Prodigal

Verse of the Day – Romans 15:13

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

Romans 15:13 (NRSV)

Prodigal Thoughts: I don’t know about you, my friend, but this month has given me quite the brow-beating, so I’m glad that we are a mere few days away from a new month. The only way (and I DO mean THE ONLY WAY) I have made it through this month without losing my sanity and moral compass is the hope that God has for me. He holds out hope for us so much that, if we allow it, HIS joy and peace will fill us to the point of overflowing. Just spilling out everywhere. My mind’s eye takes me to my granny’s house to smell a casserole pan of banana pudding. Oh, she does it right, yall. She crams SO much filling and bananas in that pan that when she adds the marshmallows on top the filling is just peaking over the sides. Then she pops that pan into the over for just a few to toast the marshmallows ever so slightly and then something amazing happens. That pan comes out of the oven and when you go to serve it up, it gets EVERYWHERE!!!! (Perhaps I shouldn’t write while I’m hungry.)

No, I’m not comparing the God of the universe to a casserole pan full of banana pudding. I will make this comparison. The goodness and absolute bliss, the heaps of flavor and love makes you want to abandon any semblance of a healthy diet. My grandmother just wants to show love and deep appreciation for her family and one of the ways she does that is with good, old fashioned southern cookin’. As much as she loves her family, she loves God SO much more. That’s how she holds out hope for brighter days.

Does banana pudding solve your problems? No, but it might make you forget them for a little while. But the peace and joy that YOUR heavenly Father has for you through the power of the Holy Spirit far exceeds any circumstance and will help us through to what is next. It’s how you can be grateful and truly praise Him while you are in the valleys of life. What is holding you back? Are you letting something or someone come between you and the greatest Father the world has ever known?

Prayer for today: Father, I pray for my friends who are reading this right now. I pray that you would fill them with your peace and joy. That they would come to know You on an intimate, personal level and that as You begin to change their hearts from the inside out, that You would overwhelm them with Your peace and love. I pray for my friends who are reading this with huge tears in their eyes, like mine are now. For those that are hurting and feeling hopeless. Daddy, would you scoop them up into your loving arms and comfort them? Would you give them the kind of peace you give me to make it through such a harsh and insensitive world? I love You, Papa.

Need prayer? You can reply here or you can send me a facebook message through the Prodigal Thinker page. If this encourages you, feel free to share it. Feel free to reply with feedback as well. I’m always open to discussion.

God’s grace on you…

Prodigal Mike~

Photo credit: M Sidharda

Prayer Needs for this week

Hello friends!

Below is a list of prayer needs and updates if you would like to join in prayer. If you have prayer needs of your own, please feel free to let me know. You can reply here or send me a message through Facebook. You are prayed for and loved, my friends.

HEALTH ISSUES

April G – Friend was diagnosed with bladder cancer and has also contracted COVID – has blood clot in lung

Barbara – Chemo treatments complete – awaiting more results

Cary S. – Ongoing back issues

Coleman family – Dealing w/ stomach bug

Darrell B. – Battling cancer and other health issues

Delano family – Passing of 2 family members

Dexter F. – Aggressive cancer found

Donna M. – Back pain/possible surgery

Emily P. – difficulties w/ asthma

Gary W. – Battling cancer

Harold C. – Health issues

Ilene W. – Health issues

Jeff T. – Health issues

Jennifer – multiple health concerns

Pat – Health concerns – positive results from testing

Phillip W – Recently diagnosed w/ stage 4 cancer (pancreas) – also has diabetes which is complicating issues

Ray E. – In CICU-Double Pneumonia/In medically-induced coma

Stephanie M. – Battling cancer – starting radiation soon

Tiffany Q. – mom is recovering from a stroke

Tracey P. – Heart surgery and has been in hospital 14+ days

LIFE SITUATIONS

Jimmy K. – Awaiting results from job interview/possible promotion

Laurie A. – Awaiting results from job interview

Wallace family – possibly exposed to COVID – family has multiple immunocompromised persons

UNSPOKEN REQUESTS

Paulette B.

UPDATES

Nelda – resting and recovering at home – released from physical rehab

ONGOING PRAYERS

Those who need salvation (love/hope of God)

Those who serve our country (all first responders, government, and political parties for God’s guidance and direction to lead)

The Church (worldwide) – that we would return to the heart of the Father in word and deed.

