Gifts God Would Love

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If you love a prodigal, you can discover help

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and hope for your wilderness journey right here

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at When You Love a Prodigal. And also help and

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hope for your own life journey. So how are you

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doing with the holidays? Surviving so far? If

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you love a prodigal, I know it can be challenging.

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I find, personally, giving gifts at Christmas,

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birthdays, or any time often lifts my spirits.

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And so I work hard at trying to find just the

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right gifts. Speaking of birthdays, we're almost

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there. The day we celebrate the birthday of our

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Savior. I like to consider, therefore, what Jesus

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might like for me. as a birthday gift. And I

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thought of several things. As I mentioned, each

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desirable gift our Lord might like, take note

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of something you might want to give him. You

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can do all of them, but for sure, just, you know,

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which one really stands out that maybe this is

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what Jesus would love to receive from you as

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a birthday gift. First, my heart. This is the

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most important one. And if I had only one gift

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to give, this would be it. He says his greatest

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desire is that we would love him with our whole

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heart, mind, soul, and strength. And that is

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with our whole being, with everything that we

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are, he desires our heart to be his, that we

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would love him. He desires to be first in our

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affections. That is king of our hearts. And as

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I grow to love him like that, then I am ready

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to give him these other additional gifts. But

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they will often flow out of, I've given my heart

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to the Lord. The next gift for Jesus is my will.

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Actually, this one's pretty hard for me. even

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still, because growing up, my greatest desire

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was always to have my own way. And my family

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would agree with that, and that I actually usually

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got my own way. But meeting God, I said, I think

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I choose your way. And throughout my walk with

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him, we've had many conversations about my way

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or his way. I sometimes lobby for my good ideas,

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but he has convinced me that his way is always

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better than my way. There have been some difficult,

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very difficult times to give him my will, to

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choose his way over mine. When I was planning

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to go work on a magazine, I had to choose God's

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way, which was to work with the ministry I'm

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a part of. And then he let me work on a magazine.

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So he was so kind. And then another time where

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I had to choose his way over mine, I was dating

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this guy, Steve Douglas, for five years. And

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people said, give up on him, give up on him.

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And I said, okay, I'm done. And I said, Lord,

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I'm done. I can't wait any longer. And the Lord

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said, wait. Don't give up. Don't quit. He was

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so worth waiting for. Without a doubt, it works

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best when I surrender willingly. So he asked

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for our will. He also asked for my hands. Now

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that seems a little funny. I always say I don't

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do hands. That is, I don't make things or draw

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things or build things or fix things. I just

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do words, not hands. And so when God... ask for

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my hands. It reminds me of his conversation with

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Moses when Moses said, I can't speak well. I

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can't go to Pharaoh and tell him what you want

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me to say. And God said, what's in your hand,

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Moses? And Moses looked, and in his hand was

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his shepherd's staff. And God said, that's what

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we'll use. And sure enough. God did use that

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shepherd to bring down plagues on the Egyptians,

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to part the Red Sea, to provide water from a

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rock for the people. His response to me, give

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me your hands, the gifts that I have given you,

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and I will amaze you with how I will use you.

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He also asked for my feet. Seriously, he wants

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my feet? He does. That is, he wants me to be

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willing to put my feet in motion, to go wherever

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he asks me to go. That might be to a physical

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place or an opportunity like doing a podcast.

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It might be someplace scary or uncomfortable

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or to get engaged in a challenging relationship.

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He says. I know you don't know where I'm going

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to send you, but I know this. I know that he

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has promised to go with me. The first words he

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said to me almost after my husband moved to heaven

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last year, and I said, how am I going to live

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without him? And the Lord said, I will be with

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you. And he has been. And so whether it's our

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prodigal or... going someplace scary, or just

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circumstances that happen. He says, whatever

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it is, wherever you go, where I'm taking you,

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I am with you. So he wants our feet. Now, those

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gifts are fairly tangible to understand, our

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heart and our hands and our feet and our will.

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Those are the things that he asks for us. But

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then there are some other things that he would

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really love to see us giving him. These are gifts

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that have to do with how we relate to him. It's

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more about relationship than just knowing him

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and letting him work. And the first one is trusting.

