My Top 10 Lessons Learned, episode 46 (rebroadcast)

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If you love a Prodigal, you can discover help and hope for your wilderness journey right

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here at When You Love a Prodigal and also some help and hope for your own life journey.

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Today on When You Love a Prodigal, you will learn vital truths to help you through life,

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including life with a Prodigal.

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May I encourage you to be listening for the truths that God might be speaking to you.

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Be sure you jot them down.

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At least I need to do that or I will have forgotten them by the end of this podcast.

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So it's happy new year.

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But first I want to talk about a birthday.

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In my family, we have always celebrated birthdays, our physical birthday and our spiritual birthday.

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And I just celebrated my spiritual birthday on December 31.

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Sixty-two years ago, I received God's amazing gift of salvation, reconciliation and internal

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life on what became my spiritual birthday.

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New Year's Eve.

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What an adventure it has been.

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I have met remarkable people.

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I have been amazing places.

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I think I've been to 75 countries.

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I've done exciting things all because I chose to follow Jesus.

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But of course, there have been many challenges.

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And without a doubt, the hardest challenge, the most difficult one, was 15 years of Prodigal

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wilderness.

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But even there, Jesus has been with me.

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And as wonderful as the life he has given me has been, clearly the best is getting to

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know him, to love him, to obey him, to learn from him.

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Now, I'm kind of a slow learner and a stubborn person.

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And so I have a hard time remembering some of the things God teaches me.

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And I really get tired of having to repeat lessons because I've had too many times.

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And so I began to make little slogans or sayings to help me remember the things that God has

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taught me.

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And I have a lot of them, but I'm only going to do 10 for you, maybe the 10 that I think

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have been the most helpful to me.

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My brief explanation of each one represents only a tiny fraction of all that God has taught

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me through these lessons.

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I have whole messages on each one, but we're only getting a few words.

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Okay, so here we go.

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My top 10 lessons to help me start out the new year by remembering these things.

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God has worked into me, pounded into me, whatever was necessary.

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One, God is God and God is good.

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Huh.

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When circumstances are difficult or uncertain or painful or scary or just not to my liking,

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I remember that God is truly God.

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He is sovereign.

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He's in control.

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He is aware.

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He's not so busy with some war over here, some starving people over here.

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He's aware of all of it and he is able to do something about it.

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So it's very good to know that he is also good.

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It would be pretty frightening if this powerful God were evil.

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Jeremiah tells us.

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Now listen to this.

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Jeremiah says God is always looking for ways to do good to us.

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Have you ever heard that before?

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I hadn't for years and years and then I read it and went, he's always looking for ways to

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do good to us.

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What an incredible blessing.

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And it helps me a lot when things are not happening the way I like.

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Second, God is more committed to my character than to my comfort.

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Yeah, I can testify to that.

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But gratefully, he comforts me while he works on my character.

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Even after many years, God still has work to do in growing me into Christlikeness to

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live and love and act and speak and care for people as Jesus would.

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From his gentle, transforming work, I can learn how to help those in my care, especially

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my prodigal, to grow and be transformed and experience God's love.

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He's working on all of us.

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We don't get there until we get there.

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That is when we get to be with God for eternity.

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While we're on this earth, we're all in a growth process.

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The most important part is, yes, he's going to teach us how to do things and how the gifts

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that he's given us and the ways he wants to use us.

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But most of all, he's committed to making us like Jesus.

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For me, that's been a long journey and probably for you and your prodigal.

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He says, I'm working on your character and it won't be comfortable, but I have ways to

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comfort you in the process.

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Three, God, this is so fun.

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God is singing a love song to each of us.

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So have you ever heard it?

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Yeah, you're living it.

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You're living out his song.

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One of my favorite words from God is in Zephaniah 3.17.

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It says, he quiets us with his love.

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He rejoices over us with singing.

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I've pictured that for each of us, God is writing a love song of our life.

