Preparing for Prodigal Prayer Day, episode 172

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If you love a prodigal, you can discover help

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and hope for your wilderness journey right here

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at the When You Love a Prodigal podcast. And

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also help and hope for your own life journey.

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Don't forget, if you want to remember something

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that I mentioned, have a pen and paper or your

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phone ready to jot down any helpful ideas or

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information. so you remember to do it. The gang

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our adopted son had joined had a confrontation

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with another gang. It didn't lead to violence,

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but for some reason, the other gang thought our

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Josh was the instigator. He came home terrified.

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Sure, they were planning to kill him, saying

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he needed to get out of town. if he wanted to

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stay alive. Our ministry had a summer conference

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beginning that very week in Colorado, and they

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needed some teenagers to serve in various capacities.

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Josh had not been willing to do that, but now

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he was. In a couple of days, we had him on his

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way to Colorado to work and to be with strong

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believers for a month. That was one of many answers

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to prayer prayed on a June 2nd Worldwide Prodigal

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Prayer Day. For more than 20 years, I can't seem

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to keep track of how long, every June 2nd, hundreds

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and now thousands of people from around the world

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have joined together in a day of prayer for those

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who are walking away from God or walking away

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from their families. often making destructive

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choices. On June 2, 25 years ago, our prodigal

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Josh met Jesus. He was living at House of Hope,

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a nearby residential home for troubled teens.

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His house dad, Mike, really loved him, prayed

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for him, sought to guide him into better life

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choices. And on June 2, In 1997, he introduced

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our son to Jesus. That evening, Mike baptized

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him in the nearby lake. The next day, there was

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a big alligator there, but he came out of it

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safely and with Jesus. And Josh's life changed

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then. When he came home from House of Hope several

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months later, he wanted to walk with God. But

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wrong friends and the trauma of his early life

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put him on a roller coaster. He would do well

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and make good choices for days, weeks, even months.

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Then he would go for many months down, making

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bad choices. The unpredictable cycle went on

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for 15 years. I called it our 15 -year wilderness

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journey. At the beginning, we invited friends

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to pray for Josh on June 2nd, his spiritual birthday.

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We called it a Worldwide Day of Prayer for Josh.

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Then God encouraged us to expand it to others

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needing prayer, and the Worldwide Prodigal Prayer

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Day was born. We have found grandparents especially

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love to take part. The objective of this day

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is to come together before God to petition him

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for the redemption, restoration, deliverance

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of those we love. Most often, the prodigals are

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our children, but they might also be grandchildren,

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a spouse, parents, relatives, friends, co -workers,

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or just someone we care about. We started putting

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first names on a list to share with others to

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join us in praying. And every year we have added

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to the list the first names for whom prayer has

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been requested. And that is posted on our Prayer

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for Prodigals website. Anyone can submit as many

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names for prayer as they desire. Feel free to

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tell friends of yours, others, about this special

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day. It has grown to include thousands of prayers,

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lifting up more than 8 ,000 names this year that

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we know of all around the world. So if you love

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a prodigal, we would love to pray for your loved

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one. And we invite you to join us in praying.

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Does this make a difference, a lot of people

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naming names of people they don't know? Oh, yes.

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Usually it takes a while, and sometimes a long

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time. But sometimes it happens quickly, as in

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the story of Josh's need to get out of town.

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His month working with praying people who cared

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for him brought about good changes in his life.

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In another incidence, shortly after June 2nd,

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our son was put on probation by a judge for two

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years for a minor incident. The consequences

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were much greater than the offense. But it was

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an answer to prayer that we could never have

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anticipated. We had prayed he would receive some

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real -life accountability for some of his poor

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choices in his late teens. Two years of probation

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put the fear of jail in Josh. Every time he was

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attempted to make another bad choice, he stopped

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to think about the possibility of getting caught.

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Sometimes he still went ahead and did what he

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was going to do but often he did not. Another

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teen we had prayed for asked to come home after

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our time of prayer and finally accepted help

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for his substance use disorder. He had been homeless

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with no contact with his family for a long time.

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A daughter who turned into an angry atheist in

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her first year of college, not wanting anything

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to do with her parents, experienced a radical

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change of heart through the influence of a few

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Christian friends. She is now on fire for the

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Lord. A daughter reunited with her parents after

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years of being estranged due to an abusive relationship

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with a man. who kept her from her family. Somehow,

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she managed to get away from him and run back

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to her family. We had been praying just that

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for her. In recent years, we've had many more

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adult children who have turned their backs on

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their parents, rejected them. But even there,

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God works and often brings reconciliation. God

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hears and God answers. in his time. But a word

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of caution. The evil one, the enemy of our souls,

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loves to lead our rebellious ones astray. When

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we interfere, especially through prayer, he tightens

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his hold on them. But we have the power of prayer

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to El Shaddai, the Almighty God. We can pray

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to him and things happen. I have found it is

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good to prepare my heart and mind to enter this

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battle. And one of the most effective ways I

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have found to confront Satan is to give thanks

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in everything, as we are urged in 1 Thessalonians

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5 .18. If we resist him, he flees. If we keep

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giving thanks to our God, he decides he's going

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to leave and look for a more opportune time.

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Our theme for June 2, 2025, for our Worldwide

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Prodigal Prayer Day, is On Our Knees. I will

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be writing and sending to anyone who requests

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it five short devotionals. You can sign up for

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them at the prayerforprodigals .com site. You

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can sign up also at the Prayer for Prodigals

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Facebook page. Those links will be in the show

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notes for this podcast. If you are new to Prodigal

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Prayer Day, we invite you to send us the first

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names of anyone you would like us to pray for

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and join with friends or family to pray together.

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You're also invited to join the Prayer for Prodigals

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virtual community. This is a safe and encouraging

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place to post specific requests for others to

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pray for. And you can pray for the posted community

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requests that are there. You can send names and

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or join us by writing to us at prayerforprodigals

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at gmail .com. or go to the prayer for prodigals

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facebook page all of that information again is

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in the show notes you ask who do you pray with

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well We have sometimes a group in Orlando that

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gathers together. I happen to be going to be

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at my grandson's graduation right then, so I

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won't be doing that. But we also have some online

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ones. But we really encourage you to find a few

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friends from your church or your family or your

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neighborhood. get together to pray. And we will

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be posting some information on... prayer suggestions

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and and just how to pray for these prodigals

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so you can do what you want you can do it all

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by yourself some people pray for half an hour

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some people pray all day and most pray somewhere

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in between that but whatever works for you what

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you're comfortable with what you have time for

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doesn't matter if it's first thing in the morning

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or late at night And in reality, it doesn't matter

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when it is. We're just focusing on it for this

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day. So we invite you to join us June 2nd, the

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Worldwide Prodigal Prayer Day, for anyone you

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know, or you could have some friends or someone

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you know has been struggling with a child or

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a grandchild and say, I'll be glad to pray with

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you on this day. We're just asking God to do

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some real miracles. Sometimes we see quick results.

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Sometimes it's a long time. God doesn't seem

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to be as controlled by time as we are, but he

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is working. One of my favorite things that scripture

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tells us that he is always working and he hears

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our prayers and he answers them. So please join

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us for the Worldwide Prodigal Prayer Day. God

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bless you.