This is a story based on a well known parable about the prodigal son.

It is a story that I hope to present in a different way to the normal. We often think of the son who left home and went through extreme hardships, mostly because of his poor choices in life.

This story is also about a loving father who never gave up hope and a brother who had a bad attitude...  

Let us look at the second one of the three stories in Luke 15:8-10. Jesus spoke of a woman who had ten pieces of silver or10 Drachmē and lost one. Today’s value would be approximately $7 (the Greek Drachma was replaced by the Euro in 2001) and in today’s economy that might not seem to be a great amount to many people, but for her, this was massive loss. It was the equivalent of a day’s wages, but the loss was more than the monetary value alone. She could work another day and regain the worth of the coin but there was something more at stake here that was of much more value than a single coin worth 70 cents.

What she lost represented a part of her being. It signified her ability to live well. It destroyed her peace. It was something that caused great emotional upheaval and turmoil.

The associated word in the Greek is Drassomai. It has meanings that relate to one’s ability to hold on to things, or to capture, take or grasp something and keep it. It is a terrible thing to not be able to retain something when it comes your way. Imagine working a full month and be given your pay, put it in a pocket and arrive back home only to discover that you had lost it! Her position was worse than that because she had totally lost her ability to keep anything permanently. Her ability to buy anything, such as food or clothing was gone, not only with that one coin but with all coins she would ever possess in the future. At best, she would pay top dollar for inferior goods, would never get any bargains and would only be able to buy food that had gone past its use-by date and possibly be ruined before she ate it. That coin represented her Shalom which means Nothing missing, nothing broken.

She still had nine coins in her possession, but the loss of that one was so significant, she had to find it, for if she did not, it could be possible that the remaining nine could never be used, or would never be used properly. Her situation was therefore rather urgent so she carefully and diligently moved furniture around, lit the lamp and kept sweeping the house until she found it. She went from corner to corner and back. Over and over she went; peering into every nook and cranny until she recovered it and when she found it, she called her neighbors, asking them to rejoice with her.
Why bother telling friends that you found a  fifty cent or a dollar coin?
As I said, its value to her was more than what the coin was worth!
The word used for Loss is Apollymi and it relates to such things as destroy, destroyer, destruction, destructive, loss, lost, die, mar and perish! That one coin would thus seem to represent her ability to maintain much more than monetary value, but the very ability to live, or to live well.

Jesus linked this with the account of how the angels in Heaven rejoice when one sinner is found. The day you invited Jesus into your life and became born again, they held a party in Heaven. You were taken from death to life; from darkness into light; transformed from a lost being into a son of God and a joint heir with Jesus.
That’s celebration time indeed! One sinner is of enormous value to God. You are worth much. I am worth much. Always keep in mind that you and I are so precious that God sent His only Son to redeem us. Little wonder that He rejoices when one of His lost ones are found.

This was about the woman, but the first story Jesus told was about a shepherd and his sheep and Jesus called Himself the Good Shepherd who gave His life for the sheep.

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd sacrifices his life for the sheep.
A hired hand will run when he sees a wolf coming. He will abandon the sheep because they don’t belong to him and he isn’t their shepherd. And so the wolf attacks them and scatters the flock.
The hired hand runs away because he’s working only for the money and doesn’t really care about the sheep.
“I am the good shepherd; I know my own sheep, and they know me, just as my Father knows me and I know the Father. So I sacrifice my life for the sheep.
I have other sheep, too, that are not in this sheepfold. I must bring them also. They will listen to my voice, and there will be one flock with one shepherd.
John 10:11-16.

Continued >>>

There are many things we could consider with this account, but I wish to concentrate on one thing—Jesus knows His own sheep and His sheep know Him in the same way that He and the Father know each other!
The word Know describes the closest most intimate relationship any two persons possess that He likened to the relationship He enjoyed with His Father. We need to look at the story He told now-

If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it?
And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders.
When he arrives, he will call together his friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’
In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away! Luke 15:4-7.

