101 Notes of Thanksgiving

Scriptures and Meditations on God’s Promises

Copyright © 2011 Pauline Creeden

Cover Art © 2012 Marcy Rachel Designs http://altwitpress.com – “Bringing the Unseen to Light.”

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Churches and other non-commercial interests my reproduce portions of this book without the express written permission of the author, provided that the text does not exceed ten percent of the entire book.

All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

Scripture quotations marked AMP are taken from the AMPLIFIED BIBLE Copyright ©1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by the Lockman foundation.

Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the NEW KING JAMES VERSION Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission.

Introduction:

Once in a while, I read a Christian Devotional where there are just some real gems. “Zingers” one of my friends called it. Where there is a statement, sometimes a single sentence, sometimes a few on a central idea, and it just really makes me think about God, His promises, and His grace. And I am thankful to Him. Scriptures do that a lot on their own; don’t they?

So this book is supposed to be full of those gems, collected lovingly from scriptures and devotionals/articles that I have written over the years. They are in bite-sized pieces that could easily be read whenever you just have a few minutes to get a blessing. I read them while waiting in line, at the doctor’s office, wherever. I have them on my smart phone. You can do with them whatever you wish, but remember this little promise box of treasures whenever you need to look up instead of down.

In Him,

1. We are never an inconvenience to Him, and He will never stop loving us.

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2. Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; His love endures forever. (1 Chronicles 16:34) **~

3. God is not some distant, far-away, absentee father. No, He is present, He cares, and He doesn’t want you to worry.

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4. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. (Matthew 6:34) **~

5. God loves you more than a mother loves her infant child.

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6. The Lord answered and said: Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yes, they may forget, yet I will never forget you. (Isaiah 49:15 AMP) **~

7. Jesus has the scars that prove His love for you.

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8. Behold, I have indelibly imprinted [tattooed a picture of] you on the palm of each of my hands; (Isaiah 49:16 AMP) **~

9. As a child of God, He has separated you from your sin.

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10. As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. (Psalm 103:12 AMP) **~

11. God gives you an inheritance with Jesus.

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12. And if we are His children, then we are His heirs also: heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ [sharing His inheritance with Him]; only we must share His suffering if we are to share His glory. (Romans 8:17 AMP) **~

13. God hears and answers your prayers.

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14. For everyone who keeps on asking receives, and he who keeps on seeking finds, and to him who keeps knocking, [the door] will be opened. (Matt 7:8 AMP) **~

15. God has promised not to save you only, but your whole family.

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16. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ [give yourself up to Him, take yourself out of your own keeping and entrust yourself into his keeping] and you will be saved, [and this applies both to] you and your household as well. (Acts 16:31 AMP) **~

17. God is always aware of what you are going through, He never misses a moment.

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18. He will not allow your foot to slip or to be moved: He Who keeps you will not slumber. (Psalm 121:3 AMP) **~

19. Jesus understands everything that you are going through because He has gone through it, too.

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20. For we do not have a High Priest Who is unable to understand and sympathize and have a shared feeling with our weaknesses and infirmities and liability to the assaults of temptation, but One Who has been tempted in every respect as we are, yet without sinning. (Hebrews 4:15 AMP) **~

21. And because God understands, he always provides us with the means to overcome our temptations.

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22. He [can be trusted] not to let you be tempted and tried and assayed beyond your ability and strength of resistance and power to endure, but with the temptation, He will [always] also provide the way out [the means of escape to a landing place], that you may be capable and strong and powerful to bear up under it patiently. (1 Corinthians 10:13 AMP) **~

23. Adversity and loss can often become the rudder by which our life is steered to come closer to God. We re-prioritize and discover what really has importance, and what remains shallow and unworthy of our time and energies.

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24. Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. (1 Thessalonians 5:18) **~

25. Satan foretells a barren future, but God’s promises are pregnant with hope.

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26. And provide for those who grieve in Zion— to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor. (Isaiah 61:3) **~

27. God gives us grace for today. He tells us to trust Him about the rest. He tells us to believe Him for the best.

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28. Then they believed his promises and sang his praise. (Psalm 106:12) **~

29. Low is not where God wants you to be. How many times does He say He wants to lift you up? When you start to feel down in the dumps, stop your train of thought, count your blessings and tell Satan to get behind you. Look at the inward things and stop looking at the outward.

