Good Morning, Blogging Family! Thank you so much for following this series of previews from Hello, God. I hope they have been encouraging to you! Today’s clip was inspired by the application section from two chapters that look at the parable of the Prodigal Son and examine how our relationships with others are often a litmus test for how closely we are walking with the Lord.

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USE IT OR LOSE IT:

1. Have you ever been tempted to react like the angry older brother in Jesus’s story? Why or why not? 
2. Micah 7:18-19 is a beautiful picture of how God forgives us. In the days that followed, God helped me to pray it for each one of the people I needed to forgive, thanking God that He was willing to forgive them and asking Him to help me offer them the same no-strings-attached forgiveness that I’d received.  Depending on your own situation, use the following verses as prayer inspiration for yourself or someone else:

“Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity
    and passing over transgression
    for the remnant of his inheritance?
He does not retain his anger forever,
    because he delights in steadfast love.
He will again have compassion on us;
    he will tread our iniquities underfoot.
You will cast all our sins
    into the depths of the sea.”

3.  Many of us will identify with elements of both the Lost Son and the Angry Older Brother, which is why I believe Jesus includes both characters in His story. No matter which character you identified with the most at the outset of this study, be open to what the Lord may be trying to show you as you return to the story prayerfully over a period of time. Asking God open-ended questions like, “Which character am I?” and not setting parameters on His answers is another step in growing in your conversations together. 

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