Topic: Prayer, Relationships

Praying for Your Prodigal and Yourself

"Pray about it." Doesn't that sound cliche at times? When you're really faced with a crisis, when you're ripped up inside by some great turmoil, it's hard to believe you're supposed to "just pray." It doesn't seem like much of a solution...but it is.

What Does God Say?

Prayer connects you with God, the only One who's perfectly and completely able to provide the solution or to give you what you need during a crisis or time of trouble. And if you're struggling with a prodigal, your prayer needs to go two ways.

The first is obviously to pray for your prodigal. First Peter 5:7 tells you to "Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you" (NLT). A prodigal is definitely a "worry" and a "care." But this verse in 1 Peter means you can turn that person over to God and let Him take care of your prodigal. You might pray, "OK, God, it's Your turn to deal with my prodigal!" And from this story, we see that God is very good at dealing with prodigals-including sending famines and pigs into their lives.

In Philippians 4:6-7, Paul teaches us, "Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus" (NLT). Taking your prodigal to God in prayer also opens the door to peace for your heart.

And that's the second thing your prayer needs to cover: you. While you pray that God will deal with your prodigal, you need to also pray that God will work in your heart, too, that you may not only experience His peace but that you'll be ready to welcome your prodigal home.

So, what do you pray for? Let's take a look.

My Thoughts

1. Praying for your prodigal:

Review Luke 15:11-24. While you don't see the father actively praying, what happened to the son that his father may have prayed about? Try verses 13-14, 17-18, 20 for a few ideas.

What else can you add to your prayer based on the following verses? Matthew 6:12-13

Psalm 91:11-12
Isaiah 30:15

2. Praying for yourself:

Go back to Luke 15:11-24. What do you see in the father that needs to be present in your life, especially when your prodigal comes home? Focus on verses 20-24.

What specifically can you add to your prayer from these verses?

1 Peter 5:7
Philippians 4:6-7
Psalm 37:5, 7-8

My Part

Now comes the hard part--you actually have to pray. Maybe you've been on your knees before God about your prodigal for a long time. Or perhaps you've given up praying because nothing's happened. Try again; God has His own timetable and it's perfect.

Perhaps you've spent a lot of time praying for your prodigal, but you haven't really asked God to work in your life. The father in Luke 15 gives us a wonderful example of a man who was ready to welcome his child home. He was prepared to forgive, to rejoice, to show compassion, to restore a broken relationship. He wasn't waiting to say, "I told you so" or "It's about time!" He left his worries and anxieties to God and lived in confident hope.

Use some of your discoveries from this study, along with the Bible verses, as you pray for God to work in your heart and in your prodigal's heart too.

Recommended Reading:
Surviving the Prodigals in Your Life by Woodrow Kroll. Available from backtothebible.org.