Joy in this Journey By: FaithLine

The Prodigal Son - Return to The Father

• Roy Grayson • Season 1 • Episode 14

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Can true fulfillment be found outside of a faithful life? Join me, Roy, as I navigate the internal struggles of the younger son in the parable of the lost son from Luke 15:11-32. This episode unfolds the battle between desires and steadfast faith, urging listeners to recognize these temptations as persistent thoughts rather than spontaneous whims. You’ll learn how prioritizing communication with God can shift your perspective and safeguard you from misleading notions of fulfillment. While exploring the parable, we uncover how God’s promise to meet our needs transcends the fleeting satisfaction of worldly pursuits.

Do material possessions and worldly success truly satisfy the soul? Through the lens of the prodigal son, we reflect on the lure of material wealth and how it often leads to emptiness. Inspired by Matthew 6:33, I highlight the importance of seeking the kingdom of heaven first, where true joy and fulfillment reside. We also emphasize the value of a selfless life devoted to serving others, with insights on overcoming spiritual challenges by seeking support from trusted spiritual leaders. By staying anchored in faith, we can prepare for a life free from suffering and pain.

This episode also showcases God’s boundless compassion and readiness to embrace us without judgment. The parable of the prodigal son illustrates his forgiving nature, encouraging you to acknowledge your struggles and seek divine guidance. We discuss the parable of the wheat and the weeds from Matthew 13, reminding us to focus on our personal growth rather than judging others. 

Thank you for listening! Please follow us on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Youtube @myfaithline to stay updated about our weekly episodes. Let us help you Find Joy in Your Journey Today!! To support our journey please visit our web page at www.myfaithline.com God Bless!

Speaker 1:

Welcome to Joy in this Journey podcast by Faithline. Join us as we bring you weekly episodes on Bible devotionals to empower you to live in faith. By faith, through God's grace, Find joy in your journey today.

Speaker 2:

Hello, god bless everyone. My name is Roy. Today I want to be speaking on a very common story. A lot of people know in the Bible the parable of the lost son. It's found in the book of Luke, chapter 15, verse 11. It's written in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, amen.

Speaker 2:

And he said, a certain man had two sons and the younger of them said to his father father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. He divided unto them his living and not many days after the younger son gathered all together and took his journey into a far country and there wasted his substance with riotous living. And when he had spent all there arose a mighty famine in that land and he began to be in want and joined himself to a citizen of that country and he sent him into his fields to feed swine and he would fain have filled his belly with husks that the swine did eat and no man gave unto him. And when he came to himself he said how many hired servants of my fathers have bread enough and to spare and I perish with hunger. I will arise and go to my father and will say unto him Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee and am no more worthy to be called thy son. Make me as one of thy hired servants. And he arose and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. And the son said unto him Father, I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight and am no more worthy to be called thy son. But the father said to his servants Bring forth the best robe and put it on him and put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet and bring hither the fat of cow and kill it and let us eat and be merry For this. My son was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found and they began to be merry Now.

Speaker 2:

His elder son was in the field and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard music and dancing and he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. And he said unto him Thy brother is come and thy father hath the fat of cow, because he have received him safe and sound. And he was angry and would not go in. Therefore came his father out and he treated him and he answered, said to his father lo, these many years do I serve thee. Neither transgressed I at I at any time thy commandments, and yet thou never gaveth me a kid that I might make merry with my friends. But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fat of cow. And he said unto him Son, thou art ever with me and all that I have is thine. It was meat that we should make merry and be glad For this. Thy brother was dead and is alive again and was lost and is found, praise God.

Speaker 2:

This is a very common story. Many people heard of the story of the parable of the lost son and there's many pieces where you can dissect and talk about and point out. But I want to zoom in specifically on the beginning of the younger son. It says in verse 12, and the younger of them said to his father Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And I was reading it.

