We Prayed on Prodigal Prayer Day. Now What?

Did you ask for prayer for your loved one on the Worldwide Prodigal Prayer Day?

Did you pray?

Were you expecting an answer within a week?

Do you grow weary of praying?

Do you think the answers you ask for will never come?

Do you feel like you have no idea how to pray effectively?

I have felt all those emotions on many occasions, even after the Worldwide Prodigal Prayer Day. I hope you will read these helpful thoughts going forward.

Many of us prayed

We prayed for all those names on the list of treasured prodigals, as well as our own beloved wanderers. And we will continue to pray. What a privilege!

And what a battle! I am always exhausted at the end of the day. We—and those we pray for—have an enemy who doesn’t like that we are on our knees on their behalf.

So what do we do now that we have prayed?

We wait–to see what God is doing. Sometimes we will see immediate answers; other times we await the unfolding of change. He is often kind to give us little glimpses of His response to our prayers. Some of us will rejoice in amazing transformation. Mostly we will wait.

We trust–God heard and is answering our prayer. We have great assurance from His Word that He desires for our prodigals to return to Him—and to us. So we take comfort from these verses: “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.” (1 John 5:14-15)

We thank–Thank was the first word in our look at transformation—for our prodigals and for us. God is working even when we don’t see it. We are admonished to give thanks in all things, even when we don’t observe what we hope for. We must remember that we look through that dark glass—God is always working even if we can’t discern what He is doing.

We give love and grace–our next two transforming words. We are the hands and heart of our Savior to our loved prodigals. Our Father says He will woo them back with His lovingkindness. We are His primary means of extending that love and grace that will (eventually) draw them back to God and to us.

We give mercy and blessing—our final two words of transformation. Just as our Lord extends mercy and blessing, so He asks us to.

We Hope—because we have a strong anchor to hold our Hope—Jesus Himself. We remember that God’s promises are all YES in Christ, so we have confidence to keep on hoping as we ask in the name of Jesus.

And we pray—with hope, with perseverance, with assurance. A day set aside to pray for prodigals is wonderful, engaging us and our God for release of His grace and power. But we still need to keep praying—to “keep on asking, seeking and knocking.”

Yes, the waiting is hard, but that’s when we learn and grow.

So don’t give up. Once again, hear the Scripture that sustained me through more than 15 years: “I am the Lord; in its time I will do this swiftly.” (Isaiah 60:22)

c2026 Judy Douglass