Treasures in the Wilderness 1: Dependence on God, episode 69

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If you love a prodigal,

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you can discover help and hope for

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your wilderness journey right here at when you love a prodigal,

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and also help and hope for your own life journey.

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Did you get some good help from our guests the past two weeks?

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Did the wisdom and grief from Dana Russo encourage you and help you?

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Did Tom Yoey's clarifying words give you some insight with your prodigal and on your journey?

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Today, we're going to begin a series of four parts on treasures in the wilderness.

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I know you don't usually go looking for treasures in the wilderness,

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but they are there to be found,

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especially in a prodigal wilderness.

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So be listening for a treasure that you have discovered in

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your wilderness experience with your prodigal or grab on to what I

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share as something that becomes a treasure in your journey.

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Now, I am not a wilderness person.

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Hiking and climbing, though I enjoy the views and the woods,

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I can't breathe.

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So I'm not very fond of that.

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There are creatures in the wild and that makes me a little nervous.

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When I lived in Southern California,

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we lived right on the edge of a real wilderness,

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and they have lots of rattlesnakes there.

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So I learned how to calm my concerns about that.

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I had made sure they heard me coming.

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So I would walk around where they might be resting and clap my hands or sing,

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anything to make sure those snakes knew I was coming,

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because then they would disappear or not bother me.

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People laughed at me often,

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but the snakes left me alone.

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The woods behind our house here in Florida is called a conservation area.

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But in reality, it's a swamp.

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When we first moved here, I was a little uncomfortable,

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because in that swamp, there were alligators,

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wild boars, armadillos, possums, and, oh yes, snakes.

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Now, I've gotten used to it and so far no harm has been done.

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But getting used to crossing the bridge over Lake Jessup,

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north of Orlando, was harder for me.

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As you probably know,

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there are alligators in every lake and retention pond, and they're everywhere.

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If they get big or aggressive,

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the officials come and remove them from populated areas and put them in Lake Jessup.

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Now, Lake Jessup is a beautiful lake,

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and it has a long low bridge going across it,

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low sides of the bridge, that is.

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I understand there are about 20,000 alligators in that beautiful lake.

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For years, I wasn't about to drive on that bridge.

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I would go a longer way to get somewhere rather than drive across that bridge with the very low sides.

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Now, I've gotten used to it and I pray as I go,

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and that's how I'm able to do it.

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So clearly, I am not a wilderness girl.

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So I find it amusing that God dropped me into a real wilderness, a prodigal wilderness.

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In the early days of our prodigal journey,

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when things with our son were just beginning to be challenging,

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I thought I could solve it all by myself.

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I could handle it.

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When they are young,

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you do a lot of different things trying to make sure they grow up in the right way and make good decisions.

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And you have fun family times.

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You make friends with neighbors and neighbors' children that you can know.

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And you get them in a church youth group.

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You have some already some good boundaries and appropriate consequences.

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But as things got harder in our case, we went to counseling and that didn't help much either.

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And at school, well, let's just say I got to know his teachers

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and I got to know the school counselors and the vice principal and the principal.

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And eventually, they were going to tell him to leave the school.

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And so that's when we put him in a residential program, which was challenging and wonderful.

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And I've talked about it before.

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It was a good decision and really helpful, but it wasn't easy to go through that.

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When our wanderer was older after he'd been in the program and actually met Jesus there,

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we realized when they're 18, well, actually when they're 16 and get a driver's license,

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you've lost control because they can tell you what they're going to do and then they do whatever they want.

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And I guess now you can follow them on phones better, can't you?

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Well, I didn't have that.

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So we just had to instead of setting rules all the time, we really had to work to try and use our love for him

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and the influence we could have in this life to encourage better decisions.

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Sometimes that worked and other times he just resisted.

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If nothing changes, that prodigal wilderness just gets denser and denser and we become desperate.

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And that's when something wonderful happens.

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Something wonderful happens when we get desperate.

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Yes, because we recognize that our only hope is in God and we are driven right into his loving arms.

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It happened to me.

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I said, help, Lord, I am desperate.

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I can't do this anymore.

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I'm not able to bring about change.

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And my heavenly father just reached out like with loving open arms and welcomed me.

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He listened to my cries, even put my tears in that bottle that he keeps for each of us.

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He accepted my anger and there was that.

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He acknowledged my fear, which was very real and reasonable.

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He captured my tears.

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He received all my desperate pleas.

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When I was ready to give up, he held me up with his victorious right arm.

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Isaiah says, don't be afraid.

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I am with you.

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Don't be discouraged, for I am your God.

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I will strengthen you and help you.

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I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.

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Isn't that a wonderful promise?

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But still, desperation is wonderful.

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It is if it causes me or you to recognize our own inadequacy, our weakness, our powerlessness,

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and turn to the one who is more than adequate.

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He is strong.

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He is powerful.

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That one, our God, is gratefully willing to share his power with us.

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Listen to these gifts that he offers us, treasures to be found in the wilderness.

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From Romans 15, may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him

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so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

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Second Corinthians, Paul says, but we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that

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this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.

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And again, in Second Corinthians, chapter 12, but he said to me, that is God, my grace

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is sufficient for you for my power is made perfect in weakness.

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Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weakness so that Christ's power

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may rest on me.

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In Ephesians 3, Paul says, I pray that out of his glorious riches, he may strengthen

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you with power through the Holy Spirit in your inner being.

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We may not have the strength outwardly, but God's Spirit in us can give us supernatural

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power.

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And in Ephesians 3 later, now to him who is able to do immeasurably more, my husband translates

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that as above and beyond, above and beyond, above and beyond, all that we can ask or imagine

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according to his power, that is at work within us.

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Do you hear that?

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I mean, that's one of the most important promises you'll find in scripture.

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I'll read it again to you.

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Now to him who is able, that's God, to do immeasurably more, and then that's got a four-time

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multiplier in it, far beyond, way beyond anything that we can ask or imagine.

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Think of what you've asked God for.

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Think of what you wish and imagine could be true.

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He says, beyond all of that, according to the power that's at work within us, he's

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always working in us.

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What a treasure we receive as we exchange our own self-dependence for total dependence

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on our powerful and loving God who shares his power with us.

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Does that give you hope for something that could happen in your relationship with your

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loved one?

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That you have godly power to live out what God is like in pursuing, in reaching out,

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in loving, in caring for that one you love.

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So what about you?

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Are you still trying to do it yourself?

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Or have you become desperate enough to depend on God for all you need on this journey?

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God bless you.