The Love of God Lived Out (episode 28)

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Do you love a prodigal? Do you feel like you are lost in a scary and endless wilderness?

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Welcome to the When You Love a Prodigal podcast. I am Judy Douglass, and I spent more than 15

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years in that wilderness. I believe together we will discover help and hope for your journey.

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So how did you do this past week on learning to really believe that you can trust God because

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He's really God and He's really good? Well, today we're going to look at some other reason

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to trust God. Many years ago, I wrote a book called He Loves Me. The purpose was to explore

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whether or not I could consistently believe, trust that God loved me. The cover has a daisy

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on it. The first chapter begins with a list of antiphonal good and bad circumstances,

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figuratively pulling daisy petals with He loves me, He loves me not. How many times

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have We Who Love a Prodigal done just that? We rejoice in God's love, He loves me, when

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we see good progress with our loved ones. They're not drinking in response to some big

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disappointment. They're actually studying and making good grades. They're hanging out

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with better friends. They got a job and they're working. They're actually keeping their word.

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But then we cry out our dealt, He loves me not. As each new bad choice surfaces, she

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was caught shoplifting. He got his girlfriend pregnant. He drove high and got a DUI. She

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refused again to eat and lost five more pounds. Our hearts and our minds can't comprehend

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how some of the choices and consequences we experience with our prodigals can be love.

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Does God love my child, my spouse, my sibling? Does God really love me? Can I trust Him?

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Books are written and songs are sung about the love of God. When I was a brand new believer

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in my teens, I was deeply moved by the song, Oh, the deep, deep love of Jesus, vast, unmeasured,

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boundless free. Clearly, we can't do justice to that vast love. But at least let's take

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some time to examine some realities that have the power to confirm to our hearts and our

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minds that God does indeed love us. He said He did. He's proclaimed His love. Has He

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really said that? Oh, yes. Does He love our prodigals? Oh, yes. Absolutely. Throughout

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scripture, God proclaims His love for us, but nowhere more clearly than in John 3.16.

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For God so loved the world, the world being all the people, that He gave His one and only

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Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. He's proved

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His love. It's easy to say, I love you, but do we demonstrate it? Does God demonstrate

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it? Clearly, definitively, uncontestably, unmistakably, you know the verse in Romans,

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it says, but God demonstrates His own love for us in this. While we were still sinners,

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Christ died for us. He doesn't wait for us to get it together, to make better choices,

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to straighten our lives out, nor does He wait for our prodigals to do that. He loves us

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right now, who we are, where we are, whatever we are, and the same for those we love. He's

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also promised to always love us. Love can be lost, and I'm sure many of us have experienced

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a lost love in some way or other. What if my prodigal does something so terrible I can

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no longer love her? What if he doesn't repent and return to God? Will God quit loving him?

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What if I do something so terrible that God quits loving me? Here's the promise in Romans

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8, for I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the

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present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all

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creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our

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Lord. What a promise. We can't trust each other's love a lot of time, but we can always

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know that God loves us and that that love will not end. Seriously, God's love is forever.

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He says so in Jeremiah, the Lord appeared to us in the past saying, I have loved you

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with an everlasting love. Everlasting means basically no beginning, no ending. It's an

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all-encompassing, always all the time, love that he has for us. And then he says, I have

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drawn you with unfailing kindness. And that's how God draws us to himself. And that's how

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he chooses almost always to draw our prodigals, our loved ones, to himself is through his

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kindness, unfailing kindness. Can I believe that he loves me without a doubt and my prodigal?

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Assuredly, yes, I can believe. If I can believe his love, can I trust him? That's where the

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question comes, isn't it? Does his love mean he is trustworthy, even though what he does

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or allows does not always seem very loving? I've said that a few times. I know you love

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me, but this doesn't feel like love to me. Apparently, in God's vastly superior knowledge

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and unfoundably truer love, he knows realities that are actually loving even when they don't

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feel like love to me or to you.

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Personally, when the events and circumstances of my life become painful, confusing, crushing,

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I have to go back to what I know about God, to the truths we have looked at so far. I

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know that his glory is incomprehensibly greater than I can grasp. I know that he is God, mighty,

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efficient, faithful, the creator of the universe. I know that he is good in his very essence,

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and I know that that glorious, powerful, good God loves me, and he loves you, and he loves

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your prodigal. So can we trust him? Yes, we can.

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And now we have come to the greatest reason we can trust God throughout this wilderness

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journey we're on with our loved ones. Jesus. The Father loved Jesus, you know. He loved

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his son. He tells us in Matthew, a voice from heaven said, that is God said, this is my

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son whom I love. With him I am well pleased. So God loves his son. That assured love of

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the Father for the son instilled complete trust within Jesus, who reminds us the Father

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loves the son and has placed everything into his hands. So it's Jesus that's got everything

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to take care of there, and Jesus trusted his Father. He was so certain of his Father's

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love that he trusted him completely to live and work and speak through him. As John tells

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us, don't you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I say to

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you I do not speak on my own authority, rather the Father living in me who is doing his work.

