The Lavishness of the Father

Luke 15:8-10 Or suppose a woman has 10 silver coins and loses one. Doesn't she weep the house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, "Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin." The woman in the story is the Father and we, you and I, are the lost coin. She is relentless in her search to find it. She will not stop until it is in hand. So it is with us. Why? Why will God not rest in His pursuit of us? Take a look at Luke 5:11-24 Jesus continued: "There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, 'Father, give me my share of the estate.' 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. After 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. When he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's 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.' So he got up and went to his father. But 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, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' But the father said to his servants, 'Quick! 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's have a feast and celebrate. for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' So they began to celebrate. We know this to be the story of the prodigal son, but there's more to this story. Let's look at the definition of 'prodigal'. Google defines prodigal as: 1. spending money or resources freely and recklessly; wastefully extravagant. Definitely the son. But there's a second definition that we miss: 2. having or giving something on a lavish scale. This is the father. Not just the wayward son's father, but our Heavenly Father. He gives lavishly, abundantly. John 10:10 (Jesus said) The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. Jesus said not just life, but ABUNDANT life. The lavishness of the Father. Malachi 3:10 refers to tithing, but notice that the Father said if we would bring the tithes, He would open the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing the storehouses cannot contain. The lavishness of the Father. John 14:12 (Jesus said) Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. Greater works than these. Us? Doing greater works than Jesus? Out of His OWN mouth, He told us this. The lavishness of the Father. Why? Why does the God of all creation want to extend such generosity toward us? What is it about us that is so special to Him? Why does He even consider us? Look at Ephesians 1:18 "...the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.." According to the New Spirit Filled Life Bible, "Eyes of your understanding being enlightened literally means that your heart may receive the brightness of hope resulting when the wealth of God's investment in you is understood." God has invested in you! People who play the stock market know you don't invest your hard earned money in junk. And they think twice about investing in something risky. God has invested in you. Lavishly. What does lavish mean? To bestow something in generous or extravagant quantities upon; to cover something thickly or liberally. Give freely to, spend generously on, heap on, shower with; liberal, bountiful, openhanded, unsparing, extravagant. Get the picture? Jesus came to pay a debt we could not afford, but, also, to show us the Father's heart for His children. He also told us we'd do greater works than He did. He put the Father’s heart on display for the world and told us we would do the same. The Father has entrusted His heart to you. The lavishness of the Father. His investment in you. Because you’re worthy? Jesus made us worthy because we’re valuable, not the other way around. The lost coin wasn’t valuable because the woman searched for it, she searched for it because it was valuable. The father of the prodigal son, the prodigal father, threw a lavish banquet because his son was valuable. The banquet didn’t give him value- he already had it. He had it before he left. He had it when he was feeding pigs. He had it when his father saw him from a great distance. And the father RAN. He ran toward that which he treasured. You are a pearl of great price. You are treasured. God has placed something special, unique, within you. You have a place in the history of the world that no one else can fulfill. There never has been, nor will there ever again, be anyone like you. You hold a special place in the Father’s heart. The enemy will try to tell you there’s nothing special about you. He’ll put his lies into people’s mouths to try to discourage you; make you doubt. When he does, remember Whose you are and Whose heart beats within you and Who treasures you enough to hang on a cross so that you can fulfill your destiny. We all stumble, but remember- according to Romans 11:29,God’s gifts and calling are irrevocable. He knew the bad choices I would make before He formed the world, but He still said – Look at her! I’ve got plans for that one! He’s got plans for you, too. Because you’re valuable. You have great worth. You’re His emissary in a dark world. We live in a time where we’re told our value is tied to our appearance. Wear these clothes. Use this makeup. Have this body shape. Listen to these people and let them shape your belief system. Lies. All lies. God the Father never told you any of those things. They were designed by the enemy of your SOUL to place you and keep you in bondage. To turn your focus inward, rather than upward. Many years ago, I went through a time where I wished so much that I had a beautiful singing voice. One day the Lord spoke very plainly to me and said “I gave you the voice I wanted you to have. If it’s good enough for Me, shouldn’t it be good enough for you?” Well, all of those things the enemy (and society) use to make us feel unworthy, are just distractions. Beauty comes from the inside. Let it shine out in this confused world. What you look like, sound like or wear will never give you worth. The things of the world will never bring satisfaction. There will always be one more lipstick or eye shadow, one more designer purse, one more pound. While there’s nothing wrong with those things, THEY ARE NOT WHO YOU ARE. You’re like the lost coin- already valuable. Remember, you are the child of a Father who loves you lavishly.

