One Way to Pray for a Prodigal Child (or Nation)

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A good friend of ours has been praying for her son for years. One prayer she keeps praying, over and over again, is that her child would have a Damascus experience, where the Lord encounters him on the road and says, “This is who I am.”

That’s what all of us need—to come to an awareness of who the Lord actually is. To know Him, to know His names, to understand Him, to realize He loves us and that He accomplishes good things on the earth.

Like the old hymn says, we are all prone to wander in one way or another. The answer for our hearts is to know the Lord. That is how He made us:  

I will also give them a heart to know Me, for I am the Lord; and they will be My people, and I will be their God, for they will return to Me wholeheartedly. (Jer. 24:7 NASB) 

“But let the one who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who exercises ]mercy, justice, and righteousness on the earth; for I delight in these things,” declares the Lord. (Jer. 9:24) 

If you have a prodigal child on your heart today, pray that the Lord would go to that child in a signature way—in a way the child recognizes. “Oh wow. He’s real. It’s true. It’s actually true.”

When Paul had a Damascus encounter, everything changed. It wasn’t a slow change either. In a matter of hours, he went from being a destroyer of what the Lord was doing to being an advocate of what the Lord was doing. He was a runaway from the sheepfold no longer.

Perhaps the person on your heart today isn’t a traditional “prodigal.” Maybe it’s someone you know at work. Or maybe the Lord has placed a city, state, or nation on your heart and asked you to pray for them.

Whatever your leading, you can pray that these “children” would encounter Jesus the way Paul encountered Him. May their road be lit up by God. May their hearts see His light and realize, at last, who He is and how they can be with Him.

“I am Jesus.” We need those words. All of us do. In His light we discover who He is and who we are, and everything changes, and through us He shows the world His love.

 

Check out these other articles from Bill and Sue Frisbie:

  • The Lord wants to do EVERYTHING with you. Nothing is too small to Him. Click here to read more.

  • Does your heart need to remember the kindness of God? Click here.

  • Are you super weary right now? Click here to read about 5 ways you can protect your heart as a prophetic person.

Bill and Sue Frisbie