Prodigal: That song that I played, sounded good.

Me: Yes you have a talent, but you must take that to the Lord also!

This is from the book Filled with the Spirit…Then What? by R. Mabel Francis

Beloved, here is something that is very hard for us to see on our path to spiritual victory:

Even out seeming good traits must go to the cross!

Many people thought they were being kind when they would say, “Miss Francis is such a loving person” –and I believed it, too!

It is true that I did may pleasant things. But God said, “Yes, you are very loving, but the trouble is you love yourself.”

I was astonished. What did He mean? At that time three girls lived with me. They should have been strong Christians, but they were spoiled. The Lord said to me: “You are like a mother who is spoiling her child. She thinks she loves the child if she gives her everything she wants. It is not that she loves the child but that it pleases her to do this.” This vivid portrayal pierced my inner being like an arrow. I pleaded earnestly, “Lord, what can I do?”

He said, “Consign it to the cross.”

From that moment on there was a tremendous difference in my life. This trait seemed to be the center of my self-life. So I learned that my self-life was not always some ugly thing, some mean thing. With true insight into my human spirit, God knew that I had been brought up in a loving home an that it pleased me to do nice things. He had put His finger on the root of my weakness–myself!

Psalms 130:5

I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope;

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org