I believe in the power of prayer, especially for burdened parents. Our prayers can move the hands of God. Prayer is our hotline to heaven, our way of communicating with him. And prayer changes lives. I’ve seen this many times. My daughter is one of them.
Today is June 2nd the Worldwide Prodigal Prayer Day. Burdened, heartsick parents send the names of their troubled, wayward children (any age) to a password-protected faith-based website dedicated to this need (Prayer for Prodigals). Many from all over the world faithfully and earnestly pray for them.
*You can join this site by sending an email to PrayerforProdigals@gmail.com requesting to join or simply ask to have your child’s name added to the list to be prayed for). People don’t pray only on June 2nd but all year long.
I’m one who has been prayed for. Now I carry the burden to pray for others. I pray because my daughter has been the recipient of thousands of prayers over the last sixteen years and because it made a difference—for her, and for my husband and me as well. Many times we saw significant changes soon after this special day, but we had more peace even when we saw nothing happen. God assured us he was with us and with our daughter, no matter how things looked.
3 Reasons We Pray
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If nothing is going to happen–at least as far as we can see–why pray?
- We pray because we believe God hears and cares; because we know we are powerless to change or fix our children, but he can.
- We pray because when we’ve done all we can, there’s nothing left to do—and nothing better—but put our children in the loving hands of their Maker; because there is immense power in giving them back to him.
- We pray because it draws us closer to our heavenly Father, because through prayer we can breathe again, we’re gradually able to put our hope in him, and we begin to gain an eternal perspective.
The wondrous, mysterious discovery is that prayer also changes us.
When You Pray
When you pray, ask God to remind your children of these things:
~ There’s nothing they can do to stop Him from loving them.
~ The reason He loves them isn’t based on who they are or what they’ve done, but on who He is. God. Is. Love.
~ He treasures them. (Ex. 19:5) They are of great value and worth in His eyes.
~ Jesus chose to suffer and die for them and would give his life again in spite of how they’ve treated Him.
~ He is with them wherever they go. They can’t get away from Him. He is everywhere present.
~ He knows everything about them: What they’ve said; what they’ve thought; what they’ve done and what’s been done to them and He still loves them as much as the day they were born.
~ He is trustworthy. He’s faithful forever.
~ He cares about the things they care about.
~ He has the power to help them with anything.
~ He longs to be in relationship with them.
~ He understands them when no one else can. (Ex. 13:17)
~ He can set them free. (Gal. 5:1)
~ He can redeem all that has been damaged and give purpose to all their pain–and ours.
ALL of it.
Prince of Peace, this is our prayer. We offer it to you with tears, forgive our doubts and help us keep believing that even now you can do the impossible. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Abel Marquez on unsplash
George Muller wrote, “The great point is never to give up until the answer comes. I have been praying for sixty-three years and eight months for one man’s conversion. He is not saved yet but he will be. How can it be otherwise . . . I am praying.” The day came when Muller’s friend received Christ. It did not come until Muller’s casket was lowered in the ground. There, near an open grave, this friend gave his heart to God. Prayers of perseverance had won another battle. Muller’s success may be summarized in four powerful words: “He did not quit.” (excerpt from No Easy Road by Dick Eastman)
This Bible verse gives me hope for what our almighty, all-powerful God can do:
Summon your power, O God; show us your strength, O God, as you have done before (Ps. 68:28).
Recommended Books
These are some books that help me pray: (all are listed on our website – if you order one through us, as Amazon affiliates we make a small percent of the sale that helps support our ministry)
- The Power of Praying for Your Children and The Power of Praying for Your Adult Children, Stormie Omartian
- Praying Prodigals Home, Sherrer and Garlock
- Prayers for Prodigals: 90 Days of Prayer for Your Child, James Banks
- Praying our Loved One Home, Pan Lamhart
- My book You Are Not Alone also has a chapter called Discoveries About Prayer.
***WHAT HAS HELPED YOU NOT GIVE UP AND QUIT PRAYING FOR YOUR CHILD??? I’d love to hear from you!
Thank you so much for all the encouraging words and for allowing our Heavenly Father to use you. I have two sons: Branndon is 19 and D’Shawn is 16. Both of them are in jail. My youngest accepted Christ and my oldest had as well but has now converted to Islam. They were at the wrong place at the wrong time and my life has been destroyed because they are good kids, they had never had any trouble before. I pray constantly. I am praying for a miracle for my oldest son as he is bipolar and now he has converted. I know our Lord is in control but unbearable grief is so heavy. Thank you for adding them to the prayer list. God bless you and all your support.
Thank you for your comment, Brendaly. I am so sorry for the heartache you are bearing for your precious sons who were in the wrong place at the wrong time. What a hard reality. I pray God will use it to redirect them when they get out of jail. May God work in Branndon to remind him that Jesus is the only way to true, abundant life. I’m agreeing with you in prayer right now that God will deliver them both from the Evil One’s scheme’s to steal, kill and destroy. May they return to the God of their youth with full conviction and total surrender. I pray your sorrow will be soothed by your Good Shepherd’s healing touch. I’m adding both Branndon and D’Shawn to the prayer list tonight. God, please give Brendaly perseverance and hope to never, ever give up!
