“I have wiped out your transgressions like a thick cloud and your sins like a heavy mist. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you.” Isaiah 44:22.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלוהים) says:
I give you the opportunity to return to Me as if sin had never been. First comes repentance, which is a firm resolution to change by the renewal of your mind to think as I do in righteousness and truth. It is leaving the downward spiral of sin to walk the ascending path of righteousness in Christ, your high calling.
But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:13-14.
And after repentance comes the return to Me knowing you are loved, forgiven, blessed, and favored. You will only return if you know you are welcome at My throne. And what do I tell you? Come with confidence to My throne to receive MERCY and find GRACE just when you need it.
It all begins with coming to your senses—to your right mind, to knowing that your life is headed in the wrong direction from where your heart wants to be. When My Son cast the legions of demons in the man of Gedera out, I tell you that after being released he was sitting clothed and in his right mind. His mind was taken captive by the evil one because of a door he had opened many years before and by continuing in wrong thinking, more and more demons were able to find a dwelling place on earth in him and through him they could express themselves. If he had just repented and shut the door on the first suggestions of the evil one all that could have been avoided. Same is true for Eve and Adam. Be quick to repent when you have thoughts and say words (which lead to actions) that are not in line with My Words.
Repentance brings the redemption and redemption is what brings the return.
“I have wiped out your transgressions like a thick cloud and your sins like a heavy mist. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you.” Isaiah 44:22.
I am always waiting for you to repent and return so we can rejoice together, and I can restore to you all the years you lost and wasted wandering in the desert of sin, whether caused by you or others, but basically always caused by Satan and the amount of room you give to him in your life. The only way that people return to Me with joy, however, is knowing that they are forgiven and loved; that My arms are open, and I am rejoicing to see them come to Me. And to bring this home to your heart My Son told you a parable about Me and about you. And it is called the parable of the “Prodigal Son.” But it is really about a forgiving, loving Father with unending abundance to give to His children—a father who is with them always and everything He has is theirs as well.
So let us begin.
There was a man had two sons. He was a very wealthy man. The younger of the sons said to his father, “Father, give me the share of the estate that falls to me.” So he divided his wealth between them. Luke 15:11-12. The younger son was the one who asked for his inheritance before the father had died, usually an inheritance can only be determined when there is a death of the one with the property and the first born son gets a double portion and the younger gets one portion. But the Father here is Me and you who believe in Jesus and are in Covenant with Me are My children, and it has pleased Me to make you joint heirs with Christ and give you the Kingdom even now.
And not many days later, the younger son gathered everything together and went on a journey into a distant country, and there he squandered his estate with loose living. Now when he had spent everything, a severe famine occurred in that country, and he began to be impoverished. Luke 15:13-14.
No longer under the loving eyes and care of his father, with the rules and order of the father’s house, he did monitor himself but let all loose in evil and ended up getting tied up by the devil. He found out that the attraction of sin, when given in to, steals, kills, and destroys. His dreams of great wealth and an exciting life free of all constraint on his flesh were gone.
So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, an ungodly person who was not in Covenant with Me, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. Something I had forbidden My people to do. And he would have gladly filled his stomach with the pods that the swine were eating, and no one was giving anything to him. Luke 15:15-17.
Trapped by the devil in a life devoid of My Word and lacking friends who believe in Me that would pray for and mentor him, his life ended up in a mess. Running away from Me to sin never brought anything good in to anyone. Just enslavement to sin. The prodigal son had chosen the ways of the world, the flesh, and the devil and now he was reaping destruction.
But something wonderful happened, something the father had been praying for and waiting for. The prodigal son came to his senses at last, i.e., he repented. He changed his mind.
But when he came to his senses, he said, “How many of my father’s hired men have more than enough bread, but I am dying here with hunger! I will get up and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired men.”’ So he got up and came to [i]his father. Luke 15:17-20.
