{"id":20894,"date":"2014-07-25T18:32:56","date_gmt":"2014-07-25T22:32:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/?p=20894"},"modified":"2014-07-25T18:34:30","modified_gmt":"2014-07-25T22:34:30","slug":"love-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/2014\/07\/25\/love-home\/","title":{"rendered":"Love is the Home for Both"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"encouragementbloggraphicromans15\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In the fifteenth chapter of Luke, starting with verse 11, we read the story of the prodigal son. \u00a0I\u2019m sure you have read or heard this so many times but bear with me for a minute. \u00a0The actual word \u2018prodigal\u2019<\/em> means the squanderer or the waster. And the \u201cprodigal son\u201d did squander his inheritance and totally wasted all that his father gave him.<\/p>\n

If you think about it, we have all played both roles at some time in our lives. Maybe at one point we are the older, responsible son\u2014keeping everything in order and never disappointing our Father, and looking down on those who do and those who give the sinner a break. We have also been the younger one\u2014wasting our inheritance from our Father, turning to anyone or anything that will make us \u201chappy\u201d, and running so far the other way. \u00a0But instead of finding happiness and freedom, we find ourselves in slavery to this other life that we thought we wanted so desperately. \u00a0We find ourselves starving for real substance and we are desperate for the life we had before.<\/p>\n

And then there\u2019s the father who never gave up on his son, and continued to search and wait and believe that they will one day be a family again. The son returns and the father lavishes love and compassion and hugs. He gives him his best robe and a ring and acts as if nothing happened. Even when the older son gets mad and protests, the father does not judge him. He is fair and just, resembling our Father in Heaven.<\/p>\n

Here is the story:<\/p>\n

\n

Luke 15:11-32 (NIV)<\/strong>
\nThe Parable of the Lost Son<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Jesus continued: \u201cThere was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, \u2018Father, give me my share of the estate.\u2019 So he divided his property between them. Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. \u00a0After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. \u00a0When he came to his senses, he said, \u2018How many of my father\u2019s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.\u2019 \u00a0So he got up and went to his father. \u00a0But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. The son said to him, \u2018Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.\u2019 \u00a0But the father said to his servants, \u2018Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let\u2019s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.\u2019 So they began to celebrate. \u00a0Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. \u00a0‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’ \u00a0The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I\u2019ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’ \u00a0‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’\u00a0\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Which son do you relate to?<\/strong> \u00a0Have you run so far or are you a slave to something other than God? \u00a0Have you wasted all that God has given you for something you thought was better? \u00a0Or are you the older brother, looking down on the one who made the bad choices, and maybe a little bitter when he is given mercy by others?<\/p>\n

God is your Father and He loves you. \u00a0If you have run away, He is ready to meet you where you are. \u00a0He is willing to accept you just the way you are and give you the finest life and the abundant blessings that are yours! \u00a0All you have to do is ask. \u00a0God\u2019s arm reaches so far and you can\u2019t ever outrun Him.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>*\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0~ \u00a0 \u2665 \u00a0 ~\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u271e\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0~ \u00a0\u2665 \u00a0 ~ \u00a0 *\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Do you know this Father I\u2019m talking about? \u00a0Do you want this unconditional love that you\u2019ve just read about? \u00a0Then pray this with me<\/span><\/strong>:<\/p>\n

Dear God, I know I am a sinner and I need forgiveness. \u00a0I believe that Jesus, Your Son, died on the cross to save me from my sins and I will have Him in my heart forever. \u00a0I love You. \u00a0In Jesus\u2019 name, amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the fifteenth chapter of Luke, starting with verse 11, we read the story of the prodigal son. \u00a0I\u2019m sure you have read or heard this so many times but bear with me for a minute. \u00a0The actual word \u2018prodigal\u2019 means the squanderer or the waster. And the \u201cprodigal son\u201d did squander his inheritance and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":20533,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6228],"tags":[338,1287,425,554,589,6869,6868,3189,2392],"class_list":["post-20894","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-encouragement-2","tag-encouragement","tag-gch","tag-girlfriends-coffee-hour","tag-jesus","tag-kim-spring","tag-love-is-the-home-for-both","tag-luke-1511-32","tag-prodigal-son","tag-unconditional-love","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/encouragementbloggraphicromans15.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p39pHp-5r0","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20894"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20894\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20897,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20894\/revisions\/20897"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}