Worldwide Prodigal Prayer Day 1, episode 64

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 also help and hope for your own life journey. Today we are talking about the best help we can be for each other, praying together for our prodigals. Would you like hundreds, maybe thousands, to pray for your loved one? Be sure to jot down some steps you can take as you listen today. Probation – one of the best things that happened to our son was to be put on probation for two years for a minor incident.

0:47 The consequences were much greater than the events. But it was an answer to prayer that we could never have anticipated. We had prayed that he would receive some real life accountability for some of his poor choices in his late teens. Two years of probation put the fear of jail in him. Every time he was tempted to make another bad choice, he stopped to think about the possibility of getting caught. Sometimes he still did it, but often he didn't. He really didn't want to go to jail.

1:28 He'd spent a little time there. That was one of many answers to prayer, prayed on a June 2nd Worldwide Prodigal Prayer Day. For the past 25 years, every June 2nd, hundreds, maybe thousands, because we don't really know, of people around the world have joined together in a day of prayer for those who are walking away from God or their families and often making destructive choices. On June 2nd, 25 years ago, our prodigal Josh met Jesus. He was living at House of Hope, a nearby residential home for troubled teens.

2:14 His house dad, Mike, really loved him and prayed for him and sought to guide him into better life choices. On June 2nd, in 1997, he introduced our son to Jesus. That evening, Mike baptized him in a nearby lake. Josh's life was changed then, and when he came home to stay from the residential program, for quite a while, he did really well. But wrong friends and the trauma of his early life put him on a roller coaster. He would do well and make good choices for days or weeks and sometimes months, but then he would go down for many months.

3:03 It was a very unpredictable and sad, hard cycle. They went on for about 15 years. At the beginning of what became the Worldwide Prodigal Prayer Day, we invited friends to pray for our son on June 2nd, Josh's spiritual birthday. We called it a Worldwide Day of Prayer for Josh, but God said, maybe you could expand it a little and pray for others as well. The Worldwide Prodigal Prayer Day was born and has continued all these years. The objective of this day is to come together before God to petition him for the redemption, restoration, and deliverance of those we love.

3:53 Most often, these prodigals are our children, but they might also be grandchildren, a spouse, parents, relatives, friends, coworkers, or anyone we care about. We started by just asking people to give us the first names of people they would like to have prayed for. We started a list, and then we invited more. Every year, we add to the list a first names only for whom prayer has been requested. We can use first names because God knows every single one of them. He knows who it is. We post this on our prayer for prodigal sight, which is a safe place.

4:40 Anyone can submit as many names for prayer as they desire, and you can feel free to do that or tell others about this special day. It has grown to include hundreds, maybe thousands of prayers around the world. So if you love a prodigal, we would love to pray for your loved one. And we invite you to join us in praying for others. So does this really make a difference? A list of what is now 6,000 people names. Does it make a difference of a lot of people naming these names to the Lord, even though they don't know them?

5:22 Oh, yes. Usually it takes a while, maybe a long time, but sometimes it happens quickly. Here's in the story of Josh's probation that I opened with. Another year, shortly after June 2, the gang our son had joined had a confrontation with another gang. It didn't lead to violence, but for some reason the other gang thought Josh was the instigator. He came home terrified, saying he needed to get out of town. Our ministry had a summer conference beginning in Colorado in a couple of weeks, and they needed some teenagers to serve in various needs at the conference.

6:10 Josh was not in a place to have been open and willing to do that before, but fear and prayer changed that. And within a few days, he was on his way to Colorado to work and be with strong believers for more than a month. Here are a few other stories of prayers quickly answered. One son we had prayed for asked to come home, finally accepted help for a substance abuse disorder. He had been homeless with no contact with his family for a long time. They were ecstatic at this answer to prayer.

6:52 Another son finally agreed to go to rehab. A daughter who turned into an angry atheist in her first year of college, not wanting anything to do with her parents, experienced a radical change of heart through the influence of a few Christian friends. She is now on fire for the Lord, gave her testimony at church, and is really seeking to follow God. Another daughter reunited with her parents after years of being estranged due to an abusive relationship with a man who kept her from her family. When she got pregnant, she reached out to her parents and they welcomed her home and their relationship was restored.

7:41 There was a mom who reconnected with all three of her estranged children, children who had been adopted and just had a lot of struggles and they rejected the family, but they in answer to prayer came home and each one of them was reconnected with the family. God hears our prayers and He answers them, but He answers them in His own way and in His own time. But we can wait and we'll talk about that next week. A word of caution as you think of this day of prayer, the evil one, the enemy of our souls loves to lead our rebellious ones astray.

8:29 When we interfere, especially through prayer, He reaches out and tightens his hold. He's like, no, I'm not going to give them up. But we have the power of praying to El Shaddai, the Almighty God. But I have found that the devil's efforts are real and it is good to prepare my heart and my mind to enter into this battle. One of the most effective ways I have found to confront Satan is to give thanks in everything as we are urged to do in 1 Thessalonians 5.18. You say, really?

9:10 Give thanks? I said, yes, if we resist him, we're told in Scripture, he will flee and giving thanks to our God sends him running. And so our theme for the 2022 Worldwide Prodigal Prayer Day is Give Thanks. And I have been posting a weekly devotional on my blog to encourage you in giving thanks. I hope you will read it. Ask God to make it real to you and begin to practice it as a way of life. There will be a link in the show notes. If you have sent us a name or names before because you've been involved with our Day of Prayer before, they're still on the list.

9:56 You don't need to add them again. But if you're new to the Prodigal Prayer Day, we invite you to send the first names of anyone that you would like us to pray for. You can do that by writing to us at prayerforprodigals at gmail.com. And again, there's a link in the show notes. And you are also invited to join the Prayer for Prodigals virtual prayer community. This is a safe and encouraging place to post specific requests, not just add a name or give a name to be prayed for, but say, what are the needs? What can we actually pray?

10:37 We don't make that in a place where anybody could see it at all. But we do it in the safe Prayer for Prodigals community. So if you were to choose to join, you could post some specific requests and you'll hear more next week. Others will come along and pray for your request and even write out their prayers. And it's just such a blessing to those who are really hurting and struggling with a hard, hard situation to see others who understand because they've been walking through it also, who pray for them. So what about you? Would you like to join us?

11:19 The links you need are all in the show notes, whether it's just to give us a name or two or three, or to pray for the names on the list, or to even take another step and join our community. We would welcome you. And I would encourage you, if you have friends, and often if you have prodigals, you know others who do. Let them know about this day of prayer and that we would pray for their loved one. And just tell them about it and they can listen, or you can give them the links that are in the show notes. And we will be so grateful to get to pray for your loved person.

12:03 And as always, I would be grateful if you would take a minute to subscribe or rate. Five stars is nice. Or especially to write a review and tell others how this podcast has been helpful to you, because that will encourage them to listen as well. So I'm eager to get to pray for your loved ones. And bless you.