Hope for the backslider.

Introduction

Have you found yourself slipping back into old sins?

Hearing a voice in your head telling you that it is too late for you, and that you have gone too far to be saved?

If you have backslidden – there is hope for you – just as there was hope for the Prodigal Son. We serve a GOD of mercy and no matter how far you have gone you can still come back. If you have missed the mark and want to come back to the LORD you have not came upon this blog post by chance. The LORD is calling you back to Him precious child of GOD; so read on and be exhorted to return to our Creator who is ready to accept with open arms all those who are willing to repent.

The lies that sin tells us.

In one of the parables that Jesus left us in the gospels, a son of a wealthy family goes off to a faraway land in search of a life of pleasure and abandonment. He takes his inheritance early from his father and spends it all on prostitutes and partying. He reached rock bottom and found himself working as a farmhand feeding pigs. Not quite the glamorous lifestyle he had anticipated. For a Hebrew man pigs are seen as unclean animals, so having to touch and feed them as a job would be considered to be about as low as things can get. The Prodigal Son had left behind a life in his father’s house where even the servants lived better than he was living now, all because he wanted to go after a life of sin. That is the thing about sin – it never delivers what it promises and it will even take from you whatever you do have.

The devil only comes to steal, kill and destroy and he offers nothing in return. The sin promised him a life of pleasure and fun but all he found was humiliation and poverty; the sin promised him freedom and delivered only bondage. The Prodigal Son was now completely broke and alone in a foreign country. He still needed to pay his way somehow so he found himself in a situation where he was forced to take any job he could find: this was how he ended up working on the pig farm. The devil had whispered in his ear that the whoremongering and booze would all be worth it, but after all was said and done his riotous living did nothing for his soul – he was left empty and defeated.

The Prodigal Son Returns Home

Does this mean it was over for the Prodigal Son? Not at all. When he decided that he would return to his father, even if it meant working as a servant, his father accepted him. And if the prodigal son’s father accepted him back, how much more so will your own Heavenly Father receive you back into His arms O you wayward and backsliding sinner? Realise that there is no joy to be found in sin – no solace – and that these things: the peace that passes all understanding, and the joy of the Holy Ghost can only be found in GOD. Being at the side of GOD is not a place of restriction where we are forced to follow rules it is a place of freedom. That is the deception at play here. It is not being a child of GOD that puts us in bondage; it is sin, but the devil tries to tell us it is the other way around. In this life we can choose to either be the slave of the LORD or the slave of the devil, we have no other alternative. Might as well be a slave of Jesus for His yoke is easy and His burden is light, amen.

Hope for the backslider

If you have sunk deep into the mire of sin and fear there is no way out for you now, fear not, for the LORD Jesus is strong enough to pull you out no matter how far you have fallen. Where sin abounds, grace abounds ever the more my child and it does not matter how great your sins are, we serve a Creator who is greater and He will in no wise cast anyone out who comes before Him with a broken-heart and a contrite spirit.

Draw close to the LORD and He will draw close to you. Return to Him and He will cleanse your soul, purify your heart and make you into a vessel of honour suitable for being used again by the Master. In returning to the LORD He will not only accept you back as servants but just like the father did in the parable of the Prodigal Son He will reinstate you as a full son or daughter with all the privileges that that entails. Father GOD is ready to kill the fatted calf to celebrate your return. Glory be to GOD. Do not be ashamed to come to the Father for forgiveness but come boldly to the throne room of GOD, knowing that His mercy endures from everlasting to everlasting upon those that love Him and are called according to His purpose.

You may have backslid my brother, my sister – but you have not gone too far. Abandon those sinful ways which cannot save you, which only offer you pleasure for a season but will ultimately lead to death, and come back to the LORD Jesus who is the only way, the truth and the life. It is in His presence that there is fullness of joy and at His right hand where there are pleasures forever more. Following Jesus does not mean forgoing a life of pleasure, on the contrary, it is in the presence of GOD where the only true pleasure is found. The pleasure that the world gives is fleeting and tinged with regret, whereas the pleasure that is found in the LORD is pure and everlasting. Come back to the LORD who actually delivers everything that the devil lies and tells you that he will give you. You have not lost your place in the kingdom of GOD – ignore the devil’s lies. Our Heavenly Father is just waiting for you to return to Him. We serve a GOD who honours our free will. He will not force you to come back until you are ready. He will prompt you and remind you with His Holy Spirit who will prick your conscience with a desire to return, but ultimately the decision is ours. It will fall upon us whether we return from our backsliding or not.

Conclusion

If you have backslidden and this post is relevant to you then just know that GOD can and will still forgive you. As long as there is still breath in your lungs there is hope for any backslider. It does not matter if you have been away from GOD for twenty years or twenty hours – return to the LORD and confess your sins and He will cleanse you of all unrighteousness. Call upon the name of the LORD Jesus today. Lay those sins that have so easily ensnared you at the foot of the cross and He will put them as far away from you as east is from the west: He will cleanse you with His refining fire making you acceptable to the Father once more. Blessed be the LORD Jesus. If you are in this backsliding state then do not delay. Let nothing stop you from returning to the Father who more than willing to kill that fatted calf and prepare a feast for you right now, placing a ring on your finger and accepting you with loving arms back into the fold, not as a servant but as a precious and long-missed son.