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You know, have you ever watched one of those movies where it doesn't use the words and everybody lived happily ever after? But that's kind of how it it always ends.
Yeah, it's like like a sitcom.
It ends. Everybody's good.
I feel like I'm thinking of, like, The Wizard of Oz. You know? Where there, like a shot where they're walking away and then, like, the curse of the end starts getting right up on the screen while happy music is playing in the background? Yeah, something like that.
Well, everything gets tied into a nice bow. It's kind of like the hallmark thing. Like the guy always gets the girl. You know, there's some struggle along the way, but they end up together and.
You know it before the movie's over.
And you're like, why can't life kind of be like that? Sometimes, you know, that it just sort of the predictable ending, the way that we'd like it to go. You know, I had an interesting conversation with my son a couple weeks ago. I picked him up from school. He's in middle school, he's in sixth grade, and he got in the car and he was a little ticked off, and he's pretty demonstrative. So how was your day? I'm frustrated. Okay, well. What's that? I'm just mad right now.
All right, buddy, let's break this down.
You want to explain why you were mad? And so he starts to tell me he was in some class, and they're not supposed to be on YouTube and other websites during the school day.
Sure makes sense.
I think most of it gets blocked, but the stuff there's still like workarounds. Oh yeah. So you're not supposed to be doing anything on the internet that's not directly related to your schoolwork. Fair rule. Here was the problem, though. He he had gotten, you know, redirected and back on task because he had finished early and was trying to do other stuff like watch something on YouTube. And so it was teachers like, you can't be doing that. So he, you know, got off and read a book, but he
looks over and he sees we'll call him Jake. Jake's over here and Jake's on YouTube. And not only does the teacher see that he's on YouTube, she pretty much is allowing him to do it. And there's no problem.
That makes me mad.
My son who's high. This is many of most of what frustrates him is when things don't seem fair.
Absolutely.
So he was mad. He was like, Jake gets in trouble all the time, and it's basically like he gets rewarded. He's off in the corner watching YouTube and not only is he not being stopped, he's got like the free hall pass. Get out of jail free to just do what he wants. And so he was so angry about this. And I was trying to explain to him, like, look, sometimes like, let's be honest, teachers have limited capacity. Teachers
are actual people too. So she probably is just like, do what you need to do because we need to keep the whole class moving. Like, she probably gave up the fight that day and I can't say I blame her. Right.
Yes. Yeah.
And so he then it got kind of deep. He was like, I feel like I try to do the right thing. And what's the point? Because it kind of feels like the kids who do the wrong things, they pretty much get rewarded for it. They get to do what they want. They don't get in trouble for it. So I'm kind of feeling like it doesn't really matter if I try.
It's a hard thing to wrestle with and it doesn't get any easier.
No it doesn't.
I thought, huh. And so, you know, we I tried to wrestle down some of these really big sixth grade emotions about the injustices of the world as seen through his lens. You know, life's kind of like that. You can feel like I'm over here trying to do the right thing. God, you see those people over there? They don't seem to be even trying. And yet. Huh? Things seem to be going a lot better for them than
they are for me. Yeah, that's a real emotion. Where I landed with my son, I try to give him like a principle or a phrase or things that he can kind of take with him. And I told him, look, I know that it doesn't feel like doing the right thing brings the payoff sometimes. I said, but trust me, it's worth it to play the long game. I said, play the long game. Don't worry about the short term. Hey, he gets to be on YouTube for a day. I said, getting what you want because the teachers sort of given
up for the day. That's not a win. Maybe it feels like a temporary win. I said, play the long game. Coming up, I'm going to go to a really a passage of scripture in Psalm that really ministered to me what it looks like as a Christian to play the long game.
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You know, so much of the Christian life I think is playing the long game.
Yeah, I think so too. There's a lot of waiting.
It's a lot of waiting. There's a lot of trusting in the Word of God and knowing that we may not see the immediate payoff. Yeah, right.
Often not.
I mean, and there's the what we do get to see in the immediate is kind of the unseen. We get to see the unseen. Yeah. You know, the the peace of knowing that you're right with God. A clear conscience when you go to sleep at night knowing that you've not done perfectly, but that by God's grace you're fighting for integrity, to be a person of character, to Make the decisions to honor God, to turn from evil to when you miss the mark. Keep short accounts like
there's a there's a there's an intangible. There's a peace that comes with that kind of living. Right where you just just sleep better at night.
It's a freedom, right? Absolute freedom in Christ.