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Each of the various days of our life and the opportunities and the hard things and the

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wonderful things and all of that, each one's a chapter in a book because I'm a writer,

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or it's a verse in this song that God is singing over you and me and our prodigals.

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He's singing a love song.

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Sometimes that song is joyful and bright and lifting and other times it's a little dark

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and sad and everything in between, but it's always coming from the everlasting love of

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our Father.

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So what song has he been singing to you lately?

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Four, the work of God is done on our knees.

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Then we find out what happened.

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Now most of us pray some more than others.

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We often pray in the morning or in the evening and often we'll pray at meals or when we have

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a desperate need or when our prodigal is who knows where.

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We pray about a lot of different things and then we think we need to do something about

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it, maybe, yes and no, because you see prayer is not the activity before my work.

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Prayer is my work.

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What's going to happen happens when we are on our knees before the Lord.

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That can be literal or figuratively on our knees.

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Listen, when I'm desperate for my prodigal, I was on my face a lot of times, but the prayer

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is where we engage God and bring Him into it and give Him the opportunity to work and

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do the things.

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So the fruit that we're looking for, the changes in life, the things happening that we're

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hoping will happen.

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Prayer discovered as I get up and go to live my life and do the things that God has been

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equipping me to do and preparing for me.

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But the work first happens on our knees.

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Fifth, the greener grass was spray painted by the devil.

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I like that one.

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All of us are addicted to the greener grass syndrome.

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We desire something that is newer or better or more fun or more satisfying or we think

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some other place or job or person would be more meaningful or we envy another's life

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or their children who are so good and obedient or the success that they have.

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So we're always looking somewhere else for the satisfaction in our lives.

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Sometimes God uses that discontentment in our lives to spur us onto new opportunities,

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but mostly He urges us to be content, to rest in His provision.

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The evil one loves to distract and attract us with his bright spray paint.

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We need, as Paul suggests, to choose contentment.

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I was communicating with one of our staff in an African country, a very poor country,

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and he's going out to show the Jesus film in some villages and three of them are writing

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across basically desert like all three of them on a motorcycle to cross this dusty desert

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at two-day trip.

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And I said, you know, if I put pictures on Facebook, I could maybe find someone who'd

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like to donate something for a better vehicle.

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And he says, oh, no, this is our reality.

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We know how to do it.

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And I thought, OK, that's a contentment that I don't know if I could have unless God called

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me to it.

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But God says, be content where I have you.

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Yes, make sure you're listening for where I want to take you, but learn contentment.

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The greener grass is spray painted by the evil one.

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Six, thank God even for the hard stuff.

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Now, if you've listened to this podcast very much, you have certainly heard me say, give

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thanks in all things and that that learning that and applying that has transformed my

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life, especially on this wilderness journey.

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Even thank you in hard times when your loved one once again breaks your heart, when everything

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seems hopeless.

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Express this trust to God, opens your mind and your heart to his perspective, and opens

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the door for his good to come in to this current situation.

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He says, give thanks.

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Just hear me.

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It works.

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I practice this.

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It's become a way of life.

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I still don't do it perfectly, but it is a way of life for me to say thank you, Lord,

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even when I don't like circumstances.

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And if nothing else, God gives me peace and that's worth a whole lot.

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But he often then comes in and does amazing things in that negative situation.

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Seven, the devil is a liar who masquerades as truth.

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Now, maybe you've noticed how naturally we lie.

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Little children learn quickly how to avoid getting in trouble.

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Bigger children perfect it.

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And you and I, well, we're usually a little more subtle about it.

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But how easily we fall prey to the devil's scams.

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Jesus is the truth.

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And the devil has learned to masquerade as truth.

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He whispers convincing lies to us.

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He did it with even Adam.

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He did it with Jesus.

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But Jesus rebuked him.

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And he plies his trickery with us.

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But we also can resist and rebuke, as Jesus said, because we have the spirit of Christ

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living in us.

