Moved By A Memory

John Clardy – 10/28/08

Luke15:12-17

12  And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living.

13  And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.

14  And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want.

15  And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.

16  And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him.

17  And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!

Proverbs 22:6 GNB  Teach children how they should live, and they will remember it all their life.

Recently a friend emailed me asking me to pray with her about her daughter who had become involved in immorality and was no longer serving God as she should.  I felt impressed by the Holy Spirit to respond to her with the following observation:

What was it that caused the prodigal son to start his journey back home to his father? He began to remember how wonderful it was in his father's house, how that even the servants were blessed and had no want.

I believe that when people backslide and go back to the world, the only way they can do it is to suppress the memories of the Father's House. But in the strangest of times and places, at the lowest point of their rebellion, those memories begin to push through the murky blackness that has engulfed them. They begin to remember how good it was to be a child of God!

I believe that is where your daughter is! She is remembering and those memories are drawing her heart back home to the Father.

Keep believing and keep praying that God stirs up the renewing of her mind.

I believe that in the darkest of times that the memory of the places that gave us spiritual, emotional and physical nourishment can move people to return to those places, seeking a fresh start.  In times of abandonment  and depletion, the knowledge that there is a place of safety, acceptance and unreserved joy at a person’s return, can be a powerful incentive for prodigals to realize the mistake they have made and draw them back to a place of restoration.

The worst thing we can do to those that have failed or disappointed us is to project to them that they are no longer welcome or missed.  We need to do as the Father did, maintain the home place and keep it as the prodigals remember it to be.  We need to look hopefully at the horizon, pray for them while they are absent and have a celebration expectantly waiting their return.

On April 12, 2008, I lost my brother David in an automobile accident.  Although all of us boys were raised in a Christian home, Dave had been away from the Lord for several years.  2 weeks prior to his death, we lost an aunt to cancer.  Dave and she were very close.

After her funeral, Dave called me and began to reminisce about her and how much she loved the Lord, her family and the people of God.  Dave, moved by her memory, started to cry.  He asked me to pray with him and as we prayed, he recommitted his life to the Lord. 

As we finished our prayer, Dave said, “John, I have never been able to get away from what Dad and Mom taught us.  I am going to make things right in my life.  Life is too short not to.”   Two weeks later he was gone, but a memory of a godly aunt and a memory of what godly parents had taught him, moved him back to the Father’s House before it was too late.

If you have loved ones that are prodigals, don’t give up!  Don’t quit believing! Don’t quit loving them! Don’t quit praying for God to stir up the memories of His goodness in their lives!  They may be living in the pig pen of gross sin, but even there the memories of the Father’s House can reach them! And even now, at this very moment, those memories may be moving them back home!