Go to Psalm 37. I found this to be just so. I mean, all of Scripture is so rich, but different passages hit you differently at different times depending on what's going on in your life. Psalm 37 has been a real blessing to me. It says, fret not yourself because of evildoers. Be not envious of wrongdoers, for they will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb. Trust in the Lord and do good. Dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord and
he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord. Trust in him and he will act. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light and your justice as the noonday. Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him. Fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices. Refrain from anger and forsake wrath. Fret not yourself. It tends only to evil. For the evildoers shall be cut off. For those who
wait for the Lord shall inherit the land. That's verse one through nine of a really incredibly powerful psalm. And this phrase, fret not yourself, is repeated a couple times. You know, another translation says, do not worry. Don't worry about evildoers. Don't be jealous of wrongdoers. They will soon fade like the grass. In other words, the perceived prosperity or the perceived wins of a person who chooses to go against God's way is It's temporary. It will fade.
There is no lasting gain when you go against God. And I don't think you cling to a Psalm like this with, like, God's going to get them. That person over there who got that promotion over me, even though they're they're shaving time off and the boss doesn't even know.
No clue. Come on. I don't think.
I don't think we lord it over people like that.
No, but.
We hold to the principle that waiting on God brings rewards.
And I mean, the person who wrote this, David, is probably one of the most experienced people in waiting on God. And seeing the wicked prosper through the.
Wicked prosper.
You know?
Yeah.
The time it took from when he was anointed to when he became king was 15 years. And God said, I'm going to make you king. But through those 15 years, he's actively, uh, the old king is actively trying to kill him.
Exactly.
And it doesn't look like what God had promised was going to come true at all. There's a lot of waiting, a lot of hurt.
A.
Lot of waiting, a lot of trusting. Coming up, I went through this whole Psalm and I just kind of put into different categories these principles. What does it look like to wait on God? What are the principles of the payoff versus what will happen to those who go against God? Even if it looks like right now they prosper? That's coming up.
He was sharing the gospel on the radio and then he got saved. Young thunders in the crew. It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
Sometimes we wish we could speed up the rewards like or have it be more predictable. Like today I showed up to work on time. I worked really hard. I tried to honor God and was diligent with my work. Tomorrow I would like to get a promotion. Maybe. Maybe that's how you feel.
Sure, right?
Sure.
That's certainly how my son feels.
How come you get one? And Jonathan and I don't. Exactly. Right, right, right.
I am doing the right thing over here, and I don't feel like it's paying off. Meanwhile, there are other kids, and I don't feel like they're doing the right thing. But yet it seems like they're getting special privileges. They get special access. And what's the point? That was what my 12 year old son was wrestling with. Why do I bother to try to do the right thing at school?
Because it doesn't seem like it really matters. Psalm 37 is so chock full of these principles of what it looks like to wait on God and see the ultimate payoff for that, versus what it looks like to be opposed to God, to be an evildoer or a wrongdoer, and maybe see some temporary success, but ultimately know that there's no lasting power to it. So let me just go through this. I went through this whole chapter and I want to first talk about the wrongdoer, the evildoer,
the wicked. All of those terms are used to describe somebody who is going against God. They will fade and wither. They will be cut off. They will have no inheritance. They will be broken. They will see their evil plans ultimately thwarted or turned against themselves. They will perish. They will have no future. They will be destroyed. They will be cut off. It's like.
Whoa!
It's pretty intense. The immediate context of this, this was, as Jonathan mentioned, this is a Psalm of David. So he is speaking to this is the remnant of Israel, the faithful ones. So the inheritance spoken of is actually the inheritance of the land of Israel. But certainly these
principles are can be much more broadly applied. So for the faithful, the ones who trust in the Lord, the ones who dwell in the land, the ones who befriend faithfulness, who delight themselves in the Lord, who commit their way to the Lord, who wait for him, who fret not over evildoers. What are the principles or the the assurances for those for that group? Well, he will give them the desires of their heart. He will act on their behalf.
He will bring forth righteousness and justice. That group will inherit the land. They will delight in abundant peace. They will see the little that they have may be feels little compared to the abundance of the wicked. But that little. Oh, it will be blessed. They will be upheld. They will have a heritage that remains forever. They will not be put to shame in evil times. They will have abundance even in famine. The ability to be generous and give.
They will see their steps established and upheld by the Lord. They will be protected. Even when they stumble and fall. They will not be forsaken. They will see children blessed and provided for. They will be preserved. They will dwell forever. They will utter wisdom in words of justice. Their steps will not slip. They will be protected, not abandoned to the plans of the wicked. They will ultimately see the wicked cut off. They will have a future. They will
have a stronghold. In times of trouble. They will see their help and their deliverance. Just think about that for a minute. I paraphrased a lot of that just directly out of Psalm, but when I think about the weight of that, it gives me great confidence in following God today. That choosing to go God's way, even if there's a cost, it feels like it's costly. Even if it feels like short term. I'm giving up something. Man, that gives me great assurance that it it it's worth it.