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We have big open skies when it's not summer and thunderstormy.

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And there'll be these beautiful big birds flying high in the sky on the wind.

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And for a long time, I thought they were eagles.

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But then I discovered they were buzzards.

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In a sense, that's what the evil one does.

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He comes looking as much like Jesus as he can, telling us things, inviting us to things

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that seem good.

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But he's just tricking us.

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It's a scam, just like the phone calls you get.

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It's a scam.

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And we have to have discerning ears and eyes and heart and mind to know that this is not

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God, but this is.

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And he will be there for us.

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Oh, here's one of my very favorite.

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This is eight.

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God remembers that I am dust.

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You remember that God made us from dust, and he hasn't forgotten that.

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And this assurance in Psalm 103 encourages me day by day, every day, when I have despaired

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or lashed out at my prodigal or shaken my fists, literally or figuratively, at God.

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When I know I have fallen short of what he would like for me, when I have failed, when

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I have really blown it, he reminds me not that he's judging me for how bad I've been

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or what a failure I am.

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He says, no, I know you're made of dust.

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And I accept you.

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And we're still working.

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He's taken then the broken pieces of my life, and he makes them into something beautiful.

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He's an amazing God.

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Nine.

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This is one of my main mantras, never settle for less than God's best.

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God tells us in Ephesians 2-10 that he has already prepared good works for us to do.

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And though he provides all that we need through his spirit, we still need to choose the right

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things to step into his opportunities, to work hard for his glory.

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Sometimes I'm just too tired, and I don't want to do it.

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Or I have too many things on my plate to do any of them well.

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Or perhaps something else looks more desirable.

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And I've told my children and myself many times, don't settle.

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Don't choose the easy way.

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Don't do what others say you should do when God has said something else.

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Never settle for less than God's best.

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I've had a lot of single friends that I've been able to encourage with that, because

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they want so much to find the partner for life that they're willing to settle.

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And no, in a job, in a marriage, in an opportunity, in relationships, hold out for God's best.

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And then the last one, my last of the ones I'm sharing lesson learned to remind me as

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I move into a new year.

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His way is always better than my way.

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When I came to Christ on that New Year's Eve 62 years ago, I didn't fully understand

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what I was doing.

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But this I was sure of.

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I was choosing God's way instead of my way for my life.

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I would love to say that that choice settled it, but in reality, every day, I have to make

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choices.

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Will I demand my own way?

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I am a person who likes to have her own way, maybe some of you too.

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Will I demand my way?

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Or will I believe the truths that I've just been sharing with you and surrender to God's

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way to his will?

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Hopefully, I will continue more and more to choose his way over mine.

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I hope these few highlights from my years of seeking to walk in the light will encourage

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you as they have guided me.

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May your next spiritual birthday be a great reminder of God's creativity, his love, and

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his faithfulness.

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So what about you?

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Which of my lessons spoke to you?

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Which one could you begin to apply today as you seek to walk with God and as you seek

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to love your prodigal?

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Because you see, God's always, he's always working.

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He's working on us and he's working on our loved ones.

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But we can cooperate and say, okay, Lord, what do you want me to focus on?

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Maybe it's giving thanks and everything.

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Maybe it's not looking at the greener grass elsewhere.

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Maybe it's being content.

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Next week on January 11, we will pick up on the promises that God has made to us that

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are in his name.

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We started out in November with the first two, and we will do three more in January

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to understand all that God has promised.

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Now we've been talking last week and this week about a lot of those kind of promises,

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but there are even more promises in his name that we'll look at.

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It's going to be an exciting time, and I hope a real blessing to you.

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So let's look forward to that.

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The promises we'll see are that he is a good shepherd, that he is always with us, and that

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he keeps his promises.

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God is a promise keeper.

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These are going to be a great time, so happy New Year.

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May this be the best year of your life as you seek to walk well with the Lord and learn

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to let him work through you to love your prodigal in ways that woo them back.

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God bless you.