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

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

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

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

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