Monthly Archives: November 2017

Kind of Warning

Posted on by Jennifer Van Allen

 

Me: How was your day today Prodigal?

Prodigal:  I was runnin round like a crazed squirrel in a cage of hungry dogs.

Me:  Sounds exhausting, maybe I can encourage you while you relax.

Prodigal:  Sounds good!

 

This is from the book Spiritual Leadership by J. Oswald Sanders

 

God wants to show such people how strong He really is (2Chronicles 16:9).  But not all who aspire to leadership are willing to pay such a high personal price.  Yet there is no compromise here:  in the secret reaches of the heart this price is paid, before any public office or honor.  Our Lord made clear to James and John that high position in the kingdom of God is reserved for those who hearts–even the secret places where no one else probes–are qualified.  God’s sovereign searching of our hearts, and then His call to leadership, are awesome to behold.  And they make a person very humble.

One last thing must be said, a kind of warning.  If those who hold influence over others fail to lead toward the spiritual uplands, then surely the path to the lowlands will be well worn.  People travel together; no one lives detached and alone.

 

Make sure God is in the decision for which leader you are going to follow.

Psalm 89:3

I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant

 

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

 

 

Complete Knowledge

Posted on by Jennifer Van Allen

Me:  How is your friend?

Prodigal:  Good, but his discernment is like a blind man judgin’ colors.

Me:  Well, don’t be to hard on him.  Maybe he just needs to follow the Holy Spirit’s leading.

Prodigal:  Yeah, I agree.

This comes from the book You Were Born for This by Bruce Wilkinson

The Spirit, who “searches all things,” has intimate, complete knowledge of everyone, including the people He sends us to help.  He knows what they were thinking when they woke up, what happened to them at work yesterday, and what secrets they plan to keep until they die.  He knows what kind of gift or encouragement they’re likely to refuse or deflect and what kind of gesture will go straight to their heart.

 

We can spend our lives running around trying to encourage others but it may all be for nothing if we did not consult the spirit for that day.  All it can take is quiet time in God’s word and prayer and which can lead you to the type of encouragement that changes a person’s day, week or life.

 

Chapter 14:1

Follow after love, and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy.

 

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

 

Divine Doctor

Posted on by Jennifer Van Allen

 

Me:  I see you have a message!

Prodigal:  I just trying to deliver the bacon without all that sizzle.

Me:  Trying to get to the bottom line.

Prodigal:  That’s right.

Me:  While you wait for a response then I will share a story.

 

This is from the book God’s Little Devotional Book for Women

 

Tom Dooley was a young doctor who gave up an easy career to organize hospitals and pour out his life in service to afflicted people in Southeast Asia.  As he lay dying of cancer at age 34, Dooley wrote to the president of Notre Dame, his alma mater:

“Dear Father Hesburgh:  They’ve got me down.  Flat on the back, with plaster, sandbags, and hot water bottles.  I’ve contrived a way of pumping the bed up a bit so that , with a long reach, I can get to my typewriter…Two things prompt this note to you.  The first is that whenever my cancer acts up a bit…I turn inward.  Less do I think of my hospitals around the world, or of 94 doctors, fund-raisers, and the like.  More do I think of one Divine Doctor and my personal fund of grace….I have monstrous phantoms; all men do.  And inside and outside the wind blows.  But when the time comes, like now, then the storm around me does not matter.  The winds within me do not matter.  Nothing human or earthly can touch me.  A peace gathers in my heart.  What seems unfathomable, I can fathom.  What is unutterable, I can utter.  Because I can pray.  I can communicate.  How do people endure anything on earth if they cannot have God?”

 

And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:7

 

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org