I am the kind of person who likes to ask questions and find out why things happened, why the Lord said a certain thing, or why He did something in a particular way. One such question is, “Why or how did that sheep get lost? What happened to bring this loss”? After all, any decent shepherd, especially one like the Good Shepherd will not abandon one. A shepherd guards and protects his flock. He watches over them, seeks good grazing for them, often sleeps in the doorway of the sheep pen at night and knows each one its name.
The relationship Jesus portrayed is so close and intimate that the shepherd can walk away and simply call, “Follow me” and walk off. The sheep follow him. They trust him. They spend so much time together that the sheep instinctively recognize his footsteps, his posture and gait as he walks and recognize his voice, even from a distance. Anyone with a pet dog will testify that they can drive home and turn around the corner and the pet is waiting for them. There could be ten cars like that in the street, but this car was unique. It sounded different.  It smells different. It could possibly look different to the pet, but whatever it is that pets possess, they recognize that one car and ignore all others.

Such closeness does not come lightly. We can have such an intimacy of relationship with Jesus if we wish that we can similarly learn everything there is to learn about Him and follow Him. We can learn to discern his silhouette, His shadow, the sound of His footfall and of course the tones of His voice.
This only comes by close association. It only comes when we spend much quality time together.
My wife Marjorie and I know each other so well because of the closeness of our intimacy we even think alike. We often start doing the same thing at the same time without saying a word. We can tell when the other one wants a coffee, how much milk to add, how much sugar to add and so on. We can be studying at the same time and suddenly get up and turn to each other simultaneously without a spoken word to make that coffee.
This is the kind of closeness with the Lord that I mean. We can be confident in the knowledge that He never changes, that He will never forsake us and that He knows us often better than we know ourselves.
God has promised that He will never fail us and that He will never abandon us. See Deuteronomy 31:6-8; Matthew 28:20; Hebrews 13:5-8. I tell you this right now. There is absolutely nothing in all of creation that can separate you from God. Paul knew this when he encouraged us with these words-

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:35-39.

It is inconceivable that the shepherd would abandon any one of his sheep and allow them to wander in a wilderness situation. The sheep got lost because of some other reason and the only conclusion I can reach is that it made a decision to wander off. The prodigal son decided to leave home and wander away. The problems that he experienced came only because he made a wrong decision. When people fling Job up in debate, with such statements as, “What about Job?”, they really do not know God and His ways. They do not read the whole story and leap to conclusions, forgetting that his problems were self-inflicted and that God restored him to a much better state than before, in a very short time. Job had exposed himself to the devil’s influence because he feared what eventually came. He did not correct his children when they erred and made sacrifice to God just in case that had offended Him. The remedy should have been to correct it before it happened!
Satan came into God’s presence because Job gave him legal grounds to do so. God had to concede that but placed strict restrictions on his activity. God never sends anything to teach us lessons or test us because the Holy Spirit and the Word of God does that!

This sheep got lost because it left the fold, but the shepherd still loved it.

God loves you, regardless of what you do and where you are. You or I can be like Job and get out of step with God and possibly give the devil a legal opportunity to act as he did with job. It is very possible to totally avoid this of course. One way is to submit to God and resist the devil. James says that when we do that, the devil has to flee from us. He is not as all-powerful as some people make out, but a toothless tiger wandering around like a pussy cat, pretending to be a roaring lion whom we can resist steadfast in the faith! That’s bible folks!

God does not like the sin, but loves the one who sins and He has made provision for you and for me if we ever stumble. When we do fail, the remedy is to repent, seek God’s forgiveness and deal with the issue. John wrote about such things in his epistle. An example is found in 1 John 2:1 that says-

 My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous.

Sometimes it takes effort, but we can have victory. Paul struggled with repetitive failures saying that the good things he knew that he should do were omitted and the things he knew he should not do kept plaguing him until he received the revelation that as far as sin goes, he was a dead man! If you repeatedly struggle, the secret is to live out of your spirit man and not allow yourself to be ruled by the old flesh nature. Keep it dead by confession of the word and saying what God says about you.
See Romans chapter seven.

Perhaps that sheep had not yet learned this lesson and so strayed but the shepherd thought so much of that one sheep, he left the 99 behind. If he knew them so well and intimately, he could safely leave them in what is termed to be a wilderness. They were not lost. They were not suffering. He had so much confidence in them that he could allow them to care for themselves.