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So Jesus and his Father are one, and together that love, that godness, all of that is working

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on our behalf. Even in the most terrible circumstances described by Matthew, Jesus trusted his Father.

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This is in the Garden of Gethsemane right before he went to the cross. Scripture says,

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praying a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, My Father,

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if it's possible, may this cup be taken from me, yet not as I will, but as you will. Jesus,

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because of his great trust for the Father, even as he is living as a human being on earth,

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what he did was model for us the possibility of trusting God as a result of our becoming

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convinced of his great love for us. But there's more. Jesus gave us all these statements that

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start with I am, and what he's doing is he looks at all the needs we have, the needs

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of our heart and our mind and our body and our family, and he has an I am for each one

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of those. They're throughout the Gospels, so I'm just going to read some of them, not

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all of them. Just as the Father is I am the eternal, always present, tense God, and many

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other names, so Jesus tells us that he is the following. Each name addresses some aspect

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of our need. All that we yearn for, he will satisfy. Whether it's relationships, meaningful

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work, freedom from fear and pain, beauty, peace, Jesus offers us all of that and more.

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Say there's the need to be nurtured, taken care of. When we concern ourselves with the

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well-being of our prodigals, Jesus promises to watch over our own well-being. Ready? I

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am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry. Whoever believes in

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me will never be thirsty. Whatever our needs, Jesus can supply. He's watching over us as

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we watch over our loved ones, and he does that as well. The need for guidance. Oh, when

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you love a prodigal, you have a lot of need for wisdom and guidance. The path ahead is

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usually uncertain and often rocky, even dangerous. Jesus tells us he will light the way. He says

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I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have

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the light of life. When you need light on the path to know how to work with your child

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or your other loved one who's making your heart break, Jesus is there to show you the

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way. The need for a shepherd's care. Sometimes we stumble. Others do us harm, physically,

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emotionally, in every possible way. Our prodigals leave the light, choosing the darkness. Jesus

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says he's watching. He's a good shepherd. He knows our trouble, and he will come after

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us and our prodigals. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the

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sheep. What a shepherd we have. The need for strength. Too frequently we forget where our

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strength and sustenance come from. We try to navigate with our life, to journey on our

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own. Jesus reminds us of the only way to make it through. I am the vine, he said. You are

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the branches. If you'll remain in me, hooked to him, and I in you, you will bear much fruit.

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But apart from me, you can do nothing. The need for rest. Are you tired? Oh yeah, we

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just spent four weeks talking about rest, but here we go. Jesus is coming to us again.

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How weary we grow if we try to do it on our own, and how exhausting it is to keep loving

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a prodigal who is making destructive choices. As we saw in our journey last month, Jesus

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is there for us once again with this wonderful invitation. Take my yoke upon you. Learn from

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me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. What a

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wonderful, wonderful Savior. One more I am. Again, there are others. The need for his

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presence. In his presence, we discover what a friend, companion, close person he will

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be for us every step of this challenging journey. He says, surely I am with you always to the

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very end of the age. Is that just amazing to think about his love? His love for us,

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for our prodigals, his love demonstrated when he sent his son to pay the price for our bad

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choices, and then that Jesus himself trusted God so much, so much that he went to the cross,

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knowing that God was doing something much bigger and better. He modeled for us how it

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is that we live, and then he says, I'm going to be the one who gives you everything you

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need for this journey. What an amazing God. Once again, the question is, can I trust him?

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Oh, surely I can. Surely we can. Surely you can. But the question then is, will I trust

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him with my prodigal, for my prodigal, with my own life? Will I let Jesus be all that

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he says he is for me and for mine? Think about this. Have you personally experienced a deepening

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of your trust in God as you have more fully come to appreciate his love for you? Does

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love say, I can trust? Then maybe think about which I am of Jesus. Let me read them to you

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again. To be nurtured, he's the bread of life, he's the light of the world, he's the good

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shepherd, he is the vine that gives us strength for everything we need, he gives us rest,

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and he sticks with us. Do any of those meet a need in your life today? How about your

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prodigal? God bless you.

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Thank you for joining me today on the When You Love a Prodigal podcast. If you enjoyed

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today's episode, please subscribe, rate, and review the show on Apple podcasts or wherever

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you listen. Your review helps the show reach more people with the hope and encouragement

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of Jesus. Don't forget, take a look at the show notes. And for more helpful information,

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resources, and books, check out judydouglass.com. That's Douglass with two S's. You can find

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me on Facebook and on Twitter and Instagram at JudyDouglass417.

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Until next week.