“O Lord, hear my prayer, listen to my cry for mercy; in your faithfulness and righteousness come to my relief” (Ps. 143:1).
Warmly in Christ,
Dena
Blessings to you for beautiful encouraging words.
You are very welcome.
Dena
Brendaly
I can’t imagine your pain, as a mother of a troubled daughter through mental illness and drugs -though our pain is unique it is also similar in that we love them so much. My heart aches for you and I’m praying for your sons -keep showing them through you your affirmations and love who Christ is and his unconditional love unlike other religions/cults Jesus loves us as we are-He knows us unlike nobody else as He made us. Bless you
God bless you, Evette, for your comforting message to Brendaly. And you’re so right about how we need to keep loving unconditionally like Jesus does. His love is totally amazing and life-changing!
With much gratitude, Dena
Amen! Jesus is the only way and He will make a way. They Love the Lord, God will turn things around on his timing. Bless you sister, and may God bless your daughter as well. We have to trust and believe with faith that He has a purpose and that nothing the enemy throws our way is bigger than Jesus!
My 18 year old son is deep into addiction. He has been in and out of our home for the past few years. Each time he is on the streets he gets worse, but when we let him home, he relapses and we have to make him leave because that is the boundary we have set. I am in such immense pain and hardship, my heart is heavy. My son gets so mean and cruel and says horrible things to us. He UNinvited us to his graduation parade last week and so i missed seeing him graduate. Then he turns around and blames us for missing it. I cant win. He is mean and vindictive and spreads thins about us that arent true to get people to feel sorry for him. He is charming and manipulative – he steals from us and yet turns back to kiss our cheek. I am torn apart and desperately need help.
Oh Erin, how heartbreaking for you. I’m so so sorry for all you’ve been through. Being UNinvited to his graduation parade and seeing him graduate was really cruel. Blaming you for not coming just shows how confused he is. He loves you, he hates you. He wants your approval, he doesn’t…it’s a crazyh maker, right? I’m not surprised you’re torn apart. The ups and downs keep you on an emotional rollercoaster that can take down the strongest person. Your hopes rise and fall with every relapse. Each one hurts more than the last and then you start to lose hope. But he’s still so young, there’s plenty of reasons to have hope!
The first thing I would say is to please find a good, Christian counselor. You need their help to process and heal from so much trauma and pain. If you need help finding someone we can direct you to several resources for that. Second, take care of you. You can do a search here on my blog on the topic of Self-Care. I think if you focus on this it will really help. Next, find safe people who understand who you can talk to honestly. A support group would be awesome (there are several groups who offer them online too – we have one also; look on our website for ideas like Al-Anon, Nar-Anon, Thrive!Family Support, and Celebrate Recovery). They’re full of people who get it and can share their experience, strength and hope. You need lots of that! This was probably the best thing I did for my own well-being. And then, please stay close to God. He will never leave you and will walk with you through whatever comes. He loves you and your son so much. He will help you and guide you. He is your Good and Gentle Shepherd. I wouldn’t have survived without him. Someone urged me to read Psalm 23 before I went to sleep at night and when I first woke up. It was the perfect medicine for a weary soul. They told me to do this every day for a month – it was amazing how it will helped me.
I’m sorry this is so long, but I really need to make one more suggestion – be thankful.It sounds awful, but you can do it. Every day look for at least one thing you are grateful for and write it down. Start small: the sun came up, a flower, a good cup of coffee/tea, chocolate, hearing a bird sing or an encouraging song, etc. Gratitude turned out to be a life-saver for my grieving heart. I hope these things will help and I hope I didn’t go on too long.
And here’s a verse I love. You may know it: “Now may the God of hope fill you with joy and peace as you trust in him; so that you will not lose hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 15:13). Amen.
With hope for Healing and Wholeness,
Dena
Erin, I pray that God will give you and your husband the strength to continue fighting this spiritual warfare. Your son will come out of this in the name that is above all names…Jesus. Don’t give up and trust in the Lord. Blessings to you and your family.
Please pray for my son Brian who is addicted to alcohol and drugs.
Susan, I will pray right now for Brian!
Dear God, please do whatever it takes to deliver this young man from the trap the Evil One has set for him, having taken him captive to do his will; grant to him genuine repentance and bring him to his senses (2 Tim. 2:25-26). Give him the gift of pain, but only as much as is needed, to make him willing to surrender, ask for help, and be ready to do anything to get clean and stay clean. Open his eyes to the lies he’s been believing about himself and about you. Set him free and give him a reason to live that will fill him with more joy and purpose than he ever imagined possible. Help Susan put him in your loving hands and find peace in your presence until the answer comes. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Susan , I will pray for Brian. The God of the Universe will break those stronghold of addition and Brian will be set free from alcohol and drugs…in the Mighty name of our King Jesus…amen! Keep your head up and don’t lose hope.
God bless you Brendaly for how you are encouraging others even though you are in pain. I love seeing your messages to Susan, Erin, Cindy Jo and Evette. This is doing exactly what the Lord wants us to do–bear one another’s burdens.
He will hold on to you andnever let you go.
Dena