Luke 15:21: “Then the son said, ‘Father, I was wrong. I have sinned against you. I could never deserve to be called your son. Just let me be—’

“The father interrupted and said, ‘Son, you’re home now!’

In this parable of the prodigal son, Jesus demonstrates the heart of our Heavenly Father towards us. After the prodigal son wasted all of his father’s inheritance and ended up losing everything, the son finally came to the realisation that he could go home and perhaps he could be a servant in his fathers household.

You are a sent one from God to this world. You are alive in this time, in this generation, in this nation, in this city and this community for a purpose.

There are people in your world right now that are looking for help, looking for answers, looking for something more and you are the one who has been sent by God to reach those people. So often we overthink what these opportunities and encounters are supposed to look and sound like and because of fear, we don’t act.

Mark 16:15 "And He said to them, "Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation."

It's astounding to think about the way God has planned our lives. We are not just some random act of chance, but we were already known by God before we were even in our mother's womb. (Psalm 139, Jeremiah 1:5)

God is the ultimate planner. He's the only One who knows the end from the beginning, and He knew He would need you and me to live in these last days, in this generation, in this city to impact those around us.

James 1:26 If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless.

Every one of us has experienced hurt, lies, and rejection. We know what it feels like to have hurtful and damaging things said toward us and about us. These lies and hurts can shape our thought life and become our identity if undealt with. We start believing these lies, and then we start talking them, and eventually, we experience the very things we have been saying about ourselves.

Having a real, genuine relationship with God the Father is absolutely essential to living victoriously in this world. Everything in life comes back to relationships, but the most important one is the place we give God in our lives.

Jesus said He is the “true Vine, and apart from Me, you can do nothing.”

Trials and tests come to everyone, but for those who abide in the true Vine have a source of supply that is not from this world or limited to their own ability. Jesus knew that for us to overcome in this world, we would need Him, and that is why He said to His disciples, “Abide in Me.”

Forgiveness is a wonderful gift. It can change the course of a person's life and change the depths of their heart. Those who have made Jesus the Lord of their life have tasted the vastness and the depths of the mercy of God. What we owed God because of our sin and our fallen nature was far over and above what we could pay Him back for, and yet, the mercy of God was extended to us because He loves us. The person who understands how much they have been greatly forgiven can then have the same mercy on others.

Oftentimes, it is those closest to us that can have the most damaging impact. People can deeply hurt us and the effects of someone else's actions, if we allow it, can be crippling. However, in the Kingdom of Heaven, there is a way through that pain to total freedom, and that is through forgiveness.

We have the authority and the responsibility to choose our attitudes, thoughts, and responses to life's circumstances. It is so much easier to put the blame and responsibility on others or even God. 

The truth is the responsibility of what we think on belongs to us. Thankfully, along with the responsibility to guard our thought life comes the authority to take hold of our thoughts and emotions with the Word of God and cast down wrong ways of thinking. (2 Corinthians 10:5) 

Life consists of relationships: our relationship with one another and our relationship with God. 

The value we place on our relationship with God determines how we perceive ourselves, others, and events that occur in our lives. 

For some, past hurts and experiences have tainted their understanding of God. They misunderstand God because they filter God through their experiences and what others have said. A wrong understanding of God will create wrong beliefs about God’s true nature. 

Romans 15:13

 Now, may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

As believers, we are never without hope! How the Bible defines hope and how the world defines hope are very different. The world thinks hope is wishing something will happen. But how the Bible defines hope as a confident expectation that what God has said will come to pass! 

1 John 3:1 

Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.

Behold, the heart of our Heavenly Father, His love toward you, that He has called you His child. 

It's no wonder we don't fit into this world's system and ideas. Our identity is from God, the Creator Himself. 

There is a kingdom of darkness, and there is a kingdom of light! The devil aims to steal, kill, and destroy, but Jesus came so that we may have life! (John 10:10) 

Each of us has gone through hurt, pain, and rejection because of the kingdom of darkness operating in this world. The aim of satan is for the hurts, pain and rejection that we go through to become our identity and hinder us from walking in the light and the truth of who we are in Christ

Philippians 3:7-8 "But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ."

In the world we live in, it is common for people to identify with different things, whether it be gender, race, feelings, family, words spoken over them, gifts, talents, etc.

When we are Born Again, our identity is found in Christ. The apostle Paul discovered that when he surrounded his life to the Lord Jesus Christ, what he once identified with was now worth nothing because he understood that his value was not based on his own achievements but on what God said about him.

Luke 8:15 “But the ones that  fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience.”

The desire of our heart is to be the good soil that produces fruit. Living a fruitful life means that we walk in the promises of God in our own lives, but we also get to be a blessing to others. Living a fruitful life brings God glory. (John 15:8)

I love this time of the year when people are more open and reflective on what Jesus has done for them on the cross. We're mindful of the amazing truth that the Son of God willingly laid down His life for the whole world, past, present and future, and as a result, Salvation is available to all who would believe in His Name.

As I was reflecting on the goriness and brutality of the scourging and the crucifixion that Jesus went through, the Holy Spirit said to me, "That is how valuable people are to Me."