My friend, God trusts you. You are not really alone even if it seems so and this supposed separation, is not separation at all. I confidently say that because Jesus promised to never leave us or forsake us. He is the Good Shepherd, and the Holy Spirit lives within us to represent Jesus, so we are not alone after all.

This shepherd thought so much of that one sheep that he went out looking for it and he may have put his own life at risk in the process. Once he discovered that sheep, the shepherd was so overjoyed that he lifted it up and placed it upon his shoulders and carried it back home! This was not a little lamb but a sheep that are not easy to carry. Depending on the variety, sheep can weigh anything from 45 to 160 kilograms. That shepherd could have carried a 350Lb living weight on his shoulder!
My present weight is 76Kg. Try carrying me and I know that Jesus has carried me at times and I think that He has carried you also. This is a good place to stop and thank Him. 

This shepherd asked his friends to join him in the celebration. Heaven is a happy place. There is great joy there and when someone like you and me comes into an intimate relationship with God, His joy truly floods our souls. David said

LORD, you alone are my inheritance, my cup of blessing. You guard all that is mine.
The land you have given me is a pleasant land. What a wonderful inheritance!
I will bless the LORD who guides me; even at night my heart instructs me.
I know the LORD is always with me. I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me.
No wonder my heart is glad, and I rejoice. My body rests in safety.
For you will not leave my soul among the dead or allow your holy one to rot in the grave.
You will show me the way of life, granting me the joy of your presence and the pleasures of living with you forever. Psalm 16:5-11 

There is a pattern here. Nehemiah said that God’s joy gives us strength. God also rejoices and He rejoices over us!

The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing. Zephaniah 3:17

It is one thing to see where you are, but another to do something about it. Many people are on their life’s journey, but get lost along the way. It is foolish to realize that you are on the right freeway, but going in the wrong direction. It is like heading south, instead of going north. You are on the right road, but going in the wrong direction. Turn round! To do that, you must realize you are going the wrong way and then do something about it. This boy realized he was lost. The first step started in his heart, but he had to act on it. The second step was saying something which is very important, but it has to be the right things to speak. He said-

I will go home to my father.

This is important because once you speak it, you have made the first step and it is a creative step. Your words can be creative. When you hear yourself speaking it, things can start to happen, but at this point, one may be vulnerable. He should have stopped speaking at that point and started on his journey home, but kept making what were foolish declarations. Sometimes we must remain silent. Sometimes we say too much and talk ourselves out of it. Sometimes our declarations can be wrong, which is why we need to say what God says and only talk like that. We are to talk like God. It’s all in His word, so we can talk like Him by speaking His word.

When the difficulties and obstacles start to come, which often happens, the danger we face is starting to say things we should not say and discourage ourselves. A good example is seen in the book of Joshua. He had succeeded Moses and God told him that as He had been with Moses, He would be with him. He led the people into the Promised Land, but many things had to happen first in the buildup to his victory. God told him to meditate on the word. This meditation is not silent pondering but a process of repeating it, of saying it, of muttering it and as one translation puts it to roar over it the way a lion growls over its pray. It is the kind of process that a cow has when it chews the cud. We bring the word to mind, say what it says, listen to it with our own ears and think of what it means. Eventually it becomes a natural process or a way of life so that when a situation arrives, we can speak what God says on that matter.

Somewhere in the bible are the right words for your situation. Because God’s word does what it is designed to do, you will have the result that God intended. In the creation account, God said something and it was so.
He commanded the light to shine out of the darkness and light immediately dispelled the darkness.
The roman Centurion knew about delegate authority and asked that Jesus merely speak the word and whatever Jesus said would happen. Jesus cursed the fig tree and kept walking. He did not come back to dig it up and see if what He said was working. It was a done deal! To achieve the desired outcome, our task is to find what God has said and say it the way He said it. Hebrews 10:23 explain it thus-

 Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;).