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30. Since we consider and look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen; for the things that are visible are temporal (brief and fleeting), but the things that are invisible are deathless and everlasting. (2 Corinthians 4:18) **~

31. The problem with our society is that we have lost our work ethic. All work is considered too hard, and the feeling of accomplishment gained from working has been lost. Working toward accomplishment is what the life in Jesus is about. If I listen to God, I mean really listen and do what He tells me to do, because He will give me the power to do it.

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32. Therefore my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. (Philippians 2:12-13) **~

33. Humility is seeing yourself as God sees you. It is not what you do or what you look like that matters to God – so these things shouldn’t be your focus.

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34. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. (1 Samuel 16:7b) **~

35. Anything that can be seen by people at all (giving to the poor, prophesying, doing good deeds) is not what God looks at. He looks at what is done in secret so that He can reward you openly. So what do you do in secret?

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36. That your charitable deed may be in secret; and your father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly. (Matthew 6:4 NKJV) **~

37. The world needs us to be the hands and feet of Jesus. To work and be fruitful for the Lord is what is required. God wants us to be light and salt. If we hide Him in our hearts, who will ever know the secret?

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38. Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name. (Hebrews 13:15 NIV) **~

39. And that is the secret. In this passage from Hebrews lies the formula for becoming the best sort of Christian. When you open your mouth, do not be afraid to say His name. But! When you open your mouth, be sure that praise is what comes out continually!

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40. That my heart may sing your praises and not be silent. LORD my God, I will praise you forever. (Psalm 30:12 NIV) **~

41. Think about it! If when you say His name in praise, how can you then be judgmental? If you say His name in praise, how can you not bring healing? Bring about the JOY of the Lord by being a Praise Warrior for Him!

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42. Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; His greatness no one can fathom. (Psalm 145:3) **~

43. When the battle is too much for you, do not surrender to the enemy, surrender to God. He will give you the strength you need to withstand the forces against you. Trust Him, and He will give you reason to praise Him. For contained within that praise is the power to trust Him and to make a change in your life.

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44. The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him. (Psalm 28:7) **~

45. This world wants to surround us with fear. The Bible admonishes us to be courageous, and counsels us to have no fear over and over in many ways.

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46. For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. (2Timothy 1:7) **~

47. Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them for the LORD your God goes with you. He will never leave you nor forsake you. (Deuteronomy 31:6) **~

48. The LORD is with me; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me? (Psalm 118:6) **~

49. In our instant results world we have no patience anymore. Yes, sometimes God does instant miracles, but more often than not, He’s interested in slow, permanent change.

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50. I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the beasts of the field become too numerous for you. Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased and you inherit the land. (Exodus 23:29-30 NKJV) **~

51. Little by little. God is preparing you for something here. He’s making sure that your faith has increased and your relationship with Him is solid before you inherit the land He has prepared for you. He doesn’t want your victory to be desolate – and the “beasts” of pride and self-satisfaction to overcome the glory that He should receive in this.

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52. I am sure of this, that He who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. (Philippians 1:6) **~

53. Hurry and worry are sisters, and often go along hand in hand with each other. In order to be in tune and on the same wavelength as our God, we are to be patient and to wait on Him. When we are in a hurry, it causes us anxiety, and gives us a false feeling of being in control. It actually causes us to worry: since Jesus told us not to worry, shouldn’t we also not hurry?

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54. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. (Philippians 4:6 NKJV) **~

55. God constantly asks us to wait for Him. But in our hurry we often leave Him behind.

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56. I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in His word I do hope. (Psalm 130:5 NKJV) **~

57. God chooses on purpose people who cannot do what He asks them to do. He does this so that there is no question as to Who has accomplished this task. Again I say that He specializes in making people the opposite of what they used to be.

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58. And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. (2 Corinthians 12:9 NKJV) **~

59. He has promised that no matter how much we feel the pressures that surround us will kill us – He will make sure they do not. The fires of anger that burn around us - will not scorch us. The deluge of troubles that threaten to drown us in despair - will not overcome us.

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60. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they shall not over flow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch you. (Isaiah 43:2) **~

61. But when life seems to be pressing in on you from every side: it comes from the right, left, front and back. Realize now that there are two openings – up and down. We may not be responsible for our circumstances, but we are responsible for how we respond to them.