And repentance led to return. He headed home and the angels began to rejoice with Me. You need to understand the order here—repent, return, rejoice, and then I can restore and fill you with the Holy Spirit! Repentance brings the change of mind, the return brings you into the Kingdom by being born again from above by My Word that you have changed your mind to believe—Adam was born again of perishable seed by submitting to a lie over the truth. You are born again of imperishable seed by submitting to the truth over the lies you have been walking under far too long.
While the returning prodigal was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet; and bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.’ And they began to celebrate.
And here you see the complete cycle, repent, return, rejoice, and all is restored better than it was before. But please note, the father was watching for the son’s return. And the minute the boy came to his senses, the father discerned it and ran for him. You draw close to Me and I draw close to you! In fact, I run to you and embrace you and kiss you!
The prodigal was guilty over what he had done and did not seek reinstatement of fellowship with the father. He kept his eyes down on the ground and was not comfortable looking at the father with so much sin and unfaithfulness between them. But the father would have none of it. He wanted a son, not a slave. He wanted fellowship and oneness with the one who was in his image and according to his likeness.
When Adam had lived one hundred and thirty years, he became the father of a son in his own likeness, according to his image, and named him Seth. Genesis 5:3.
And what did he do for the poor, hungry, filthy, repentant and humbled boy who had returned home? He clothed him in the best robe, the robe of righteousness, and gave him the signet ring of authority and the footgear of the good news of peace and reconciliation. And then he went and had the unblemished calf slaughtered and they ate the sacrifice. You see where I am going with that. The word used here for “calf” is the same Word as I used for the sin offering from the herd that was sacrificed at his ordination for the sin offering. Jesus has released you from your sins by His blood and made you a kingdom, priests unto Me, your God and father. And at their ordination, the priests ate the sacrifice with great joy and praise.
And then what happened? Celebration! The sin is gone and the party is on! The angels are rejoicing over every REPENTANT sinner.
What do you see in this parable?
- Repent – be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Purpose to change, know the way you have been living is wrong and acknowledge it before it destroys you, but don’t stay there in shame and regret, go forward with hope knowing you are loved and forgiven.
The prodigal son sinned and then saw it was wrong, it did not take him where he wanted to go or make him into the great independent person he wanted to be, instead it shamed and enslaved him. He wanted to go back to his father’s house where it was good and not evil.
- Return—come back to the right mind. Come back to truth and be born again from above by the imperishable Word. Come back to the Eden blessing and enter the Kingdom. I offer you to join Me in Covenant through My Son. Covenant opens the way back to Me.
The prodigal son returned to the father and what did the father say had happened because the boy repented and came home?
“Let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.” Luke 15:23-24.
- Rejoice—celebrate that you are loved and forgiven, that by the blood of Jesus I have paid your ransom and released you from your sins and given you a whole new life as a new creation in Christ. That your sentence of eternal death has been taken care of by My Son and you have eternal life in Him. And the voice of thanksgiving works wonders! You will find yourself healed, whole, and blessed with every spiritual blessing in the Heavens, and joyful thanksgiving is the catalyst that makes all the things already received in your spirit manifest in the flesh. And in the rejoicing comes the miracle of the restoring.
- Restore—I make all things new. I will make up to you the years the devil stole by sin in you and others. I take you as My child again and make you a joint heir with Christ, and all I have is His. So all I have is yours.
You are with Me always, and all that I have is yours. Luke 15:31.
I will increase you more and more for when I restore it is of a better quality and richer in quantity than what you had before.
And the final result? We will learn that from My prophet Joel, for after showing you that your part is to repent, return, and rejoice so I can restore to you all that you lost or just missed in your life because you did not walk in the way I had prepared for you, there is one more step to keep you in peace, in joy, and in righteousness. I pour out My Spirit upon you and you prophesy. You become full of the Holy Spirit.
But more on that in the life lessons to come.
I love you. Return to Me for I have redeemed you and the gate to Heaven is wide open to you. Return and live under an open heaven. It is all waiting for you when you come to your senses and live in your right mind.