For Such a Time as This

13. And Mordecai told them to answer Esther: "Do not think in your heart that you will escape in the king's palace any more than all the other Jews.
14. "For if you remain completely silent at this tme, relief and deliverance will arise from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?"
15. Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai:
16. "Go, gather all the Jews who are present in Shushan and fast for me; neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. My maids and I will fast likewise. And so I will go to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish!"
Esther 4:13-16

Esther- Queen of Persia, wife of King Ahasurus, who reigned over 127 provinces. A woman of integrity and striking beauty. A woman of such influence with the king that her tomb is guarded to this day, not by her own people, but by the enemy of her people. Bred for the throne? Hardly. Esther started her life as Hadassah, a little Jewish girl growing up in a typical Jewish home. Orphaned at a young age when her parents are slaughtered, she is taken in by her cousin, Mordecai. Nothing special about her growing up years. Not a prominent family in town. And yet, she becomes queen of a nation and saves her people.

How did a little Jewish orphan playing in the streets of a typical neighborhood come to save an entire nation? Certainly, she was a woman of destiny, but WHY? What made her different from all the other Jewesses? Her beauty? Well, her beauty got her into the palace, along with hundreds of other young girls, but beauty doesn't cause someone to lay down their life for others. Beauty doesn't translate into character and Esther was a woman of character. She loved God and honored Him. She lived her life according to His principles. She knew her life was in His hands and always had been. She feared God, not man. And she loved her people. No doubt the memory of seeing her parents slaughtered remained with her all her days and she knew she couldn't stand idly by and watch it happen to other families and children. She loved her people.

So, what does all of this have to do with you? Or me? Simple. We live in times that are as perilous as they've ever been. Wars and rumors of wars. Economic uncertainty. A housing market that's depressed. Government spending money faster than it can be printed. It's like the fulfillment of the Chinese curse- May you live in interesting times. Interesting times? Have they ever been more interesting?

"But," you say, "what can I do? I'm just an everyday guy or gal." Me, too. So was Esther. But, just like Esther, we can make a difference. God has a plan for you, just like He did for her (Jer 29:11).

Okay, God has a plan for me, but where do I start?

Start by loving your country. No, it isn't perfect. Nothing in this life is. The easy part is finding fault. The God part is loving it. Love it enough to humble yourself before God and pray for it. REALLY pray for it. Not the "Now I lay me down to sleep" kind of prayer, but the kind of prayer that shakes heaven and earth and moves the heart of God. If ever there was a time to cry out to God for our country, it's now. Rend the heavens with your prayers. And, just as Isaiah did, identify with the sins of your fellow man, the sins of our nation. No, you may not have committd those sins, but you can repent of them on behalf of this nation. Take them upon yourself as if you had and then repent of them. That's what standing in the gap is and God is searching for someone to stand in the gap for this country and move His heart so that He can move on our behalf. God has promised that if we will humble ourselves and pray, if we will turn from our wicked ways that He would hear us and forgive us and HEAL OUR LAND. Restoration. (2 Chron 7:14)

One other thing- get involved. Find a way, a place to make an impact on at least one other person's life. If you can do more- awesome! But commit yourself to touching at least one other life in a positive way. Help out with a Boy Scout or Girl Scout troop. Read to a class of elementary school children. Volunteer at a hospital. Work with kids at risk of gang involvement. Run for local office. Smile at someone. Esther risked her life going before the king without being summoned. She got involved. She had prayed and others had prayed for her. She loved her people.

If we don't move the heart of God for our nation, what will we be leaving for our children and grandchildren to have to deal with? Is this the heritage we want for them? Pray for our leaders. You may or may not agree with their politics, but God has told us to honor them and to pray for them. Pray for them to have Godly wisdom and understanding. Pray for them to have Godly convictions and for them to govern us according to the Word and the heart of God. Pray for God to move their hearts and renew their minds. Pray for their safety. Pray for them with the heart of God.

And remember- just like Esther, you were brought to the kingdom for such a time as this.

Restoration and Fruitfulness

1) I am the true vine and my Father is the gardener. 2) He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3) You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4) Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. 5) I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remans in me and I in him, he wil bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
John 15:1-5

While this parable is, absolutely, about remaining close to Jesus- abiding in him and, in so doing, being fruitful- there's another lesson here. A lesson you wouldn't pick up on unless you took a look at the original Greek and knew a little something about vineyards and their keepers. The second lesson is about your value to Christ and restoration.