Yeah. Even before all that stuff comes and is fully realized. You know, I think about just the fact of like the, the presence of the Lord is with me. While I'm waiting, while I'm hurting, I know he sees me. I know he loves me. And I know he's with me. Yeah, and. And that in and of itself is more than I could ever ask for. And then all that other amazing stuff comes to. It's a blessing.
It's the reward.
For the faithful. And this week, we're just going through some of these very simple, basic principles of the faith that if you have been in church, in Christ, even for a little bit of time, this is not new to you, but maybe you needed to be reminded today that it's worth waiting on God. It's worth forsaking evil and going his way.
Yeah. You know, at the beginning of this conversation, you mentioned the movies that kind of have the happily ever
after scene at the end. You know, I think that sometimes we think we're not going to get that because we're Judging our lives at the wrong part of the movie, saying that death here on earth is is the part where the movie fades to black, but the part where the ending really comes is when we're with him, where all of this will be fully realized in its beauty, where the wicked will no longer prosper, and where the righteous will live with him in joy forever. And that's
where the movie will fade to black. So it may not be in this life where everything that you've lived out is fully realized. But it will be it. 100% will be.
Yep.
Play the long game. Play the long game today. Wait on God. Trust in him. We will see a reward.
A basketball mom who's mastered the dad joke. Ali is in the crew. It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
Did you know what day it was?
Uh, let me think. It's April 30th, so it's not a holiday.
It's your favorite day of the week.
Mine.
Uh huh.
Why is it my favorite day of the week?
Because Ali thinks it's funny.
Making herself laugh no matter who joins her. It's time for Ali. Thinks it's funny.
Sure, Ali.
We'll go with that.
Notice how I turned that?
Wow, that was just dry delivery.
You know, Jonathan secretly does wait for these jokes. He does. He tries to pretend he doesn't like them. He came. Then he. And you can see him grabbing his phone and trying to discreetly text jokes so that he can get them, and nobody knows every week.
That's the funniest thing we've said today. I'm lying.
He does it discreetly. My kids hate my jokes. Full disclosure I have tried like. And I'll think I know a lot of them that they won't like, but I'll think I'll have a good one. Like, guys, listen to this joke I told on air today. They're like, mom, that's not funny. Every time these aren't for your average 15 and 12 year old. I'll just put it that way. Or at least not the ones related to me because they're not laughing at anything. But I digress. First up,
today I always give you two jokes. Twin boys. You know any set of twin boys?
Twin boys? No, not twin boys.
Any. Any sets of twin boys?
Twin girls?
No, not boys specifically.
If you have a set of twin boys, just text me and say I do. 800 555, 78, 98. This is a joke about twin boys. Why did the twin boys decide to join the Air Force? The twin boys, we'll call him Danny and Johnny decided to join the Air Force. Why?
Don't have names.
I don't.
Know. I don't know.
To become a paratroopers.
Oh my goodness.
You don't get it? Oh, I get it. Jonathan, do you get it? I do, I do. Okay.
I is six out of ten.
A little lower. Five.
Okay. Five. All right, let's go for a strong seven here. Did you know? Fun fact that laughing too loud is illegal in Hawaii? There's a law on the books. You cannot laugh above a certain volume.
Oh. That's sad.
There's a good reason for it, though. They only allow aloha.
Kalikimaka is the thing to say on a bright aloha.
We got it. Aloha. I get it. We got it. Text jokes to 800 555, 7898. Where did you find this song?
When you said grab some Hawaiian music. Kalikimaka is the only thing I could.
Think of that was not what I was expecting. Text jokes to 805 five five 7898 is Hawaii. This is.
Throwing me.
Tex jokes.
800 555 7898. A little insider radio thing. I never give them a preview of the jokes, but I will sometimes tell Jonathan find this song and then he doesn't get it until I tell the joke, right.
I'm not sure where you're going.
I thought when I said grab Hawaiian music, I was thinking like, you're kind of like relaxing on a beach. Sort of.
I mean, that's fair. You know, I so I, I grabbed initially some, some ukulele music. Yeah. But I was like, I, I'm thinking about jokes and I'm like, I don't want to have something to like, uh, like serious. And so I was like, okay, maybe Mili Kalikimaka is the right way.
Oh, Texas jokes 805.
Five five 7898 jokes to 800 555 7898. That was that was good.
I mean, my brain moves in mysterious ways.
So yes, it does. We'll go with that.
We'll end there.
