Praying for the Prodigal

For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. Luke 15:24

Note: The following narrative was written with my son’s consent.

I sat there in the prayer room unable to exhale for fear of an anxiety attack. It was an emergency phone call from my oldest adult son and it was about to change the way I prayed for him.

My son knew I was in a church service, so for him to be calling meant it had to be urgent. Urgent was an understatement. This was a matter of life and death. Literally. My beloved firstborn son was calling to tell me goodbye, that he loved me and that he was sorry for the choices he made.

And because of that phone call, just like a mama bear rises up to protect her cubs and fight to the death for them, I was going to fight and battle in prayer for the life of my son.

I prayed for him and with him right then and there on the phone because I was not about to let hell take my son without a fight. The enemy had declared war on my family but no weapon formed against us was going to prosper! (Isaiah 54:17)

We said goodbye and that’s when I fell apart, completely heartbroken. Thankfully, someone walked into the prayer room and I managed to get the words out for them to go and get my husband. I was barely able to speak when my husband came in the room, but he understood enough of my words to rush and get our pastor.

Our pastor came and immediately began to pray a prayer so specific it infused my spirit with faith and trust that God was going to work a miracle in my son’s life. Not only did our pastor pray, but the entire church was now praying for the prodigal son.

My son was over 3000 miles away in the Navy and it was impossible for me to reach him fast enough to help him. But God could and did. He is a very present help in trouble (Psalm 46:1).

God not only saved my son’s life, but He began the process of restoring my son to his rightful place as a child of the Most High God.

I prayed constantly, cried many tears, and prayed more. Finally a breakthrough came when reading God’s promises about my children:

And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children. Isaiah 54:13

I taught my son about God and His Word the best I knew how. But now I could petition God to teach him what I couldn’t and to give him this great peace. And when I didn’t know what to pray, I would simply pray Isaiah 54:13.

Another powerful scripture is found in Ezekiel 36:26:

A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.

My son allowed the Lord to do a work in him, to replace the stony heart with a heart of flesh. He also let God heal him and restore him to where he belonged as God’s precious child.

To God be all the glory, He certainly did a great thing in my son’s life!

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