“So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”

John 8:36

These are the words of Jesus, the Son. He is speaking to Jewish believers. Earlier He had said, “If you hold to my teaching then you are truly my disciples. Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free” (v.32). Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6). They didn’t understand why He was saying this. They said they were descendants of Abraham and had never been a slave to anyone. Why did they need to be set free? But Jesus tells them, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin” (v.34). Jesus wasn’t talking about physically being a slave, but about being in spiritual bondage. Believers can be in spiritual bondage. Believers can believe the lies of the enemy. Believers aren’t always aware of what’s going on in the spiritual realm. The enemy is very good at deceiving us. He has deceived our prodigals.

God has a different plan in mind for them. He wants to break their chains. Jesus came to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives, and release from darkness the prisoners (Isaiah 61:1). God wants to reveal His Father heart for them to us. He wants to reveal His plans to us…if we will listen. “Surely the Sovereign LORD does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets.” (Amos 3:7). We may not be prophets like in the Old Testament, but we are encouraged to seek after the gift of prophecy (1 Corinthians 14:1). I can’t tell you what His plan for your prodigal is, but I can tell you He will. He is speaking to us all the time. I do know without a doubt that He loves them and is pursuing them. Ask Him what your part is. How He wants you to pray specifically. Ask Him how He sees them.

God has given me very specific verses to pray for Nathan. He has recently been telling me to change the tense from “I will” to “I am” (God speaking) or from “Nathan will” to “Nathan is”….present tense rather than future tense. This is exciting to me. I know God sees Nathan already moving in His calling and He is instructing me to do the same. God is destroying the works of the devil in Nathan’s life (1 John 3:8) and even though the enemy came to kill, steal, and destroy him, he will not succeed because Jesus came to give him life, and life to the full. (John 10:10). Jesus will break every chain and set him free. That’s just two of the verses He has given me. In the face of difficulty Nathan says, “I must obey God rather than man” (Acts 5:29). Do you see how that works? I speak these words back to God because He has shown me they apply specifically to Nathan. This is called prophetic intercession. Hearing God’s heart for another and declaring it back to the spirit realm and possibly to people. The Word of God in our mouth creates a new reality. “‘The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,’ that is the word of faith we are proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth ‘Jesus is Lord’, and believe in your heart, God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9).

It is my desire that these devotions will bring you encouragement to seek the Father heart of God for your prodigal as well as a reminder to pray for all of them in the group. God may even want to reveal His heart to you for someone in the group or one of the other prodigals; either to show you how to pray more effectively, or to have you share it with them for the purpose of strengthening, encouraging or comforting them (1 Corinthians 14:3).

Again I have included a song: Break Every Chain by Jesus Culture