Prodigal: I love to work in the garden.
Me: Me too!
Prodigal: I am here to watch another video about proverbs.
Me: The video is ready.
click here to watch video of proverbs
Proverbs 1:27
When calamity overtakes you like a storm,
when disaster sweeps over you like a whirlwind, when distress and trouble overwhelm you.
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Prodigal: I was think we should get some cookies today! They would be such a nice touch to a good day. Just think some chocolate would add that extra sweetness that would make it great!
Me: You can stop drillin’. You struck oil!
Prodigal: Good lets go get some then!
This is from the book With Christ in the Garden by Lynn James Radcliffe
We must first remove the cup of doubt and replace it with the cup of faith. No man will ever utterly solve the problem of why good people have to suffer, but every one of us must hammer out some rugged faith which will steady us in the hardest hour.
We must first realize that a great deal of suffering comes from humanity and not directly from God. My sin, my folly, my ignorance, the sin, the folly, the ignorance of someone else—these six factors account for much human tragedy.
We can get stuck there. If someone would just stop, so I do not have to suffer. How many times have I prayed that question to the Lord. How many times did the suffering continue. This happened a lot but what I can tell you is that don’t lose sight of faith. Don’t lose sight that Jesus overcame a lot of suffering and don’t lose sight that you have others who have walked a walk like this also.
Proverbs 6:21
For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and he pondereth all his goings.
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Prodigal: I am so MAD!
Me: Calm down.
Prodigal: I’m fixin’ to knock you forty miles west of younder.
Me: Maybe I should pray and then remind you of the prison system.
This is from the book Beyound Our Selves by Catherine Marshall
It was the year 1924. In a courtroom in the Midwest, the judge’s voice was grave as he looked down at the prisoner standing before him. “I am about to sentence you to a major prison for the third time. I know you are sick. And I know that more punishment is not the remedy. But your record leaves me powerless.”
And so “hopeless criminal” was society’s judgment of Starr Daily. The verdict seemed justified. At sixteen Starr’s only ambition had been to build a reputation as a dangerous man. He dreamed of the time when the police would refer to him with a shudder.
He achieved his aim by becoming the leader of a gang of safe crackers. There was no safe he could not open, no time lock he could not take apart. But finally liquor make him careless, and he was caught.
There followed fourteen year of penal farms, chain gangs, and two extended penitentiary sentences. Through all that time Starr’s father never lost hope that his son might be redeemed from his life of crime. His best efforts failed. He lived to see his Starr re-enter prison for the third time. Starr never saw his father after that. The broken-hearted man died with a prayer for his son on his lips.
In prison Starr made two futile attempts to escape. Then he evolved a plan to instigate a prison riot. The deputy warden was to be seized and used as a shield and hostage. A stool pigeon betrayed the plan, and Starr was sentenced to the dungeon.
Most strong men could not survive “the hole” for more than fifteen days. American prisons years ago could be grim and brutal places. It was winter, and the walls of the dank cell seeped moisture. At six every morning, the prisoner would be given a piece of bread and a cup of water. Then he would be left hanging in handcuffs for twelve hours. At six in the evening, he would be let down for the night and given another piece of bread and another cup of water.
Starr survived fifteen days of this. By the last day in the cuffs, he could no longer stand on feet black with congealed blood. That morning “the Bull”- the keeper of the hole- had to list the almost un conscious man into the cuffs.
For weeks after that, the prisoner was allowed to lie on the icy stone floor–emaciated, unspeakable filthy, near death. He lost track of time. Mired in the lowest hell imaginable, only hate was keeping him alive- hate for the Bull, hate for the deputy warden who had vowed that he would force Starr to crawl to him like a dog, begging mercy.
Then there came a moment when the man on the floor was too weak to hate. Through that momentary opening crept a strange new thought: All of my life I have been a dynamo of energy. What might have happened if I had used that energy for something good?
Then the thought faded. It’s too late now; I’m dying. There followed a half-walking, half-sleeping state of unconsciousness: moments of delirium, times of awareness.
This was followed by disconnected dreams, like mists floating across the brain. Time was no more. The prisoner was aware no longer of the frozen stone floor, of his filth, or of anyone who came or went.
Finally, the dreams began to take on meaning, to become rational in form and sequence. Suddenly Starr seemed to be in a garden. He knew that he had been in this same garden before–many times in childhood. It was in a shoe-shaped valley surrounded by gentle hills. At one end of the garden a great white-gray jutted out. Then Jesus Christ, the Man whom he had been trying to avoid all his life, was coming toward him. Now He stood face to face with Starr, looking deep into his eyes as if penetrating to the bottom of his soul. Love of a quality that he had never before felt was drawing the hate out of his heart, like extracting poison from an infected wound.
With a strange clarity, one part of Starr’s mind thought I am submerged in Reality, I’ll never be the same again, now through all eternity.
There followed another dream in which all the people Starr had ever injured passed before his eyes. One by one, he poured out his love to them.
Then all who had injured him appeared, and on them too he bestowed the love needed to restore and to heal. The love flowed from beyond him, poured through him in a torrent of caring and ecstatic gratitude.
When the prisoner returned to consciousness, the cell did not look the same. Its grim grayness was gone. For him it was illuminated with a warm light. His feelings too were different. The prison environment no longer had the power to give him pain, only joy.
The next things Starr knew, the door opened and the Bull said in a tone of voice Starr had never before heard him use, “Are you hungry? I could steal a sandwhich from the kitchen and bring it to you.”
The prisoner started in amazement. But he was even more startled at his own reply, “No, don’t do that. Don’t risk your neck by breaking a rule for me.”