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He asks us to trust him. Jesus talked often of

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the power of faith, of believing who he is and

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what he is like. He tells us to have faith. He

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asked the disciples, even as he still asks us,

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where is your faith? He says nothing is impossible

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to those who have faith, who will trust him.

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Author Brendan Manning, in his wonderful book,

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Ruthless Trust. describes trust as faith in action.

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When I put feet to my faith, my belief in Jesus,

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I entrust myself, my life, my needs, my fears,

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my hopes and dreams, even my prodigal to him.

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Trusting him is saying, I believe that you're

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God and you're good. We're going to talk about

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that next week. So trusting is a gift he would

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love us to have all the time. Another one is

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obeying. In our relationships, we often look

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for proof of love from others in their actions.

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If you love me, you will. And sometimes we don't

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say that, but it's kind of how we are thinking

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a lot of times. If you love me, you wouldn't

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do that. But if you love me, you will. do this.

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And Jesus also looks for action that demonstrates

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that our love is true. He says in John 14, if

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you love me, you will obey my teaching. That's

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not always easy, but he says his teachings provide

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the how -tos for life and health and joy and

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meaning. And our obedience to what he's teaching,

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what he's asking of us, that obedience says to

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God, I love you. I trust you. And it brings him

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great joy as well as amazing benefits to us.

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And then he asks us to be loving. The greatest

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commandment we are to obey is to love God with

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your whole being. and love others as you love

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yourself. When our greatest love belongs to Jesus,

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he is pleased, but he desires that our love for

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him lead to love for others. A new command I

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give you, love one another. Love as I have loved

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you. Whoa, whoa, whoa. That's almost impossible.

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Love like Jesus? How did Jesus show us love?

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Oh, yeah, he laid down his life. He went to the

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cross. But he asks us to love others like he

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has loved us, to be there for them, to care about

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them, to be there when they need someone, to

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serve them, to give, to whatever is needed. And

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he promises to go with us. The primary way that

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we lay down our lives in love is by giving time

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or help or money or encouragement. Jesus really

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likes this gift, and we often receive back more

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than we give. And then thanking, thanking. Scripture's

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pretty clear about this gift. In everything,

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give thanks, for this is God's will for you in

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Christ Jesus. You've heard me say this before,

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I know. Say thank you in everything? That makes

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no sense. How do you say thank you for tragedies,

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betrayals, losses, disappointments, a lost prodigal,

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even the smallest pains of life? Because God

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is God and God is good. Saying thank you is one

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more way we express trust in God that he cares

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about us and will work even terrible things for

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our good. Another gift that gives back. God loves

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as we give, as we surrender, as we say yes, as

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we give these gifts to him, they all give back

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to us. And so it's kind of a... selfish thing

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that we get to do. We get to give, but God's

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going to give to us in return. And of course,

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the best gift, the one that makes all the others

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possible, finishes the song, What Can I Give

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Him? Give Him My Heart. So don't wait till Christmas,

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which I know is soon. Wrap these gifts up right

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now and offer them to your Father in heaven.

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I have a sweet Christmas gift for you. A new

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playlist I call Music for the Hard Times. I think

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it will be helpful through any hard times that

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you're experiencing with your prodigal or otherwise.

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And it will encourage you and lift you up, I

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believe. And you can find it in the show notes.

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Just click on it and you can listen to some.

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amazing songs that will be just what you want

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in these hard times. So let me summarize. It's

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Christmas, it's the birthday of Jesus, and we

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get to celebrate him by giving him the gifts

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that will be most meaningful to him. Our hearts,

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our will, one of the hardest, our feet, our hands,

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just trusting him. Believing, trusting him, what

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a gift that is. Obeying, that's the next thing

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that happens. Loving him and others. And learning

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to thank in all things. So I pray that this Christmas

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will be so beautiful for you, that there will

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be new connections with your prodigal. new ways

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to show love, new ways that you see this person

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responding to the Lord, and that your relationship

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with God will develop and grow and deepen during

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this Christmas time, especially as you offer

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him the gifts that will please him so much. Thank

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you. God bless you.