-law, Sloan, received a positive pregnancy test report and found she was going to have the first grandchild on either side of the family.  Since she’d had a tubal pregnancy before, making her highly susceptible for another, the doctor ordered a sonogram as a precautionary measure.

The disturbing result of the sonogram was :  “no fetus found, a great deal of water in the uterus and spots of endometriosis.”  With only two hours’ notice, emergency surgery was quickly underway, at which time the doctor performed a laparoscopy, drained the uterus, and scraped away the endometriosis.  After the surgery the doctor’s words were, “During the laparoscopy we carefully looked everywhere, and there was no sign of a baby, but I want to see you back in my office in one week to be sure fluid doesn’t build back up.”  When Slain argued that the pregnancy test had been positive, he said there was a 99 percent chance the baby had naturally aborted and had been absorbed into the uterine lining.

Even, so after the doctor left the room, Sloan was the only one not fazed by his report.  What she said next surprised everyone.  She emphatically stated that even the  doctor had left her with a 1 percent chance, and she was going to take it.  From that moment on, no amount of discouragement from well-meaning friends who didn’t want her to be disappointed had any effect on her.  Never once did she veer away from confessing out loud Psalm 91 and another Scripture promise that she had found “(My child) will not die, but live, and tell of the works of the LORD” Psalm 118:17.

A strange look came on the technician’s face the next week as she administered the ultrasound.  She immediately called for the physician.  Her reaction was a little disconcerting to Sloan, until Sloan heard these words:  “Doctor, I think you need to come here quickly. I’ve just found a six-week-old fetus!”  It was nothing short of a miracle that such sever, invasive procedures had not damaged or destroyed this delicate life in its beginning stages.  When  I look at my grandson, it is hard to imagine life with out him.

 

Philippians 1:4

Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy.

 

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

Translating the Bible

 

Prodigal:  This house looks a little run down.

Me:  They were so broke the wolf won’t even stop at the door.

Prodigal:  Must have been tough.

Me:  They had Jesus tough.

 

This is from the book Great Women of the Christian Faith by Edith Deen

 

In her last fifteen years Pandita Ramabai began the immense task of translating the Bible into Marathi, using words the least educated laborer could understand.  First she had to master Greek and Hebrew.  She had to fit this work in amid her many other duties:  appointing workers to their posts, seeing visitors, superintending buildings and supplies, and preparing dainties in her kitchen.  She was growing too deaf to hear the words spoken in church services, but she used to come into the church and take her place near one of the doors.  Her manuscripts were always with her.  She provided many books and pamphlets from her own print shop.  She printed more than one hundred thousand copies of the Gospels alone, and her own Gospel bands distributed them.

In her last months, Pandita corrected the final proofs for her translation of the Bible.  She spent long hours proofreading, in addition to her work for her eight or nine hundred people at Mukti.  She had nearly completed the proofreading, and the first pages of the fifty thousand copies of the Bible were already being printed by her girls, when she became ill and knew her time was drawing very near.  She prayed to God for ten more days in which to complete the proofreading.  In just ten days, on April 5, 1922, when the last proof was read, she fell asleep, never to wake again.

 

God is control of all and can even delay death for His glory!

 

2 Timothy 1:12

which is why I suffer as I do.  But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me.

 

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

The Cross

 

Me:  Hi Prodigal, look at that cross!

Prodigal:  Yes, I thought it was nice to have on the mailbox.

Me:  I can give you some history about the cross.

Prodigal:  I would love to hear it!

 

This is from the book  The Cross of Christ by John R.W. Stott

 

Christianity, then, is no exception in having a visual symbol.  The cross was not its earliest, however.  Because of the wild accusations which were levelled against Christians, and the persecution to which they were exposed, they ‘ had to be very circumspect and to avoid flaunting their religion.  Thus the cross, now the universal symbol of Christianity, was at first avoided, not only for its direct association with Christ, but for its shameful association with the execution of a common criminal also.  So on the walls and ceilings of the catacombs (underground burial-places outside Rome, where the persecuted Christians probably hid), the earliest Christian motifs seem to have been either non-committal paintings of a peacock (supposed to symbolize immortality), a dove, the athlete’s victory palm or, in particular, a fish.  Only the initiated would know, and nobody else could guess, that  ichthys (fish) was an acronym for Iesus Christos Theou Huiso Soter (Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour).

 

Proverbs 21:1

The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will.

 

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

BreastPlate of Righteousness

 

Me:  Trying on your armor?

Prodigal:  Yep, you can’t start your day without it.

 

This comes from the book Overcoming Spiritual Blindness by James P. Gills, M.D.

 

Another important article of armor described for the believer is the breastplate of righteousness.  A sword through the heart would be fatal, so our Captain has given us the crucial breastplate.  While we cannot boast of any righteousness within ourselves, God Himself provides us with His righteousness.

Through our receiving Christ as Savior, He has given us His righteousness.  We stand before God, cleansed from our sin, based on our acceptance of what our Savior did on the cross.  When He said, “It is finished,”  all that was necessary to forgive and cleanse us was accomplished.  Now we are called to rest in His finished work.  In that way we put on the breastplate of Christ’s righteousness.  In Christ, God is infinitely pleased with you.  You are welcomed into His presence at all times.  “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.  To be justified is to have the perfect righteousness of Christ credited to your account.  No matter how completely you may fail and sin, the perfect obedience of Christ grants you God’s pardon and acceptance.

