Last week was Mother’s Day and the message Kim Daniel preached is still playing over and over in my mind. For those of you who missed it or don’t attend Niceville Assembly, it was on the story of Rizpah: the mother you refused to give up.  I encourage you to read it in II Samuel 21, but to give you a glimpse, Rizpah was one of Saul’s concubines and she guarded the corpses of her two dead sons for 6 months against wild animals, the elements and ravenous birds, but this entry is not meant to merely be a recap of the message preached; instead, it is meant to pay homage to the person who has help guard my life against the schemes and plans of the enemy that were meant to steal, kill, and destroy my life and it is meant to be an encouragement for those who are interceding on someone else’s behalf.  Let there be no mistake, there is a war going on over our souls and the souls of our children.  Everything God stands for, Satan either tries to counterfeit or destroy and over the centuries he has become very good at leading people away from the will of God.  That ends now!

What my mother has always done for me goes way beyond training up a child in the way they should go.  Besides God, she is one of the few constants in my life and she has always been someone who I could count on even when I pushed her away and decided to walk my own path.  Everybody learns life’s lessons differently and even though it took me generally learning things the hard way, my mom was not going to give up on me without a fight.  I want to thank her right now for never giving up on me; I want to thank her for the countless hours she spent on her knees in intercession prayer on my behalf.  I firmly believe that because of the love she showed me, even when I was living outside of God’s will, she gave me a glimpse of the love the Father has for His children.  Between her love, prayers, the conviction of Holy Spirit and the redemptive work that Jesus did on the cross, this prodigal son has come home and is winning souls for the kingdom of God. 

To the parents of a wayward child: Never give up & Never quit; that is what the enemy wants.  You need to keep praying until the rain comes and the famine is lifted.  The Lord’s word does not return void, so you need to continue planting those seeds in your children’s lives.  You need to be pleading the precious blood of Jesus Christ over your family and you need to pray for a constant hedge of protection to encompass them, you need to be anointing your home with oil, and you need to get in the Word and start claiming scriptures because His Word is eternal and that is better than a promise.  You need to boldly tell the enemy that he will be sorry for the day that he ever messed with your family.  If I’ve learned one thing, it is the more messed up we are, the more God has to work with and the more powerful our testimony will become.  He will wash us white as snow and He will make all things new.  Not one experience we lived will ever be wasted because after we are cleansed, God will use what we have walked through to reach out to people who are going through the same struggles.

To the wayward child:  I have been where you have been or where you are now.  I know first-hand the pain it causes, not only in your own life, but in the lives of those around you.  It doesn’t matter what you’ve done or where you are, God will meet you because He is a friend that sticks closer than a brother.  All you have to do is call out to Him – His name is Jesus and He will save you.  Living a life of sin is exactly what the enemy wants for our lives because his purpose is the steal, kill and destroy.  When you think about the long and short-term consequences of our actions, they fit exactly in-line with the schemes and tricks of the evil one.   In contrary, God’s purpose is to give us a rich and satisfying life and we achieve this by righteous living and by loving the Lord.  God alone knows the plans for your life, but I can promise you that His plans involve giving you a hope and a future.