11 And he said, "There was a man who had two sons. 12 And the younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.' And he divided his property between them. 13 Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. 14 And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his field to feed pigs. 16 And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.1. Awakening
17 But when he came to himself, he said "How many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger!Here the younger son was awakened to two things: (1) his father's love, and (2) his sin. This is the most important step towards transformation.
2. Confession
18 I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.'"This requires humility and open exposure of sins to oneself in order to recognized how depraved we are. Confession does not equate to repentance, however, and does not reflect the heart that God calls us to have in order to forgive our sins. If you can imagine this scene where the son scripts out exactly what he will say to his father, we can just imagine his potential motives. It may or may not have been along the lines of, "I'll go ask my father for forgiveness. As his son, how can he not forgive me? Let me just get some fake tears, rub some extra dirt on my clothes and he must feel compassion for me." There could still be much self-righteousness To recognize and confess what we've done wrong is one step, which may or may not involve having a repentant heart.
3. Repentance
20 And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.'Repentance is what WE do. With nothing, not even an ounce of pride, we must have the determination to go back to the Father (v.20). From here we get a genuine apology (v.21), verbalized to his father whom the son has sinned against. Here the son openly admits to his father, whom he's sinned against, and this is revealing of his heart. In this scene where the father unexpectedly comes to greet the son with such love, one can only imagine with what tear-filled eyes the son had in directly apologizing to his father. One big-picture takeaway is: when we choose to turn to God our Father, He is already there to embrace us. In repentance we choose to turn to him.
4. Revival
22 But the father said to his servants, 'Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. 23 And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. 24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.' And they began to celebrate.Revival is what GOD does. Here the robe signifies restoration into the royal priesthood, and the ring signifies sonship. God provides these things (revival) upon our repentance and his forgiveness of our sins! Amen. No one can provide revival but the Father.
Awakening + Confession + Repentance + Revival = Transformation
[5. Proclamation***]
22 But the father said to his servants, 'Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet.Shoes = anointing for proclamation, to go to the nations and tell the world about how good the Father is! Though this step is not necessary for transformation, it is a key element of what our God calls us to do. After all, He also gives us shoes when He restores. Amen?
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