John 15:2 tells us that those who do not produce fruit are "cut off", but the Greek word translated as "cut off" is airo, which, in addition to meaning remove or take away, is also "lift up". Considering the context of the parable, this is a much more accurate translation. In a vineyard, the vines are very valuable- they're what produce the grapes. When a vine falls to the ground, dirt gets on the leaves and the pores are clogged by dust, preventing the leaves from breathing and causing the leaves to be unproductive. The vinedresser carefully lifts the leaves up and gently washes the dust from them. They're then wrapped around the trellis or tied up and soon start to flourish. They're TOO VALUABLE to be cut off.

We were bought with a high price and are too valuable to be cut off and discarded, too. So, rather that cast us aside, He corrects us. Tenderly. Just as the vinedresser gently washes the bruised leaves, He gently corrects us and washes us clean as we repent. Cutting off is a last resort and, I believe, only done when one who was a believer makes a conscious choice to turn away from Jesus and reject Him as the Messiah. Our Father is patient and longsuffering. He will continue to speak to us regarding whatever the issue in our life is and, as needed, slowly turn up the heat! God is not willing that ANY should perish (2 Peter 3:9) and is willing to do whatever is needed to preserve us. That's why Jesus came and gave His life. So that we could live and not die. So that perishing was an option, not a given. And He's given us this parable to let us know that, when we fall into the mud, He's willing to lift us up and restore us to a place of fruitfulness.

From Genesis thru Revelation, God speaks continually about restoration. It was God who sacrificed the first animals to cover Adam and Eve. It was God who established the blood sacrifice to cover the sins of the children of Israel. It was God who sacrificed His own son to restore all of mankind to right relationship with Him- no longer simply covering our sins, but washing them away. Gone. Clean again. Restored.

We're all too often easily separated from the Vine. Cares of this life come, busy-ness takes up our time. There are children to raise, a house to tend to, meals to cook, clothes to wash- the list is endless. And before you know it, there's a cavern between you and your Father that would make the Grand Canyon look like a crack in the sidewalk. You've drifted away, ever so slowly, and slipped into sin. Maybe it's an innocent occasional glass of wine after the kids went to bed that turned into a drink after work with friends and, then, became partying into the wee hours of the morning that caused the distance. Maybe it's an introduction to a really nice, but unsaved, person that, though innocent enough, has pulled you away from God. Whatever it is, forgiveness is waiting to invade your life. It's hanging by a thread, waiting to fall on you like the rain that washes the dust from the leaves. Forgiveness brings restoration, which reconnects you to Jesus and brings fruitfulness. And, as far as I can tell, there's no waiting period for that fruitfulness to begin. There are no qualifying remarks- no 'you must repent and do 10 laps around the church followed by 3 days of prayer and fasting'. As far as I can tell, restoration happens as soon as forgiveness is received and you begin to blossom into fruitfulness.

So many times, when we've been restored, we waste time being remorseful for having fallen or drifted. Yes, I did say "wasted time". Your Father has forgiven you and forgotten what you did. When you continue to dwell on it, you're reliving something that, as far as God is concerned, didn't happen. And you're listening to the enemy of your soul telling you God's grace isn't sufficient- you haven't wallowed in it enough. Stop wallowing. Stop listening to your enemy. The Creator of the universe has forgiven you, so forgive yourself and move on. Move into fruitfulness.

Fruitfulness is a natural result of spending time with Jesus. Everyone who spends time with him flourishes and brings forth fruit, but make no mistake about it, fruit only comes from spending time with Him. "No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine." (John 15:4)

Remain in the vine. Abide in the vine. Abide- dwell. Dwell in Jesus. Live in him. We are the branch that has been grafted in and we must dwell in Jesus in order to live. The moment we begin to drift, we begin to die. We can't survive with one foot in each world. Move a fraction of an inch toward the world and it's empty promises and you start to wilt- just like a plant that's been deprived of water withers and dies, so we wither and die without the living water that only Jesus can give. But, just like a wilted plant that springs back when watered, when we return to Jesus, he gives us that living water that restores us. Jesus came to bring restoration. He came to restore that which was taken from us. He came to restore us.

No mater what you've done, haven't done, thought about doing- if you need restoration, Jesus is offering it. He has good seed for you to sew and a harvest for you to reap. He has fruit for you to produce. He has a great life for you. Don't rob yourself of that opportunity by choosing to wallow in unforgiveness. Almost before you can finish saying "I'm sorry, God" you're forgiven. So receive your forgiveness and, then, move forward. There's nothing in the past worth loosing the future over. Let the Vinedresser lift you up out of the mud and lovingly, tenderly wash you clean and bring you into fruitfulness.

