Devotion: Unashamed

By Lorraine Goulton @ICFWriters

Luke 15 verses 11-31

A certain father had two very different sons. They all lived on a farm where we are to conclude that the two sons worked. If you know the story of the Prodigal son, you will know that one day, one of the sons decided he was done with working for his father. He asked- in advance- for his share of his fathers estate.  Normally, this share is not given until the death of the parent.

I wonder what was going on in the heart of the son at that time and in the father's heart? The father loved his son very much. He had provided his sons with everything they needed; yet this son seemed to think there was more to be found in Tinseltown.

"I cant wait to get to the Big Smoke" he thought. "I'm out of here".... Out from the Old mans rules...out from getting up early and busting my guts working on the farm.  

I'm going to party hard...with my mates...every single day and night!! Woohooo!! Total freedom is where its at!!

V 14: After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country and he began to be in need. V15. so he went off and hired himself out to a citizen of that country who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. Vs 16. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating but no one gave him anything.

Wasteful living! We have all done it- in our own fashion and in some measure. Some of us start waking up to ourselves when we reach a scenario that is as attractive as a pigpen.

The mood changes. Gone is his money... The pumping music, his drunk mates, ladies of the night- they have all  lost their appeal and have split the scene. Funny that! While he had money, he had lots of.... 'mates'.

The face of his father comes to his mind.

V17: When he came to his senses...

The son starts rehearsing  a speech to his father. He remembers his fathers wise counsel: "Tell the truth and shame the devil."

V18: I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and and against you. v 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men v 20 So he got up and went to his father..

Shame has a way of pounding in our ears and telling us lies. Shame can also motivate us to make new choices if we turn our back on it and tell the truth to ourselves and then to a loving father.

Every man and every woman gets the opportunity to rehearse their own speech. As we go to our earthly and our heavenly Father and speak from the heart, we are released from the shame and become unashamed!  If we hold onto our pride and  collude with shame, we risk being  unforgiven and bound.

What about you ? Have you ever been in a position where you either held onto your pride or you starting rehearsing a speech?

This story is a picture of the love of a heavenly father who loves all of us but puts no pressure on us to come to him.

So where are you in the story of the prodigal son? Do you identify with either son?  Do you get a sense  that this was really about a fathers love for his children?

In reading the parable many times, I had no sense of pressure or coercion to come to the father for relationship. However that is what our Heavenly Father is actually more interested in. Yes- its one thing to go to our parents and ask for a loan but a parent longs for relationship. At the end of the day, the prodigal son sees it was all a waste of time to indulge in temporary thrills. He wanted his relationship with his father restored. 

It all comes down to identity. The prodigal son now had a revelation that he was already a  son  in his fathers house and had been, all along.   The father loved him enough to let him  go and try out the temporary things of this world that he believed would bring him life.

The father wasted no time after hearing his sons confession. He asked his servants to quickly bring the best robe and then a ring, then sandals on his feet. He had to celebrate the return of his son.  His son  now had a revelation that he was and still is a loving Father. Our Heavenly Father also puts on a party when we acknowledge His great love for us and with our free will, recite our prepared speech 

The son was beginning to see he had a whole inheritance to step into that was heavenly, invisible and eternal.  Is this something you have ever given thought to?  His earthly father appeared to be quite rich but a heavenly Father has far more for us in terms of inheritance.We dont know how long it took  the son  to get to a heart  shift from "Give me" to "Father I  have sinned against heaven and against you".

The father was so patient and kind towards his sons- both of them- and yet the elder brother changed  his tune and resented the attention shown to his brother by his father upon his return.  God equally loves the son who remained at home who spurns  the love and the inheritance that his father has for him. For those who spurn His love, they still have the opportunity to accept what the father has for them.   

It seemed to be unjust to the faithful son who had stayed at home. We do not know how long his brother had been away. Is it possible that this faithful brother was harbouring anger at his brother and at his father because maybe in his mind, this killing the fatted calf was just too unjust??? Or was this about the fact that this son had actually chosen to harden his heart at the perceived injustice of a feast! 

Maybe this was the older son getting a revelation of the grace and forgiveness of God. 

The last word comes from the father Vs 31. " 'My son,' the father said, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.vs 32. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead(spiritually) and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' "

In conclusion,  in the parables of the lost coin and the lost sheep, someone went looking for them. These reflect material possessions however how much more valuable is a soul who is found!!!!!! This time, the Father waited for the son to come to himself. That is where God comes in. He waits. And Waits. And waits. He waits for US to make the first move back to Him. He; in His great love for us MUST let us decide if we want to be found. His heart more than desperately wants us to come to Him but  He also gave us a freewill. This means we are FREE to do as we WILL.... and that can be for good or bad. We get to choose what we WILL. 

What a risk God takes!! All LOVING!!!  He allows us the respect,  dignity and  the honour to CHOOSE for ourselves the bend of our will.  God is a perfect gentleman and he will let us do what we want. 

In this example, the younger son -of his own freewill- chose to return to  the silent but steady love and waiting Father. It would not be love freely reciprocated, if He demanded the affections of our heart.