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62. We are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed – always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. (2 Corinthians 4:8-10) **~

63. Giving it up to God is different from just “giving up.” Giving our temptation up to God is the opposite of “giving up,” because if we simply gave in, we’d indulge the sin. When we give it up to God, we are realizing that the battle is too great for us. Before we even try to fight it, we see that we’re outnumbered, out-muscled, and overwhelmed. That’s why God wants us to give it up to Him. We don’t have the ability fight it by ourselves.

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64. He gives power to the weak and to those who have no might, He increases strength. (Isaiah 40:29 NKJV) **~

65. Simply by BELIEVING you have already overcome the world. You have already overcome your sin. You need to believe it and walk in it, no matter what anyone or anything else says.

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66. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? (1 John 5:5) **~

67. If I only do something for the results I get, won’t that make me easy to manipulate? Satan could use that to his advantage quite simply. He could tempt me just enough to show no progress so that I give up. Two steps forward – two steps back again. He doesn’t need me to do anything but give up. Taking a step back is not a failure. Falling down is not a failure. It is all part of the process. The only way that I become a failure is to give up. By giving up I stop trusting God, I stop believing in Jesus, and I become overcome by the world.

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68. Yet amid all these things we are more than conquerors and gain a surpassing victory through Him Who loved us. (Romans 8:37 AMP) **~

69. Because of Jesus’ sacrifice, I am in right standing with God. He doesn’t reject me. Nothing that I can do will drive Him away from me.

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70. Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. (Lamentations 3:22-23) **~

71. When we walk according to the Spirit, we will not have condemnation, because Satan cannot condemn us. But if we try to walk in the flesh (in sin) then Satan has the right to condemn us. So this is why we don’t want to allow sin in our lives. This is why it is so important to keep our eyes focused on Jesus and walk in the spirit so that we don’t fulfill the desires of the Flesh.

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72. There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. (Romans 8:1) **~

73. By believing in Jesus, and accepting His sacrifice, I have already overcome the world. Jesus has already put me in right standing with God, and nothing that I do in this life will separate me from Him.

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74. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39) **~

75. Jesus is amazing! His grace covers all our transgressions. There is nothing that you are going to do that isn't already covered by His grace.

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76. I will give you thanks, for you answered me; you have become my salvation. (Psalm 118:31) **~

77. Jesus DAILY bears our BURDENS. Every day! He knows what I am going through. And though it may seem so trivial what I have endured today when I look at what others are going through, sometimes it seems I'd rather die than do this yet another day. So I am happy to have His help.

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78. Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens. Selah. (Psalm 68:9) **~

79. Let us always praise His name - in times of joy, in times of tribulation, in times of sorrow, in times of victory, and in times of defeat. When we feel the most depressed, the farthest from God - let us praise His name, even when we don't FEEL like it - because the sounds of God's people praising God makes the powers of darkness tremble, and gives us victory even when we feel defeated.

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80. That my heart may sing your praises and not be silent. LORD my God, I will praise you forever. (Psalm 30:12) **~

81. We can be called “more than conquerors,” in Romans 8:37, because nothing can keep us down. We don’t fail once and for all, but eventually we win, as long as we believe, keep trying, and let Jesus help us up.

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82. No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. (Romans 8:37) **~

83. God gives us no orders, no rules to follow, without providing the means to do what He asks us to accomplish.

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84. for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. (Philippians 2:13) **~

85. No matter how far away from the Master we have wondered away, He will search for us and call us until His work is complete.

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86. Look at it this way. If someone has a hundred sheep and one of them wanders off, Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine and go after the one? (Matthew 18:12 MSG) **~

87. There is nothing that we can’t do, no way we can lose if we rely on Jesus.

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88. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 15:7) **~

89. When we are weak, He is strong. When we feel defenseless, He defends us. When we have no hope, he becomes our salvation and hope.

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90. “The LORD is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him. (Exodus 15:2) **~

91. Because our battle is not against flesh and blood, but in the spiritual realm, Praise is one of our greatest weapons.

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92. Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger. (Psalm 8:2) **~

93. He saves each one of us personally, so that we see how He loves each one of us. He comes to our rescue so that we never forget what He did for us.