(Teaching based on Secrets of the Vine by Darlene Marie Wilkinson)

Irrevocable

Have you ever considered that the Creator of the universe has a plan for your life? That He has dreams and hopes for you? It's true. Just as surely as we have dreams and hopes for our children, He has dreams and hopes for us- His children. Just as surely as we desire to bless our children, He desires to bless us. In the midst of our despair, God longs to give us hope. He holds it in His hand and He extends it towards us. It's ours for the taking. But, you say, I've drifted away from God. Okay. You're not the first and, probably, won't be the last. But your Father is standing, waiting for your return. He stands on a mountain top, diligently searching the horizon for you. I promise, if you take one step toward Him, He'll run toward you. Once again, the door is open for His blessings to flow in our life. And don't think His plans for you have changed because you've made some bad choices. Romans 11:29 tells us "...God's gifts and His call are irrevocable". From before the foundation of the world, God knew all about you. Right choices. Wrong choices. Everything. And then He crafted a plan for your life- a future for you- and breathed life into you. Throughout our lives we're faced with having to make choices. Making mistakes doesn't cancel God's plans for us and they don't cause us to loose the gifts He's given us. "Irrevocable." I like that. It tells me that God has grace for my humanness. It tells me that mistakes are expected and are part of my learning to hear His voice more clearly and reflect Him better. That I have a hope and a future in Him and that He'll never give up on me. I suppose that since He never gives up on me, I shouldn't give up on me, either. The same thing goes for you. He's not about to give up on you- you're His creation and you take His breath away. Spend some time with your Father and let Him tell you how much He loves you and what wonderful plans He has for you. It'll be the best time you ever spent.

Willing Heart

Not all of us are called to deliver such dramatic messages as Isaiah spoke, yet all of us have the potential to do great things for the Kingdom. All of us have within us the desire to leave a mark on the world and that desire has been placed there by our Heavenly Father. His desire is for you. His desire is to see you do great and mighty exploits for His kingdom. His desire is to see His children, ALL of His children, do something BIG.

So you're not a Rhodes Scholar? Neither was King David. (In his day, having a 'sheep skin' meant something a little different.) Not a great orator? Moses had the same problem. Have something of a 'colorful' past? Consider Rahab, the prostitute. Not only did she make it into the lineage of Jesus, but she was the mother of Boaz, who married Ruth, giving us one of the most beautiful love stories in history. The list of people with problems, limitations, and less than stellar reputations goes on and on, but they all had one thing in common- a heart for God.

"Yeah, but you don't know what I've done" you say. Doesn't matter. I doubt very seriously that you've done anything all that bad and, even if you have, if you've given your life to Jesus, it's all under the blood- nailed to the cross. And no matter what the devil tries to tell you, your sin isn't bigger than God's love or His forgiveness. So stop listening to the enemy of your soul- he's just a lying scoundrel, anyway.

We all make mistakes. We all make the wrong choice, from time to time, but be encouraged. Just because we have less than perfect pasts or less than perfect lives doesn't mean we can't be used for the Kingdom. It doesn't mean that God has withdrawn His offer of a life of excellence for Him. "For God's gifts and calling are irrevocable." (Romans 11:19) What? Irrevocable. He'll never take them away.

It's been said that God doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the called. It's true. What's He looking for? A willing heart. Someone who, instead of saying, "Why me?" says "Why not me?" He needs your hands and your heart. He needs someone to say, like Isaiah, "Here am I; send me." It doesn't, necessarily, mean that he'll send you to Mozambique. It may mean that He sends you to the grocery store, where you'll meet someone He wants to love on. It may mean that He asks you to do something as dramatic as putting a band aid on a neighborhood child's knee. It's amazing how such simple things can touch someone's life and, when we're faithful in the little things, God will promote us to bigger things (Matt 26:23).

Be His heart and His hands. Let Him love through you. Be Jesus with skin on for someone. Put yourself out there for a lost and hurting world. Sure it's risky, but when you see someone touched by the love of God that you've allowed to flow through you, you realize just how 'worth it' it is.

God has so many promises for you. He wants to bless you with a life that will echo for generations. Interested? I promise, if you'll step off the diving board, He'll make sure there's water in the pool. Someone once told me they'd heard Kathryn Kuhlman say her ministry was, originally, intended for a man, but he'd told God no, so He gave it to her. How sad for the man that said no to God.

What about you? Ready to say yes? Then pray this prayer:

Father, I come to you now, giving You all. Take my hands, take my heart, take my life. I choose to say yes to all You have for me. Lead me, guide me, teach me. Use me, Father, to impact Your Kingdom and to make a difference in the lives of all You send my way. I ask for You to open my ears to hear Your voice more clearly and to open my eyes to see the path You have laid out before me. Here I am, Lord. Send me. Amen

God will absolutely take you at your word and all I can say is- Welcome to an amazing life!