Transcript
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If you love a prodigal, you can discover help and hope for your wilderness journey right here at the When You Love a Prodigal podcast.
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And also help and hope for your own life journey.
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Today, we're talking about liberation.
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As we consider the strongholds in the lives of our loved ones, and perhaps ourselves,
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be sure to note the verses that will give you hope.
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Often, in my years with my prodigal, it seemed like even as he had tried to turn around and was working hard to not be a prodigal,
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it seemed like he was under a curse.
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Actually, I think he was, and maybe still is.
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Just recently, a dog on a leash jerked him around, and he now has both torn ACL and MCL in his knee.
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It's definitely having an impact on his life.
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Lots of bad things have happened to him in his early years before he came to be adopted by us.
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As he got older, most of the bad things in his life were due to his own bad choices.
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And yes, he still experiences some of the consequences of those bad choices.
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But when he sought to turn his life around, he was desiring to make good choices and move toward a different way of life.
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Yet it seemed that every day something happened to distract or detour or depress him.
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He got a job that he was excited about, but realized he would earn so little he couldn't afford to drive there.
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And then he found this wonderful girl he was seeing, and he was hopeful that this was a lasting relationship.
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But she decided that his past was too close to his present, and that ended that.
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His dogs got out of the yard again in the neighborhood he was living in, and a neighbor reported it again.
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And animal services slapped him with a huge fine.
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And then his beloved grandfather was not in good health, and he was distraught over that.
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I could go on. Those are just a few of the things that happened at that time when he was wanting to make better choices.
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He felt like he was trapped, under attack, couldn't get a break, in bondage, cursed.
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I hear from you, others of you who love a prodigal, agreeing that you are seeing the pattern, the evidence of strongholds in the life of your prodigal,
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something that has a hold of him, and he just can't get free. She can't seem to make those right choices.
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I believe some of what our prodigals experience is truly relentless attack from the enemy of their souls.
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Satan does not want them to become the men and women that God created them to be.
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He will use any weapon he can to keep them from truly following the Savior.
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He seeks to do the same, by the way, to us who love them.
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But with our prodigals, the enemy tempts and entices them.
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He knows what works best. He studies them, so he knows what will capture them.
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He orchestrates circumstances. He surrounds them with wrong friends or coworkers or influences.
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He woos them with things of the world and things of the flesh.
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He convinces them that temporary pleasures will bear no lasting consequences.
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He traps them with addictions. He applies curses from generations past.
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Yes, I know they make choices to fall into his traps, but we are wise to recognize that an enemy is at work,
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seeking to subvert all our efforts to help guide and rescue our loved ones.
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Scripture tells us that our enemy prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.
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That's in 1 Peter chapter 5. He wants especially to devour your prodigal and mine.
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The Lord has continued to open my eyes on this topic.
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I believe it is why so many of our prodigals take so long to return.
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I know many people are far more knowledgeable on this reality and how to break down those strongholds than I am.
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But we have a way to fight.
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Yesterday I was reminded of this wonderful verse in Jeremiah 30.
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It says, In that day, declared the Lord Almighty, I will break the yoke off their neck and will tear off their bonds.
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We are not powerless on behalf of these we love.
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We have the power of El Shaddai the Almighty and El Elyon the Most High God.
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Jesus has promised, My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all.
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No one can snatch them out of my Father's hands.
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I've claimed that verse so many times.
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It's a wonderful promise that God's still in control.
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The Apostle John assures us, You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them
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because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.
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We just have to recognize Satan's got a lot of power, but our God has so much more.
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We know these promises.
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I have claimed them many times.
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I have prayed to break bondages and soul ties and curses.
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Sometimes we see great breakthroughs, but other times it seems the dark gets darker.
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But we don't know what is going on in the heavenlies where the battles are being fought.
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My part, your part, is to persevere in prayer, in faith, in trust.
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I've been reading in Isaiah my go-to book during our wilderness journey,
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and God has spoken to me through several verses in Isaiah 49.
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I realize these verses concern the children of Israel and the promise of their return to their land,
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but every time I read them, God whispers to me that he will set far more than Israel free
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from the enemies who are pursuing them.
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So perhaps these words from our Lord, Evia Isaiah, will encourage you as well.
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In Isaiah 49, 3 and 4, we read,
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He said to me, You are my servant Israel, and whom I will display my splendor.
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Did you get that?
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God will display his splendor through Israel, through his church, through his people,
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including the rescued prodigals.
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But Isaiah said, I have labored in vain.
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I have spent my strength for nothing.
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That's what it feels like sometimes, doesn't it?
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We love, we serve, we encourage, we discipline, we spend, and we pray.
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We grow weary.
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Our strength is spent.
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And where is the result?
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In Isaiah 49, verses 8 and 9,
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This is what the Lord says, In the time of my favor I will answer you,
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And in the day of salvation I will help you.
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Say to the captives, Come out, And to those in darkness, be free.
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I believe that God is saying to us, I will answer you.
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And to our captives living in darkness, come out, be free.
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Going on to verses 15 and 16, we read, I will not forget you.
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This is God speaking.
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See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.
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God says, we and our prodigals that he's chasing and pursuing,
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he's got their names written on the palms of his hands.
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And maybe that even refers to the holes in Jesus' hands.
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We are part of what's engraved in his hands.
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How often I rest in this assurance that he will not forget me, or you, or any of our loved ones.
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The evidence he has engraved us on his own palms.
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Then in Isaiah 49, 25, But this is what the Lord says,
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Yes, captives will be taken from warriors, And plunder retrieved from the fierce.
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I will contend with those who contend with you, And your children I will save.
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Every time I read this verse, I see a picture of my prodigal and your prodigal.
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In the grasp of the warriors of Satan, his demons fiercely holding them as plunder for the evil one.
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But God says he will contend with those fierce warriors,
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And will retrieve those who are captured and save them.
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And my heart leaps that that possibility is there.
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And then in Isaiah 49, 23, Then you will know that I am the Lord,
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Those who hope in me will not be disappointed.
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When I read that last phrase, God's peace washes over me.
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My prayers and hope are not in vain.
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He is God, and he is good.
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He will not disappoint.
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May he confirm in your heart and your mind that he is in the battle with you,
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fighting for your loved one.
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This is not a how-to, it's just a reminder.
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There are books and prayers and other resources that will be listed in the show notes
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and at the Prayer for Prodigals website.
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I'm so glad, so grateful that we can join together and pray for each other and all our prodigals.
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I know that some of them we seem to have lost, but God still has them.
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Even if the battle here on earth didn't go the way we wanted, God's not let go of them.
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He's got them engraved on the palm of his hand, and he wins them.
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One day we will see the freedom, the victory.
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In the meantime, we wait on our faithful God and on our knees.
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May you know that Satan does not win.
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So what about you?
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Where are you in a battle for yourself or a loved one?
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Just remember, God is bigger, stronger, more powerful, and he loves you and your loved one.
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He will win.
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God bless you.