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94. He is the one you praise; he is your God, who performed for you those great and awesome wonders you saw with your own eyes. (Deuteronomy 10:21) **~

96. When we trust God, we believe His promises. It is that trust that builds the unbreakable bond of relationship with our God worth being thankful for.

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97. Then they believed his promises and sang his praise. (Psalm 106:12) **~

98. God is the God who heals. He saves us from the hurts and sicknesses that we’ve been diagnosed with. No matter what our problem, God is the solution.

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99.Heal me, LORD, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved, for you are the one I praise. (Jeremiah 17:14) **~

100. God has chosen each one of us to be special. He didn’t leave us in the dark to be lost without him.

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101. But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. (1 Peter 2:9) **~

About the Author:

In simple language, Pauline Creeden breaks down Biblical stories and applies them to real life in new ways. Her methods of teaching have brought new light to old scriptures. In her fiction, she creates worlds that are both familiar and strange, often pulling the veil between dimensions. She becomes the main character in each of her stories, and because she has ADD, she will get bored if she pretends to be one person for too long.

Pauline is a horse trainer from Virginia, but writing is her therapy.

She is the Admin for Spirit Filled Kindle and an administrator for Readers’ Realm. Her articles, reviews, and devotionals have been featured in RUBY FOR WOMEN Magazine,Devotionals for Bloggers, Faith Filled Family Magazine, and Christian Fiction Book Reviews.

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Acknowledgements and Note from the Author: Thank you to my husband for his continued support and love for me. I have to thank my friends at Christian Writers and CIAindie, without your encouragement and advice, this book would never have been published. Finally, thank you reader for taking the time to pick up this book. It is my hope that you will be blessed with a deeper understanding and relationship with your Jesus.

Please continue reading for A bonus excerpt from THE PRODIGAL LIFE: Coming all the way home to God

THE PRODIGAL LIFE

Introduction Jesus Prayed: “I have given them your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.” John 17:14-16

We are not of this world. It was so important that we know this, Jesus said it twice in this one prayer. Because we are not of this world, the world hates us. The world is miserable and because misery loves company, it wants us to be miserable, too.

Our life on this planet is so confusing, demanding, and hard. There are times when we feel so burdened that we wish we could just fly away to heaven already and be done with it all. We need to remember that God promised to never place a burden on us that we can’t handle. If you’re here on Earth, it’s because God believes you can handle it.

So we have to wade through the muck of lies, ungodliness, and hatred. We have to be diligent and search for the truth. We have to keep our eyes on Jesus so that we can be kept from the evil one. The world has lots to say about what will make us healthy, happy, and whole. God gave us the choice to believe the world, or believe Him.

It all comes down to two choices. Over and over again in the Bible, God gives us this choice. Choose life or choose death. Choose the old gods or choose Him. Choose yourself or choose Him. Choose money or choose Him.

Sometimes we make the right decision. And sometimes we waver in that decision. Sometimes the answer doesn’t seem so cut and dried. Sometimes it seems easier to curse or deny the God that “gave” us these problems than it is to praise Him.

So what do we do when we find that we have made the wrong decision? What do we do when we’ve fallen for the lies of the world?

God knew from the beginning that we would not be faithful one-hundred-percent of the time. He knew that the world would try to choke us like weeds. Jesus gave us the warnings, and told us what to expect. Even better, Jesus gave us the picture of what to do when we found ourselves neck deep in the world’s muck and ears filled with the world’s lies. He gave us His word, His truth, and He gave us the parable of “The Prodigal.”

We’ve all heard it a million times. We know the story so well, that we probably only skim it or skip it all together when we chance upon it in our daily devotional. But we need to remember that ALL God’s Word is for each of us. It is not this part for you and that part for Joe down the street. All of it is personal.

When we become children of God, He intends all the word to be ours. It tells us how to live so that we don’t make bad decisions when the time comes. It tells us what to do when we’ve made a bad decision and need to make amends with God. It helps us to understand the deep, unconditional love which God has for us that we will not find in this world without Him.

When we understand that the whole word of God is meant for us, we might find new eyes to look at the life of “The Prodigal”. We might even find that we are in one of the stages of his life. Take a look at those stages with me, and see if you don’t find places where you can relate. I know that I can connect with each and every stage.

