We love the story of the prodigal son because we too were welcomed back with a robe and a ring. But sometimes we don’t feel like He is celebrating us each day" We know Jesus said He would be with us and that God’s unmerited favour is upon all His children, but we don’t feel it.

Once when I felt like this, I discovered the problem was in my imagination and not with God. Our imagination creates our feelings and affects our behaviour. The Bible says, "As a man thinks in his heart so is he."  The imagination creates its own reality, and even if something is not true it can still affect you. If you think you are a grasshopper in the face of giants and therefore can’t enter the Promised Land, you will be right.  Or even if God is favouring you but you don’t think He is, you will live in fear and insecurity- a crippled and stilted life. Our wrong thinking doesn’t change the fact that God is with us, but it changes our ability to feel it and enjoy our Father. But if we imagine the truth; that He is in us and walks with us and has His loving arms about us all day, we are confident and enjoy beautiful fellowship with Him.

God gave us our imagination to be a meeting place with Him, so the enemy of our soul tries to fill it with memories of inadequate fathers, wrong images, or seeing our lives as small and inconsequential.  In the end, the One who gave us the imagination as a sanctuary in which to meet God and walk together with Him, is squeezed out of His meeting place.

Friend, reclaim your imagination and fill it with true thoughts of our Father’s presence and favour toward you. Close your eyes and imagine Father favouring you, loving you, coming to you, embracing you and helping you.  For that is all true; anything else is a lie - imagine the truth and let faith arise.

David was to lead a nation. He was a man with passion and a promise, but there was little in his circumstances, that looked like he was being positioned for kingship. But God achieves His purposes, in ways that a man would not think.  God doesn’t develop a person’s reputation but their character so that their life is consistent with the message they are to carry. Our ability to represent Father in the world is determined by the degree that the message or the Word has become flesh in us. 

David’s overarching conviction was that God was his Shepherd and was leading him in life.  David knew that contradictions and opposition, couldn't decide his destiny.  David may not have understood everything, but he believed God would accomplish His plans in spite of everything. Through hardship, enemies, trouble and dishonour, God was working out His plan to make David more than a king. A timeless message of worship, honour and trust in God, to reach countless generations.

Friend, if we love God, he is ordering all the steps required to forge His message in us too. Don't look at other people and wish you had their steps, or envy their “blessed life” Your steps may be enjoyable or not, understood or not but the message God is forming in you, is perfect to touch all the people that He plans to reach through you. He is writing your story for His glory and people’s blessing, including you and yours!

One gemstone talked about a lot in the Bible is the pearl which is strange because in the Old Testament, oysters were unclean animals and couldn’t be eaten by a Jew. In the New Testament they are honoured reminding us that through Christ, something precious can come out of the unclean.  Even the gates of the new city or the glorious church are likened to pearls.   “The twelve gates were twelve pearls: each individual gate was of one pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass”.  Rev 21:21

God designed oysters to make valuable pearls from sand or other irritations that get inside the sensitive tissues of the oyster.  The oyster releases a substance called nacre, (Nac-ray) that coats the irritant until the grit is covered over and becomes a smooth lovely pearl.

We are pearl makers too. God has given us a substance which when released over our irritants, can transform situations into something valuable. The nacre we release is called “blessing.” “Finally, …be tenderhearted, be courteous; not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing”. 1 Peter 3:8 We inherit blessing when we bless our “irritants”.

Friend, don’t “curse” your upbringing, the traffic, the boss, the neighbours or your spouse. As we bless people, circumstances and even our past, our Father can transform every troubled circumstance and relationship into a pearl of great value. Let’s be people that bless and receive blessings! Our attitude could become the very “Pearl Gate” someone needs to be able to enter the city of God.

As King David rested in Jerusalem, he reflected upon his difficult life and the goodness of God. He said, “God is my strength and power, And He makes my way perfect” (2 Samuel 22:33 )

David didn't say that his way always seemed perfect to him but that God made his way perfect for him. A leader's live is never perfect; it is not a showcase for the easy life but a display of God’s enabling grace. Our way is not easy or perfect, but He makes our way or our life perfect for us. Our wife may not be perfect, but she is perfect for us. Any imperfection she seems to have will help you to grow more like Jesus; as you forgive, and show kindness and patience.  We live in a world that is broken and fraught with hardships, but God can make that “difficult way” a perfect way to experience Him more and to enable us to reflect Him more.  Even times and events we don’t understand we can trust is perfect for us. Like Joseph, it might just take 17 years or more to see it.

He also said “As for God, His way is perfect. His perfect justice, love and wisdom mean that God can do no wrong, even if we don't understand some things. One thing that even King Solomon couldn’t understand, was “The way of a serpent on a rock (Proverbs 30:18).  I don't understand the way of the serpent on the Rock either. I don't know how Satan negotiates with God. I don’t understand how demonic attacks can happen when we’re praying more than ever. I don’t understand how it works between God and Satan really; how God is sovereign, yet the devil’s limited freedom seems to be a little too free at times. But we are not asked to understand all things but to trust at all times, Him who does all things perfectly.

