prayer warriors (following Jesus Christ, everyone welcome)

[BigBlueHen53]

Hey guys.
I have never chatted on this thread nor will I ever probably do it again.
I am not a very religious person, don’t attend church on a regular basis or anything.

But I think all the regular members on this thread are the nicest, most respectful, amazing people. You are all so nice and encouraging, practically my idols. You are all so amazing and I don’t even have words to describe how kind you all are. I’ve read through this thread a couple times and you are all just too amazingly kind to describe. You are all so accepting to everyone and I feel like you all deserve a thank you for that. The world needs more people like all of you.

I would just like to tell you all that. So thank you for making BYC a bit nicer everytime you post. It means a lot to me that people like all of you are here and just being decent human beings, that’s pretty hard to come by in this day and age.

So I will probably not post here again, as I am not Christian and respect that this thread is for you all, and not necessarily me. So I’m sorry I do took time up form your day that you could’ve spent being your amazing selves, but I would like you all to just be thanked for being so nice to everyone on this site and making it a better place in general.

Thank you so much for taking the time to post this! You brought tears to my eyes. You're so sweet to say so. You are welcome here any time. This thread is open to anyone. If you have questions, want to discuss anything, or just want to lurk, please feel welcome!

 

[Cryss]

You're right that it was a parable, a story, and that's why your interpretation is absurd. The story was told for a certain purpose. It was told to mean a certain thing. It's a story, though I have a livid imagination and like to imagine things going on in that story world after the story, in truth there is nothing else to the story but what the story-teller puts in it. Jesus meant for it to be a story of absurd grace, a parralel to God's saving us through his amazing grace despite us being dirty sinners who have done nothing right. The older son in the story is like the Pharisees, people of other religions that have strict religious laws to follow in order to obtain salvation, the "Christian" religious who think they can please God by good works or going to church, ect. All these people believe that because they work for God they'll get to go to Heaven, that is not the case. It doesn't matter how much you "do for God" you're still a sinner. You need to realize how stupid you've been and how wreched you are, like the prodigal son did in the parable. That's the true interpretation of this parable. The older son didn't end up getting anything in the end, because he thought himself self-righteous and didn't love his brother, even if his brother was, in his opinion, a good-for-nothing. Christians should love good-for-nothings, cause we were just like them, and we still are suceptable to failing and sining.

Luke 15:11-12
11 Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.

So here we read the words from Jesus mouth that the father divided his property between his two sons.

Luke 15:31
31 “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.

Here Jesus words reveal that the father, responding to the older son’s anger, reminds him that he owns everything.

Obviously the story ends there, but I like to think the older son was now able to see clear to celebrate his brother. After all, he, the older son, does get everything!

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Luke 15:11-12
11 Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.

So here we read the words from Jesus mouth that the father divided his property between his two sons.

Luke 15:31
31 “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.

Here Jesus words reveal that the father, responding to the older son’s anger, reminds him that he owns everything.

Obviously the story ends there, but I like to think the older son was now able to see clear to celebrate his brother. After all, he, the older son, does get everything!

I don't think @Cryss's interpretation was "absurd." The story is open-ended. We are not told how the older son responded to the father's rebuke, if the father's comment could be called that. Perhaps I should just call it a reminder, a reminder that all that was left was indeed the older son's. Cryss is free to assume that the older son's heart was softened and that he accepted his brother with friendly arms. We just don't know.

For myself, I believe that the older brother represents the Jewish nation, and at the time the parable was told, her fate was not yet determined. I believe it was a cautionary tale and Jesus was trying to alert the Jewish people to the need to realize the Father's love for all who would come to Him in repentance. The Jews had an attitude of arrogance and exclusivity, having forgotten why they were the Chosen People. God intended to bless all nations through Abraham's seed; the Messiah was to come from the line of David as a blessing to the entire world. The kingdom of heaven is for all who will accept it, no matter how far they have wandered away, as represented by the Prodigal son. That's how I see it, anyway.

 

[chickity-chick]

During this pandemic lockdown I’ve been watching TBN as my church service. Actually it has been my daily channel several hours each day. I’ve found myself walking closer with th Lord than ever. This pandemic is the perfect example of God using what was intended for evil and making it be for good.

That is beautiful- I wish that I could grow closer to the Lord. This pandemic has been very difficult for me spiritually. I feel like it has been harder for me to connect and get closer to the Lord, I really wish that I could be growing closer to Him. I miss in person services so much because that was what helped me feel connected and helped me grow closer. I find it so hard to focus and attend mass though a TV. The Lord is love and I want to be able to love Him as much as He loves all of us.

 

[Cryss]

I don't think @Cryss's interpretation was "absurd." The story is open-ended. We are not told how the older son responded to the father's rebuke, if the father's comment could be called that. Perhaps I should just call it a reminder, a reminder that all that was left was indeed the older son's. Cryss is free to assume that the older son's heart was softened and that he accepted his brother with friendly arms. We just don't know.

For myself, I believe that the older brother represents the Jewish nation, and at the time the parable was told, her fate was not yet determined. I believe it was a cautionary tale and Jesus was trying to alert the Jewish people to the need to realize the Father's love for all who would come to Him in repentance. The Jews had an attitude of arrogance and exclusivity, having forgotten why they were the Chosen People. God intended to bless all nations through Abraham's seed; the Messiah was to come from the line of David as a blessing to the entire world. The kingdom of heaven is for all who will accept it, no matter how far they have wandered away, as represented by the Prodigal son. That's how I see it, anyway.