About Lorraine Goulton

 

Hi, Im Lorraine Goulton from Masterton North Island New Zealand. I love writing and passionately working on my first work about our Identity in Christ.  I know what it is to stuff things up and rehearse speeches. I enjoy shaming the devil!

Married to Colin, we have 7 daughters between us and  have 13 granddchildren.  Currently working  as a Registered Nurse with Wairarapa DHB. Also a volunteer Support Coordinator for Crisis Pregnancy Support-Wairarapa.
https://www.crisispregnancysupport.org.nz/

Devotion-Bold Faith

By Lorraine Goulton | @ICFWriters

Pressing in

"Have you heard about this man called Jesus? He’s coming now!! He heals people of their diseases!! He is coming up from the beach!!" "Thank you for telling me, my friend"- she replied excitedly- racing out the door; gathering her skirt above her ankles. I am going to touch Him-she said to herself. She pulled back the brocade curtain covering the doorway to join the crowd. My money is all gone. I have nothing to lose! Oh!! how wonderful to leave my prison of 12 years. There He is!!! There He is!! I am going to press in to touch the hem of his garment.

Audacious Confidence

Bold faith clings to a Person- refusing to take no for an answer while putting a demand on God.The woman in Mark 5 verse 24 to 34 had suffered much with a haemorrhage for 12 years and was no better. She had spent all she had. Now she was willing to go to the only One who carried her life in His hands. She had such audacious confidence in Jesus that she was willing to be buffeted by the crowd.

She reached out and touched the hem of His garment. There had to have been something very special about her faith that caused the virtue to flow out of the Son of Man that brought about her healing.

Unrivalled faith

How do we develop such a Faith? Is it a faith that proclaims I’m going after this and it is the only thing I’m going to do? It is faith that is unrivalled in its pursuit and passion. He wants you to flex the muscles of your faith and implore Him. Jesus knows the ripple effect her faith will make.

Jesus is looking for bold faith

God is after your confidence in Him… but so is the enemy. Somehow the enemy knows that if he has your confidence, the rest is easy. If you choose to have an unshakeable confidence in Jesus and in the power of the Holy Spirit, nothing is going to stand in your way. Verse 28 Amplified: She KEPT saying If I only touch his garments, I shall be restored to health. Verse 28 NIV: because she thought “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed” What are the things YOU keep saying? What are the things YOU think about in regard to your haemorrhage?.... that area of your life that has not shifted in 12 years; that painful event that has caused you to ‘bleed out’ all of your confidence?

Confidence equals faith

This unnamed woman was after a transfusion of healing and it came in the form of a Person- the Person who knew that her healing was never going to come from a pill, a potion or a poison but a Portion of the Healing Presence of Jesus. She positioned herself to be in the Presence of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. When He saw her faith and her determined confidence; that He is who He says He is and He does what He says He will do; virtue flowed from Him.

Jesus knew that someone had touched His garment. He stopped and took the time to look for that some one. He will stop for you too. There is mighty power in having a faith and a confidence that touches Him. There was a great crowd around Him but there was only one that touched Him in such a way that moved Him. The same applies today. Many are following Jesus but are you touching Him with a boldness and a confidence that demonstrates your unshakeable faith?

Jesus sought her out; her faith undaunted by the crowd pressing in on Jesus. He made eye contact with her. Her faith in Jesus activated her intrinsic identity when Jesus acknowledged her. He confirmed her true identity when He called her Daughter; no longer unnamed. She had been unclean and imprisoned by her bleeding. No wonder she could leave Jesus presence in peace; freed from her suffering and commended by Jesus for her faith. Her faith was like a passport-giving her authority to go to a new destination in Christ. I wonder if your "faith passport" need updating?

About Lorraine Goulton
Lorraine is a novice writer living in Masterton, North Island, New Zealand. Frequently seen in the company of one of her 13 grandchildren. Lorraine is working on a book about Our Identity in Christ as she has a desire to see Christians walk in the fullness of their identity in Christ. She loves writing and making up silly stories and songs for her Grandchildren. This is her very first public post !!
Lorraine Goulton is on Facebook

DEVOTION: Refiner's Fire

By Leila Halawe

Integrity. It is a crucial factor in our Christian walk. It’s important to God, so much so that there are approximately eighteen verses about it in the book of Proverbs alone. Obviously, it’s a big deal to God. It’s also a big deal to me. Integrity is something I take very seriously and pride myself on and if my integrity is questioned, I generally don’t take that lying down. So, when I found out the other day that my integrity was being questioned, I was a tad upset. And by tad upset I mean I was mad.

I’m fairly laid back and when people say things about me, good or bad, it tends to roll off easily, but not so when it’s about my character and integrity. I try, in as best as I can, to live a God honouring life and when criticism comes my way, I can generally acknowledge it, give it to God and move on. But not this time. This time, knowing that it was around my integrity, it was a little harder to let go and for the days that followed, I found myself camped out in this field of hurt and anger and frustration.

