I’ve read this story in the Bible multiple times and listened to multiple sermons on it, but never truly understood it until recently. At about 5 am one morning while spending time in God’s presence, the Holy Spirit prompted me to read Luke 15. When I got to the story of the Prodigal Son in verse 11, I was about to skip over it, but the Holy Spirit told me to read it.

The first thing that stood out to me as I read it was verse 12b which explains that the younger of two sons went to his father and asked for his inheritance,  “So the father went ahead and distributed among the two sons their inheritance.” Both sons received their inheritances, not just the one who left. We often chastise the younger son for squandering his inheritance but what did the older brother do with his? Just something to ponder.

Verse 16 which says, “he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate….”, also caught my attention. Various versions of scripture say, ‘he would have eaten the pods’ and ‘he could have eaten them’ and and ‘he longed to fill his stomach with them’, but it never says that he ate the pods. The verse continues to explain why. It says, “…but nobody gave him any.” Despite his riotous living, he was careful not to steal the pig’s food. Perhaps he also considered that pigs were deemed to be unclean in Jewish culture, so eating their food was unacceptable. Those seeds planted in him as a child were still impacting his life, even in the midst of his backsliding. Who do you need to pause and pray for? 

In the very next verse, Luke noted that ‘he came to his senses and made the decision to return home and repent for sinning against his father and against heaven’. How did he sin against heaven? It wasn’t his riotous living, but his decision to step out of the covering of his father and manage his life by his own terms. In other words, he stepped out of grace and into works or the law. The riotous living was just a result of that decision.

The son wanted to prove himself and be independent. He probably even planned to make it big and return home to show off his success. As I read this the Holy Spirit said to me,  “For the child of God, independence is a sin.” The father in the story said in verse 24, that his son was dead. That death came as a result of the sin of independence. Independence nullifies the work of the cross and puts us in the position of trying to maintaining our salvation through our own efforts.

Child of God, the prodigal son was completely provided for by his father, just as God has provided for us, “by His divine power, everything that we need for life and godliness.” Somewhere along the line, he got the notion that he could utilize the resources of his father’s provision and live and succeed by his works.

There’s a devil’s doctrine of self-sufficiency that has been intertwined with the message of salvation, where believers are encouraged to utilize principles from the Bible and combine them with the law to make the perfect blend of Christianity. The misinterpretation of James 2:26, “…so faith without works is dead”, has led so many believers to think that they need to work for their salvation. That scripture says that what we do is a fruit of our salvation and not the other way around. 

It baffles me that someone who believes that “we are saved by grace through faith” Ephesians 2:8, would somehow determine that God’s saving grace could be, or eventually become incomplete and require human works to support it.

“We are saved by grace through faith” and we live the Christian life by grace through faith. When we believe that God doesn’t answer our prayers because we don’t pray enough or live holy enough or read the Bible for enough hours each day or get up early daily and have an hour-long devotional time, we are saying that God’s grace needs our works to be complete.  That is a deceptive lie from the kingdom of darkness. We could never do enough or be good enough to ever deserve or merit God’s grace.

While many of us define grace as unmerited favor, we often neglect to add that the favor is as a result of God’s love for us. God loves us so much that He sent Jesus to die on a cross, to restore His relationship with us. He wanted us back but sin caused a barrier, so love caused Him to sacrifice His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. Do you get this! He did it just for us. Yes, God loves us that much.

Just in case you’re still thinking that you have to work to earn or keep God’s love, Romans 8:39 settles it. “There is no power above us or beneath us—no power that could ever be found in the universe that can distance us from God’s passionate love, which is lavished upon us through our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One!”

Let’s look at the older brother who had also received his inheritance. He complained to his father about not being rewarded for staying at home with him ‘all these years’. I love the father’s reply because it’s the same thing our heavenly father says to us. ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours’ Luke 15:31.

Child of God, do you get what that verse is saying? Can you fathom the Creator of the universe telling you that all that He has is yours? Can you see the volumes of truth that are in that statement? I pray that you get this because if you do, your life will never be the same.

The older brother had the option of taking a young goat at any point in time and throwing as big a party as he desired because it all belonged to him. He was under the covering of the father. He was in the center of the father’s will. Yet he was acting like a servant trying to earn or work for what was already his.

Is this speaking to anyone? What have you been trying to earn that is already yours? You already have it, but you have to know and see that you already have it, in order to access it. I pray that God is opening your understanding to see what I’m saying.

It’s yours! All things that pertain to life and godliness. Power over all the powers of the enemy. Anything that you ask in His name. Healing by His stripes. Wealth to lend. The position as the head. I’m not making this up. This is what God’s word says, but let me repeat, you have to know and see it before you can access it.

If you believe someone’s lie that you have cancer because you somehow displeased God, or you are poor because of a generational curse, or you shouldn’t be claiming the promises of wealth and prosperity in God’s word because that’s frivolous, or you won’t get married because you had an abortion, then those things are exactly what your reality will be.

When you decide to stop giving others control over how you relate to God and what you believe about Him and start reading His word and asking him to open your eyes and understanding to see the truth, then that living and active word will begin to change your reality. “It is not just bread that keeps people alive. Their lives depend on what God says” John 4:4.

When you became a believer you became a new creation, you’re not of this world. You were born of God who is spirit, so you are also spirit. Are you getting the depth of what this means? We’ll discuss this further in another post.

Child of God, I want to challenge you today to do like the prodigal son and come to your senses and acknowledge your sin of independence against God your Father, and heaven. Stop being like the older brother who was clueless about all that he had access to. Begin to read the Word of God and believe what it says, above man’s interpretation of it. Enjoy the celebration that God has thrown because you “have begun to live” Luke 15:32b.

Someone who has suffered from severe migraine headaches for many years is being healed now. A mother who has been weeping over her backslidden son is receiving an answer now. A wife who just a few hours ago was asking God to breath life back into the family business, is sensing the peace of God right now. Your baby girl who is in the hospital in critical condition, hooked up to multiple tubes and machines, will live, in the name of Jesus.

Child of God, accept your Heavenly Father’s love. Ask Him to open your eyes to see your true reality as His child and begin to access all that he has already given to you. In the name of Jesus. Amen!