Speaker 2:

That caught my attention a lot, because for this idea to come into the younger son's mind and heart and for him to even have the courage and boldness and dare to go to his father and ask him for his inheritance didn't come overnight, it wasn't a thought that happened that same day and he approached him. This was something that he was feeling for a while. This was a thought and idea he was thinking about many times. Only God knows if it was days or months and years. And there's many of us that have these thoughts and the enemy throws at us in our mind that, oh, it must be better outside of your father's house. It must be much better, specifically in the world. Church can be boring. Church is not fun. Church is routine. There's nothing exciting about church. Like this young man said, he approached his father and asked him for his portion. He thought his portion in leaving the father's house and going outside and journeying, spending and wasting time and money was better than being with his father.

Speaker 2:

This idea didn't come overnight. Like I said before, this was something that was processed. This was something that was a thought that he's accepted. He could have said no, what I think about this is crazy. I have it good here at my father's house. I have everything I need here, but like I've learned and we will all learn, it's it's not what we want, it's what we need. The bible says guys should apply apply all our needs according to riches and glory. He didn't promise us, uh, fame and fortune, big houses, cars, a job that pays a lot of money, a bank account filled um husband and wife, and he promised that he didn't. But, most importantly, he promised that he'll supply all our needs according to christ jesus, according to his riches in christ jesus.

Speaker 2:

When the youngest son here got tempted and I can dare to say that the enemy tempted him and the mind is a battlefield and he lost that battle with these thoughts that were reading constantly in his head, he could approach his father anytime a day or night, working in the field and say Father, this is how I'm feeling, can we talk about this? I'm having these struggles, these battles about leaving this house. I don't want to. But no, he didn't. He let these thoughts consume his mind at it until a point entered his heart and there's some points of us, some people of God, are like that at that point right now. Why are we letting the devil mess with our minds and our hearts and being careless with our seeking of the Lord and praying and fasting and reading his word and talking to our leaders, our pastors, our youth pastors, our leaders, that God has placed and prepared and equipped to talk to us and help us and counsel us and guide us in our situations. But the problem we're ashamed to approach or we don't have the courage to, or we're embarrassed or whatever the reason may be, we don't approach them. We don't approach them.

Speaker 2:

And this young son, the younger son of the two, was tempted about this thought of leaving the father's house. He thought it'd be better outside. We know the end of the story, we know the moral of the story, we know what happened. God's mercy and grace, he came back and the father opened his arms wide open, with love and compassion, and it's great, and we'll get to that in a bit. But I want with love and compassion, and it's great, and we'll get to that in a bit, but I want to get. I want to zoom into this and I want to make clear that the enemy at this point in time, that we live in the last days and we keep to you saying that, but until you allow the lord, through his spirit, to really penetrate your heart and allow you to realize, yes, we're living in the last days if you continue seeking god and reading his word and just open your eyes and allow the lord open on your standing, you realize we're in the last days if we get out of our own space and out of our own head, in our own little bubble that we're living in about me, me, me. I have to do this, I have to do this, I want to consume this. I need to get these goals, I need these ambitions. I need to get to this before I get to this age or before this time of the year.

Speaker 2:

We have all these uh things we have on our list that we want to do and we don't have God first. Many of us don't put God first. We think that our wants are our needs and our needs are our wants. And I tell you, brothers and sisters, god reminded me that again recently. What I wanted, I thought what I wanted were my needs and god had reminded me. No, I have what I need. Most importantly, salvation. Christ died, he came to me, he did, he called me and I accepted the calling for salvation. Now he is my lord and savior. That's most important over everything else. Number one is salvation, my soul, that when I leave this earth I will be in eternity with him. That's number one. Second on this earth. He promised me supply all my needs Health, life, shelter, food, clothes. He provided a job where I can receive this income to provide these things for me, and that is all that I need. Everything else is extra me, and that is all that I need. Everything else is extra, but I allowed myself to get careless, honestly, to say that I didn't protect myself from thoughts of the enemy of changing my needs to my, my wants into my needs I.