Many of us forget that the prodigal son was first and foremost a son. He was not a stranger who rebelled against God. What this means is that though we think of people who lived a rough life and then had a conversion later on as prodigals, that is not who this story is intended for. It’s for sons. It’s for God’s children. It’s for those of us who are Christians, who come to God and accept Him as our father. Then after accepting Him, some of us go astray. Some of us become prodigals, and go through these stages.

Understanding and connecting with each stage of the prodigal is important, because by doing so we can progress to the next level. In that progression, we will find growth and the Father waiting for us to come home and be His child. And His child is what He has called us to be.

This book is written for those of us who are already God’s children and have gotten lost and made wrong decisions. It’s written to help us to have a greater understanding of God’s grace and how He loves us and wants us to come home. I pray that as you read this exposition, you come to a greater realization of your relationship with God. Maybe someone will even wake up to the wrong choice they’re making and realize that they’ve wandered away unawares. Either way, it is my prayer that the Holy Spirit will use this book to grow closer to you.

STAGE ONE – A Son of God A certain man had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, “Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.” So he divided to them his livelihood. Luke 15:11-12

If we consider the story of the prodigal as a story of each of our lives, in stage one we are defined as a “son.” This means that we are saved by grace. Our name is written in the Book of Life. If you have asked Jesus to be your Savior, and His blood covers your sins. You are a Christian. You have an inheritance that God will fully give you upon asking. You belong to Him and you are His child.

But you still have free will. You are God’s child – but you may not act like it. No one acts like God’s child all the time, except Jesus. You make mistakes. You make bad choices. You have wrong thoughts, and judge situations based on your short-sightedness. You are human.

So often we decide to try to run our own lives without God’s regulations. We say “thanks for the inheritance, can I have it now and go on with my life the way that I want?” We want our independence, but we want to be “saved,” too.

Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little. Luke 7:47

When I was younger in the Lord, I used to think that I must love little, because I was forgiven little. But this is not the truth. Who decided that I was forgiven little? Who decided that the sin stains on my life were so small? I did. I made that short-sighted decision. Because I became a Christian at such a young age, I felt that my life was about as close to “sin-free” as it could get. So I passed judgment on my own life and decided that I wasn’t so bad.

This made me like the younger son, ready to take my inheritance and go on with my life. This is a lie of the world that has permeated the church today. We cannot continue to go on with life, doing our own thing, making our own way, once we have been born again. You have DIED to doing things your own way. You can only LIVE again as you take up your cross, daily, and follow Jesus.

And I was not forgiven little.

For whoever shall keep the whole law and yet stumble on one point, he is guilty of all. James 2:10

I was guilty of all, and I was forgiven much. This is where so many Christians go wrong. It’s how we see ourselves. We forget that we are guilty of murder, because we have hated someone. We forget that we are guilty of adultery, because we have looked lustfully at another. We judge ourselves as “not so bad” and forget how much we have really been forgiven. We forget how much that forgiveness cost.

That forgiveness cost someone His life. If He had not died the sinner’s death, we would have had to do it. My sin was worthy of a death sentence, and instead Jesus took the sentence for me. But you’ve heard that a million times, haven’t you? I had already heard it a hundred times when I was twelve-years-old and came to Christ. It was already old news and therefore easily forgotten.

“Familiarity breeds contempt.”

When we see a stack of unpaid bills on the kitchen table, we often forget that they are there, because they are always in the same place. There could be something important in that stack that needs to be paid yesterday. Unless we are in the routine of paying our bills immediately upon getting a paycheck, we’ll forget the importance of what’s there simply because we see it in the same place every day.

When we forget the value of what Jesus has done for our sin, we find ourselves trying to do things our own way. After all, we’ve gotten this far and haven’t sinned “much”. We’re doing “pretty good” by our own estimation, so why not just continue on as we are going?

Some people call this “easy” faith. It’s where we say the sinner’s prayer and get saved then continue living the way that we want to live. Where’s the cross? Where’s the cost that Jesus told us to count before coming with Him? Unless we are taught exactly what we’re getting into by becoming God’s son, we forget all of our responsibility, and only remember the inheritance.

When we’re stuck on the inheritance and forget the responsibility, then we make the same choice that the younger son made with his father in the parable. That’s when we say: “Thanks Jesus for the free ticket to heaven. I’ll take that inheritance, and continue trying to do what I can to be good. See ya.”

