Roll Call

The lost, the unsaved and the prodigal.

The unsaved are people who have not accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Remember that Jesus was given as a gift of God to save you from His wrath that is coming. He accepted the plans of the Father and has completed the work He had been given.

Often times we think in terms of the lost just being people who don't believe in God. But for every one person that openly declares there is no God there are probably 10 that don't care, don't know, don't think that it matters if they know or not, don't think it's possible to know and know but haven't accepted yet. These are the unsaved.

When Jesus said you are either for me or against me then he divided the world into those that believe that he is who he says he is and those that don't.  The question then is not whether or not you believe there is a God but whether or not you believe who He says He is.

Therefore, there are only two types of people in the eyes of God. We commonly refer to them as the believers and the unbelievers.

Now of course to muddy the waters so to speak there is lots of fighting amongst the unsaved because they have been blinded to the fact that they are in the same boat. They are all fighting on the same sinking ship.

The Prodigal is a believer who has demanded his inheritance from the Father. In the bible it says that we have an inheritance. The prodigal has demanded the inheritance before it's appointed time, taken it and squandered it, and then realized that they would be better off as a servant of the Father's house than they are with the pleasures of the world. The Father of course did not consider the son of the house on his return to be a servant.

When the believer returns to God he is still just as much a son as when he decided to leave in the first place. His position in the family is not set by him but by the Father. If you return to the Father he will return to you.

The Lost are believers who accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior but then have no idea what to do next. Because they don't know what God's will is in their lives they are stuck in a living hell. They know they can't live the previous life and they don't know what the new life looks like. So they wander in the darkness without the wisdom of God, unlearned, untrained and without joy. ( See Sidebar below).

Because they are not sure how to stay in the light where Jesus is, they are subject to false teachers, lies of Satan, and deception of every kind.

They have a hard time understanding the Bible because they read it like a book instead of like a manual. A manual gives user instructions and can be referred to as much as needed until you reach the desired results.

They have a hard time reading the Bible and often times say things like, "I don't think I can feel God." However, God doesn't need to be felt, He needs to be known.

Great stress and anxiety comes with the lack of knowledge of who God is. So, what shall you do?

If you are unsaved, believe!
If you are a prodigal, come home before the door is shut!
If you are lost, ask for wisdom, and get understanding!

If you don't know where to get started then start by following along with this blog. These messages are meant for you. Share them with someone who needs encouragement.

Sidebar: Joy and happiness are not the same thing. Happiness is temporal and based on circumstances. You might say I'm so happy today and then slam you get into a car accident. That's something that can ruin your happy in a moment. You may be happy one minute and then get bad news the next. Christians often times lead very happy lives but never really find joy.

Joy comes from the peace that the Father has given us. It lives outside of your circumstance.

Peace I leave with you, peace I give to you, not as the world gives do I give to you, do not let your heart be troubled nor be afraid -- John 14:27.

Isn't He lovely? Now that's joy!

Joy is unending and if you have it then it will be with you through every circumstance and every kind of news. Joy is knowing that God is faithful.

It doesn't mean He is faithful to remove all of your bad circumstances, no those are necessary for the testing of your faith, but He is faithful to instruct you through them in love, peace and joy.

Count it all joy when you face trials of various kinds--James 1:2