Setting Captives Free, episode 79

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If you love a prodigal, you can discover help and hope for your wilderness journey right here at When You Love a Prodigal,

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and even help and hope for your own life journey.

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I hope you enjoyed the wisdom from Mary DeMuth in last week's episode,

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and that her book, Love, Pray, Listen, will bless you and help you with the adult prodigals in your life.

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As we consider the strongholds in the lives of our loved ones, and perhaps ourselves,

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today, as we look at setting captives free, sometimes the captive is us.

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Often the captive is our loved prodigal.

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Be sure to note any verses or any ideas that give you hope that there can be freedom.

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Often in the 15-year journey with our prodigal, it seemed like even when he was working hard to not be a prodigal,

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that he was under a curse.

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Actually, I think he was, probably is, because the evil one is still mad that he came to Jesus.

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Lots of bad things happened to him in his first years.

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As he got older, most of the bad things in his life were due to his own bad choices.

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And yes, he still experiences consequences from those bad choices.

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I am sure some of his difficulty in finding a job has been because of those choices.

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But then he sought to turn his life around.

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He was desiring to make good choices and move toward a different way of life.

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Yet it seemed that every day something happened to distract or detour or depress him.

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Once he was wrestling with a friend at a bachelor party that resulted in a severe sternum contusion

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that was so painful for weeks that he could barely move.

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There was a job he got that would earn so little that he couldn't afford the gas to get to it.

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His dogs, he loves dogs.

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His dogs got out of the yard again.

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A neighbor reported it again and animal services slapped him with a huge fine.

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His beloved grandfather was not in good health.

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I could go on.

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Things just kept happening to him.

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He felt like he was trapped, under attack, can't get a break, in bondage, cursed.

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I hear from many of you who love a prodigal agreeing that you are seeing the pattern,

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the evidence of strongholds in the life of your prodigal.

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How do they get free?

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I believe some of what our prodigals experience is relentless attack from the enemies of their soul.

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Satan does not want them to become the men and women God created them to be.

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He will use any weapon he can to keep them from truly following the Savior.

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He does the same to us who love them.

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He tempts and entices them, and he knows what works best.

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He's a good student of each one.

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He orchestrates circumstances.

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He surrounds them with wrong friends or coworkers or bad influences.

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He woos them with the things of the world and the flesh.

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He convinces them that temporary pleasures will bring no consequences that last.

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He traps them in addictions.

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He applies curses from generations past.

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Yes, I know they make choices to fall into those traps,

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but we are wise to recognize that an enemy is at work,

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seeking to subvert all our efforts to help, guide, or rescue our loved ones.

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Scripture tells us that our enemy prowls around like a roaring lion,

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looking for someone to devour.

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It's from 1 Peter 5.

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He wants to devour your prodigal and mine.

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The Lord has continued to open my eyes on this topic.

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I believe it is why so many of our prodigals take so long to return.

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I know many people are far more knowledgeable on this reality

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and how to break down those strongholds than I am.

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But there are some ways that we can be engaged.

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Yesterday I was reminded of this wonderful verse in Jeremiah 30.

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In that day, declares the Lord Almighty,

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I will break the yoke off their neck and will tear off their bonds.

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I love that God says, I'm going to get rid of those bondages.

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I'm going to set them free.

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We're not powerless on behalf of these we love.

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We have the power of El Shaddai, the Almighty, and El Yon, the Most High God.

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Jesus has promised, my Father who has given them to me is greater than all.

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No one can snatch them out of the Father's hands.

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The Apostle John assures us, you dear children are from God

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and have overcome them because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

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All the Satan and his minions can do.

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God is greater than all of them.

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Now you may have heard all these promises I've just read.

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I've claimed them many times.

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I've prayed to break bondages and soul ties and curses.

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And sometimes we see great breakthroughs.

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But other times it seems the dark gets darker.

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We don't know though what is going on in the heavenlies where the battles are really being fought.

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My part, your part, is to persevere in prayer, in faith, and trust.

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I've been reading in Isaiah.

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Isaiah was my go-to book during our 15-year wilderness journey.

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And God has spoken to me through several verses in Isaiah 49.

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I know that these verses concern the children of Israel

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and the promise of their return to their land from their captivity.

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But every time I read them, God whispers to me that he will set free far more than the children of Israel many centuries ago.

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So perhaps these words from our Lord, via Isaiah, will encourage you as well.

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In Isaiah 49, he said to me,

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You are my servant Israel, in whom I will display my splendor.

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Did you get that?

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God will display his splendor through Israel, but also through his church, his people, and even our rescued prodigals.

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But Isaiah said, I have labored in vain. I have spent my strength for nothing.

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That's what it feels like sometimes, doesn't it?

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We love, we serve, we encourage, we discipline, we spend a lot of money.

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And we pray. We are weary. Our strength is spent.

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And where is the result?

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In Isaiah 49, verses 8 and 9,

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This is what the Lord says,

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In the time of my favor I will answer you, and in the day of salvation I will help you.

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Say to the captives, Come out! And to those in darkness, Be free!

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I believe God is saying to us, I will answer you.

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And to our captives living in darkness, Come out! Be free!

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Going on in Isaiah 49, I will not forget you, the Lord says.

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See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.

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There it is. Your child's name, your prodigal's name.

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Oh yeah, your name, on the palms of his hands.

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And then he says, This is what the Lord says,

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Yes, captives will be taken from warriors, and plunders retrieved from the fierce.

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I will contend with those who contend with you, and your children I will save.

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I just love that, the captives will be snatched back, taken away from those who have captured them.

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And the plunder, and they are the plunder, will be retrieved even from the fierce warriors of the evil one.

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I will save your children, he says.

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Every time I read this verse, I see a picture of my prodigal and your prodigals

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in the grasp of the warriors of Satan, his demons fiercely holding them as plunder for the evil one.

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But God says, Nope, he will contend with those fierce warriors, and will retrieve them and save them.

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My heart just leaps. God's engaged.

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He knows where they are, and he's determined that he will rescue them.

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And then he says in verse 23 of Isaiah 49, Then you will know that I am the Lord.

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Those who hope in me will not be disappointed.

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When I read that last phrase, those who hope in me will not be disappointed.

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God's peace just washes over me. My prayers and my hope are not in vain.

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He is God, and he is good. He will not disappoint.

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May God confirm in your heart and your mind that he is in the battle with you, fighting for your loved one.

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This is not a how-to. It's just a reminder.

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There are a lot of books and prayers and other resources that will be helpful to you,

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and we've listed some in the show notes, and they're also available at the Prayer for Prodigals website.

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I'm so grateful that we can join together and pray for each other and for all of our prodigals.

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And one day we will see the freedom, the victory, and in the meantime, we wait on our faithful God,

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on our knees, maybe even on our face, because he calls on us to keep praying and joining with him.

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May you know that when it comes to your prodigal, Satan does not win.

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Our God will rescue.

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What about you? Where are you in a battle for yourself or for a loved one?

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Do you feel there are strongholds in your life or in your loved one's life?

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Name them. What are they?

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Apply these promises from God so that you and your loved one can be set free.

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I'd love it if you told someone else if this was helpful to you or even wrote a review about the podcast.

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We have a good one coming up next week.

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We're going to be talking about the idols of our lives.

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God bless you.