Praying for Prodigal Children: Don’t Stop Now!

Have you been crying and agonizing through countless sleepless nights because your son or daughter is estranged from God? If what I am saying describes you, now is not the time to give up. Don’t stop praying for prodigal children and believing God for a miracle. God needs you to partner with Him to bring your prodigal home.

Praying for Prodigal Children

I understand your dilemma because I am trusting God to bring my own prodigal (adult) children back to Himself. The heartache is real when we see “these people” heading in wrong and potentially harmful directions. I know the pain of praying and praying for years with little or no evidence of change in sight. But now is not the time to quit. Rather, it is time to fast, to pray, and to press in like never before! In other words, this is the final push before the baby is born.

So, what’s a parent to do? Truly, the most important thing to do is to continue to believe in our hearts and confess with our mouths that God is big enough to save our children.

Speak Life Over Your Children

Our words hold tremendous power, and it is imperative that we speak life and not death over these situations. Proverbs 18:21 NKJV states, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue…” Every word we speak must align with God’s Word, which is His will.

God’s Word Has Power

His Word coming from our mouths shifts atmospheres and moves mountains. God said that His Word is “like a fire, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces” (Jeremiah 23:29). Hebrews 4:12 NKJV describes His Word as “alive and active; sharper than a two-edged sword…”

When we get a revelation of exactly how powerful God’s Word is, we will be very intentional about what we choose to say or not say. Let’s kick complaining to the curb and send doubt and unbelief into the sea of forgetfulness, for as we declare God’s Word for our prodigals, all of heaven will be activated.

Stand on God’s Word

The next step is to fully arm ourselves with God’s Word regarding our soon-to-return prodigals. Pray and ask God to give you the Scriptures He would have you declare on a regular basis. One of my favorites is, “The captives of warriors will be released, and the plunder of tyrants will be retrieved. For I will fight those who fight you, and I will save your children” (Isaiah 49:25 NKJV).

Another one is Isaiah 55:11 NKJV, which declares, “So shall my word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to me void. But it shall accomplish what I please. And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.” Now would be a great time to jump and shout!

When God sends His Word into the hearts of our children, we can trust that it will take root and bear fruit, even the fruit of salvation. God said His Word will prosper in the thing to which He sent it, and these “things” include our grown children. I believe what God has spoken! His Word never returns empty, and I am so thankful!

Walk in Love

In addition to praying and declaring God’s word, it is of the utmost
importance to walk in love. For me this directive has meant guarding my mouth and praying before I speak as to not push my prodigals away. I’d rather draw them to the love of God. “It is the goodness of God” that leads people to repentance. Judgment, condemnation, and criticism will never lead to the salvation of lost persons, including our children.

God has people everywhere, and if you ask Him, He will send people full of His love and deliverance power to speak life to our loved ones. God does not necessarily need our help in “preaching” to them, in fact, the less said the better.

We must discipline ourselves to resist the temptation to tell them what they should do. God knows exactly who and what they need, and He is an expert in divine intervention. Personally, I do not want to be a stumbling block to their salvation, rather I want to be a conduit of God’s love. So we choose to let God be God and to not get in His way. After all, our Father knows best!

Pray in Agreement With Others

inally, I want to encourage you to find some other parents who are praying for their prodigals. Ask them to pray and agree with you, as there is so much power when God’s people agree in prayer. I’ve recently done this exact thing. We meet on Zoom and pray, and I am already seeing changes! Matthew 18:19 says, “…if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.”

“Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him” (I John 5:14–15 NKJV).

Would you consider praying today?

A Prayer for Your Prodigal

Father,

In the name of Jesus, we are calling for Your intervention in the lives of our prodigals. The enemy has held our loved ones in bondage, but we trust in Your power to set them free. Expose every lie they have believed and bring it into the light. Let Your truth shatter deception!

We take our places in prayer and stand in Your authority over the adversary. With faith, we speak life to our loved ones and declare that Your anointing will pull down every stronghold, remove every obstacle, and destroy every yoke. By faith, we declare that the seed of the righteous are saved, healed, and delivered!

Break every curse and surround their hearts and minds with the peace of God. We declare that the blood of Jesus covers our children and that no weapon formed against them shall prosper.

Father, instruct them in the way they should go. We thank You that our loved ones shall return home from the land of the enemy. In the mighty name of Jesus, we pray. Amen!