Spirit-Led Prayer Strategy: Aligning Your Prayers with God’s Will for Prodigals

Many pray as if they are trying to talk God into saving their loved ones, and they feel frustrated about it.

They are trying to convince God, but the Lord is already convinced! If I beg my husband to marry me, he is at a disadvantage. As much as he loves me and would do anything for me, he can do nothing to be more married to me than he already is. Even if we stood before a preacher and spoke our wedding vows again, it wouldn’t make us any more married than we already are. This kind of prayer lacks the faith to open the situation for God’s intervention.

Indeed, the Son of Man has come to seek and to save people who are lost (Luke 19:10 GW).

God is already 100 percent willing to save our loved ones. When we pray with faith in God’s will to save, we pray with courage and expectation. Before we pray, let’s settle the will of God firmly in our hearts.

How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him (Acts 10:38).

It is God’s will, and He has already made salvation available in Jesus Christ. God is looking for a covenant partner in your family who will stand in the gap to defend against the enemy’s attack. He is looking for someone to say, “Lord, I will be the one whom You can call on. I am Yours to command. Do you need me to pray for Aunt Nancy? I will focus on Aunt Nancy in prayer.”

Then, God can come to you and say, “Why don’t you ask Me to do more for Aunt Nancy? Why don’t you ask Me to open the eyes of her understanding?”

So, you begin to ask, “Lord, I pray that You can open the eyes of her understanding.” You may think, Well, God can do anything He wants. So, why do I need to pray for that? But that is not how God has chosen to operate on the earth. God is sovereign in that He is all-powerful, but God delegated the authority on the earth to mankind. The Lord gave us the right to choose, and He won’t violate our will. God is just.

The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit (James 5:16-18).

Elijah prayed that it would rain because God told him that it would rain (1 Kings 18:1). God’s covenant representative on earth got into an agreement with the will of God and prayed in line with it. Elijah gave God legal access into the earth to do that thing.

If God could have orchestrated His will in the situation without the prayers of Elijah, why did the Holy Spirit use this example to illustrate the effect of our prayers?

Our prayers avail much. The Amplified Bible, Classic Edition says, “The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working].”

Young’s Literal Translation says: “Very strong is a working supplication of a righteous man.”

The Moffatt New Translation says: “The prayer of the righteous has a powerful effect.”

God’s power is available, and we activate it as His representatives. We voice the effectual, fervent prayer. We are instruments that God can use. He can move through the situation and cause His power to be made available.

Partners in Prayer

The role you take in intervention prayer is one of partnership. As you pray in agreement with what God wants for your loved ones, you join forces with God to see His perfect plan unfold. If you get your prayer cues from the One who knows exactly what will solve the problem, it is just a matter of time until you see results.

Ask ye of the Lord rain in the time of the latter rain; so the Lord shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field (Zechariah 10:1 KJV).

In prayer, you activate God’s will in the lives of your loved ones by using your authority and faith to give God legal access to intervene. We see this portrayed when God spoke to Elijah to tell Ahab that it would not rain. He had the knowledge of what God wanted in the situation. Yet, Elijah prayed earnestly that it would not rain.

Elijah was as human as we are, and yet when he prayed earnestly that no rain would fall, none fell for three and a half years! Then, when he prayed again, the sky sent down rain and the earth began to yield its crops (James 5:17-18 NLT).

Elijah prayed in line with God’s will, which authorized God to move in the situation. God worked with and through Elijah to bring His will to pass in that circumstance. Similarly, God clearly outlines His will for your family members in His Word. You participate with God through prayer to see His will brought to pass. You ask according to God’s will, and He answers according to your faith-filled prayers.

We must remember this: God’s hand is not moved just because of a need. He doesn’t answer according to the abundance of our tears or the severity of the situation. God’s grace is accessed by our faith. Romans 4:16 says, “Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed.” Faith is our part!

The Lord works in harmony with His Word that is working in us. God “is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us” (Eph. 3:20).

You must stand in faith with your prayer petitions established on the Word of God. If you are praying in faith, you are not desperate, afraid, worried, or grieving. You refuse to allow the circumstances to govern how you think, feel, or talk. You pray with joy, peace, and thankfulness and go through your day saying, “Thank You, Jesus, for the salvation of (insert your loved one’s name).” Let’s pray!

Your Intervention Prayer

Father, You are good! In Jesus’ name, I praise You for Your mercy and loving-kindness. It is Your will to save (insert your loved one’s name). I pray in line with Your will and declare the light of the gospel is brightly shining to (insert your loved one’s name).

I enforce Christ’s victory over every plan of the enemy and declare no weapon formed against them shall be able to prosper. I pray for the path my loved one is walking to be filled with the light of God. Send laborers across their path to speak words of truth that dispel the darkness and turn them toward the plan You have for them. Direct them away from wrong influences and deliver them from evil.

I break the stronghold of shame from (insert your loved one’s name)’s life. Unravel the web of deceit that shame has used to bind them. Lord, may they know how faithful You are to forgive us. If we confess our sins, You are faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). You will have compassion on (insert your loved one’s name); You will subdue their iniquities and cast all their sins into the depth of the sea (Micah 7:19).

I refrain my voice from weeping and my eyes from tears because I believe (insert your loved one’s name) shall come again from the land of the enemy. Thank You that there is hope in the future of (insert your loved one’s name) and (insert your loved one’s name) shall return (Jer. 31:16- 17). I believe they will be like the prodigal son who came to himself and returned to his father’s house.

Father, I ask You to draw (insert your loved one’s name) to repent. Manifest Your mercy and love to them in supernatural ways. According to Joel 2:11-13, let him/her turn to You with all their heart and return to Your ways because You are slow to anger and of great kindness. Thank You for Your mercy!