Verse of the Day – 1 Corinthians 13:4

"Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant,"

1 Corinthians 13:4 (NRSV)

Prodigal Thoughts: This verse speaks volumes to me. Not only are we reminded of what love IS, but we can also understand what love IS NOT. One thing that is implied is that love is a verb…full of action. Keeping in mind that no one is capable of loving perfectly, we can still use this description that the Apostle Paul provides to the church in Corinth to influence the way we love others as well as the way we are loved by others. I’ll admit, when I began putting my thoughts down, I wanted to give some examples of what love is NOT based on VERY current happenings. But that wouldn’t reflect God’s love, would it? (Yep. God is teaching me even as I am sharing my heart with you.) So, what does love look like? Well, I don’t think I have the emotional or spiritual depth to perfectly explain what love "looks like." After all, I’m just about as flawed as you can get. With that understanding, here are a couple of ways that God has revealed/shown love to this prodigal soul.

– God has accepted, and continues to accept me despite my tendency to fall short or mess up.
– God continues to hold out hope for me that I will continually draw closer to Him through a devoted relationship.
– God reaches out to me when I step outside of His perfect will and encourages me toward forgiveness so He can return me to His path.
– He places His children around us as an extension of His love who will help me see when I have been sidetracked and they welcome me back into the fold.

The list goes on and on. These are just a handful of things He has shown me in the last few days.

Prayer for today: Today, I pray that we would allow ourselves to be truly loved by our heavenly Father. That while those around us may get "love" wrong, that God will show us what they need so that even in our brokenness, He can love us and others. I pray that we would openly welcome the eyes of our hearts to see others that need God’s love and that we would share the gift of God’s love with them.

God’s grace on you…

Prodigal Mike~

Photo credit: Shamia Casiano

Verse of the Day – Isaiah 12:2

"Surely God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid, for the LORD GOD is my strength and my might; he has become my salvation."

Isaiah 12:2 (NRSV)

Prodigal Thoughts: So, the last couple of weeks have been an absolute whirlwind for my family. Since April, we have been waiting on a modular home built to put on some land in Alabama. Two weeks ago I received a call saying that there was an overall increase of 14% of the price we originally agreed to. Wowzers! We couldn’t justify our budget for the increase, so we backed out of the deal. (It’s okay. The builders hadn’t started building the house yet.) So, I sent a message to several folks asking that they would join my family and I in prayer and that God would give us wisdom on the next steps. The very next day, I got a text from a close brother in Christ about a possibility of a home. After praying about the situation for a couple of days, we accepted that offer. I don’t want to go into too much detail, but let me assure you, God pulled out all of the stops on this one. Why do I share?

Reason 1: I’m SUPER STOKED about what this means for me and my family.

Reason 2: God was already aware of our situation and began speaking to others weeks ago.

I don’t want any of this to take away from the fact that God has been, is, and will always be amazing and worthy to be praised. No matter the circumstance. When it hit me that the new house was not going to happen, I was pretty disappointed, but I was not discouraged. I knew that God had something better in the works. Little did I know just how amazingly He would bless us. Not only a home to live in, but a church home with Christ-centered folks to serve, and a ministry where He can continue to lead me and my family in His grace toward Christlikeness.

Prayer for today: Today, I pray that no matter our situation, we would put all of our trust in our heavenly Father. That we would choose to look beyond the circumstance and look for God’s blessing and how He will work throughout the situation. I pray that God would overwhelm us with His presence and grace and open our eyes to see the wonders of His glory.

God’s grace on you…

Prodigal Mike~

Photo Credit: Radomir Tarasov

Verse of the Day – Ezekiel 36:26

"A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh."

Ezekiel 36:26 (NRSV)

Prodigal Thoughts: God is the Great Physician, an amazing heart doctor doing heart transplants daily all around the world. He wants to carefully, gently remove our stony, hardened heart that is full of sin and living like the world and replace it with a heart like His. A heart that has fresh life and a new purpose, not soiled by the plight of the world. I have had the opportunity to witness people both before and after God performed a "heart transplant" on them. The difference is undeniable. I’ve seen some people that were once so abrasive and harsh with their words and actions change to kind-hearted people with encouragement and an excitement in their voice. I’ve witnessed those who held grudges that wouldn’t forgive anyone for the slightest infraction change to grace-filled children of God that would run to serve those who had hurt them in the past. When you are given a new lease or outlook on life, suddenly the things that once were so important can fade away. I’d like to encourage you to take a moment and think back on where God found you. Consider the condition of your heart and your life during that time. With God’s gift of grace and His unfailing love, what has He changed for you? If you could help others know the love and acceptance by our Heavenly Father, would you take action?