That word profession is Homologia. It and associated words like Homologeō and Homeu when combined with the Greek word Logos, mean that we are to say the same things or words. When those words are sent forth, they will do what God intended them to do and all we are doing is getting on side with them. It is vitally important that we do not start talking differently. 

When Joshua succeeded Moses, he made plans to enter the Promised Land. We should make our plans but be ready for God to change them if necessary, prompted of course by the Holy Spirit. The best approach is to seek the mind and will of God first and plan accordingly. Joshua crossed the River Jordan when it was in flood and the waters opened up supernaturally. We deal with a supernatural God and should expect supernatural results.
When the people had crossed over the river, the men were circumcised—something that had not been performed for forty years. Circumcision represents a cutting off of the flesh nature or the old flesh life. Crossing the Jordan symbolized a death, burial and resurrection experience. These things are essential for success today. The boy had forsaken such a lifestyle and reverted to the old nature. He was living out of or controlled by the flesh life, or sense knowledge. Once we are in that place, all we can achieve is works of the flesh.

Joshua then met an angel who stood in front of him with a drawn sword. He asked the angel if he was on his side and the angel told him that he had come to take over. God fights for us. The drawn sword speaks of the word of God. There is a Godly pattern or plan for your success and He is to be in charge.
I am leading up to this. God told Joshua how to achieve victory and part of this required that the people circle Jericho for six days without saying a word! God did not want anyone to negate what He was going to do by saying wrong things! A bad confession will shut you down, whereas a good confession will produce the required results because there is creative power in your mouth!

This is where the prodigal son made a mistake. He should have simply said, “I will return to my father” and left it at that, but started to say things that were very negative. He continued- 

...and say, “Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired servant.”’ Luke 15:18-19.

He was right insofar as he had sinned against heaven and his father. We were all like that before we met Jesus, but things have changed now. If you have invited Jesus to come into your life and are born again, you are no longer a sinner! You are a saint! You are a son of God! When people say that they are just an old sinner saved by grace, they are doing despite to the work of Calvary. You can’t be both! Either you are born again or you are not. You are either a saint, declared to be so by God or you are not, so do not insult God by saying that you are a sinner. It is not being humble but rash foolishness and offending the Lord. If we look carefully into this, such humility is false. It really is pride in reverse. Think of that for a moment. Paul told us in Romans 12:1-3 to have the right balance in our opinion of ourselves. We must see ourselves the way God sees us and He looks at us through Jesus. He looks for the application of the blood.

You are not a servant, but a son of God and a joint heir with Jesus Christ. Even before Calvary, Jesus revealed His heart by telling the disciples and us, that we are not servants but friends.

 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.
Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. John 15:13-15. 

The prodigal son was never a servant—he was a son!
He was denying his bloodline. The father could hire servants, but he could not hire a son because sons are born! We are sons of God, not servants. Servants are ministering spirits, or angels, not sons. Servants do not receive the inheritance—sons do!

Each step the son took, he saw himself as a servant, bowing to the ground, groveling in the dust and fit only to live in a servant’s hut, wear a servant’s garb and work like a servant for a servant’s reward. Far too many Christians have that mentality, doing despite to the Father’s opinion of His sons.

Religion tries to make us think that we are lowly worms and that God is too holy for us to approach, but that is a blatant lie! See yourself as God sees you. You are accepted in the beloved. You are bone of His bone. You are partakers of His Divine Nature. You are no longer aliens and strangers, but citizens of Heaven and members of the household of God.

     I urge you to read Ephesians chapter two and similar scriptures very carefully.

This man’s father never quit on his son. God never quits on us This man’s father saw the good in his son. God sees the good in us. This man’s father rejoiced to see his son’s return. All of Heaven rejoices over our return.

So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. 

Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him. Luke 15:20.

Every day, the father peered down the road, looking for his son. That great day came when dad looked down the road and there he was. “My son is home” he cried. Jesus said that he ran towards his son and received him home. The first thing that he did was to cut off his son’s confession. He said, “You are not a servant—You are my son!” When he went to the door of his home and looked down the road, he was not looking for more servants but for One Son. That woman was looking for One Coin. The shepherd was looking for One Sheep.

The father instructed his servants-

Quick! Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him.

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