Joy 4-Joy to the World, episode 106

0:00 If you love a prodigal, you can discover help and hope for your wilderness journey right here at the When You Love a Prodigal podcast, and also help and hope for your own life journey. Today you really might want to have a pen and paper because the second half of our time today will be about the Worldwide Prodigal Prayer Day, which is in a few days. So hopefully you have practiced walking in the Spirit and giving thanks the past week and are finding increasing joy in your life.

0:42 So what do you do with this abundance of joy? And even if it's not abundant yet, if you keep practicing those two things, it will become abundant. Well, here's my suggestion. You give it away. What? Huh? But I just got it. The funny thing is, the more joy you give to others, the more your joy will multiply. So I titled this episode Joy to the World because I really only have two recommendations for giving joy away. First, you want to give your joy to your prodigal.

1:22 And then to everyone. To everyone. Well, everyone you know. Encounter. Influence. Wherever you go. I promise you can do this. Have you noticed that our emotions are often contagious? If you are around someone sad or complaining or angry, it rubs off on you often. You feel down or annoyed or angry. It's like that with joy too. A truly happy, joyful person spreads it around without realizing it.

2:04 So to give joy to your prodigal, just be joyful. Let them know that they are one source of your joy. That they give joy to you as a person. You've loved them since they were born. You've loved them since you've known them. And so there's joy in that love that you've experienced with them. So let them know. Tell them. Tell them that you value them. Let you even treasure them. Speak the joy. Show it. And sometimes you can even overdo it.

2:47 Not too much, but sometimes. It may take a while, but as they realize this new you isn't going to yell at them all the time or accuse them all the time or condemn them, they just might begin to like you again. To believe you really do love them and are on their side. Maybe their behavior will begin to change and they even find joy. So I would start with your prodigal, but don't wait till you see the change begin to let your growing joy bubble over to the people in your life.

3:31 Play the rest of your family and extended family that can be hard because you've been pretty crappy perhaps during this prodigal wilderness journey. Let them see the joy that God is working into your life. Your neighbors, even the one who lets their dog use your yard, you know, show them some joy. Have a happy face that's real because there's joy in your heart. You can share joy with people at work or at church, where you shop, maybe even that homeless person you pass often. I assure you every single one of them can use more joy in their lives.

4:17 So ask God to let His unquenchable joy flow through you and touch a life in a beautiful way. That's what I mean by joy to the world, that you can be part of giving God's joy that flows through you to others. And if God challenges you to be even more intentional, to tell people where your joy comes from, Jesus, you might be like a happy virus infecting people with the love of God. So let me tell you about Worldwide Prodigal Prayer Day.

4:59 I'm going to answer what I hope are all of your questions briefly, and they will be written some links in the show notes. And also, I will have a lot of this available on my blog so that you can read it there or at the Prayer for Prodigals website. You'll hear about that. Okay, a story first. It was June 2nd several years ago. 18 of us made a large circle in my Florida room. We each shared briefly why we had come, just a little picture of our journey with the prodigal.

5:44 What did we have in common? Only one thing, perhaps, we each loved a prodigal. Some were just taking their first shaky steps in this wilderness. Others were feeling their way in the shadowy darkness. A few had stories of light and new life and great hope. We had all come to the only place we thought offered any answers on our knees. At first our prayers were tentative. Were these people safe, but then honesty, vulnerability, tears opened our hearts, and we connected together at the throne of grace, petitioning our God for each other, for the many on our list that requested prayer, for our own loved ones, and for ourselves.

6:38 In the end, we recognized that our prayers were as much for ourselves as for our loved wanderers, and we acknowledged that loving a prodigal was indeed a wilderness journey, but that each beloved prodigal was a gift, a true treasure to make us more and more like Jesus, and gratitude filled us even as tears flowed. And now it is almost June 2nd again, time for the 26th, I believe, Worldwide Prodigal Prayer Day. Let's look at how it happens each year, how you can be a part of it, as much or as little as you desire, and then I will tell you about our wonderful year-round virtual, safe, and private prayer community.

