I’m writing this message to all the ex-prodigals, who might encounter this – I write this message in righteous anger at the harassing spirits that over the last few days have been trying to harass me and also a little bit of anger with myself for giving them a pinch of an inch to irritate me.
Listen closely – ol’ slewfoot tries the same tricks over and over again and if you are not careful – he’ll trip you up a second time! This is where we have to be alert and on guard! This is where we have to make SURE we put on our spiritual armor EVERY day, to make it a routine just like we do “brushing our teeth” or something that we standardly do in our daily regimen.
This message is specifically for ex-prodigals. I will be transparent (as is my style) and let you know 15 years ago, I was a prodigal, but I found myself prostrate on the ground, humbled, broken, hurting and very ashamed of myself. In fact, for a while I was so busy crucifying my OWN self that all satan (and I never capitalize his name, he’s not worthy of even that…) had to do was sit there and watch me beat myself up. He’s pretty good at doing that! Did you know that you actually can destroy your own self??? And do even a better job at it than anyone else EVER could. Well, God brought a pastor into my life who helped me to repent and reminded me that it is absolutely NOTHING but God’s love, God’s grace, God’s mercy and God’s forgiveness that saves us. PERIOD. Prior to that prodigal time, I had never experienced or done anything MAJOR in the area of sin. Now, hear me – sin IS sin whether you tell a “little white lie” or you steal something or kill someone or commit adultery – whatever! We ALL sin in SOME WAY. 1 John 1:8 says:
If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
The only perfect person that ever lived IS Jesus.
And oh man, when I mess up, I mess up BIG!!! But what I CAN tell you is that I truly on my face, ugly cried repented! And when I learn a lesson – I LEARN a LESSON! Are you like that???? And Beloved, let me assure you that when you repent and it is a heart thing, a TRUE repentance,
GOD FORGIVES YOU
But often times, we don’t forgive ourselves… And while God forgives us with the kind of forgiveness mentioned in Psalm 103:12:
As far as the east is from the west, so far does He remove our transgressions from us.
Or as He says in Isaiah 43:25
“I, I am He Who blots out your transgressions for My own sake, and I will not remember your sins.”
Or even as it says in Isaiah 1:18:
“Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.”
There are consequences for our sins that don’t go away… In King David’s case the Prophet Nathan told David (after he committed adultery with Basheba and then had Uriah her husband killed) in 2 Samuel 12:7-10:
“This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. I gave your master’s house to you, and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you all Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. Why did you despise the Word of the Lord by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’ “
There are always consequences to sins, even when we do repent… And for me, one of the consequences had been my inability to forgive myself. Jesus paid a GREAT price for our sins. I cannot fathom how He could actually take on the sins of the WHOLE world upon Himself, when MY sins are grandioso on their own accord, but THAT is how much God loves us.
It took me a long time to forgive myself and be able to move on. God TRULY is able to take the “messes” that we make and turn them into “messages” if we allow Him to do so, and in doing so – He gets the glory from the hard knock lessons that we learn. But here is the reason for this post –
Most of the ex-prodigals that I know, came back stronger in their walk with Christ. Determined to live for Him! To seek Him with their WHOLE hearts! Determined to serve God and to make sure that they don’t give the devil a foothold EVER again. It is why the Bible tells us in 1 Peter 5:8:
“Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”
And if you do what 1 Peter 5:8 says, you can be alert enough to see when ol’ slewfoot tries to trip you up with the same tactics he has used in your life before. You will recognize it. And if you recognize it, you won’t fall for it again. In fact, this is what recently happened to me – what tactic did he try to use? GUILT. The hardest part of my having been a prodigal was in the disappointment of myself in falling for a trap I hadn’t seen coming. To put it bluntly,
I WAS STUPID
We have to be so careful of what doors we open to the enemy, those doors don’t always come in obvious ways we would expect. We have to tred through life cautiously, the Bible says it this way in Matthew 10:16:
“Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore, be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.”