Prayer for today: I pray that we would be so open to God’s heart that out of the abundance of His moving in our lives, we would be the vessels of change for others around us. That God would have so much liberty with our lives and our hearts so He can cut away those things that are not needed and only leave what pleases Him the most. I pray that we, through our Father’s strength and grace, would boldly proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ.

God’s grace on you…

Prodigal Mike~

Photo credit: Pixabay

Verse of the Day – 2 Corinthians 9:8

"And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work."

2 Corinthians 9:8 (NRSV)

Prodigal Thoughts: Have you ever been in a situation where nothing seems to be working out right, no matter what decisions you make, everything just falls flat like a pancake? Oh, I’m not the only one then? Recently, my family and I started on a journey where we truly felt it was the direction we needed to go. That was at the end of April of this year (2021). Ever since that journey began, life seemed to increasingly grow more difficult and obstacle after obstacle arose. Perhaps we had some spiritual maturing that needed to happen. But let me tell you this, after receiving some pretty difficult news this week about our current housing situation, God has my full attention. (It’s sad that sometimes it takes our decisions laced with good intentions to redirect our focus.) We still don’t have a lot of answers, but my family knows that God is able to provide anything and everything that we need in order to do His will. I look forward in the coming weeks to when I can offer more details about what God is doing, but I remain hopeful. I was asked by family and friends alike, "Are you discouraged?" My honest response was that we were disappointed, but we wouldn’t dare be discouraged. The heavenly Father knows what His children need even before we speak. I know this is a bit open-ended. There’s no closure on this right now, but I hope this has been encouraging. God is not done with you. He is not done with any of us. Keep your head up, friends. Our Creator is still working in our lives, as long as we will allow Him room to do so.

Prayer for today: Today, I pray that we take refuge in our almighty Father who loves us so deeply and radically. That we would maintain a posture of surrender and willingness to what His heart desires. I pray that we would continually put ourselves in the presence of God and that He will not only provide those blessings we need so that others will clearly see His goodness and grace. That we would provide opportunities to share the amazing love and grace we have received from the work of Jesus Christ.

God’s grace on you…

Prodigal Mike~

Photo credit: KaboomPics

Prayer Needs for this week

Hello friends!

Below is a list of prayer needs and updates if you would like to join in prayer. If you have prayer needs of your own, please feel free to let me know. You are prayed for and loved. I can always be reached by emailing mike

HEALTH ISSUES

Barbara – Chemo treatments

Cary S. – Ongoing back issues

Darrell B. – Battling cancer

Dexter F. – Aggressive cancer found

Donna M. – Back pain/possible surgery

Emily P. – difficulties w/ asthma

Gary W. – Battling cancer

Harold C. – health

Ilene W. – health

Jennifer – multiple health concerns

Nelda U. – Recovery from fall/health

Pat – Health concerns – positive results from testing

Ray E. – In CICU-Double Pneumonia/In medically-induced coma

Stephanie M. – Battling cancer

LIFE SITUATIONS

My family – we have hit a couple of bumps with our housing situation and are praying for God to give us wisdom to hear His voice.

UNSPOKEN REQUESTS

Paulette B.

UPDATES

Baby Roeanna and mom are doing well. C-section scheduled for later this month.

ONGOING PRAYERS

Those who need salvation (love/hope of God)

Those who serve our country (all first responders, government, all political parties for God’s protection and guidance)

The Church (worldwide) – that we will return to the heart of God and the mission He has for us all.

Verse of the Day – Exodus 14:14

"The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to keep still."

Exodus 14:14 (NRSV)

Prodigal Thoughts: This is one of my "go to" verses when life is difficult or even when I am a little low on hope. We’ve all had those days, right? When we are at our weakest, God comes in at His strongest. HE will fight for you. For the majority of my upbringing, I was given the impression that God was bound to His promises, so in a sense, we could treat God like a vending machine. I could deposit some good works and prayer and God HAD to do something in return. That’s before I really started to understand what true love was really about. When you love someone and they are doing all that they truly can, you want to be there for them and help them. I think that is what is being written about here. (Of course, I could be wrong.) This reminds me of the story in Exodus 17 where there is a battle going on between the Hebrew people and Amalek. As long as Moses kept his hands (and staff) raised, the people of God were victorious, but when Moses’ arms dropped, the enemy began to take over. Then Moses’ brother, Aaron and Hur brought a stone over for Moses to sit on and Aaron and Hur stood beside him and kept his arms raised. Moses was not a young man anymore by this time. He had given all that he could for the glory of God. He knew the importance of this battle, but he needed rest. Love enters the picture. Aaron and Hur also understood that Moses needed rest, so they stood in the gap and helped Moses. In a sense, Aaron and Hur fought the battle for Moses. Whose arms are you holding up? For that matter, who do you call on to hold you up when you are in desperate need of rest and peace? It is important to have those you can trust and lean on when times are trying.