Speaker 2:

I'm at this age. I need to get these things. I need this kind of job. I need me x amount of dollars. I need to get a wife at this age. I need this kids. I need this car. I need this house and for the world, it looks great. Yes, you know you're successful. You have these things, material things, whether it be a nice apartment, a condominium, a house, a nice car, money.

Speaker 2:

None of this I'm not saying is bad. I want to be clear about this. But our priority number one must be God. Matthew 6, 33 says it clearly Seek ye first the kingdom of heaven and everything shall be added. Are we seeking him first? Are we putting him first? Is our heart only filled with the Lord or other things interfering with God, conquering us completely and allowing His Spirit to do in us, for he didn't save us. I perceive that I say he didn't save me to waste away my time on this earth for material things. Recently the Lord spoke and said that heaven and earth shall pass away, but his word shall never pass away, shall never perish. So what good if a man gained the whole world and loses his soul Again?

Speaker 2:

I go back to this younger son. In verse 12, it says and the younger of them said to his father Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me. He demanded his father. He had the nerve. I would say if in this time we would call him a spoiled brat. He had everything he needed, but he wanted more. He deserved it. He didn't work for it, he didn't earn it. His father paid the price. His father did the heavy lifting, his father did the work. He was a younger son, yet an older brother that was before him doing work before he even got on this earth. And then he was born. He was the youngest and he dared ask his father for goods, for money, for his inheritance. He didn't earn it yet, but, in mercy and grace, the father gave it to him.

Speaker 2:

And I want to tell you, brothers and sisters, there's nothing out in the world. What we have in the lord is everything we have and we have it all. Until you really live it and experience it, you understand that we have the lord, we have it all. There's nothing out in the world. I can personally attest there's nothing in the world. So when the enemy comes and he's coming hard because that's his job, and I rebuke him in the name of jesus christ. But when he comes to throw these darts, when you're alone in your room or you're by yourself about hey, maybe it's better to go out, maybe it's better to go. This job or whatever it is that he's throwing at you, that you know he's pushing at you, don't entertain those thoughts. You must rebuke it in the name of Jesus.

Speaker 2:

And if you're not strong enough, be honest and say I need help. Speak to your parents if you feel comfortable with them, or an elder or the leaders of God's place, and they won't judge, because we all sin and come short of the glory of the Lord. But God has placed our leaders there, equipped them to help us and God uses them to help us because we live in a time where we need help, because the end goal of everything else is eternal life where there's no more sickness, no more death, no more pain, no more sorrow. So our struggles and battles are not in vain. We must suffer to enter. It's written in the word. We will suffer. The enemy's doing his job because he understands and knows we live in the last days, the blinking, and I we're no longer to be here and I can't wait for that moment and I pray that happens soon enough that he prepares us, that we prepared for that moment to be with him forever. So when enemy comes with these thoughts, he pushes hard and he's pushing hard because it's a battle. Cry out for help, reach out to those who trust and know that God has placed in your life to help you. But I can clearly tell you there's nothing out in the world.

Speaker 2:

Yes, in the parable the son left. He wasted all his money. The Bible says with harlots he wasted all his money doing. It says with harlots he wasted all his money doing sinful things and he sinned. And when he realized, when he was feeding the pigs and his hungry, he was starving, even that he couldn't eat then he realized it says that verse 17. And when he came to himself and he realized so before that when he was partying, having fun, he was thinking about his having fun. He wasn't thinking about his father's house, he wasn't thinking about back home, he wasn't thinking about his family, he wasn't thinking about no one. He was being selfish.

Speaker 2:

A lot of us, we think about ourselves. We're very selfish people when we don't have a Lord prioritizing our life. We're very selfish. It's me, me, until you understand what God calls to be selfless. Come to serve and not be served. That's what God called us for to serve and not be served. But a lot of times you want what we want and nothing. No one else will get in the way. We battle with the Lord, with his plan and purpose for our lives. We struggle with it. God tells us this go left. And we're like, no, I want to go right. He says go right. And we're like, no, I want to go right. He says, go right, no, I want to go left. And he says go straight. And we want to go backwards, what we want to do. We think we're in control, with this rebellious spirit or this rebellious feeling that, no, I want to do what I want to do. And I can tell you, brothers and sisters, it's the worst thing to be doing is rebelling against God and think that we have it all figured out.

