Progression to Destruction

I was meditating on the story of the Prodigal Son one day and believe I had some revelation. I want to share with you the progressive steps to destruction so you can be on guard in your own life. Each step is progressive, but you will not have one step without the other. It is very intertwined.

1) Broken Fellowship
2) Broken Relationship
3) Ungrateful
4) Unteachable
5) Isolation
6) Resentment
7) Bitterness

When a person decides they know best for their life.....the destruction begins. We make our own plans and succumb to our desires for what we want and think is best for us. 1 John 2:15-17 tells us to "15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever".

Are we fulfilling the lust of our flesh, the lust of our eyes, or our pride of life? Be on guard. The Bible tells us to "Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of life" (Proverbs 4:23). If you don't guard your heart, the world will creep in and our focus will be off. When our focus gets off fellowship with the Father and His saints, the destruction begins. It's very subtle. The fellowship with the Father doesn't just break overnight. The fellowship with our brothers and sisters doesn't just break suddenly...unless we get offended and walk away.

We withdraw from the normal fellowship for many reasons. We get offended and cut off relationships. We get too busy....even doing good. If the enemy gets us too busy for fellowship and relationships, he knows it will weaken us. He knows that as we encourage each other in "our most holy faith", we will be stronger. We get sidetracked..."distraction"...one of the enemy's favorite tactics. Our earthly "circumstances" distract us from our focus on God's power and Truth. We surround ourselves with things and/or people that are "easy" to be around so no "Iron sharpens iron; so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend [to show rage or worthy purpose]" (Proverbs 27:17). We decide not to love the "unlovely" and make our lives as comfortable as possible. After all, we're tired of the battling, right?

If the fellowship doesn't grow, the relationship weakens. When the fellowship is broken the relationships weaken or are broken as well. We withdraw from our fellowship with God and those who He has placed in our lives to strengthen us. It then doesn't take much to have broken relationships, because other works of the flesh have the open door to creep into our lives full force.

We then get resentful, bitter, ungrateful. Someone didn't treat us right. Someone hurt us. We resent their authority. We resent their behavior. We judge them. That root of bitterness begins to grow the minute any resentment is present. We complain about "their" behavior or our circumstances, etc. That is ungratefulness. We become ungrateful for the things God has done through other people and even become ungrateful to Him for all He has done for us. We withdraw even more and go further away from our "source" of strength...our Father and the people in our lives.

When a person has reached this point, they are unteachable. There is nothing "humanly" possible you can do. You pray and love them unconditionally, but the Holy Spirit has to break them. So, you might as well shut your mouth. Whatever you say, will bring up more judgment and resentment in them. They will not "receive" your words into their spirit. If you open your mouth, be sure you are being used as an instrument of the Holy Spirit.

They will isolate themselves, maybe not physically, but they are behind their walls nonetheless....insulating. They have become the "Prodigal Son". And this isolation, as you can see, isn't always a bad thing.

I'm reminded of a phrase in 1 Kings 12:
"24Thus saith the LORD, Ye shall not go up, nor fight against your brethren the children of Israel: return every man to his house; for this thing is from me. They hearkened therefore to the word of the LORD, and returned to depart, according to the word of the LORD".

“For this thing is from me”……This division? This isolation? Yes! It’s for His purposes. He is the only One Who knows what it will take for some people to turn around. He is the only One Who knows what it will take to form them into the image of His Son.

In this isolation, the Prodigal Son, “came to himself” or “came to the end of him self”. That’s where we all need to be. Only when we come to the end of “self”, do we go back to the Father and stop trying to do it ourselves. No amount of counseling or deliverance can ever crucify our flesh. That is a decision we have to make on our own on a regular basis. We must “daily” crucify the flesh so we won't get off course by the pride of life, lust of the eyes, and lust of the flesh...down the road to destruction.