This is Micah Tyler.
I see Grace. Thanks for your grace.
With those jokes on this Wednesday morning.
He was running from God, but God's love brought him home. Carl is in the crew. It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
You ever.
Heard the expression, but for the grace of God, there go.
I. Yeah.
I love to when we get reminded. Sometimes it's painful to get reminded. But sometimes you get reminded of where you would be without God, without the grace of God.
Absolutely we do.
And it keeps you from judging too quickly, too harshly.
Yes.
Because you see people making decisions or choices or mistakes and it's easy to pass judgment. Then you step back and go, if it wasn't for God's grace, what would my life look like?
Exactly.
We can't trick ourselves into into thinking that we got here because of something that we did.
And let's not be so professional in our Christianity that we somehow think. that it's us doing this, keeping us from train, wrecking our life.
That's so dangerous.
Yeah. God. God got me started. But once I kind of got in it with him, I got going. And it was then kind of me. No, it's not.
It's not us keeping us running the race. Well, do we have a part to play? Absolutely. Are clinging to the Lord. But don't underestimate the power of grace in your life. Just a good reminder for me and for you. It's the grace of God. Or who knows where we would be coming up. Maybe your heart is breaking for a child, maybe your own child, maybe a grandchild or someone you love who is away from the Lord. On a path that you know leads to destruction. And you're
trying to help them see. But they won't. They're rebelling. They're determined to go their own way. And it's breaking your heart. Coming up, we've got some encouragement for parents of prodigals from a mom who's been there.
It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
Well, maybe this scenario sounds familiar. You raised your kids in a Christian home. You give them the books and the resources, and they go to Sunday school, and they seem to be doing okay. They're faithful church attenders. They go to the youth group, maybe even they lead. But then as they get into their late teens, early adult years, something shifts and all of a sudden your Christian kids go off the rails. This is a story that we
hear so often from parents. The heartbreak that comes with having a prodigal and despite your best intentions, your children or your child is away from the Lord. This is a story that my guest knows all too well. In fact, this happened to all three of your children despite being raised in a Christian home. Had a prodigal season Elaine lost and craft joining us right now. Give me your story.
Well, in the short of it, I did not grow up thinking that this would be what I'm doing about, uh, late 30s. I had the Lord come in and resurrected our dead marriage. And the reason I mentioned that is that was when we really pivoted from a religious type mindset to a deeply personal relationship, because we got to see the power of God move through our marriage. Well, fast forward a few years. The Lord took me out of a secular entrepreneur to going into the mission field,
and that ended up into a national magazine. Why I mentioned that is while I thought I was doing everything the Lord purposed me to do, my three children were facing the darkness of the world and it involved drugs, alcohol, porn and depression anxiety. The arsenal of the demons were after my children.
Now, when you're parenting and you're attempting to raise your children in the ways of the Lord, you can often feel a sense of failure. If your children go through difficult seasons, did you feel that that the the enemy try to pounce and make you feel like somehow you had failed?
Absolutely. That's why I shared that brief story, because there was not only failure, but I felt such shame. I mean, here I am, you know, in what I feel my divine purpose. God rescued and resurrected my marriage. And yet my three children were continuing to make self-destructive choices over and over again. And I was like, okay, who can I share this with? Because you're almost embarrassed. Then you feel like a failure. And I'll tell you, it's very isolating.
Lane Lawson Kraft is our guest. Right now, she's a speaker, host of the top ranked podcast Warfare Parenting, best selling author of several books, including Warfare Parenting A Daily Battle Plan to Fight for Your Child. Now, you discovered that traditional methods, or things that are taught about raising teenagers seem to be insufficient. What did you discover that prompted you to kind of change your approach to how you fought for your kids?
I think the biggest moment was when I realized that I wasn't fighting with that rebellious teen or that child that kept making these choices, that was destroying their destiny. The aha moment for me was when I realized I was fighting the enemy, and I realized, this is a spiritual warfare. It says in the scriptures that the enemy comes to seek, kill, and destroy. And boy, did I
see that in my own children. And that's when I realized, yes, I believe in everything to use tools, counseling, whatever you need. But but I will tell you, without the spiritual element, this is a war, and it takes the keys of prayer and connection with God and and leaning into Him and His sovereignty as you journey through and wait for prodigals to return.
So what did this look like for you? Break down these warfare strategies that that you're outlining in this book and on your podcast?
