Luk 15:24 for this my son was dead and is alive again, he was lost and is found.
Have you ever prayed for a loved one for a long time? You pray and trust in the Lord and you actually see that person getting worse, going from one bad decision to another. You talk to them and you share with them and you try to council them and convince them that everything they need, the answer to their deepest problems lie with the Lord Jesus. The deeper the trouble they get into, the more desperate we become some times in sharing Jesus. And yet, the greater their need, the greater their rejection of you and the truth that you hold out to them. You see them going down and you know in your heart that this beautiful light that is within you would be the answer to their seeming hopelessness and despair, and still they reject you. I would like to encourage every brother and sister that is in that category today.
This morning I saw an image of my son, call it a vision, call it a dream, be very cynical and call it wishful thinking if you like. Yet in my vision I saw my son standing beside me in church. I was introducing the church to my son. I was telling them how I had held him up in the air when he was less than a week old and that I had dedicated him to God, even although I myself had walked away from God at that point.
I was sharing how at the age of seven my son gave his heart to the Lord. And up to the age of 13 how we would walk to a home group together in the warm summer evenings and talk about the Lord and how exciting the prospect of Him perhaps coming back soon. I shared how that my son went into middle school and was bullied. How he went of the rails and I lost my son. We did not speak any more, just scream at each other. How he ran away at 16 and I found myself outside a house were he supposedly had stayed for a few nights, challenging the man inside to come out and fight with curses. How this was the lowest point of my Christianity and that I had, for a moment, reverted back to a life that I had long ago left behind because everything was spinning out of my control. How I got back home and fell to my knees, completely broken and cried out to God. How the Lord whispered to me , "let Him go Frank, give him to me, you just speak life into him." How the Lord asked me this question "What would have happened if the prodigal Father had not let the prodigal son go?" Giving me no answer, but the answer came from the Spirit within. I shared how my sons life got worse after I handed him over to Jesus. So many times tempted to doubt the Lord but never gave into the doubt. So many times having to ignore what was happening in the natural and trust the Lord that He was in charge and that there was movement in the spiritual.
Then in my vision I was standing on an airfield. It was WW11. Thirty planes had went on the bombing mission, 23 had came back, six had been reported to have been destroyed, and the last one was unaccounted for. The last one was my son. I stood on the airfield with many, just staring into the skies above. Straining to see any sight of the bomber. There was nothing. One by one the people that were looking, walked away until I looked around and I stood alone in the field. I kept straining my eyes, yet there was nothing. At a certain point a friend came out and looked at his watch, he said "Frank, they would have ran out of fuel 20 minutes ago, cmon, its time to go." I told him to go on in, I would be there soon. When he left, the silence and the loneliness overwhelmed me. I just fell to my knees and cried out to God. Now it wasn't even humanly possible for my son to return. And as I lay there on the grass, I heard a very faint noise. My intellect told me that my mind was playing tricks on me. Yet, the noise got a little louder. I looked up but I could not see anything. There was clouds and darkness and nothing. Yet the noise remained, I strained my eyes again, hoping against hope, faith fighting against unbelief and there it was, only a speck in the distance, but it was certainly a plane. It was my plane , it was my son, and against all the odds and even the laws of physics, here comes the plane. It is battered and torn and only one of the props was working, but it was his plane and he was coming home. All those who had left the field now were back and were screaming and shouting with joy. Miraculously, even although all hope had been lost and all had given up, including myself, here came my son and the plane landed even although it was almost completely destroyed by the flack.
Now I am back in church. And I say "This is my son who was dead but is alive again , he was lost but now is found."
Will this happen?Yes I believe it will. When it does I will be glad to report it to you. He has made me a promise and no matter what , I believe the report of the Lord. So many times we have to come to an end of ourselves and that is where the Lord steps in. And when He does, then all the glory will be His.
Perhaps you find yourself alone in the field of life today? Can I encourage you, you are not alone. Yes there will be times when every one you know will not stand with you, that things seem impossible, that you have come to the end of yourself, but do you know who you will meet when you arrive "at the end of yourself,?" yes, Jesus. Keep staring at the skies for that field is a field of hope. Our God is bigger than all that we can see. He sees what we cannot. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. All things are possible. Rest in hope, rejoice in hope, let expectancy do its work. He is pleased with our faith, and He is pleased when we come to Him and believe that all things are possible, it is in this diligence that we will find our reward.......Let the name of Jesus be glorified today...............Frank
If you know someone who needs to be encouraged today, please pass it along.