It was the Bull’s turn to be astonished. He went off wonderingly, came back with the doctor, and Starr was carried to the prison hospital. Through a swift and surprising series of events, prison doors swung open for Starr Daily in March 1930, five years ahead of time set for his release.
From this man who had only a sixth-grade education have come eight books. He has lectured all over the nation. His knowledge of the criminal mind has contributed to valuable rethinking of prison techniques. He has personally been the Holy Spirit’s vehicle for the reclamation of scores of criminals.
Proverbs 3:34
Surely he scorneth the scorners: but he giveth grace unto the lowly.
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
.
Me: I just finished going to the store.
Prodigal: How did it go?
Me: My cash disappeared faster than cabbage at a rabbit convention.
Prodigal: Maybe we should change the subject to get your mind off of it.
This is from the book Escape the Coming Night by Dr. David Jeremiah
Why is there so much symbolism in the Book of Revelation? Do you wonder why it couldn’t have been as simple and straighforward as the Gospel of John? Here are some reasons.
To begin with, symbolism is not weakened by time. John was able to draw the great images in God’s revelation and write them into an exciting drama; symbols can stand the test of the years, with out relating to one particular era or culture.
Symbols also impart values and arouse emotions. H0w much more graphic it is to speak of “beasts,” instead of “dictators.” There is more color in referring to “Babylon the Great” than the “world system.”
Revelation may not be able to be understood completely on this day but it still holds great truth.
Proverbs 1:10
My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Me: I love the sound of that running water!
Prodigal: Me too!
Me: Probably good spot to share.
This is from the book Beyond Our Selves by Catherine Marshall
In my own case, it was precisely while my prayer was still unanswered that I received the most vivid assurances of God’s reality.
What this comes down to is the simple but powerful truth that God can be trusted in this regard as in all others. Hope is always of God; hopelessness is always of evil. Faith is always right; fear and despair are always wrong.
We can rest on the love of God, knowing that His love for us boundlessly surpasses our own. Nothing can ever separate us from that love except out own blind unwillingness to receive.
Truth be told, I am caught in feelings of hopelessness from long years of prayers that have yet to be answered. It started last night. The despair was driven away from not my own prayers ,but from the prayers of friends that dearly love me and knew that it was what I needed the most.
Since then I am fully unwilling to receive God’s love at the moment and His joy. Years of counseling others, I know where I am. I am looking entirely too much on those gifts I want God to bless me with instead of looking mostly at God. I guess I just need to confess that with all my love of the Lord, with all His blessings in my life, I too get distracted at times. So what now? I think it has been confessed and now, I am going to release them. The blessings and all that I am focused on.
Instead I focus on my LORD! You stayed with me during all this. You in soft loving ways kept pointing me back to you. I am back my LORD. I am sorry my LORD. I am yours my LORD.
LORD, how you never said goodbye, you just waited for me to receive again.
Matthew 10:27
What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops.
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Prodigal: Hope you are having a good day.
Me: Yes, I am.
Prodigal: I am too.
Time for another video.
proverbs 1:26
I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock you when your fear cometh;
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Me: I can see that you are in Tampa.
Prodigal: Yes, I am enjoying the time here.
Me: Let me share with you about another village.
Revolution in World Missions by K.P. Yahanna
One such village was Bhundi in Rajasthan. This was the first place I was beaten and stoned for preaching the Gospel. Often literature was destroyed. It seemed that mobs always were on the watch for us, and six times our street meetings were broken up. Our team leaders began to work elsewhere, avoiding Bhundi as much as possible. Three years later, a new team of national missionaries moved into the area under different leadership and preached again at this busy crossroads town.
Almost as soon as they arrived, one man began tearing up literature and grabbed a 19-year old missionary, Samuel, by the throat. Although beaten severely, Samuel knelt in the street and prayed for the salvation of souls in that hateful city.
“Lord,” he prayed, “I want to come back here and serve You in Bhundi. “I’m willing to die here, but I want to come back and serve You in this place.”
Many older Christian leaders advised him against his decision, but being determined, Samuel went back and rented a small room. Shipments of literature arrived, and he preached in the face of many difficulties. Today more than 100 people meet in a small church there. Those who persecuted us at one time now worship the Lord Jesus, as was the case with the apostle Paul.
Acts 26:18
To open their eyes, and to turn from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Me: I have enjoyed the day so far!
Prodigal: Me too, how do we sum it all up?
This is from John Mott
Leadership in the sense of rendering maximum service;
leadership in the sense of the largest unselfishness;
in the sense of full-hearted absorption in the greatest work of the world:
building up the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Unselfishness that many may not see is in the heart of the leaders service. At times we keep our mouths shut, we allow some minor activity to take place because even though the focus is on people building up their ego and not focus on Christ. Why would we do that? Because sometimes we save the battle for something bigger. You have to let go some time. You have to know that God may just have to deal with that person and you cannot be the person who says something. So do not be selfish. Be humble and quiet and allow the Lord to deal with that person, even if it is not until much later.
Psalm 1:1-3
Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Prodigal: Time to watch a video!
Me: Yes, I have one for you.
Proverbs 1:25
Since you disregard all my advice and do not accept my rebuke
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Me: How was it living here.
Prodigal: We were so poor our Sunday supper was fried water.
Me: Money isn’t everything.
Everything a believer has must come from Christ, through the channel of the Spirit of grace. Just as all blessings flow to you through the Holy Spirit, nothing good can come out of you in holy thought, devout worship, or gracious act apart from the sanctifying operation of the Spirit.
Charles Spurgeon
So do not take credit where it is not yours today. It was the spirit and the ‘spirit only so, then you know where to turn your praise too!
1 Corinthians 1:9
But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead.
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