In my case, I took my prodigal experience and wrote about it. I wanted other prodigals to know how much God LOVES them! I wanted them to know that the Father was waiting for them to come home! So, fifteen years ago I started my very first blog prior to this one. You can see those posts by clicking the link below. It is called:
I have a heart for prodigals because I once was one! And I know how much it hurts. I wanted to use my prodigal experience to minister God’s love to someone hurting; to let them know they could “always” come back home to the Father and that He would receive you with open arms, even meeting you down the road halfway! Although I wouldn’t recommend becoming a prodigal, I will say that because of my prodigal experience and the repentance and healing I had to go through (which wasn’t instantaneous, it took a lot of time to heal) I became a stronger Christian. Think about the Apostle Peter (and I am by no means comparing myself to him…) but remember that Jesus had prophesied over Peter by telling him that he would deny Christ THREE times before a rooster crowed prior to Jesus’ crucifixion on the cross! Peter found that to be incredulous, but it happened JUST like Jesus said it would. (You can read about it in Matthew 26:34). Can you imagine Peter’s anguish upon hearing that rooster crow and realizing that Jesus’ words had been true???
THAT IS A PERFECT EXAMPLE OF WHAT ANGUISH OVER BECOMING A PRODIGAL FEELS LIKE!
Yet Peter repented! And Jesus gently restored him. Let’s take a look at that restoration in John 21:15-17:
“When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”
“Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.” Again, Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Take care of My sheep.”
The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.” “
Jesus’ restoration strengthened Peter, and therefore Peter was able to minister to others in a more compassionate, humble manner. Stronger than before, more determined to win souls for Christ. And he did for the rest of his life. Tradition holds that Peter, deeming himself unworthy to die in the same manner as his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, requested to be crucified upside down. Peter’s profound love for Christ and dying in such a manner was an act of humility and reverence.
Ex-Prodigal, don’t be surprised if ol’ slewfoot tries to bother your dreams with remembrances of your prodigal time. When all else fails with you, he tries to take you around the Merry Go Round of Guilt ALL over again (even as in my case – 15 years later). He will trouble your dreams; he will try to stir up old feelings that you thought were LONG gone. He will try to trip you up
ANY WAY HE CAN
Why? Because he doesn’t want you to use your time as a prodigal to glorify what God can (and has done in your life). He doesn’t want you to use your humbling experience to offer the right hand of fellowship behind you to help with someone else who is struggling! The VERY last thing he wants you to do is to thwart his efforts of making someone else go down that same “unexpected pathway” by warning them with your own prodigal experience.
DON’T BE DISTRUBED BY HIS TACTICS – RECOGNIZE WHAT HE IS DOING AND PRAY
He doesn’t want you to believe that God has forgiven you! He doesn’t want you to walk in forgiveness for yourself! Recognize what it is he is doing and then rebuke him! God is NOT a man that He would lie!
IF YOU HAVE REPENTED, YOU HAVE BEEN REDEEMED
And NOTHING can keep you from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus! Romans 8:31-39 tells us:
“What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Since He did not spare even His Own Son but gave Him up for us all, won’t He also give us everything else? Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for His Own? No one—for God Himself has given us right standing with Himself. Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and He is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us. Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean He no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”) So, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Sometimes we may have to read that scripture over and over again when guilt and condemnation try their best to overcome us again. I find what I do, is I determine even MORE so to write and teach God’s forgiveness! It makes me MORE determine to sink my feet in deeper, straighten my back and hold my head up higher because the price Jesus paid for forgiveness of my (and your sins) is GREATER than ANY tactics of guilt and condemnation that ol’ slewfoot could try and throw my way! So, determine NOT to let him! Not by way of dreams! Not by way of people! Not by way of ANYTHING! If you have repented and confessed your sins,
YOU ARE FORGIVEN INDEED!
Hey! Ex-Prodigal! YES you! (I’m pointing at you through the screen of my computer).
GOD LOVES YOU SO VERY VERY MUCH! LET HIM! TRUST HIM! BELIEVE HIM! WHY? BECAUSE IT’S TRUE!
We have an enemy who hates us and wants us to do what he did to Eve in the VERY beginning in Genesis – to doubt God. But think about all the ways that God has shown you His love (and IS showing His love towards you!) Determine RIGHT NOW not to go back but go forward in Him Who has called you! There is SO much that He wants you to accomplish, especially in these last days, because the time is getting shorter and shorter. You are NOT a prodigal; you are a child of the UTMOST HIGH King. Blood bought by Jesus! You belong to Him! Remember who you are and remind the devil that his days are numbered! You are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, forever His! Praise His holy and mighty name! \0/ \0/ \0/
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