In this sermon, Basilia Schlink emphasizes the importance of living as dependent children in the Father's house. She explains that when we become independent and separate ourselves from God, we miss out on experiencing the joy and happiness that comes from being His child. Using the parable of the prodigal son, she illustrates how God eagerly waits for us to turn back to Him so that He can shower us with His infinite love and blessings. Schlink encourages listeners to recognize the Father's love and to return to His house, where they will find true happiness and a blessed life.

God lives and works today, and he does so as a father who loves his children with an inexpressible love. Do we know something of the joy and happiness that comes from being his child? Listen to today's meditation by Basilia Schlink called, The Father is Waiting. Let's pause for a minute today and look back over the year gone by. Was there very often a singing and rejoicing in our hearts? A thank you for God's help and his wonderful deeds and guidance? If there wasn't, what could be the problem? The answer is simple. We haven't lived in the Father's house. If we are no longer amazed and overwhelmed by the mercy of God, then we belong to the lost, the prodigal sons who have made themselves independent. Sometimes we become separated from God in this way without even noticing it. But one person is really grieved, God our Father. His fatherly heart can never be at peace until we've turned back to him. A human father wants his children to be safe at home with him. Likewise, our Heavenly Father is sad every day that we don't live as his dependent children, but rather do our daily work independently and apart from him. For then we take care of ourselves without consulting him or asking him for his help. And so he can't help us. Yes, the Father of love is waiting for us so that he can give us everything good and make us happy with the riches of all his gifts. However, God can only reveal himself as a father to those who turn home to him. He can only grant his salvation to repentant sinners. Whoever does turn home and asks the Father for forgiveness like the prodigal son will be showered with such a stream of love from the Father that he will scarcely comprehend his good fortune. In the parable of the prodigal son, the son turned home from an utterly miserable situation. Now he is embraced with infinite love. He is hugged and kissed and showered with all kinds of goodness. He enters into a banquet hall where there is joy, music, singing, dancing, and a wonderful feast prepared, all in his honor. Yes, the Father himself dresses him in festive attire and puts a ring on his finger. Could anyone love us more than our Father in heaven? What could be more blissful than to live as a small dependent child in the Father's household? Now the long lost son realizes what he had missed during the years away from home. And he realizes that the Father's love is the only thing that can make a person truly happy. How are heavenly Fathers waiting to pour out His love upon us? For love wants to share itself with others, to stream over them and to make them truly happy and blissful. That is why God is beckoning us home today, home to the Father's house. There we will find the fullness of joy and a truly blessed life. I come ever singing, the very air is ringing, our Father in heaven is loving, all love. A heart full of kindness, a heart of love and goodness, the heart of the Godhead, and I am his child. This program by Basilia Schlenk has come to you from the little land of Canaan. If you would like a free leaflet by the same author, please write to God Lives and Works Today, 9849 North 40th Street, Phoenix, Arizona, 85028-4099 That's God Lives and Works Today, 9849 North 40th Street, Phoenix, Arizona, 85028-4099 God bless you.