Friend, one thing we do know, is if life doesn't seem perfect or even good right now, we can trust that He is making our way perfect for us.  Justice and righteousness are the unshakable foundation of His throne, and we are like Joseph in the prison. It is still perfect. All we lack is a few year’s perspective.

Jesus was born from heaven but lived in Nazareth.  He was born royal yet birthed in a manger.  It is not where you live that makes you royal, but it is who your Father is. Good things can come out of Nazareth, and from where you live too!

Hebrews 2.10 says that God is bringing many sons to glory.  That is, He is bringing you and me into His full intention for us! We are not divine but the Person within us, is. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. God so loves the world, that He continues to give sons and daughters.

“Seeing” our sonship should affect the way we live.  and until we know it in our hearts, we will live below our dignity and our destiny.  Some behaviour is beneath those that are birthed from above. When the prodigal son remembered who he was, it changed the way he lived.  His condition was changed only after he remembered his position as a son.

Friend, you have been born into the world and into your city, from above. The sons are back in town!  Don’t live beneath your status or your purpose. You are royal, you are secure and you are filled with power to give away. There are people all around you who need you to live as a son and daughter.

 God is a good God. He never leaves us and He never forsakes us. But sometimes it takes time for us to realize that. When Joseph was thrown into the pit by his brothers, he may have found it difficult to see the hand of God. Then after six years in Pharaoh’s Court, he was falsely accused and thrown into prison.  He may have found it difficult to see the faithfulness of God. But after he was elevated to Prime Minister of the land and was then able to provide food for his father and his brothers, he could see the awesome wisdom and faithfulness of God.  His ending was so different to the journey, but He had to wait a while. Servant in six years, prime minister in 20! Perhaps the bigger the influence you will have, the bigger the time you need in God’s preparation.

It may only be days, or it might be many years before you realize that God has been completely faithful. But He will be. He can only be Himself; a faithful God. You haven’t seen the end of the story.

Jonah, God has not finished with you yet. You may still feel imprisoned in the belly of the fish you can’t control, but He will get you to the right place in the end.

Jeremiah, you may still be locked up in prison. But one day you will realize that while you were locked “safely” in prison, many others walking free outside in Jerusalem were being killed.

Ruth, it looks like you have lost, your land, your husband, your sister and your future, but you don’t yet have enough perspective. God is arranging the best future for you. A husband, a redeemer, a place, a family and an heir. Give it time.

Friend, if you can’t look back and see that God is faithfully working all things together for your good, keep looking for a while yet.

The ship was rolling in the heavy seas as the powerful storm called the Euroclydon threatened her safety. Paul had anticipated the danger when he first boarded the ship. The weather was bad but it wasn't a mistake; the wind was ordered. It wasn't comfortable but it was commissioned. Paul didn't ask for it but he needed it. Peter said we will only get tests and trials “if need be”. This was just part of the process for God’s promise to be fulfilled.

To grow and have peace in our troubles, we need to realise it is part of the process that brings us to the promise. If God could have brought Israel into the Promised Land without change, He would have. If God needed you to have that job you just lost, to become what you needed to be, you would never have lost it. If God knew you needed that friend who just moved away, for you to become the woman God intended you to be, they would still be here. God know what we need to become His champions. We all want the promise but less want the process. Everybody wants to look like a Schwarzenegger but nobody wants to spend three hours at the gym. We are to meet with God in our trials and grow stronger like Paul. He didn't just go through the storm, he grew through the storm.

Friend, there are no easy steps toward your destiny, but they are always purposeful steps. God’s plan, is that your test becomes part of your testimony. Hold on and discover that He is holding you.

There are 2 groups of people that see everything clearly. The rest of us can only approximate this reality in our hearts and minds.

The first group are those in hell.  In Luke 16, the rich man found himself in hell and saw things perfectly for the first time. He saw that he was in Hades, not Paradise and he saw there was no way out. He saw that he was wrong about the way he lived and everything he believed, He saw that God was holy, His word was true and hell was real. He saw the dangers of ignorance and pride and wanted others to be warned.

The second group are those before the throne of God.  The living creatures cry “Holy Holy”, as they circle the throne of the Lord Jesus Christ.  They see His sovereign power and beauty and in endless realization of His majesty and glory, they can only shout Holy! They see that every created atom is held together by unspeakable might, and every act of God worked in the affairs of men, was love revealed, and they cry Holy.

The twenty-four elders see that everything was created by God for His glory.  They saw their utter debt to God for their existence and their utter debt to the Lamb for their forgiveness and salvation. Before this King Jesus, they could find no lower place than the floor, so they fell down.

Friends, there are two places we can get perfect vision and understanding. None of them are earthly. Men without God can’t see at all and certainly AI is blind to His glory. AI can give you a script but no vision- words but nothing that God has said. Until you've seen God, we've got nothing to say. Only seeing Him clearly enables us to see everything else clearly. Our vision will be totally healed at the throne, but even now, Father grants us a spirit of revelation and wisdom in the knowledge of Him. Nothing we see, think or believe is right until we have seen Him. Psalm 36.9. In your light, we see light.