{"id":7597,"date":"2020-10-28T07:11:00","date_gmt":"2020-10-28T11:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=7597"},"modified":"2020-10-22T15:15:50","modified_gmt":"2020-10-22T19:15:50","slug":"hero","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=7597","title":{"rendered":"Hero"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/20180322_183130-e1545328910846-576x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4149\" width=\"414\" height=\"736\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/20180322_183130-e1545328910846-576x1024.jpg 576w, http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/20180322_183130-e1545328910846-169x300.jpg 169w, http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/20180322_183130-e1545328910846-768x1365.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 414px) 100vw, 414px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Me:  Looks like you have someone to protect you there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Prodigal;  It feels good to have a protector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We imagine a hero receiving the applause and the cheers.&nbsp; He is bowing to the crowd.&nbsp; He receives the trophy, money, title, reward or&nbsp;praise.&nbsp; We have seen the movies, shows and novels that have the grand scene of the hero defeating his foe and everybody cheers.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I want to remember another hero, one we know.&nbsp; David against&nbsp;Goliath.&nbsp; When did you first hear this story?&nbsp; Maybe you don\u2019t remember, because you have seen and heard this story over a thousand times.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The story is one of a hero.&nbsp; A small young man fights against a giant of a soldier.&nbsp; He fights in the name of the Lord and wins.&nbsp; He saves the day for God\u2019s people.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Then&nbsp;we get inspired.&nbsp; We want to be a hero.&nbsp; Is that wrong?&nbsp; Of course not.&nbsp; What the Lord wants to show us is that His way of being a hero can look different.&nbsp; I want to show you some verses first.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">1 Samuel 17:33-37 (NKJV)&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And Saul said to David,&nbsp;you&nbsp;are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are a youth, and he a man of war from his youth.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But David said to Saul, \u201cYour servant used to keep his father\u2019s sheep, and when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, I went out after it and struck it, and delivered the lamb from its mouth; and when it arose&nbsp;against me, I caught it by its beard, and struck and killed it.&nbsp; Your servant has killed both lion and bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the living God.&nbsp;&nbsp;Moreover,&nbsp;David said, \u201cThe Lord, who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And Saul said to David, \u201cGo, and the Lord be with you!\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After examining this scripture, we learn something about God\u2019s heroes.&nbsp; David first became a hero, alone with only God as a witness.&nbsp; David already had two major battles&nbsp;before he&nbsp;ever&nbsp;saw Goliath.&nbsp;He had fought a lion and a bear.&nbsp; Not a teddy bear.&nbsp; Not a lion cub.&nbsp; He fought them with a gun?&nbsp; He fought them with his brothers?&nbsp;&nbsp;He fought them from a distance?&nbsp;&nbsp;No,&nbsp;he fought them alone with his bare hands.&nbsp; He grabbed at&nbsp;them by his hands all alone with God by his side.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Before you are a hero in public, you have to fight your battle in secret with God.&nbsp;&nbsp;That is where many of us fail.&nbsp; David could have let that one lamb be eaten and shooed the lion and bear away.&nbsp; Nobody would have blamed&nbsp;him from losing one lamb to a huge beast.&nbsp;&nbsp;David&nbsp;stood his ground and risked being hurt to do what God called him to do.&nbsp; God had called him to protect the lamb and that is what He did.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He risked his life without anyone ever really know why he did it.&nbsp; He risked his life for a lamb who would not tell others about what he did.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That is God\u2019s hero.\u00a0 I know you want to be a hero in public.\u00a0 God wants you to be a hero in secret first.\u00a0 He wants you to fight and risk your life, with only God as a witness.\u00a0 Then and only then can you be a hero for God.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jennifer Van Allen<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">www.theprodigalpig.com<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">www.faithincounseling.org<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Me: Looks like you have someone to protect you there. Prodigal; It feels good to have a protector. We imagine a hero receiving the applause and the cheers.&nbsp; He is bowing to the crowd.&nbsp; He receives the trophy, money, title, reward or&nbsp;praise.&nbsp; We have seen the movies, shows and novels that have the grand scene &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=7597\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/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-7597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Hero - The Prodigal Pig<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This is a quick devotion about David. 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