Last night 4 students got saved at church. One girl was going to commit suicide just over a week ago and last night she excepted Jesus as her Lord and savior! Excited doesn't begin to explain how I felt! I wanted to jump up and down and I was definitely praising Jesus. Actually I still am! God is so, so good! The other thing that happened last night as we were praying before service I went and sat down to pray. As I sat there I felt like something big was going to happen in the life of that person who sat in that chair. As I prayed for that person to see God in a new way, I also felt like I should pray for the other people who sat in that row. So I continued to pray the same thing for them, that they would see God in a new way. Well at the end of service they had an altar call and the young lady who was sitting in that chair got saved and then two other people on that row did too! Okay so now I am seriously exploding with Joy! People, prayer works!! I am so thankful God gave me the opportunity to pray for these students! He has opened my eyes this week in more than one way!
The following two things are the assignments that we had to do for school that kind of ended up being really awesome stories! God showed me new things this week through both of these stories! (Oh and the Gospel of John is Awesome!)
The Parable of the Prodigal Son, found in Luke 15:11-32, is
one of many parables that is unique to Luke. Luke emphasizes how Jesus came to
give grace to all mankind in his Gospel. This particular parable shows just how
much grace Jesus can have for a wayward person.
I actually was
reading my devotional about a week ago and this story was mentioned. I have
read this story several times but this time it meant something new and
exciting. Jesus was telling this story to sinners and this story is all about a
son who takes all his inheritance and wastes it. He comes to a point where he
is hungry and dirty and no one will help him. This is when he decides to go
back home to his father and asks him to make him one of his servants. His
father kills a fatted calf, dresses him in his best robe, and throws a party
for him. This to me shows me just how excited God gets when we turn to Him and
say, "You can have it all Lord!" God doesn't take into account all of
those things we have done once we repent. He washes us clean and makes us new
again! This story is so powerful in that we can come to Him broken, hungry, and
dirty and He will put us back together, feed us with His word, and wash us
clean and wrap us in His love!
The story doesn't end at the son coming home. His brother is
extremely jealous and angry that his father would throw a party and kill a
fatted calf for his wayward brother. He told his father in verse 29 and 30, "But he answered his Father, Look!
These many years I have served you and I have never disobeyed your command. Yet
you never gave me [so much as] a [little] kid, that I might revel and feast and
be happy and make merry with my friends; But when this son of yours arrived,
who has devoured your estate with immoral women. you have killed for him that
[wheat-] fattened calf!"(AMP) The father replied to his son in such an
amazing way. "And the Father said to
him, Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But it was
fitting to make merry, to revel and feast and rejoice, for this brother of
yours was dead and is alive again! He was lost and is found!" (Luke
15:31-32, AMP) How the father replied with "All that is mine is
yours" is very fitting. The brother could have had anything from his
father if he would have asked. He was always with his father. We as Christians,
have the opportunity to ask our father for things and He can and will grant
things to us if it is of God.
In Conclusion this parable can teach us two lessons. If we
have sinned we can repent and will be welcomed with open arms from our Heavenly
Father. Secondly, we always have the opportunity to be right there with God and
ask of Him things that we need. We need not let life pass us by just waiting on
Him to do something if we don't take the first step of reaching out to Him.
I am choosing the saying "I AM the Vine." This "I AM" saying is the seventh
"I AM" saying mentioned in the Gospel of John. If you read John 15
you will find that Jesus is saying that without Him we are nothing. We must be
attached to the true vine to be able to live abundantly. We must abide in Him
or we cannot survive. He compared Himself to a vine because without the vine
the branches (us) can't survive. Have you ever seen grapes grow without the
vine? No. Jesus gave a relevant example of what it means to be in Him and He in
us. Without the Vine we are dead. This theme is carried throughout John. John
desperately wants his readers to understand that they must believe in Christ to
be able to have everlasting life. In the saying Jesus is telling us that
without Him we will not have everlasting life but will perish.
Personally this saying means so much to me. We recently
talked about the vine at church. John 15:2 says, " Any branch in Me that does not bear fruit
[that stops bearing] He cuts away (trims off, takes away); and He cleanses and
repeatedly prunes every branch that continues to bear fruit, to make it bear
more and richer and more excellent fruit."
To me this verse is so important. Jesus is telling us that anything in our
lives that is no pleasing to Him He will cut off so that we may grow fuller in
Him. In verses 4 and 5 He says, "
Dwell in Me, and I will dwell in you. [Live in Me, and I will live in you.]
Just as no branch can bear fruit of itself without abiding in (being vitally
united to) the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless you abide in Me. 5 I am the Vine; you are the
branches. Whoever lives in Me and I in him bears much (abundant) fruit.
However, apart from Me [cut off from vital union with Me] you can do
nothing." These verses say so much. First of all "Dwell in Me,
and I will dwell in you" is saying
that if we take the time to get to know Him and place His Word into our hearts
that He will be with us. Secondly, In verse 5 he again stated that "I Am
the Vine." If we are apart from Him we aren't getting the spiritual
nourishment that we need from Him and we can do nothing. If we abide in Him
then we will be able to do many great things in His name.
In verse 6, Jesus gives us the
consequences of not choosing Him. "If
a person does not dwell in Me, he is thrown out like a [broken-off] branch, and
withers; such branches are gathered up and thrown into the fire, and they are
burned." This verse says to me that if a person doesn't choose Jesus
than instead of having eternal life they will perish and burn in the fire. This
stresses the point of choosing Him and spreading His word so that no one will
perish. I love verses 7 and 8. " If you live in Me [abide vitally
united to Me] and My words remain in you and continue to live in your hearts,
ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you. 8 When you bear (produce)
much fruit, My Father is honored and glorified, and you show and prove
yourselves to be true followers of Mine." How awesome is it that if We
abide in Him and His words remain in us and continue to live in our Hearts we
can ask whatever we will and it shall be
done for us! He loves to shower His blessing on us! When we have His Word in
our heart we will be light to the earth and people will see Him in us. That is
what it is all about!
So in these verses I understand that
sometimes He will cut off things in my life that aren't pleasing to Him. It
will hurt, sometimes more than others, but the result is a closer walk with
Him. He will be able to use me more. As long as I seek His face I will be
strong in Him. To me being connected to Him (The Vine) means I have His Power
in me. I have power over the devil in every situation because He lives in me!