I prayed about it and talked it out with a friend to make sure that I wasn’t lacking integrity and despite all their reassurances, it still stung and I was still hurt and wanted nothing more than to defend myself against, however I didn't. I left and just processed it and stewed over it. Days later, as I was reading one of my devotional reading plans, I came across Malachi 3:2-3,

“But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness,”

“He will sit as a refiner and purifier….” As I sat and pondered this verse, I was reminded of my situation and wondered how God would be using it to refine me, and I came to realise that the situation wasn’t about the accusation at all, it was about my reaction to it. God wasn’t so much looking at what others were saying about me, but the way I responded to what others were saying about me, and that changed things, in a big way. It changed how I viewed the situation. I prayed about it and felt the comforting peace of God affirming my actions, and that was enough to help me let it go. God didn't want me to go into battle over someone's opinion, He wanted me to go to Him and find my worth in Him. This opinion of my lack of integrity wasn’t about me, it was about them and how they viewed the world, and that’s on them, not me, however what is on me is how I react and in that moment, I was thankful that I didn’t go charging in like a bull in a china shop trying to defend my honour because I didn’t need to; God knew who I was, so He would defend me and that was all that mattered.

There will always be people that will say negative or hurtful or untrue things about us; unfortunate but true however when that happens s to us, what are we going to do about? Are we going to charge in and defend ourselves against the lies, or are we going to look to God, our Creator and perfecter, and seek His opinion? What I should have done straight away is go to God and ask Him who I was? Ask Him, the One that knit me together in my mother’s womb, what He thought of me. Because at the end of the day, it’s not about anyone other than Him. His opinion is the only one that counts and He tells me that I am fearfully and wonderfully made. He tells me that I am created in His image. He tells me that I am loved and that love is worth so much more than the opinion of people. 

The enemy will always try and shift our focus from God with lies and accusations but the good news is that we don’t have to play into his hands because we have a Father in Heaven that has promised to defend and protect us. We have a Saviour that tells us to look to Him for our worth and identity because He defeated death so that we could have life in Him. And we have a Comforter that, when we allow Him, will always make our paths straight.  May we always be people that walk in that victory and assurance.  

Leila (Lays) Halawe is a Sydney based coffee loving nonfiction writer and blogger. She has published a short devotional, Love By Devotion, and shares her views on life and faith via her blog page Looking In. You can connect with her via Facebook at Leila Halawe Author and via Twitter at Leila Halawe

DEVOTION: A New Identity by Kathi Macias

But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain (1 Cor. 15:10).

We recently had an interesting discussion on one of the writers’ loops about the necessity of marketing and promoting our work, while being careful to avoid the dangers of crossing the line into self-promotion.
It’s easy to do; in fact, I imagine we’ve all done it in one way or another, at one time or another. But the apostle Paul provided us with the safeguard we need to keep it all in perspective: “But by the grace of God I am what I am.” The same apostle who made this powerful but humble statement about His identity in Christ also said that “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief” (1 Tim. 1:15).
Like the rest of us who have been born again and have God’s Spirit dwelling within us, Paul never forgot his former identity as a “chief sinner,” without hope before a holy God. But he also knew that the mercy and grace of that holy God, in the form of His sinless Son, had rescued him from that hopeless state and given him a royal identity and a noble purpose. In my soon-to-be-released book BEYOND ME: Living a You-First Life in a Me-First World, I refer to that blend of old identity with the new as being “pigsty refugees in royal robes, bestowed upon us not out of merit but out of mercy.”
I need that. I need to focus on that truth. I need to be reminded of it daily. I need to rejoice in it. It is a truth that keeps me balanced, whether I’m promoting my books, speaking to a large group of people, or mopping the kitchen floor. We are all pigsty refugees in royal robes, bestowed upon us not out of merit but out of mercy, and we need to be about the Father’s business, which is allowing that humble but royal identity to shine through us to a world lost in darkness, lighting the way for other prodigals to make their way home from the pigsty to the Father’s heart.
The apostle Paul knew and understood that so well, and he added a phrase to the identity of being who we are by the grace of God, a phrase that adds purpose to our identity. He said, “And His grace toward me was not in vain.” May we pigsty refugees in royal robes, who are what we are by the grace of God, fulfill God’s purpose in our lives so that we too may say with confidence, “His grace toward me was not in vain.” So long as we stay focused on that humble identity and noble purpose, we won’t have to worry that we’ve crossed the line into self-promotion, for we will be too busy honoring and glorifying the One who rescued us from the pigsty.

Kathi Macias is a multi-award winning writer who has authored nearly 40 books and ghostwritten several others. A former newspaper columnist and string reporter, Kathi has taught creative and business writing in various venues and has been a guest on many radio and television programs. Kathi is a popular speaker at churches, women’s clubs and retreats, and writers’ conferences. She won the 2008 Member of the Year award from AWSA (Advanced Writers and Speakers Association) and was the 2011 Author of the Year from BooksandAuthors.net. Kathi “Easy Writer” Macias lives in Homeland, CA, with her husband.