Prodigal, there are open arms for you!

Do you ever feel like your prayers are somehow sent to "the wrong place" and God doesn't hear them? Have you ever looked at a situation and felt hopeless, that the hours you've spent crying out to God were a "waste"? Okay, so we know that our prayers aren't going to the wrong place. And we know that time spent with God is not a waste, but sometimes it feels that way!

I found myself in that place recently. I told God and a friend that it just doesn't make sense- being so burdened for something and praying about something for so long but not really seeing anything answered. I was processing with a friend about something that I've been praying about for seventeen years. I don't know if you've ever been here before, but I was at the crossroads: do I keep hoping that the prodigals in my life will return, or do I just write off in a sense and become a complete realist by saying "they'll probably always be lost, but I'll keep praying for them because that's the right thing to do?" Now, we know that writing it all off is NOT the way to go. But, at one point I think everyone has been there in some form at some time!

As I was having this deep conversation with a friend between the cars in the Starbucks drive-thru line (it was a Monday, no judgement), I was prompted to study the parable of the Prodigal Son, but in a new light: look more at how the father reacted upon the son's return. It's a pretty safe assumption that almost everyone knows the basics about the prodigal son, but just for the fun of it read Luke 15:11-32 below, and either mark or make a mental note about the father and son:

11 Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.

13 “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.

17 “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ 20 So he got up and went to his father.

“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

21 “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.

25 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27 ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’

28 “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29 But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’

31 “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”

For the first time ever verse 20 stood out to me. How can his father see him from a long way off unless he was looking for his son to return? Okay, so maybe this isn't news to any of you, but don't steal my thunder, okay? It was encouraging to me! It was God showing me that it isn't black or white- it's both. You recognize that right now the prodigal is a prodigal, but you look for them to return... hope! I sat there and couldn't help but think about the gospel. 

If the father represents God, which I think it does, he was there to welcome the son home. Think about the son's response in verse 21 "The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son". The son was brought to a place of humility and recognized his sins. It reminded me of Romans 10:9-10:

"that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation". 

We all need Jesus. It made me love and appreciate God even more that on the day of the Crucifixion His mercy and justice characteristics made a perfect collision so that He could welcome us with loving arms.  

So, some things for us to do while praying for the prodigals:

1) love them: as much as they'll let you. This doesn't mean you look the other way and not speak truth. However it also doesn't mean that you are a judgmental jerk that makes them feel like they aren't good enough and that they suck at life (check out John 14:26). This is where I throw a big shout out to the Holy Spirit who is sufficient & will lead you in the best way to love them. If they aren't in the picture or not in communication, then the next best way to love is to:

2) pray for them: that God will soften their hearts and bring them to a place of humility where they will recognize their need for Jesus and come home. In His sovereignty God allowed the son to experience the situations that brought him to the place of humility. I don't think it's a wrong thing to pray that God will bring your prodigal to a place of humility. It is a hard prayer that I have prayed through gritted teeth, but I encourage you to trust God with this person! He created us all anyway- He knows what He is doing!

3) keep the hope! Don't ignore the reality of the situation. Keep living and following God in the direction He has called you to and put you in, but keep gazing far off looking for that person to return. We can always have hope. Psalm 147:11 says "the LORD delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love". We can always have hope when our hope is in the person who never fails, not the situation that does. 

Praying for prodigals can be refining for you, not just the prodigal. We must ask ourselves: do I trust that God is in control and knows what He is doing, regardless if it's on my time frame or not? Will I still believe that God is good because He is God, regardless if my prodigal never returns?

Praying for us all to "fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God". (Hebrews 12:2)