Praying for Prodigals with Passion!
WELCOME to Issue #196 of The Seedhead from Alex and Hannah at Dandelion Resourcing - a weekly confidence booster to help you step into naturally supernatural discipleship and mission!
Do you have prodigals in your life who you’re longing to return to Jesus?
Are you in the midst of parenting kids who are still in your home but things aren’t going smoothly?
Have you become disheartened that all your praying hasn’t yet seemed to have made a difference?
I was recently listening to a podcast (linked below) that talks about a man who grew up in a wonderful Christian home but walked away from Jesus. After a series of increasingly bad choices, he found himself alone and despondent in a police cell. Sitting there, suddenly from out in the corridor he heard his mother singing a song that was precious to their family… except that she wasn’t there, but was at home miles away singing that very song and praying for him! And then the real adventure began!
I was reminded that I’ve heard several other stories of (mostly) men who are now doing amazing things for Jesus, who had some sort of faith upbringing but as a teenager turned away from God. When they hit rock bottom, the Lord brought to mind images of their moms, or things that their moms had said. It always seems to be the moms (or mums)! I know dads obviously have a huge impact too, but as mom/mum it made me stop and think. From church history, both Augustine and Francis of Assisi are well known examples of mothers being a huge influence in their conversions.
As a parent, or even a significant person in a child’s life, never underestimate what you’ve put into the kids while they’ve been in your care. The Lord may well use some of those things later in the child’s life to steer them back to Jesus.
And never underestimate the power of prayer, particularly when it’s prompted by the Spirit. Each and every one of those prayers is held before the Father.
“And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne, and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel.” (Revelation 8:3-4) Just because we can’t see this taking place with our own eyes does not mean it’s not real!
Christianity Today (May/June, 2024) ran an article on the impact mothers make when it comes to the faith of their children. Among the standout stats is that 70% of Christian teenagers talk about God with their mothers, 71% read the Bible with them, and 99% encourage them to go to church gatherings. Let’s keep encouraging those conversations!
Here are some things you can do:
If your kids are young, keep on investing spiritually into them and do not underestimate the importance of doing so.
Obviously, never give up on the kids (grown up or not) in your life!
Where it’s appropriate, keep speaking words of truth and life.
Specifically ask Jesus what you should be doing and praying at any given moment. Sometimes you won’t sense anything, but sometimes you will, so get in the habit of regularly asking!
When you feel a prompting from the Spirit, lean in and quickly obey.
And finally, remember that Jesus loves them and wants a relationship with them even more than you do!
Here’s the podcast link.
Here’s the link to the Christianity Today article.
Whether you are directly ministering to a prodigal, or you are supporting a friend in this situation, let’s never give up on someone, whatever their life looks like from the outside.
With love,
Alex + Hannah
ALEX AND HANNAH ABSALOM
P.S. Next week we begin a new series on the gifts of the Spirit! Each week we’ll focus on one of the more overtly supernatural gifts, and give you a definition, a Bible example, a story, show how to be activated, assess potential pitfalls, make some general comments, give you specific next steps (homework!), and finally pray for this gift to be released in your life. And all in under 10 minutes each time! WOW!
This will be a great series to share around your church as a quick training resource. Groups will love to watch these and have both discussion and activation afterwards.