Speaker 2:

He was young, immature, he was unable to handle the situations with all this money. He wasn't mature enough, he wasn't equipped, he wasn't had enough knowledge to go out into the world. And that's what many times god won't let us get these jobs or go to schools or do these things, not because he doesn't love us. He wants us to see us always confined. But we're not prepared yet for these blessings and these next steps in our lives, next chapters in our lives. We want these things, but we don't put God first. So how is God going to place you in different positions and allow you different things in your life if you don't put Him first? If we focus on these things and God give it to us, we will lose focus on the Lord. So he wants us to put him first, but he'd be number one priority. It's not a transaction or a bargain, but he wants our heart to be filled with him first, that when he lets you get other things that he will allow you to, it won't get in the way between the intimacy you have with him, not the relationship, but the intimacy. This young, the younger son, in chapter 17,. In chapter 17 says and when he came to himself, he, he said how many hired servants of my fathers have bread enough to spare and I perish with hunger. That's when you realize, yeah, it took him that low and why would you want to put yourself in a position that you are in that situation? God doesn't promise you, if you leave you, you will heal, how you come back.

Speaker 2:

We are very knowledge and informed and we know enough of the people of God in church and been taught enough by the Lord what's right and wrong, what's good and bad. Why take a chance, especially living these last days? If you go to the world and Christ comes, we have no excuses and it's not a threat, but it's a truth. The Bible says it no man knows the hour or the minute. No one knows the day or the hour. No one knows. So why take a chance? Don't gamble with your salvation that it costs Christ the ultimate sacrifice, where he suffered and died, but he rose with all power and we wait for him to come back, for us. Fall in love with the Lord before anything else in this world. This world shall perish, it shall burn. Nothing shall last in this world. What gain a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul, doesn't matter. So the struggles and battles we're having, we're making a decision Choose Christ today.

Speaker 2:

Don't waste another thought or energy and time in anything else. School's good, have a nice job and career, house, cars, those things are nice. I will love it, god knows. But if it's going to cost me salvation, I don't want it. Like the man said, the prayer of our best God Stretch out my territory, but don't let my heart be contaminated with damage. Basically it's one him and nothing else.

Speaker 2:

It's good to have things, it's good to have money, but if you're not a good administrator of money, why do I give you that? You're going to lose it. You guys don't give your house and you put the house first, or a wife or the, the husband or the kids, or the family or the job, whatever it is that you want, he's not going to give it to you because he knows you don't put that first before him. There's a chance. Your salvation can be lost. He paid the price, the ultimate sacrifice, and nothing else goes above our salvation, because at the end of the day. Who else do we want to be Saved? If you really want to be saved, you've got to trust the Lord, and it's not easy sometimes trusting in Him, but faith without works is dead.

Speaker 2:

So he comes back and in many parts of this parable it really ministers to my life and he says that he will go back to his father. He says verse 20, and he arose and came to his father. He says verse 20, and he arose and came to his father, but when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion. So he was a far way off. So first point is that the father was waiting for him. He was attentive to his son coming back. He wasn't in the living room in the back, he wasn't sleeping. The father was awake, waiting, waiting for him. He was attentive to his son coming back. He wasn't in the living room in the back, he wasn't sleeping. The father was awake, waiting, waiting for his son to come back home. He had to hope he would come back and that's God. God's looking, waiting for us to come back.

Speaker 2:

You don't have to leave and backslide and go to the world of fall. God knows your situation, god knows your struggles. God knows your battles, he sees he's all, eternal, everlasting. He's just waiting for you to make that decision. Say God, help me. I'm struggling, I have these thoughts, I have these feelings, I have these desires. God help me. And that's all he needs.

