If we were to give the story in Luke 15 a proper title, we’d call it “the prodigal father” instead of “the prodigal son.” You see, the word “prodigal” doesn’t mean to be rebellious, it means to be lavish. Of course, the son did waste his inheritance on lavish living. But what we really have here is the story of a lavish father.
When the youngest son returned home, even though he had squandered all his wealth, this father put his own robe on his son’s back. He put the family ring of authority, acceptance, and belonging on his son’s finger. He put new shoes on his son’s feet. Then the father said, “Everyone, come and celebrate! We’re going to have a big party because my boy is back!”
That is lavish, and that is the kind of Father that God is. He’s always ready with open arms to receive you back into fellowship with Him.
So if we have been living in some form of “pigsty,” if we have been allowing our life to head down the wrong track, today we can run back into the arms of our loving Heavenly Father and allow Him to show us what a great Father He really is.
We really do have a future. Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope” (NKJV).
We may have thought that God is angry with us most of the time because of all the times we’ve messed up. Many people do think that way about God. But the truth is, the thoughts He is thinking about us are not about how many mistakes or bad decisions we’ve made. God is in love with us!
God has a future for us. He has something on His mind that is better than anything we have ever dreamt for ourselves. When we walk closely with Jesus, we’ll begin to discover how big life can get and how far we can go!
God will take us places we haven’t had the nerve to even dream of. He wants to take us into victories and financial success. He wants us to enjoy life on this earth the way He always designed life to be.
Hebrews 13:20,21 says, “Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.”
We are complete when we are in Christ. We have access to His anointing and His resurrection power so we can be restored in every part of our life. We can be mended where things have been broken. We can be equipped in those areas where it seems like we haven’t had what it takes to achieve victory. That’s what it means to have resurrection life. We become free to live free!
