My former pastor told a story I’ve never forgotten. A faithful father had three sons who had gone astray from the Lord. This grieved him. He decided to go to God about it and plead for his sons’ souls with his heavenly father. He went off by himself in seclusion for several days, just him and God. During that time he prayed in earnest for each son, day after day, moment by moment. The father prayed in earnest for his sons, never stopping and never giving up. After a few days of nonstop praying on their behalf, peace came in, and he felt God had answered. He called each one of his sons independent of each other. All three sons had experienced the conviction of the Lord, repented of their sins, and had come to Jesus with their heart and soul.
The following list is for any area you wish to change that needs spiritual intervention from God. I’m putting it here for parents, but these five areas are important when there are serious spiritual needs, including your own needs.
Spiritual tools at your disposal.
- PRAYER – Pray like you’ve never prayed before. Go to the throne of grace, bend the knee, pray, minute after minute, day after day, hour after hour. Set aside a portion of the day to pray in earnest for your family member who is not walking with God. There are many ways to pray for them. You can ask God to work in all aspects of their life: spiritual, physical, emotional, and intellectual. I ask God to bind their will to God, their mind to Christ, their emotions to the Spirit, and to remove and change what is not of God. Most of all, pray that God will become real to them.
- FASTING – Fasting is of God. When you fast for a spiritual reason and commit to fasting and prayer on behalf of another person’s spiritual condition, it is a powerful offering for a divine purpose. Some do partial fasts. Fasts can be arranged in many ways such as, one day a week, one meal a day, one food group, a weekend, one week, two weeks, or 40 days. Time is spent in prayer in addition to the fast.
- INTERCESSION – Intercession is when you intercede on another person’s behalf. This is fervent, frequent, and interactive prayer. God may direct the intercession by guiding the prayer session in a certain way. A great book that demonstrates intercession is found in this book I reviewed: Rees Howell: Intercessor: The Story of a Life Lived for God. Another thought, pray with others, should you be so inclined.
- TIME – God works through time. Change takes time and dedication. You do not know how much time or if change will come in your lifetime. Time is needed to accomplish spiritual tasks. Do not be weary in well-doing. Imagine your loved one as whole in spirit and free in heart. Wish this for yourself as well. Ask God to do a work in you. God accomplishes something in you as he acts on your prayers. He will do this. God waits until you are ready, and God accomplishes his will over time. We can be too impatient.
- BELIEVE – Have faith to believe God will work according to his plan. Believe in his love for your erring one. Believe he will and can change your loved one. Believe like Hudson Taylor’s mother prayed. Believe like the Prodigal father believed. Believe like Hannah, Samuel’s mother, believed. God answered their prayers.
Scripture says some spiritual manifestations come by way of prayer and fasting (casting out demons etc.). I have witnessed God change a life through someone’s prayer and fasting on their behalf. Christ brings the lost one to a knowledge of their lost condition, their sinfulness, their need of Christ and of Christ’s cleansing. At the same time there is a brokenness and a yielding of their-self to God. Repentance happens when the person sorrows for the sins they’ve committed against God. God is into making people into new creatures in Christ.
Millennials need Christ as much as Baby Boomers need Christ. They just may not know it and may be unfamiliar with the concept. Deception has blinded many from being able to discern truth. They may speak of the universe, which is fairly common right now, but not the God of the universe.
Your grown children deserve more. They live enveloped in a lie that sounds like a reasonable truth, under a delusion that says they can have it all. Wasn’t that the lie Eve believed? She wanted what seemed “good” and better for her. We all are privy to that lie, it sounds so innocent.
Dear Parents,
Try prayer, fasting, interceding, allowing time, and the faith to believe in the goodness of God toward your children. Wrestle this one through on their behalf. You will be glad you did. Expect a fight, the enemy will attack you, I almost guarantee it. Something will go wrong. The more serious you get, the more he gets serious in resisting your efforts to save your child from their selves. You can know you’re in the battle and making headway when you experience relentless opposition. You may experience darkness descend and confusion in your home. That is part of the battle. Once you know what the battle looks like, then it won’t scare you so much. Satan likes to scare us big time. But the battle is worth it. Ask spiritual friends to back you in prayer. Back-up prayer support is wise. Spiritual battles are not won easily.
When you get serious, God gets serious.
Here’s a challenge for you. Instead of taking a fun vacation, take the time for spiritual intercession. Have a spiritual staycation instead. Then tell people that you are unavailable. Prepare to stay home for the duration or as much as possible. I did one of these for three days, and fasted the three days, too. I wrote in my journal, prayed, read scripture, and prayed and interceded, and prayed some more. I had an objective, and God answered, and I was blessed. You will be changed. Take it as it comes, and insert your will in the deal. You, too, with serious intent must have your spiritual house in order to address the throne of God and access his help.
May you experience the joy of seeing your prodigal return home with a changed mind and heart.
God bless you.
Until next week, Norma
