God Loves the Prodigal - Luke 15-16

Luke 15:20 (ESV)

And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.

If you have a prodigal child in your life, the above text should be prayed over the prodigal and yourself each day.   Pray the following:

1.  Mindset Change!   Pray that the prodigal will arise and come to their senses and change their mindset.   They have to see their own desires need to be aligned with God before they can be helped by you.   It starts with them.  (2 Timothy 2:25-26)

2.  Watch!   The father, in the above text, sees his prodigal coming to him.  That means he was watching each day.   If you have a prodigal child the pray and watch for their return. Pray and watch each day.   

3.  Feel Compassion!  While the prodigal was a long way off the father was moved.   Empathy and compassion are necessary to cause change in a prodigal parent’s heart.  The parent had to forgive the prodigal before any repentance can ever happen or be expressed.   

4. Run!   The prodigal has moved and now the parent must move.   The parent running to the prodigal demonstrates the parent’s commitment to make this work.  The parent doesn’t wait to hear the confession or repentance, they run to the prodigal to show their willingness to change the situation. 

5. Embrace!  This must have been hard.  In the next step we will read that the prodigal had no shoes and was ill clothed.  This prodigal had just left feeding and eating with pigs.   The father was not hesitant to embrace the stink.  Any prodigal who returns comes with stink.   

6. Sacrifice!   The father gave the prodigal new clothes, shoes and fine food.  The parent had already lost much from what the prodigal was already given and had squandered.   Yet, the parent still was willing to sacrifice.  

It is not easy to love a returning prodigal.  But the responsibility to help them back into the norms of the family fall as much on the parent as they do the prodigal.   

This entire story, of course, is told by Jesus to tell us how God loves us.  He desires us to change our mindset.  He runs to us.  He embraces us when we stink.   He sacrifices and gives us His righteousness.