Author Archives: Secrets From the Garden

Pastor-Author

Credit card outage hits convenience stores, other merchants across Japan – Japan Today

Credit card outage hits convenience stores, other merchants across Japan – Japan Today https://share.google/YWbSZeBLj1yzJm2o7

He joined Himself, Be careful of the choices you make

With whom are you joined?

Pharisees and Scribes accused Jesus of fellowshipping with publicans and sinners. The Pharisees and Scribes were considered righteous, moral leaders in Israel and were honored by Jewish society. Publicans and sinners were despised.

In Luke 15:11-32, Jesus taught the parable of the prodigal son.

Jesus said a man had two sons. The younger son asked for his inheritance. The Father divided the portions of the estate between them.

The younger son gathered up his goods and went into a far country where he wasted his substance in riotous living.

The Bible says that when he had nothing left, a mighty famine arose in that land, and he began to be in want.

Desperation

The prodigal son joined himself to a citizen of that country. They sent him to the fields to feed the swine. He got so hungry that he was willing to fill his stomach with the husks that the swine ate. No one would give him anything.

This parable is a prime example of someone who thought life was better in a far away land.

The world strips away value and sends them out to work its fields.

Jesus was communicating the Father’s love by receiving those despised in society—the value of our partnership with the Father.

Much like the prodigal son, we wasted our inheritance on riotous living. We joined ourselves to the world’s system. They sent us to the field to work off our debt.

The turning point

The prodigal son reached a point of desperation in which he realized he didn’t have to suffer. He could return home, have his needs met, and have plenty to spare.

He starts the journey back home. He is tired and weary. He doesn’t know how his father will receive him.

The point of the parable

The Father is always waiting for us with outstretched arms. However, the prodigal son is rehearsing what he was going to say: ‘I’m not worthy to be called your son. Make me one of your hired servants.’

But the father is looking for him, waiting on him. The father sees the son, runs to him, and embraces him.

In the parable, the Father gives the son a new set of clothes and shoes. He gives him a new ring and throws a party for him.

The finer points of the parable

The Father- Son Relationship. The unbreakable bond between father and son. The son walked away because he valued something more important. The father never lost hope.

The finer point of the parable is partnership. Adam was created for partnership. God works out partnership. God committed creation to Adam’s trust.

The Serpent, Satan, had nothing. He needs man’s resources. He needs his hands to move his drugs. He needs his talents to draw you away, to confuse you, and to entangle you!

Friendship with the world is enmity with God (James 4:4). The world’s system strips us.

In the parable, the prodigal son joined himself to the citizens of another country. Nobody would give him anything. They sent him to the fields. He got so desperate that he wanted to eat pig slop.

As Christians, we are in the world but not of the world. God is our Father, and he has already supplied all of our needs. What most believers struggle with is trust. They have not learned how to receive from their father.

2 Corinthians 6:11-18

“Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infdel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the LORD, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.”

Another warning comes to us out of Revelation 18:4

“And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.”

Don’t yoke yourself together with unbelievers. Value the relationship with the Father above what the world has to offer. Value seed above money. All seeds are supernatural because they contain life.

Grace & peace