The Inheritance of the Prodigal Son
From the gospel of Luke Chapter 15 the story of the Prodigal Son reads as follows using the New King James version of the Bible:
11 And he said, A certain man had two sons:
12 And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living.
13 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.
14 And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want.
15 And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.
16 And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him.
17 And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!
18 I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee,
19 And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.
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, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.
21 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.
22 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:
23 And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry:
24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.
25 Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard musick and dancing.
26 And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant.
27 And he said unto him, Thy brother is come; and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound.
28 And he was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out, and intreated him.
29 And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends:
30 But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf.
31 And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine.
32 It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is foun
The parable of the Prodigal Son can be seen as a spiritual representation of the relationship with the Lord.
In the story there are two sons, one of whom does decide to stray and becomes wayward. He squanders his inheritance on questionable behavior outside the purview of his home base
While he continues to squander his inheritance away from all his relatives and father, on an inept approach to wine, women and song, he begins to lose it all.
Even with this happening, he may have been able to keep going but what also happens is that there is a famine which compromises his possible further attempts at finding means of revelry.
If times are also bad, they other possible avenues are at the least much reduced in not cut off completely.
Within the story, he does stray but it could be in almost any way, but he has shifted his attention away from the Father who represents the Lord in the story.
Excessive striving or overworking could constitute straying, as it says in psalm 127
Psalm 127 verse 1 says,
1 Unless the LORD builds the house,
its builders labor in vain.
Unless the LORD watches over the city,
the watchmen stand guard in vain.
So it doesn't always involve more typical examples, of staying, it could be anything including vain labor.
There are several major points in the story but a highlight is in the part where it says the son came to his senses.
Indeed, he did have the backdrop of a relationship with the father, symbolizing the relationship with the Lord
The outline of this for believers today would be going into the prayer relationship with the Lord as going back home. This indeed is where the welcome is, the kingdom is and the inheritance and all that is involved with the inheritance including all the provisions of the inheritance are found
The prodigal son was actually way ahead of the Pharisees who at the time were involved in ritualism and formalistic practices yet were not experienced in the actual relationship with the Lord.
The Prodigal Son did have the backdrop of the relationship. He did come to his senses realizing what he once had and could still have.
It would be the spiritual equivalent of someone realizing again they did have recourse to the prayer relationship, even in the time of having made many mistakes and even in the time of famine.
This parable shows how the prayer relationship can be found in the roughest of times, in the biggest of famines and even after a slew of personal mistakes, to various forms of straying from the prayer life and the inheritance involved with that. One can always be welcoming back by the father in prayer
The Prodigal Son had trouble right up front and then also abroad with the famine as time went on.
The son who stayed around felt like the wayward son shouldn't be welcomed back, but this was an errant view as well as the father saw him as he approached in the distance indicating his reaching out and longing for the coming home and to hear from his son regardless and his having strayed did not diminish he stature or the desire that he return.
The story shows how separating from the Lord involves getting into situations eventually where you can be hanging by the thread.
Job Chapter 8 verses 11 through 15 says:
11 Can papyrus grow tall where there is no marsh?
Can reeds thrive without water?
12 While still growing and uncut,
they wither more quickly than grass.
13 Such is the destiny of all who forget God;
so perishes the hope of the godless.
14 What he trusts in is fragile;
what he relies on is a spider's web.
15 He leans on his web, but it gives way;
he clings to it, but it does not hol
The return to the inheritance represents a fullness that can always be found and is always abundant.
The treasures involved in going back to prayer and the relationship as a whole with the Lord are never going to be less, even because you strayed. The largess of the inheritance will still be there.
The Pharisees could find the way to the relationship. However it would not be a case of coming to their senses in the sense that they didn't have the backdrop in the first place of having the personal relationship. In that sense, the Prodigal Son had an advantage and was just reawakening to what he already knew was there, but in his travels he had divorced himself from the inheritance and did the equivalent of stop praying and focusing on whatever else with the emphasis on revelry.
If someone has straying spiritually from the prayer relationship, the invitation to come back to the inheritance found in prayer is there even after a bevy of personal mishaps, mistakes, and outright sins, and even in the case of widespread famine where everybody seems lost as to the inheritance, it can still be sought and found by turning back and striving into the relationship again or for the first time with the Lord.
The Inheritance of the Prodigal Son
By: Joseph Jagde
How To Win Your MMA Fight – Spar With the Best Is it Time For Derma? Make your backyard a cool place using fan misters Why Chuck Season 4 is being highly acclaimed by fans dieabnehm maschine Led Tube:Gread enterprise widsom 220-701 Practice Test dish tv for pc Pubs in Skipton Dish Tv For Pc Kombucha Un Té Muy Saludable EX0-101 dump Do Follow Fringe Season 3 for Never-ending fun