Me: Baseball is not my strength.

Prodigal: But Brady is good at it!

Me: I love to watch him play.

This is from the book Pure Desire by Ted Roberts

First, we need to know our own weaknesses very clearly. We all have weakness, because there are no perfect families. Here is where the Christian perspective differs radically from much of the popular perspective of today. Understanding the points of weaknesses that may have been passes on to us from our family backgrounds is not an investigation to fix blame. It is, instead, a discovery of the points where God’s power can be released in our lives where we are weak, we have to work at listening to God carefully, because our ingrained habit patterns can lead us astray.

You are not stuck. God has a way!

1 Peter 2:2-3

Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by you may grow up into salvation. if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

Prodigal: I think we should go that way.

Me: There is more than one way to skin a cat.

Prodigal: I am sure you might be right.

This is from the book My Heart’s Cry: Longing For More of Jesus by Anne Graham Lotz

Philip, who would be tied to a pillar and stoned to death?

Matthew, who would be nailed to the ground with spikes and beheaded?

Jude, His own half-brother, who would be beaten to death with sticks and clubs?

Simon, who would be tortured and crucified?

John, son of Zebedee, who would be tortured and exiled?

James, brother of John, who would be beheaded?

James, another of His half-brothers, who would be pushed from the top of a building, then his broken body beaten to death?

Peter, who would be crucified upside down?

Andrew, Peter’s brother, who would hang on a cross for three days before dying?

Bartholomew, who would be beaten, crucified, and skinned alive before dying?

Thomas, who would be thrown into a fiery furnace then speared with a javelin?

Every single one of His beloved disciples except John would die a greusome death for standing out and speaking up–for Him? How was it that these rough, untrained, mostly uneducated men would speak out with such power that the authorities would consider them a threat to the security and economy of the Roman empire? Their competency would come from the Spirit within them.

John 6:51

I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

Prodigal: I’m sharp as a tack.

Me: Praise God! That is a good thing.

This is a short video devotion on Proverbs.

click here to watch the video

Proverbs 12:16

A fool’s wrath is known at once, But a prudent man covers shame. (NKJV)

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

Me: Wait for me, you might have trouble navigating without me.

Prodigal: I could use some help.

This is from the book The Dynamics of Worship by James P. Gills, M.d.

A word of caution: we can get pretty adept at counterfeit ministry. In order to further our own selfish ambitions, we can even fool ourselves. Our efforts to serve God lead us to put up a façade, a kind of whitewashed fence for others to see. We slip on an attractive covering to camouflage our old, hateful selves. No inner change of heart occurs daily. We lack sincerity, one could say.

Guard your heart today. The Lord is really the only one that matters. That is where the root of our desire. Do not let that desire burn out. Feed the desire by turning to the relationship with the Lord in a quiet place of remembering.

Proverbs 10:12

Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses. (ESV)

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

Prodigal: I reckon, I have to go.

Me: That is what God wants.

“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” said Edmund Burke. How that wins the spiritual battle more often then we would care to know. For it is complacency that has lead others to say this is not for me to get involved in. I would rather have fun or relax. I do not want conflict or others to disapprove of me. We tell ourselves this, while the Holy Spirit convicts us to take that step in obedience. The Lord wants us to interfere with evil. He knows the plans for other and for you. He wants you to be an intercessory for the Lord’s works on this day. He will give you strength and give you words. He will protect you from the onslaught of negative words, but He does require you agree to take action in obedience. You can choose to say no, but you will never be part of a battle that has victory with Jesus. You will not participate in the blessings that will be given, and you will not get to shout the victory cry!

Luke 6:38

Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

Prodigal: That’s mighty right.

Me: I can tell you tried.

This is a short video devotion on Proverbs

click here to watch the video

Proverbs 12:15

The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, But he who heeds counsel is wise. (NKJV)

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

Me: They did a great job with the detail.

Prodigal: Yes, it is a lovely work of art.

This is from the book The Discipline of Grace by Jerry Bridges

As I was sitting in the doctor’s waiting room one day, my eye was drawn to a remarkable picture of a man being sculpted. The sculpture was complete down to about midthigh, and the finished work showed a very robust and muscular man with the kind of physique of men would like to have. The striking thing about the picture, however, was that the artist had put the hammer and chisel in the hands of the man being sculpted.

I was fascinated by the picture and wondered what message the artist was trying to convey. Perhaps he was trying to paint a picture of the so-called self-made man. As I studied the picture, however, I marveled at how it did depict so well the way many Christians try to live the Christian life. We try to change ourselves. We take what we think are the tools of spiritual transformation into our own hands and try to sculpt ourselves into robust Christlike specimens. But spiritual transformation is primarily the work of the Holy Spirit. He is the Master Sculptor.

Romans 12:11

Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord.

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

Prodigal: Some of what I am watching is just sad.

Me: Sometimes it seems like everything is going’ to hell in a hand basket.

Prodigal: That would explain some of it.

This is from Billy Graham.

Mr. Average man is comfortable in his complacency and as unconcerned as a silverfish ensconced in a carton of discarded magazines on world affairs. Man is not asking any questions, because his social benefits from the government give him a false security. This is his trouble and his tragedy. Modern man has become a spectator of world events, observing on his television screen without becoming involved. He watches the ominous events of our time pass before his eyes, while he sips his beer in a comfortable chair. He does not seem to realize what is happening to him. He does not understand that his world is on fire and that he is about to be burned with it.

Luke 6:35-36

But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodialpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

Prodigal: I am about to hit the hay.

Me: Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.

This is a short video devotion on Proverbs.

click here to watch the video

Proverbs 12:14

From the fruit of his mouth a man is satisfied with good, and the work of a man’s hand comes back to him. (ESV)

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

Me: What do y’all think?

Prodigal: You hit the nail on the head!

Me: 🙂

This is from the book David: A Man of Passion and Destiny by Charles Swindoll

Hey, who knows whom you could persuade if you walked with God? Few things are more infectious than a godly lifestyle. The people you rub shoulders with every day need that kind of challenge. Not prudish. Not preachy. Just crackerjack clean living. Just honest-to-goodness, bone-deep, nonhypocritical integrity. Authentic obedience to God.

And David persuaded his men with these words and did not allow them to rise up against Saul. And Saul arose, left the cave, and went on his way.

1 Samuel 24:7

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org