Prodigal: Let’s enjoy our time together!
Me: Yes, I agree. We need to focus on the good times that we are together.
This is a short video devotion on Proverbs
Proverbs 5:9
Lest you give your honor to others, And your years to the cruel one; (KJV)
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Prodigal: Sometimes I do feel anger.
Me: We all do at times.
Prodigal: What to do?
This is from the book Bold Love by Dr. Dan B. Allender & Dr. Tremper Longman III
We want someone to pay. The desire for immediate vengeance is usually not a conscious, moment-by-moment desire, but when a significant loss, insult, or injury occurs, we often feel an energy of anger that far supersedes the event itself. In most cases, the energy of murder goes back further that the present event to memories of past harm that are unresolved.
I have felt that emotion of anger surge within in me and want to take over. I forget all else and the needs to satisfy that anger seems overwhelming. What I do not realize is that first desire is usually not one that God would like me to act on. I need to forgive and wait on the Lord to act.
Habakkuk 2:3
For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Me: That is a dark spot.
Prodigal: Yes, and it blocks the sun.
Me: Even, if the sun does’t seem to be shining, it always is.
Jesus will walk with you down your long dark tunnel. At first even His presence may seem far away. But if you look, and feel, He is there. Right by your side you can feel Him standing there. Suppose you had to walk this path alone? But you don’t -He is actually there. You can talk with Him. Share your bitterness, your anger, your guilt. Tell Him how depressed you are. Tell how afraid of the darkness your are. Tell Him how lonely you are.
He provides courage in that dark tunnel life has forced you to walk…
While you may see no light at the end of your tunnel, you never know when the tunnel will curve. And right around that curve may burst the light of a great new day. You cannot see it from where you are now, but it is there.
Then, too, every tunnel ends someplace. Otherwise it would just be a cave. And life is definitely not a cave for the Christian. Jesus verified that by His resurrection. Listen closely and you may hear his voice bidding you to quicken your pace.
I remember a time of tunnel walking years ago. The darkness was suffocating-so dense I could feel it. No light at the end of my tunnel could be seen. I prayed-or tried to-but I couldn’t seem to get through the ceiling. Sleep was impossible, so I went outside and walked around in the night. When I looked up, the stars were all there. Not one was missing. I thought surely there would not be one left, but I was wrong. And the God who put them there was also right where He had always been. The next morning the sun rose just as it had always done. The birds were singing, too. Not even they failed me. The day came when the tunnel took a sudden and unexpected turn. There was light-lots of light. There were answers to prayer, too. It didn’t happen overnight, but it did happen. Your tunnel will have light at its end, faithful Christian. Just keep walking.
Robert Maner
Mark 2:40
And there came a leper to him, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him, and saying unto him, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Prodigal: I am lovin’ this quilt.
Me: I am too! It is turning out pretty nice.
Prodigal: It is a perfect spot to watch our video!
This is a short video devotions on proverbs.
Proverbs 5:8
Remove your way far from her, and do not go near the door of her house.
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Prodigal: It looks like the clouds are rolling in.
Me: Yes, but I think it will be a short shower.
Prodigal: I hope so.
Me: God will be with us.
This is from the book Psalm 91 by Peggy Ruth and Angelia Schum
Late one night, soon after building our new home in the country, our family was faced with a severe weather alert. The local radio station warned that a tornado had been sighted just south of the country club–the exact location of our property. We could see several of the React Club vehicles parked on the road below our hill as the members watched the funnel cloud that seemed to be headed straight for our house.
I had never seen such a strange, eerie color in the night sky or experienced such a deafening silence in the atmosphere. You could actually feel the hair on your body stand on end. Some of our son’s friend’s were visiting, and to their surprise, Jack quickly ordered our family to get outside with our Bibles (even though we were in our pajamas) and start circling the house- quoting Psalm 91 and taking authority over the storm. Jack had our children out speaking directly to the storm, just as Jesus did.
