Setting Your Loved One Free, episode 163

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, we're talking about liberation. As we consider the strongholds in the lives of our loved ones, and perhaps ourselves, be sure to note the verses that will give you hope. Often, in my years with my prodigal, it seemed like even as he had tried to turn around and was working hard to not be a prodigal, it seemed like he was under a curse.

0:45 Actually, I think he was, and maybe still is. Just recently, a dog on a leash jerked him around, and he now has both torn ACL and MCL in his knee. It's definitely having an impact on his life. Lots of bad things have happened to him in his early years before he came to be adopted by us. As he got older, most of the bad things in his life were due to his own bad choices. And yes, he still experiences some of the consequences of those bad choices.

1:30 But when 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. He got a job that he was excited about, but realized he would earn so little he couldn't afford to drive there. And then he found this wonderful girl he was seeing, and he was hopeful that this was a lasting relationship. But she decided that his past was too close to his present, and that ended that.

2:14 His dogs got out of the yard again in the neighborhood he was living in, and a neighbor reported it again. And animal services slapped him with a huge fine. And then his beloved grandfather was not in good health, and he was distraught over that. I could go on. Those are just a few of the things that happened at that time when he was wanting to make better choices. He felt like he was trapped, under attack, couldn't get a break, in bondage, cursed. I hear from you, others of you who love a prodigal, agreeing that you are seeing the pattern, the evidence of strongholds in the life of your prodigal, something that has a hold of him, and he just can't get free. She can't seem to make those right choices.

3:14 I believe some of what our prodigals experience is truly relentless attack from the enemy of their souls. Satan does not want them to become the men and women that God created them to be. He will use any weapon he can to keep them from truly following the Savior. He seeks to do the same, by the way, to us who love them. But with our prodigals, the enemy tempts and entices them. He knows what works best. He studies them, so he knows what will capture them.

3:54 He orchestrates circumstances. He surrounds them with wrong friends or coworkers or influences. He woos them with things of the world and things of the flesh. He convinces them that temporary pleasures will bear no lasting consequences. He traps them with addictions. He applies curses from generations past. Yes, I know they make choices to fall into his traps, but we are wise to recognize that an enemy is at work, seeking to subvert all our efforts to help guide and rescue our loved ones.

4:41 Scripture tells us that our enemy prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. That's in 1 Peter chapter 5. He wants especially 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 we have a way to fight.

5:21 Yesterday I was reminded of this wonderful verse in Jeremiah 30. It says, In that day, declared the Lord Almighty, I will break the yoke off their neck and will tear off their bonds. We are not powerless on behalf of these we love. We have the power of El Shaddai the Almighty and El Elyon the Most High God. Jesus has promised, My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all. No one can snatch them out of my Father's hands.

6:01 I've claimed that verse so many times. It's a wonderful promise that God's still in control. 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. We just have to recognize Satan's got a lot of power, but our God has so much more. We know these promises. I have claimed them many times. I have prayed to break bondages and soul ties and curses.

6:43 Sometimes we see great breakthroughs, but other times it seems the dark gets darker. But we don't know what is going on in the heavenlies where the battles are being fought. My part, your part, is to persevere in prayer, in faith, in trust. I've been reading in Isaiah my go-to book during our wilderness journey, and God has spoken to me through several verses in Isaiah 49. I realize these verses concern the children of Israel and the promise of their return to their land, but every time I read them, God whispers to me that he will set far more than Israel free from the enemies who are pursuing them.

7:36 So perhaps these words from our Lord, Evia Isaiah, will encourage you as well. In Isaiah 49, 3 and 4, we read, He said to me, You are my servant Israel, and whom I will display my splendor. Did you get that? God will display his splendor through Israel, through his church, through his people, including the rescued prodigals. But Isaiah said, I have labored in vain. I have spent my strength for nothing.

8:16 That's what it feels like sometimes, doesn't it? We love, we serve, we encourage, we discipline, we spend, and we pray. We grow 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. I believe that God is saying to us, I will answer you.

9:00 And to our captives living in darkness, come out, be free. Going on to verses 15 and 16, we read, I will not forget you. This is God speaking. See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands. God says, we and our prodigals that he's chasing and pursuing, he's got their names written on the palms of his hands. And maybe that even refers to the holes in Jesus' hands.

9:41 We are part of what's engraved in his hands. How often I rest in this assurance that he will not forget me, or you, or any of our loved ones. The evidence he has engraved us on his own palms. Then in Isaiah 49, 25, But this is what the Lord says, Yes, captives will be taken from warriors, And plunder retrieved from the fierce. I will contend with those who contend with you, And your children I will save.

10:21 Every time I read this verse, I see a picture of my prodigal and your prodigal. In the grasp of the warriors of Satan, his demons fiercely holding them as plunder for the evil one. But God says he will contend with those fierce warriors, And will retrieve those who are captured and save them. And my heart leaps that that possibility is there. And then in Isaiah 49, 23, Then you will know that I am the Lord, Those who hope in me will not be disappointed.

11:03 When I read that last phrase, God's peace washes over me. My prayers and hope are not in vain. He is God, and he is good. He will not disappoint. May he 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 books and prayers and other resources that will be listed in the show notes and at the Prayer for Prodigals website. I'm so glad, so grateful that we can join together and pray for each other and all our prodigals.

11:52 I know that some of them we seem to have lost, but God still has them. Even if the battle here on earth didn't go the way we wanted, God's not let go of them. He's got them engraved on the palm of his hand, and he wins them. One day we will see the freedom, the victory. In the meantime, we wait on our faithful God and on our knees. May you know that Satan does not win. So what about you? Where are you in a battle for yourself or a loved one?

12:35 Just remember, God is bigger, stronger, more powerful, and he loves you and your loved one. He will win. God bless you.