“But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.”

Luke 15:22

The first thing that the prodigal son’s father did when the son returned home was to change his robe. A worn out robe is a symbol of a life of sin. A new robe represents justification through grace. The prophet Zechariah speaks of a vision that he had about the High Priest Joshua. He saw him with ragged clothes, and in the same vision, he saw how his clothes were changed (Zechariah 3:3-4). The prodigal son arrived with ragged clothes, which made it clear that he was not justified before God. Those clothes represented his departure and rebellion against his father. He had been beaten down many times in his life. For every sin he committed, his clothes became more and more ragged. His spiritual condition was also reflected through his clothes. But new clothes meant a new beginning. The old things had passed, and were replaced with the new (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Once I met a man who told me one of the most shocking testimonies I have ever heard. This is what he shared. “The day came when life, money, and family were worthless to me. Nothing made sense. This made me want something new, and I found it in Phencyclidine (PCP), a hallucinogen. It was a new experience that completely sucked me into addiction. A month after I began to use, I was totally transformed and out of my mind. I only lived to feed my addiction. I began a psychiatric process because drug addiction often leads to an incurable mental disease. I was sent to hospital three times in several psychiatric clinics. The psychiatrist’s advice to my father was that I leave home and live in the streets, as being homeless might make me willing to accept the treatment. My father listened, and threw me out of the house. I learned how to live on the street. I would use PCP for about eight days then return home, hurt and dirty. Surprisingly, my mother kept receiving me back and after three days of rest, I would recover, steal something from the house, and restart the cycle. I completely destroyed my family; they ended up leaving the country to flee my drug addiction. When they were leaving, my mother said: “I would have preferred to see him dead. That way, at least I would have known where he was.” I became homeless, and ended up being a resident of one of the most dangerous areas of Bogota, where drugs are consumed freely. There is prostitution, all kinds of sexual filth, and death is present every day. I spent three years of my life there; every day I lived to use drugs or begged for money so I could keep using. I could not spend two hours without drugs, and if I stopped using I would become desperate; I had no peace within me. Then I went to live in a hut I had built in an empty lot where I could sleep; I would spend months without showering. I ate out of trash-cans, blisters grew on my body, and I had no shoes and walked around barefoot. I had hit total rock bottom. I “worked” begging for money and with that I would purchase three days of vice. My life became like that of an animal. I decided to put an end to it all and cut my veins. I fainted, and that was when I felt fear, and I remembered God. I began to cry and I told Him, “God if You exist, if You are real, do something for me.” I was high, and I screamed that if He existed, He should do something for me. Five minutes later the police came. One of them drew close to me and asked me, “Why do you want to kill yourself? Don’t you know about this?” And he showed me the Bible. I told him, “Don’t mock me.” He took me out of there and into a religious police center, and after an hour, they let me go.

“I left walking until I reached the Coliseum where MCI Church was gathering, and because it was full of people, I thought it would be a good place to beg for money. I saw an old lady who asked me, “What do you need?” I made up a story for her to give me some money, and she said, “Sure, I’ll give you some money, but only if you come into this meeting with me.” I told her, “Sure!” We went in and I sat on the first row. You, Pastor Cesar began to preach about the parable of the prodigal son, and I felt like it was the story of my life. He said that there were two sons; one asked for the inheritance, he left home in order to waste it and lost everything, until he was eating with pigs. I kept repeating to myself, “That is me!” Afterward, he said, “There are some people here who have no parents, but I want to tell you, there is a Father in heaven, our Father God.” I began to cry. I wanted my parents; I did not want this life anymore. He said, “Now the son returns to the father’s home and the father sees him from afar and is moved to mercy.” I could not resist any longer! I fell on my knees, hands on the ground, and I asked God for forgiveness for all the evil things I had done, and there I felt the most beautiful embrace, a hug only made out of love. I told God, “Do not touch me. You can’t touch me. I am the filthiest, the vilest…” But even then He was hugging me. You invited us to say the prayer of faith and told us that we needed to ask God for a gift; the only thing I could think of asking was that He take away my drug addiction. I left the Coliseum very happy, but I realized that it was time for me to find some drugs. I bought it with the money the old lady had given me, I prepared my dose, and that was when I cried again because it was not doing anything to me. I said, “They ripped me off!” I went through every type of drug, but nothing was having an effect. God made my petition a reality. He made me a new man.” (Sergio Salazar)

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT
The Lord said, “You were sold for nothing, and without money you will be redeemed” (Isaiah 52:3). God left a fertilized path for us to easily return to Him. Jesus is the Way that leads us to restoration with our Heavenly Father. Jesus is also the Truth, and He will be sure to remove every lie that has entered into our hearts. Jesus is also Life; He will revive the hope and dreams, and this will give us the strength to start again.

TODAY’S DECLARATION
“I have come to believe in myself again, because my Father God gave me His authority.”

Today’s post is an excerpt from Pastor Cesar Castellanos’ book, Declarations of Power for 365 Days of the Year: Volume Two.

TODAY’S BIBLE READING
Our Bible Reading Plan gives 25 daily readings per month. There is no scheduled reading for today. You can use this time to catch up on any readings you may have missed, or read through previous passages again.