The eerie silence suddenly turned into a roar, with torrents of rain coming down in what seemed like bucketfuls. Finally Jack had a peace the danger had passed, even though by sight nothing had changed.
We walked back into the house just in time to hear the on-location reporter call the radio announcer and exclaim over the air, with so much excitement he was almost shouting, “This is nothing short of a miracle –the funnel cloud south of the Brownwood Country Club has suddenly lifted up and vanished into the clouds.”
You should have seen those kids jumping and hollering. It was the first time my son’s friends had observed the supernatural at work.
James 2:12
So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty.
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Prodigal: Time to go downtown!
Me: It was such a busy day that I’m near ’bout past goin’
Prodigal: It will be fun.
Me: Ok, I will be there.
This is from the book Bold Love by Dr. Dan Allender & Dr. Tremper Longman III
The real war is supernatural and is against the forces of evil arrayed against God and His people. The commander-in-chief of the evil forces is the prince of darkness, and his cohorts include legions of rebellious angels who hate God. But the war doesn’t rage “out there” in heavenly realms far removed from the daily grind of life. The powers of darkness work of the destruction of good through all ideologies, social structures, institutions, and events. To put it most simply, the Evil Ones works through the basic building block of all ideologies, social structures, institutions, and events–namely, people. IN other words, he works through the dynamics of one person relating to another, attempting to accomplish his destructive goals.
Through one human being relating to another philosophical and societal structures take their shape. The terrain of the eternal war is the battle ground of relationships.
The battle is not ultimately against flesh and blood, but it is fought with flesh and blood against powers and principalities that show themselves in the normal relational entanglements of life. The rumblings of the battle are always with us, and the consequences of war we are engaged in and the wounds that require forgiveness.
What does the idea that we do not fight against flesh and blood mean? It means when that person continues to slander and gossip about you that you recognize that they are being deceived by the Evil one. That they are choosing against our Savior by not loving others. It means we may put up boundaries. We may have to disagree with the gossip and not participate. We have compassion that they are living a life of deception and are missing out on true joy and peace from Christ. Praying and keeping the focus of the battle will help you today.
I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:14
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Me: What a wonderful day!
Prodigal: It is a day to praise the Lord.
This is a short video devotion on Proverbs
Proverbs 5:7 (KJV)
Hear me now therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the words of my mouth.
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Me: How is his driving.
Prodigal: I have confidence in him.
Me: Confidence is where we start.
This is from the book Joy in Christ’s Presence by Charles Spurgeon
He had perfect confidence in God that all was well. The waves might roar, the winds might rage, but He was not at all disquieted by their fury. He knew that the waters were in the hollow of His Father’s hand, and that every wind was but the breath of His Father’s mouth. Therefore, He was not troubled; indeed, He did not have even a thought of concern, for He was as much at ease as He would have been on a sunny day.
His mind and heart were free from every kind of care, for amid the gathering tempest He deliberately lay down and slept like a weary child. He went to the back of the ship, farthest from the spray. He took a pillow and put it under His head, and with definite purpose He fell asleep.
It was His own decision to go to sleep in the storm; He had no reason to stay awake, so pure and perfect was His confidence in the great Father. What an example this is to us! We do not have half the confidence in God that we ought to have–not even the best of us. The Lord deserves our limitless belief, our unquestioning confidence, our undisturbed reliance. Oh, if only we gave these to Him as the Savior did!
James 2:11
For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law.
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Prodigal: Now is a great time for a prayer.
Me: I agree
This comes from The Book of Common Prayer
Almighty and most merciful Father; we have erred and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep. We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts. We have offended against thy holy laws. We have left undone those things which we ought not to have done; and there is no health in us….miserable offenders.
1 Thessalonians 5:23-24
Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Prodigal: How pretty!
Me: Yes, that is something beautiful about looking at this cross.
Prodigal: I agree.
This is a short video devotion on proverbs
Proverbs 5:6
Lest you ponder her path of life-Her ways are unstable; You do not now them. (NKJV)
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
