Prodigal: It is time to get ready for Christmas!

Me: Yes, but remember Christ.

This is from the book The Quest for Character by Charles Swindoll

Marbles or grapes, which will it be? Every congregation has a choice. You can choose to be a bag of marbles….independent, hard, loud, unmarked, and unaffected by others. Or you can be a bag of grapes….fragrant, soft, blending, mingling, flowing into one another’s lives. Marbles are made to be counted and kept. Grapes are made to be bruised and used. Marbles scar and clank. Grapes yield and cling.

Not everyone will try to be a grape or agree. Do not let that discourage you today. You can be a grape and from that others will be grapes with you. You can shape the congregation and have the body become what Christ wants the body of the church to be.

And there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

MARK 1 : 11

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

Prodigal: The air is gettin’ chilly.

Me: Yes, time to warm up by the fire.

This is a short video devotion on Proverbs

click here to watch the video

Proverbs 14:5 A faithful witness will not lie: but a false witness will utter lies. (KJV)

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

Prodigal: I love Pecan Pie!

Me: Here is some of what Christ loves!

This is from Grace Abounding by John Bunyan

The church, and so every saved soul, is Christ’s love even when loveless.

Christ’s love is without a cause.

Christ’s love has been hated by the world.

Christ’s love continues when under temptation and desertion.

Christ’s love is from first to last.

I acknowledge my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Psalm 23:5 (KJV)

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodialpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

Prodigal: Look at all these nuts!

Me: Yes, but they can tell you about God also.

This is from Mother Juliana, 1373

He showed a little thing, the quantity of a hazel-nut, lying in the palm of my hand, as meseemed, and it was as round as a ball. I looked theron with the eye of my understanding, and thought, “What may this be?” and it was answered generally thus, “It is all that is made.” I marvelled how it might last; for methought it might suddenly have fallen to naught for littleness. And I was answered in my understanding, “It lasteth, and ever shall: For God loveth it. And so hath all things being by the Love of God.” In this little thing I saw three properties. The first is that God made it. The second is, that God loveth it. The third is, that God keepeth it. For this is the cause which we be not all in ease of heart and soul: for we seek here rest in this thing which is so little, where no rest is in: and we know not our God that is all Mighty, all Wise, and all Good, for He is very rest.

Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile. Psalm 32:2 (KJV)

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

Prodigal: What season is it?

Me: Pecan pie, sweet potatoe pie, pumpkin pie season!

This is a short video devotion on Proverbs

click here to watch the video

Proverbs 14:4 Where no oxen are, the trough is clean; but much increase comes by the strength of an ox. (NKJV)

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

Prodigal: Still waitin’

Me: Yep, till the cows come home.

This is from Oswald J. Smith

Waiting on Jesus when I am weak,

Claiming His promises to those who seek;

Waiting on Jesus when I am strong,

Trusting Him only all the day long.

Waiting on Jesus when I’m opprest,

Finding in Him sweet comfort and rest;

Trusting Him fully, whatever befall,

Jesus my Savior, Jesus my all.

Waiting on Jesus lest I despair,

Knowing He ever heareth my prayer;

How can I doubt Him when He is near?

No one so loving, no one so dear.

Waiting on Jesus, rapture divine!

Wonder of wonders, Jesus is mine;

Trusting and praying, whatever betide,

Walking each moment close by His side.

Thou wilt keep in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee; because he trusteth in thee. Trust in the LORD for ever: for in the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength. (KJV)

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

Me: Your being more stubborn than a two-headed mule.

Prodigal: Maybe, I am, but I believe in what I am doing.

This is from the book God’s Generals by Roberts Liardon

The lesson here is this: Do what God says to do, nothing more and nothing less. There is no game here. There is one move, and it belongs to God. Your job is to follow it.

In this generation, heaven must determine the timing of your life and your church as a whole. You are either in the will of God, or out of it. Your call must stay with the timing of heaven.

Why is God’s timing important? It is because you are not the only player in this game. He is moving several pieces together and at times we are waiting on other pieces to move. We have to stay tuned to the chess master as He figures out the board in front of him. We may not understand or be able to see all He sees. We can trust His plan. Stretch the faith muscles today and trust Him to guide you.

Psalms 18:1-2

I love you, O LORD, my strength. The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliver, my God, my rock in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

Prodigal: That story will bring a tear to a glass eye.

Me: It was good.

This is a short video devotion on Proverbs.

click here to watch the video

Proverbs 14:3 In the mouth of the foolish is a rod of pride: but the lips of the wise shall preserve them. (KJV)

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

Prodigal: Keep moving toward the Lord.

Me: Yes, that I am doing!

This is from Calvin Coolidge

Press on. Nothing the word can take the place of persistence. Talen will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful individuals with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.

 And said unto me, Behold, I will make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, and I will make of thee a multitude of people; and will give this land to thy seed after thee for an everlasting possession. Genesis 48:4 (KJV)

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

Prodigal: We just missed a close one.

Me: Praise God!

This is from Knight’s Master Book of New Illustrations by Walter Knight

Two frogs fell into a deep cream bowl,

One was an optimistic soul;

But the other took the gloomy view,

“We shall drown,” he cried, without more ado.

So with a last despairing cry,

He flung up his legs and said, “Good-bye.”

Quoth the other frog with a merry grim,

“I can’t get out, but I won’t give in.

I’ll just swim round till my strength is spent,

Then will I die the more content.”

Bravely he swam till it would seem

His struggles began to churn the cream.

On the top of the butter at last he stopped,

And out of the bowl eh gaily hopped.

What of the moral? Tis easily found:

If you can’t hop out, keep swimming round.

They go from strength to strength, every one of them in Zion appeareth before God. Psalm 84:7 (KJV)

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org