Setting Captives Free, episode 79

0:00 If you love a prodigal, you can discover help and hope for your wilderness journey right here at When You Love a Prodigal, and even help and hope for your own life journey. I hope you enjoyed the wisdom from Mary DeMuth in last week's episode, and that her book, Love, Pray, Listen, will bless you and help you with the adult prodigals in your life. As we consider the strongholds in the lives of our loved ones, and perhaps ourselves, today, as we look at setting captives free, sometimes the captive is us.

0:45 Often the captive is our loved prodigal. Be sure to note any verses or any ideas that give you hope that there can be freedom. Often in the 15-year journey with our prodigal, it seemed like even when he was working hard to not be a prodigal, that he was under a curse. Actually, I think he was, probably is, because the evil one is still mad that he came to Jesus. Lots of bad things happened to him in his first years.

1:25 As he got older, most of the bad things in his life were due to his own bad choices. And yes, he still experiences consequences from those bad choices. I am sure some of his difficulty in finding a job has been because of those choices. But then he sought to turn his life around. He was desiring to make good choices and move toward a different way of life. Yet it seemed that every day something happened to distract or detour or depress him. Once he was wrestling with a friend at a bachelor party that resulted in a severe sternum contusion that was so painful for weeks that he could barely move.

2:17 There was a job he got that would earn so little that he couldn't afford the gas to get to it. His dogs, he loves dogs. His dogs got out of the yard again. A neighbor reported it again and animal services slapped him with a huge fine. His beloved grandfather was not in good health. I could go on. Things just kept happening to him. He felt like he was trapped, under attack, can't get a break, in bondage, cursed.

2:57 I hear from many of you who love a prodigal agreeing that you are seeing the pattern, the evidence of strongholds in the life of your prodigal. How do they get free? I believe some of what our prodigals experience is relentless attack from the enemies of their soul. Satan does not want them to become the men and women God created them to be. He will use any weapon he can to keep them from truly following the Savior. He does the same to us who love them. He tempts and entices them, and he knows what works best.

3:41 He's a good student of each one. He orchestrates circumstances. He surrounds them with wrong friends or coworkers or bad influences. He woos them with the things of the world and the flesh. He convinces them that temporary pleasures will bring no consequences that last. He traps them in addictions. He applies curses from generations past. Yes, I know they make choices to fall into those traps, but we are wise to recognize that an enemy is at work, seeking to subvert all our efforts to help, guide, or rescue our loved ones.

4:30 Scripture tells us that our enemy prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. It's from 1 Peter 5. He wants to devour your prodigal and mine. The Lord has continued to open my eyes on this topic. I believe it is why so many of our prodigals take so long to return. I know many people are far more knowledgeable on this reality and how to break down those strongholds than I am. But there are some ways that we can be engaged.

5:12 Yesterday I was reminded of this wonderful verse in Jeremiah 30. In that day, declares the Lord Almighty, I will break the yoke off their neck and will tear off their bonds. I love that God says, I'm going to get rid of those bondages. I'm going to set them free. We're not powerless on behalf of these we love. We have the power of El Shaddai, the Almighty, and El Yon, the Most High God. Jesus has promised, my Father who has given them to me is greater than all.

5:59 No one can snatch them out of the Father's hands. The Apostle John assures us, you dear children are from God and have overcome them because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. All the Satan and his minions can do. God is greater than all of them. Now you may have heard all these promises I've just read. I've claimed them many times. I've prayed to break bondages and soul ties and curses. And sometimes we see great breakthroughs.

6:40 But other times it seems the dark gets darker. We don't know though what is going on in the heavenlies where the battles are really being fought. My part, your part, is to persevere in prayer, in faith, and trust. I've been reading in Isaiah. Isaiah was my go-to book during our 15-year wilderness journey. And God has spoken to me through several verses in Isaiah 49. I know that these verses concern the children of Israel and the promise of their return to their land from their captivity.

7:23 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. So perhaps these words from our Lord, via Isaiah, will encourage you as well. In Isaiah 49, he said to me, You are my servant Israel, in whom I will display my splendor. Did you get that? God will display his splendor through Israel, but also through his church, his people, and even our rescued prodigals.

8:05 But Isaiah said, I have labored in vain. I have spent my strength for nothing. That's what it feels like sometimes, doesn't it? We love, we serve, we encourage, we discipline, we spend a lot of money. And we pray. We are weary. Our strength is spent. And where is the result? In Isaiah 49, verses 8 and 9, This is what the Lord says, In the time of my favor I will answer you, and in the day of salvation I will help you. Say to the captives, Come out! And to those in darkness, Be free!

8:48 I believe God is saying to us, I will answer you. And to our captives living in darkness, Come out! Be free! Going on in Isaiah 49, I will not forget you, the Lord says. See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands. There it is. Your child's name, your prodigal's name. Oh yeah, your name, on the palms of his hands. And then he says, This is what the Lord says, Yes, captives will be taken from warriors, and plunders retrieved from the fierce.

9:33 I will contend with those who contend with you, and your children I will save. I just love that, the captives will be snatched back, taken away from those who have captured them. And the plunder, and they are the plunder, will be retrieved even from the fierce warriors of the evil one. I will save your children, he says. Every time I read this verse, I see a picture of my prodigal and your prodigals in the grasp of the warriors of Satan, his demons fiercely holding them as plunder for the evil one.

10:15 But God says, Nope, he will contend with those fierce warriors, and will retrieve them and save them. My heart just leaps. God's engaged. He knows where they are, and he's determined that he will rescue them. And then he says in verse 23 of Isaiah 49, Then you will know that I am the Lord. Those who hope in me will not be disappointed. When I read that last phrase, those who hope in me will not be disappointed.

10:55 God's peace just washes over me. My prayers and my hope are not in vain. He is God, and he is good. He will not disappoint. May God confirm in your heart and your mind that he is in the battle with you, fighting for your loved one. This is not a how-to. It's just a reminder. There are a lot of books and prayers and other resources that will be helpful to you, and we've listed some in the show notes, and they're also available at the Prayer for Prodigals website.

11:36 I'm so grateful that we can join together and pray for each other and for all of our prodigals. And one day we will see the freedom, the victory, and in the meantime, we wait on our faithful God, on our knees, maybe even on our face, because he calls on us to keep praying and joining with him. May you know that when it comes to your prodigal, Satan does not win. Our God will rescue. What about you? Where are you in a battle for yourself or for a loved one?

12:22 Do you feel there are strongholds in your life or in your loved one's life? Name them. What are they? Apply these promises from God so that you and your loved one can be set free. I'd love it if you told someone else if this was helpful to you or even wrote a review about the podcast. We have a good one coming up next week. We're going to be talking about the idols of our lives. God bless you.