Speaker 2:

He needs your permission because he's a gentleman, he's your best friend. He needs your permission because he's a gentleman, he's your best friend, he's your heavenly father. And once you give permission, access to your heart, he'll go in. But you have to give him permission. You have to turn around, you have to repent, you have to recognize that you made a mistake. And those thoughts and desires, and these feelings, you want, these ambitions, it's like God.

Speaker 2:

No, what am I doing? God, I need to put you first, I need to seek you first. I need to have you number one in my priority. You must be my father, my best friend, an intimate relationship with him. Put him first. It's not in vain. It's the best relationship you ever have in your life. The best decision that you ever make in your life is putting God first. Allow him to guide you and lead you in all your ways.

Speaker 2:

And I love it because it says here that the father arose while he was a great way off and saw him and didn't condemn him, didn't push him away, didn't criticize him, but kissed him, had compassion upon him. And that's our father. He has compassion. He knows our sins, he knows the worst part of us. He knows the ugliest part of us, the things we do that we don't tell no one or how we feel. Think everything about us. God knows. Before Jesus Christ died on the cross, he knew and still he died, waiting for us to repent of all our sins. So, no matter what situation you're in, no matter what you have done, no matter how you feel you've gone too far, I'm here to tell you through the word of God, he's waiting for you to come back. He's coming back. When you come back to him, he will have compassion on you. That's the best decision you'll make.

Speaker 2:

Don't feel ashamed. We all have sinned and that's the best decision you'll make. Don't feel ashamed. We all seem to come short the glory. No one here is perfect. No one here is perfect. No one can cast stones. Because we all have sinned. We have a Savior that's here to save us and forgive us. Repent and humble ourselves and come to him sincere and honest. We can't pretend before the Lord. We can, can pretend before man, but before God no one can pretend, no one can hide before the Lord. We're all naked. Our hearts are open before the Lord. He's just waiting for us to be honest and sincere with him. And so the father receives him.

Speaker 2:

At the very end, I like the older son. You know the story. The older son comes out. He hears all the partying going on inside because the father is celebrating with his servants that his younger son has come back from his ways. And the oldest son is upset and angry and like tells the father what about me? I've been here all the time I've been. I didn't go sinning, I didn't transgress against you. Like there's many around us that will. I have the attitude well, I'm good, I'm not sinning, I'm doing right. Yes, that's right, you didn't leave. But are we serving the Lord 100%? There's always room to grow. There's always room to grow Even if you haven't left the church. There's always room to go. Don't be like that older son that feels justified that well, I didn't leave and go to the world, I've been doing the right thing. Yes, but it's not by works that we can be saved. It's by grace and by favor and by the cross of Christ. That's why we get saved. So don't be like the older son and feel like well, point the finger, look at him or look at her. No one can judge, only God can judge us.

Speaker 2:

My love is a parable in Matthew 13 that can go really well with this. Inthew 13, verse 29. It talks about the wheat and the weeds, how jesus, another parable in the book of matthews. It talks about how they both would grow, how um. There were seeds planted, an enemy came in um threw bad seeds into the seeds planted. An enemy came in um threw bad seeds into the, into the field, to damage and to hurt the good seeds. And jesus tells the servants don't, don't take it out. It says here in verse 29 of matthew 13. But he said, nay, lest while you gather up the tars, the root, the weed, you root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and in a time of harvest I will say until the reapers gather you together, first the tars, which also like weed, um the weeds, and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.

Speaker 2:

So pointed I'm trying to say is that those that behave like the younger, the older son. Those are like acts, like the pharisees. Well, those are the ones that want to judge and criticize and think they're better than thou and do no wrong. Leave them to god and pray for them. God have mercy. At the end of the day, though, in judgment, god will know who was there, who was the wheat and who was the tars, the weed and the weeds. Serve God with all your heart. Be before him honest and sincere, because between you and him no one else. Don't focus on anyone else, or your brother, he, your sister. There, that's irrelevant. Focus on God. But at the end, I love what the father says to the oldest son.