Prayer for today: I pray that we would look for those who are weary and are in need of rest. That we would stand in the gap for others and that when the time comes that we need rest, they can hold us up. I pray that God would begin to show us His heart for others and that we would boldly step out in faith, not only to help those who already believe in Him, but to those that have yet to call on the name of Jesus for their hope and strength. That we would lay down our pride and fear of what others would think of us so we can be the hands and feet of Jesus.

God’s grace on you…

Prodigal Mike~

Photo credit: Josh Hild

Verse of the Day – Proverbs 13:3

"Those who guard their mouths preserve their lives; those who open wide their lips come to ruin."

Proverbs 13:3 (NRSV)

Prodigal Thoughts: Oh, I know. No one reading this has to watch what they say, it’s all of the other people. I’m only kidding. There are thousands of quotes about speaking the truth or being honest with your words that I could have used for this post, but sometimes the most simple guard of our mouth could just not speak at all. If truth is needed, by all means speak the truth. I watch my children as they are growing up and there seems to be this need to always be right or to correct someone. Of course, this can cause arguments and fights. I try to encourage my kids to listen. The other person may not always be right, but at least everyone in the conversation can learn something new. Either something about a topic or something about the character of other people. I know for myself, I typically am slow to speak around others especially when I’m not well-read on the topics being discussed. It just takes time for me to listen and to process. (That is a huge part of my ADHD as well.) I guess what I’m getting at here is that it is important to have an understanding when you speak. The understanding that whatever we say should be live-giving and building up others rather than tearing them down. While Jesus did call the Pharisees a "brood of vipers", it seems like all of the conversations we have recorded from Jesus are at least full of grace. For example, the woman caught in adultery or perhaps the woman at the well. Even among his disciples, Jesus spoke in ways that would encourage and build them up. Are we making a habit of encouraging others?

Prayer for today: I pray that we would guard our mouths from things that could tear down or discourage others. That our words would reflect the heart of God, the Father and that He will give us the words to say when we are challenged and tempted to speak otherwise. I pray that the Holy Spirit within us would help to bridle our tongue so that the world around us is drawn closer to the love of Christ.

God’s grace on you…

Prodigal Mike~

Photo credit: Kat Jayne

Verse of the Day – Colossians 3:17

"And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him."

Colossians 3:17 (NRSV)

Prodigal Thoughts: The apostle Paul has spent the previous 16 verses explaining what "New Life" means, what we are called to, and that there are no divisions or favorites in the eyes of God, the Father. This verse (verse 17) is the exclamation point on the apostle Paul’s message to the church at Corinth regarding having a new life in Christ. Almost to say, at the very least, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus with thanksgiving to God. So, why do Christians across our nation make this out to be such a difficult thing to do? Not that anyone is saying it is difficult, but it is pretty rare to see someone living in this manner today. One reason that is evident to me is that if we are doing everything in the name of Jesus, then that means that we should be living in a self-sacrificing type of humility. Christians and non-Christians alike live their lives how THEY want to live it and to gain the things the world holds dear. Putting others first is not a very "American" thing to do. So, living our lives for the purpose of God rather than the purpose of worldly gain/fame/etc seem to be opposite of each other. We are only here on this spinning ball of dirt for a certain amount of days/years, but the glory and fame of God is without time limits. Time started with God and He will continue to reign forever. Are you living your life to build up things that will break or fade away over time? Are you working to leave a legacy that will end when you take your last breaths or are you living for a greater purpose and greater legacy? Instead of trying to make our nation great again, perhaps we should live in a manner that will glorify the name of our Creator.

Prayer for today: I pray that we would come to realize the importance of the kingdom of God. That we would live our lives in a manner that is worthy of being called a Christian. I pray that instead of trying to pile up things that the world views as priceless, that we would daily live in ways that bring glory and value to the kingdom of God. That our heavenly Father would guide us in how we should live and love all of His children, whether they call on His name or not.

Need prayer? I send out weekly prayer needs emails, so if you have a prayer need, you can reply here or you can send me a facebook message through the Prodigal Thinker page. If this encourages you, feel free to share it. Feel free to reply with feedback as well. I’m always open to discussion.

God’s grace on you…

Prodigal Mike~

Photo credit: Lalesh Alderwish