“Jehovah Tsikenu!”–The Lord Our Righteousness”–is our battle cry.  He is our strength.  Our salvation is based on what He did on the cross, to Him be all the glory!  Accepting this truth alone will protect our hearts from the sword of unbelief that has the thrust to destroy any man’s soul.  We cannot say it any better than the psalmist did:  “Blessed are the people who know the joyful sound!  They walk, O LORD, in the light of Your countenance.  In Your name they rejoice all day long, And in Your righteousness they are exalted.  For You are the glory of their strength, And in Your favor our horn is exalted” (Ps. 89:15-17).  This is the voice of the believer rejoicing in the privilege of wearing the breastplate of righteousness.

 

Psalm 33:1

Shout for joy in the Lord, O you righteous!  Praise befits the upright.

 

Jennifer  Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

Home Away From Home

 

Me:  This was a good walk.  What are you going on to do late tonight?

Prodigal:  We’re goin’ to throw our hats over the windmill!

Me:  Don’t get into trouble while your having all that fun!

Prodigal:  I will be staying out of trouble.

 

This comes from the book God’s Generals by Roberts Liardon

The Lake family had been praying diligently for a home when they reached Johannesburg.  As faith missionaries, they had no support from church boards, and no denomination waiting to accept them at their arrival.  All they had was their faith in God.

When they arrived in Johannesburg in May of 1908, they noticed a little woman running around the dock area looking at everyone.  She was American.  Running up to Tom, she said, “You are an American missionary party?  to which Tom replied, “Yes.”  “How many are in your party? the lady went on.  “Four,”  Tom answered back.  But she shook her head and said, “No, you aren’t the family.  Is there another?”

Then Tom directed her to Lake.  “How many are in your family?”  the lady asked.  “My wife, myself, and my seven children,” Lake said.  The lady suddenly looked ecstatic and shrilled, “You are the family!”  Then she went on to explain how God directed her to meet their boat and that on it would be an American missionary family consisting of two adults and seven children.  And that she was to give them a home.

That same afternoon, the Lake’s were settled into a furnished home in Johannesburg.  God had provided it, just as they had asked.  The American lady, Mrs. C. L. Goodenough, remained a faithful friend throughout their ministry.

 

Ezekiel 11:19

And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh:

 

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

Wayward Children

 

Me:  Very cute baby pictures!

Prodigal:  Yes, sometimes it is hard to imagine how children have changed.

Me:  I agree and sometimes we struggle with our children.

 

This is from John White’s Parents in Pain

 

At one point I wondered whether to deal with the different kinds of trouble children get into: drugs, alcohol, crime, homosexuality, secret marriages, pregnancy/paternity and so on. Yet I realized that in one sense it makes little difference what the nature of the problem is.  Parental reactions run along the same lines.  Shock is shock.  Mistrust is mistrust.  Rage is rage, weariness is weariness and despair, despair.  Whatever the cause of our struggles, our human reactions  follow similar patterns.  And it is these you need help with.  I want to give you a hand in getting up off the floor to live, even to experience joy again.

My goal is higher still….I would like to open a door for you, a door of hope…through which you may enter a fuller and richer life than you could have known before.  For the God I believe in specializes in bringing good out of evil, strength out of pain and joy out of tragedy.

The goodness begins when you face the truth squarely, however much it sickens you.  As much as you want to walk away and live someplace else, you did marry.  You did produce children.  They are alive and they are yours.  The problem won’t go away by pretending they are not there.

The problem includes your feelings–your hurt, your rage, your panic, your disappointment, your shame, your humiliation, your alternate wish to yell at someone (your spouse, your child, your child’s friends, the school teacher) and to lock yourself in the bathroom and talk to nobody.  Look at them all.  They exist.  They are part of the problem you face.  Even the sense of despair.  And to look at them, to be able to face them fully and honestly, and to size them up is the first step in solving them.  You cannot solve problems you close your eyes to.

 

Proverbs 21:2

Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the heart.

 

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

Build Me a Son

 

Me:  Are you getting the crib ready?

Prodigal:  Yes, I am.

Me:  Well I have a prayer

 

This is from General Douglas A. MacArthur

 

Build me a son, O Lord, who will be strong enough to know when he is weak, and brave enough to face himself when he is afraid; one who will be proud and unbending in honest defeat, and humble and gentle in victory.

Build me a son whose wishbone will not be where his backbone should be; a son who will know Thee–and that to know himself is the foundation stone of knowledge.

Lead him, I pray, not in the path of ease and comfort, but under the stress and spur of difficulties and challenge. Here, let him learn to stand up in the storm; here, let him learn compassion for those who fall.

Build me a son whose heart will be clear, whose goals will be high; a son who will master himself before he seeks to master other men; one who will learn to laugh, yet never forget how to weep; one who will reach into the future, yet never forget the past.

And after these things are his, add, I pray, enough of a sense of humor, so that he may always be serious, yet never take himself too seriously.  Give him humility, so that he may always remember the simplicity of true greatness, the open mind of true wisdom, the meekness of true strength.  Then I, his father, will dare to whisper, “I have not lived in vain.”

 

John 6:20

But he said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.”

 

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

Spiritual Unity

 

Me:  That is a good book Prodigal!

Prodigal:  Yes, why don’t you share something from it today.

 

This is from the book Joy in Christ’s Presence by Charles Spurgeon

 

Forget thee I will not, I cannot, thy name

Engraved on My heart doth for ever remain:

The palms of My hands whilst I look on I see

The wounds I received when suffering for thee.

 

Psalm 41:13

Blessed be the LORD God of Israel from everlasting, and to everlasting.  Amen, and Amen.

 

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org