7:32 Once you have submitted a name or several to be prayed for on June 2nd, then what? You might be asking who prays for them, or how do I participate? Let me answer the questions we often get asked. First, who may pray for prodigals on June 2nd? Anyone, and everyone can pray from all over the world. Most often, the people who love and at risk or rebellious family member are eager to pray. Well, what is prayer for prodigals? Do I have to be a member? Prayer for prodigals, or P for P in short, is a community of people who have joined on our password-protected website for resources, encouragement, and a safe place to request prayer and to pray for others.

8:24 It is free, and it's all online. We at Prayer for Prodigals sponsor the Worldwide Prodigal Prayer Day, but you don't have to be a member to pray with us on June 2nd. Some information, resources, and personal requests are available to members only, again, to be protecting a people's privacy. And you are very welcome to join, and I will explain how in a moment. So how do we pray on June 2nd? Again, you may pray any way that works for you. You can pray as long or as little as you like. Most people try to join with some others, some friends, maybe some neighbors, people from your church.

9:11 You can do it in a small group, or we learned how during the pandemic to do it on Zoom or Google Meet or other ways to connect online. Sometime, anytime during the day, we're looking at 24 hours, but of course that's around the world, so it's really a lot more than 24 hours, depending on where you are. Or you can pray by yourself, and that's what some people prefer. I usually pray on and off throughout the day, and this year I will be joining in on a Zoom call for some people who are spread out over the U.S., I think there could be some from other parts of the world.

9:53 And then we usually end up with a group that comes to a home and meets. That used to be my home, but my home's not quite ready since my husband passed, so we're meeting at a church to pray together. If you don't have a group to pray with and prefer to have people to, you're welcome to join us in our Zoom call, and the link will be in the show notes. So you really meant to say, well, how do we pray? Not how do we pray on this day. Again, in any way that you are comfortable. We have a booklet, Prayers for Your Wilderness Journey, that offers a variety of ways to pray and a lot of helpful scriptures.

10:42 And here are some other helps for prayer. One is called Prayers for People I Love, and I wrote that, and 15 Prayers for Children and Grandchildren. And all of those links will be in the show notes, and you can just click on those and you can download and print out any of those resources that you want to use. So what is the list you've mentioned? The list is the centerpiece of the Prodigal Prayer Day. At this time, we have more than 8,000 names for whom prayer has been requested. It's all only first names, but God knows each one. And some of us will pray through the entire list, lifting names up to God, asking for him to keep on loving and pursuing them, drawing them back to those who love them and to himself.

11:36 We will pray for a section of the list, it's alphabetical, so they might pick the J's or the M's, what may be the first letter of their prodigal. Or they may just start at the beginning and go as far as they can or start at the back and go as far as they can. We ask everyone who's participating in the World Right Prodigal Prayer Day, try to spend some time praying for people on the list, but you can pray for your friends and you can pray for your own prodigal. If you are a member of Prayer for Prodigals, you can access the list there on the welcome page.

12:17 If you're not a member, you are welcome to join us. You can access the list at the link in the show notes. I don't always get through the entire list on June 2nd, so I keep praying as days go by so that I cover the entire list. You can use it all year. Some of us zoom several times in the following days or months to keep praying so we cover the whole list. So how do we put names on the list? Well, the easiest way is to write to Prayer4Prodigals@gmail.com. That will also be in the show notes.

13:03 And you can continue to add names for this year's prayer time on June 2nd even. Anything else? To bless and encourage you as you pray, you might enjoy this prodigal playlist on Spotify and also the songs that I'll include this time for your joy list. Then some of you might want to join the Prayer4Prodigal virtual community. We have intentionally required a password so that you will feel safe and comfortable to post specific requests for your loved one and related challenges.

13:45 And others will feel safe posting their requests. The best part of it, being in the community, is you go back to your request that's posted and you find that three, four, six, or eight people have written out prayers for your loved one and for you. It is such an incredible blessing. Most of us with Prodigals know of others who love a prodigal. Please let them know about June 2nd, the Worldwide Prodigal Prayer Day and the Prayer for Prodigals community. Again, encourage them to write us at prayer4prodigals@gmail.com.

14:27 And May June 2nd be the beginning of transformation in your prodigal and in your heart filled with joy. God bless you.