A very astute interpretation of the parable. I heartily agree. I was answering @birdsrfun where he was wondering what the older brothers outcome was. So it was a question about the story rather than about interpretation of it’s representations.

That is beautiful- I wish that I could grow closer to the Lord. This pandemic has been very difficult for me spiritually. I feel like it has been harder for me to connect and get closer to the Lord, I really wish that I could be growing closer to Him. I miss in person services so much because that was what helped me feel connected and helped me grow closer. I find it so hard to focus and attend mass though a TV. The Lord is love and I want to be able to love Him as much as He loves all of us.

Jeremiah 29:13
You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

Romans 10:17
17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Seek him in his word, the Bible. His promises are there and One is that he will be found if you seek him. I find the Bible app “youversion” to be extremely helpful finding the verses I need for the troubles (or blessings!) of the day. The”plans” take me in the direction I need to go. I’m finding myself growing closer to our Lord daily.

https://www.youversion.com/the-bible-app/

 

[BigBlueHen53]

That is beautiful- I wish that I could grow closer to the Lord. This pandemic has been very difficult for me spiritually. I feel like it has been harder for me to connect and get closer to the Lord, I really wish that I could be growing closer to Him. I miss in person services so much because that was what helped me feel connected and helped me grow closer. I find it so hard to focus and attend mass though a TV. The Lord is love and I want to be able to love Him as much as He loves all of us.

My family is not attending services either, @chickity-chick. We do miss the fellowship of our little church family, and have always been actively involved in the services. My DH usually preaches a couple of times a month, I lead out in the Sabbath School program, and we are both Sabbath School teachers, he in the adult division and I in the juniors. At least, that was the case before Covid.

Now, we have services for our family in our home. In the morning I turn on sacred music on Pandora on the TV while we have breakfast. We enjoy the lectures and sermons we find on 3ABN'S YouTube channel. There are programs for the children as well as for adults. We spend time reading and in Bible study. The kids usually go for a nature walk at some point during the day, and it's a day of rest for us so we don't do our normal chores. The main meal will have been prepared the previous day (Friday) so I don't have to cook. I read to the children and we play Bible games. We look for good nature programs on TV (not gory ones with animals eating each other, lol!). We call family members on the phone to visit. There are many ways to get close to the Lord outside of church! It is a day of rest, learning, praise and rejoicing!

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

Hello all, My name is Rebecca, I am a 25 year old mother of two married to my husband for four years. I wanted to start this thread for prayer request and for fellowship I will be posting messages on a regular basis. Bases off what I am learning in my church and in my walk with Christ. Rto give everyone background me I recently found out my husband isn't saved (being saved is being washed in the blood aka having accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as ones Savior) not only that but he lost a lot of memory and has been hiding it from me for the last two years. A month ago he asked me to move out for awhile, I came back after five days. He had moved in two another bedroom and later told me he was interested in someone else and wanted a to end our marriage. Through the power of God's love we are still together right now. We have set backs and some advances it's a spiritual battle and I am holding on to God and his promises and asking for his help no matter the out come I am prayer for healing in our marriage and the saving of my husband. I am waiting expecting God to work as he keeps telling me he works in all things. I am lovinh like my life depends on it as we are suppose to. I am not bragging about myself I can't do anything I have accepted that I can only brag on God, Jesus, and the Holy Ghost. I am by no ways a teacher or leader but I will answer questions or redirect and pray for you.
Will not hide the light that lives in me.

Have you seen the movie Fireproof? That movie is about marriage and also War Room. The Kendrick Brothers has a lot of good movies. Also, have you heard of PureFlix? It's like Netflix, but has a lot of good Christian movies on it. I'll be praying for your marriage.

 

[birdlover2]

I don't think @Cryss's interpretation was "absurd." The story is open-ended. We are not told how the older son responded to the father's rebuke, if the father's comment could be called that. Perhaps I should just call it a reminder, a reminder that all that was left was indeed the older son's. Cryss is free to assume that the older son's heart was softened and that he accepted his brother with friendly arms. We just don't know.

For myself, I believe that the older brother represents the Jewish nation, and at the time the parable was told, her fate was not yet determined. I believe it was a cautionary tale and Jesus was trying to alert the Jewish people to the need to realize the Father's love for all who would come to Him in repentance. The Jews had an attitude of arrogance and exclusivity, having forgotten why they were the Chosen People. God intended to bless all nations through Abraham's seed; the Messiah was to come from the line of David as a blessing to the entire world. The kingdom of heaven is for all who will accept it, no matter how far they have wandered away, as represented by the Prodigal son. That's how I see it, anyway.

That is a reasonable interpretation now that I think about it. In fact, there are probably multiple different interpretations of the story. I do hope that's how the story ends I just got offended at first because I thought they were saying the older brother DESERVED more than the younger because he worked harder and didn't screw up as much, but he does in fact deserve the same grace the younger does, if he's willing to except it and join in the celebration, loving his younger brother.

 

[Crestcrazy]

Hey everyone !
I'm so glad that we have a thread committed to Jesus !
I would be so grateful if everyone could pray for my aunt, she has cancer .
Thank you so much !

 

[ShrekDawg]

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