STAGE TWO – Prodigal living And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living. Luke 15:13

Some synonyms for the word prodigal: wasteful, reckless, extravagant, and uncontrolled.

When we behave like a prodigal, we waste the grace that God has given us. We proceed recklessly through our lives without caring about God’s law. We are extravagant in our self-indulgence, usually spending as much as we can on our comfort in an effort to make ourselves happy. We are uncontrolled by God, and lose all self-control (which is a fruit of the spirit, by the way) because of it.

Remember, this is the picture of a SON of God. This is a Christian who has chosen independence over living as his Father’s son. This is a Christian who has decided that his own judgment of right and wrong was good enough to live on his own. And I have been guilty of this, personally.

Ponder the path of your feet, and let all your ways be established. Do not turn to the right or to the left; remove your foot from evil. Proverbs 4:27-28

When we have independence, we get to choose which way we go. Imagine for a moment that you give a boy 50 dollars and set him loose in the toy store. You will see that child waver this way and that way. Maybe he’ll get a bunch of Matchbox cars. Or maybe he’ll get one toy gun. Or there’s even the chance he’ll get three action figures. Then again, he might get a video game.

This wavering back and forth, this indecision is described in the above Proverb as turning right or left. And that’s what we do when we are independent. We swing one way, then we swing the other. We can’t decide or make up our minds. We are wishy-washy. Independence becomes indecisiveness.

The problem here is that we don’t know everything, so we don’t know what would be the best choice for ourselves. The kid in the store doesn’t know which toy he will get the most fun out of, the one that will last the longest, and the one that he’d be most happy with. So the child waivers in his lack of knowledge and his fear of the future – and so do we.

Independence is counterfeit freedom. We think if we can make all our own choices and do our own thing, we will be free. But the opposite is true. By trying to be independent, we are attempting to take God’s place as the ruler of our lives. We can never succeed at creating happiness because we are the created, not the Creator.

All our attempts at trying to create happiness fail miserably. We end up becoming slaves of this world. When we are trying to create comfort, we spend more money. When we are trying to create satisfaction, we eat more. When we are trying to create joy, we get lost in pleasure seeking. Because we are not controlled by God, this leads to adultery, alcohol, drug abuse, or any other sort of superficial happiness the world promises.

Each of these things (over-spending, over-eating, adultery, alcohol, and drug abuse) promise happiness, comfort and joy. But instead they give us debt, an unhealthy heart, a broken heart, a weak liver, and an unstable mind. Worse yet, they give us shackles of addiction that keep us from being able to quit doing them and leave us stuck in their trap.

All of these provide us with “instant” satisfaction, but also “fleeting” satisfaction. What kind of satisfaction is that? It’s the reason that the song by the Rolling Stones states: “I can’t get no satisfaction.” It’s pleasure that lasts for a moment but has no lasting fulfillment.

As human beings, we desire fulfillment. Momentary pleasure promises fulfillment, but falls short every time. The alcoholic thinks that just a little more alcohol will make him happy, but instead it leaves him sick, broke and hung-over. The easy woman thinks that if she gives in to the man she thinks she loves, he will love her. Instead, he usually leaves her. The food addict eats more and more hoping that the satisfying first bite will be repeated each time, but the food gets blander as they fill up. The pot smoker goes on to harder drugs in an attempt to get back that first high.

We are in a constant search for what will satisfy us, but everything this world has to offer leaves us empty, broke, and broken. Still we will keep searching for that satisfaction – that fulfillment in these empty things – until we hit rock bottom For more reading, look for THE PRODIGAL LIFE: COMING ALL THE WAY HOME TO GOD

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Thank you for reading!

To find more thoughts on scripture like these, See the other books by this author: FOUND ADRIFT: 40 DAYS OF RECOVERING GRACE

THE PRODIGAL LIFE: COMING ALL THE WAY HOME TO GOD

101 FAITH NOTES

40 DEVOTIONS FOR HORSE LOVERS

Or follow Pauline Creeden’s blog http://fatfreefaith.blogspot.com

Table of Contents

Copyright

Introduction

101 Notes of Thanksgiving

About the Author

Excerpt from THE Prodigal Life

other books by this author

Table of Contents

Copyright

Introduction

101 Notes of Thanksgiving

About the Author

Excerpt from THE Prodigal Life

other books by this author