The strategies? I would think the first one is what I shared is about prayer. I went from these little prayers, you know, oh, father, be with them to dear God, I need you in more ways than I've ever needed you. Lord, please give me the wisdom to guide these children and the patience not to elevate the situation we're in. And I began to pray in the power of the blood of Christ. You know, we don't talk about the blood of Christ much anymore. And I found that that absolutely
was essential. So I would take a paintbrush and dip it into the blood of Christ at the cross. And I would paint it in my mind on each of my children on their backs. And I would say, Father God, in the name of Jesus and the power of the blood, please give them protection and your wisdom. And I believe with everything in me that opened the windows of heaven.
So how can parents maintain these honest connections with their children who are making destructive choices? How do you maintain the relationship and continue to extend the love without condoning harmful choices?
I think that's the hardest part. I'm not going to mamby pamby that either. I mean, listen, when your kids are continuing to break your heart, when your kids are living in a lifestyle that you know is not God's best, it's really difficult. But I did learn. I learned to treat them in a way that you see them broken. Instead of seeing them rebellious, look at them as the needing God in the most incredible ways. I say often when our children are the most unlovable is, ironically, when
they need love the most. So I just challenge parents to use the eternal lens, the the lens of God in Christ and and look at that child as man. Something is wrong. And how can I reach out to them in an unconditional way that they feel the love, but they also know I am not saying the choices you're making are the right ones.
Give us an update on on what God did in your own journey with your with your children.
In a personal way. It was so amazing. Very, very true to the prodigal son. I was so elated to see each one of my children get delivered and whole and set free. And now they're all thriving adults. They walked into the path of entrepreneurship like their dad and myself. And what's incredible, and I know you see it every day. Once someone has been touched with the power of God in an intimate way, which all three of my children had a personal touch from God. You're never the same.
And so they all have a fire, a Holy Spirit fire to reach out to their peers, their friends, the people they work with, and literally the people on the side of the street. They will stop and pray and believe for God to touch them too.
What message would you give to parents, particularly to those who maybe are in an estranged relationship with a child, or maybe who've lost a prodigal. And they hear. They hear your hope and what could be considered a happy ending. And there's still so much pain because they haven't experienced it. Or maybe they can't anymore.
Yes, I touch on that in the parents battle plan warfare strategies to win back your prodigal. That is where all of this message began. And in that book there's a chapter. And it's when the worst happens, when the miracle you expected and you prayed for didn't happen. My greatest thing I told the Lord is I did not want to approach this in a Pollyanna. You know, if you do this, they'll come home. Listen, with fentanyl poisoning, we've got fentanyl poisoning, we've got suicide rates and depression.
So I want to first just say if in fact, you've lost your prodigal. Possibly in the natural. I want you to know the miracle you prayed for might not be there, but the miracle is that your still moving and thriving through the power of Christ. And there's a lot of free resources on the website that they can glean and learn from.
Excellent. If you want more from our guest today, Laine Lawson. She's got a book. She's got a podcast. Just text the word fight. I know this is going to be an encouragement to a lot of you who are parenting a prodigal child. Text fight to 800 555 7898. Text fight to 800 555 7898.
Your shot of hope to help you through the day. This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
There's something so special about the mom child relationship, whether it's a biological mom or a mom figure, the person who loves and nourishes and cares, we've got a giveaway coming up that I want to make sure you know about. You know, just a quick story that I have this thing with my kids where we have what we call an age hug.
That means age hug.
An age hug, which means I'm gonna hug you and count to however however old you are. So for my daughter, an age hug is a 15 second hug. And for my son, it's 12. So one night, my son, he's like, can I have an age hug?
Or.
And I said.
Yeah, but then.
Here's the kicker. He said, but let's do your age because you're old.
It's sweet. It's so sweet. But yeah, it's a little wait a minute.
That's a good.
Son, though. It was.
So funny. But then I thought, oh, he wants a hug.
That's sweet.
He wants to.
Go.
More than 12 because he's going to go up to mom's age. Because mom's old enough that we're gonna hug for a good long while, buddy. Because I'm.
Old.
You want to bless the mom or the mom figure in your life or win a prize pack for yourself. Hey! Totally legal. Enter and win this for yourself if you'd like. You choose. Just text the word mom. If you want to enter our Moms Day giveaway, text mom to 800 555 7898. Text mom to 800 555 7898. Give somebody an age hug today.
I think that's a really good idea.
I love that idea. I like your age.
It's funny, I was going to say I was like, you know, your kids may not admit it, but they really love that. But no, he admitted it and he said it, and I love that.
I think that's your age. So cute because you're old.
Text mom to 805, 55, 78, 98. And no, I'm not going to tell you how long that that hug lasted.
Oh, man.
We're all.
Wondering. Standing by. Thank you very much. Text the word.
Mom to 800 555 7898. Don't miss this opportunity to bless the mom in your life. Text mom to 800 555 7898.