{"id":1525,"date":"2016-05-02T11:11:00","date_gmt":"2016-05-02T11:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=1525"},"modified":"2016-04-28T18:12:12","modified_gmt":"2016-04-28T18:12:12","slug":"the-rat-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=1525","title":{"rendered":"The Rat Race"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"12-30-15<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Me:\u00a0 Howdy, Prodigal\u00a0 What are you doing?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Prodigal:\u00a0 I am thinking about joining the “rat race”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Me:\u00a0 Prodigal, I don’t think you understand what we mean when people say “rat race”.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Prodigal:\u00a0 It doesn’t mean start hanging out with rats?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Me:\u00a0\u00a0 Not exactly.\u00a0 Here Dr. James Gills in his book The Prayerful Spirit Passion for God Compassion for People he explains this is detail.<\/p>\n

When we are aligned with God, our priorities are in line with His will, and we feel loved and protected.\u00a0 When we get away from God, we can start to feel sorry for ourselves when times get rough.\u00a0 We begin to believe we aren’t getting the love or recognition we deserve.<\/strong><\/p>\n

When we align ourselves with the pull of worldly influences, we are no longer controlled by the Lord.\u00a0 We find ourselves being selfish, covetous proud, and uncaring.\u00a0 Then we become irrational and start making bad decisions based on worry or fear.\u00a0 We worry that we’re not getting ahead quickly enough in our careers or in the accumulation of worldly possessions.\u00a0 We’re afraid of what others might say or think of us.\u00a0 We buy into the world’s view of success and join the “rat race.”\u00a0 We base our decisions and actions on pleasing others.<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We should love others and that is different than pleasing others.\u00a0 We should be in the world and not let the world control us.\u00a0 When I am too focused on the world, I become selfish, uncaring.\u00a0 I get negative.\u00a0 I get ungrateful.<\/p>\n

You know what makes everything change.\u00a0 I don’t go shopping and get better things.\u00a0 I go to the bible and I start praising Him.\u00a0 How amazing it is that I have a place to sleep!\u00a0 How amazing it is that someone will tell me they love me today.\u00a0 How amazing it is that I can see God’s creation of a red flower that was designed by God himself!\u00a0 How amazing that this morning God allowed my heart to beat and he allowed me to breathe.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Now it is your turn!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

James 3:16\u00a0 “For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Jennifer Van Allen<\/p>\n

www.theprodigalpig.com<\/p>\n

www.faithincounseling.org<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Me:\u00a0 Howdy, Prodigal\u00a0 What are you doing?   Prodigal:\u00a0 I am thinking about joining the “rat race”   Me:\u00a0 Prodigal, I don’t think you understand what we mean when people say “rat race”.   Prodigal:\u00a0 It doesn’t mean start hanging out with rats?   Me:\u00a0\u00a0 Not exactly.\u00a0 Here Dr. James Gills in his book … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Rat Race - The Prodigal Pig<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=1525\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Rat Race - 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