Speaker 2:

It was in verse 32, the last verse of chapter 15. It was meat that we should make mary and be glad for this. Thy brother was dead and alive again and was lost and is found. Brothers and sisters, that's what god, all god, wants. You come back and repent and no soul perishes.

Speaker 2:

That other parable in the same verse talks about sheep. 99 was left behind to find the one that got lost out of the hundred. And it says here it's just God's love and mercy upon us. Likewise, I say unto you there is no joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth. We must repent from our sins, whatever your battle you're going through. Yes, it's not easy Serving Christ. It is a challenge, it is a battle, but we can do all things through Christ that strengthen us. We are more than conquerors in Christ Jesus. The gates of hell should not prevail against the church of Jesus Christ.

Speaker 2:

I encourage you in these words not my words, but the words of the Lord today that no matter what you're going through, repent. Put God first. He's there for us. He wants to help us. There's nothing better than serving the Lord.

Speaker 2:

So the thoughts you're having about leaving, going back, quitting, giving up, those negative thoughts that we know come from the enemy, which I rebuke in the name of Jesus Christ, fight them. Seek someone that you can entrust, to talk to and, above all, pray and ask God to give you the strength. Be honest with him. Be honest with yourself. Understand that he's there to help, not to hurt. All he wants to do is save us from right and wrong. He wants to save us from the grand tribulation that's coming at the end of time.

Speaker 2:

But I'll leave one last thing before I finish. Is that in the world you think it's fun, we want to please the flesh and its temporary satisfactions. And then, with our Father, our Heavenly Father, it's the Spirit. We must live in the Spirit and live a holy life, righteous before the Lord. There's no in-between. You can't do both. Yes, it's a battle between the flesh and the Spirit, and in Romans 7, paul talks about it. Yes, we know that. But when you make a decision, you have to make a choice. You can't just be on the fence about it. I don't know, maybe we think about it Having mixed feelings. No, no, no, no, no, you have to make a choice.

Speaker 2:

The Bible says it in Luke 16, 13. It says no servant can serve two masters. There's no, I'm in the middle, I'm not sure. There's no, I'm in the middle, I'm not sure. For either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold on to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. You can't serve God and the devil. You will serve one and the other. You will serve God and there's a way. We must follow God in holiness and righteousness. But the end of all this is eternal life with him, salvation, or you will serve the devil, and the end of that road is destruction, damnation, condemnation. There's no in between, so I'll make that clear. Oh, I'm not sure. I'm thinking about it.

Speaker 2:

Why waste time and play with the, our salvation? I can say that because I was there at that point and god has mercy and grace, woke me up. We didn't have to, he didn't have to, but he did in his faithfulness and grace, and I thanked him for it that he had mercy upon me. I was that one that got lost and he came back for me. And so, brothers and sisters, allow the Lord to come back and grab you before it's too late. Tomorrow's not promised. Today's the day of salvation. Let's open our hearts to the Lord and allow him to do it in our lives.

Speaker 2:

Father, I want to thank you. Thank you for your mercy and grace, Thank you for your faithfulness, for your love, and I pray for all those that are listening, father God, that you touch their hearts, that you help them, father God, that they open their hearts and understand that there's no better choice, no better decision to serve you and live for you, that the world and the enemy promises a lot of things that might look nice to the eye and to the flesh, but the end of all that is condemnation. That we put you first, above everything else, father, god, that we put our salvation first above everything and everyone else. And whatever is in the way, father, please consume it, remove it and destroy it, and help us to serve you in spirit and truth and holiness and righteousness. I thank you and I pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Brothers and sisters, be blessed, and I will pray that this word may be of encouragement and help in your further journey in the path and the walk with the Lord. God bless and take care.

Speaker 1:

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