Prayer Pursues the Prodigal

"The prayers of the righteous are powerful tools"

A street worker friend of mine called me late one afternoon to see if I could go across town and pick up a young lady who was in desperate need of a drive to detox. I made my way across the city, in the middle of rush hour, to meet her and her boyfriend- I put her suitcase into the back of my van and watched as she said good bye to her boyfriend.

As we made our way through the traffic and to pick up my street worker friend- she, little by little unfolded her story. Her and her boyfriend had come into the city from Christian homes, and had soon gotten involved with some very insidious elements. Elements that deliver death instead of the promised high.

She came into the city to be with him. He came into the city to find freedom. Both found addictions and their very life being taken from them.

I don't know how long they have been in the middle of this 'pig pen' but both have had the prayers of parents calling out to God to pursue them by His Spirit and awaken their hearts. A month ago God led me to them. The very same day I emailed Christ followers in four different continents and simply shared the need for prayer. Over the last few weeks I have received phone calls, emails and questions every week asking what was happening with this young couple. My answer has been, "Keep praying, the cycle of darkness continues".

I sat yesterday at a cafe with a man who I serve alongside of in some streetlevel focuses. He joined into several of these only a few months ago. We were meeting to share java and like spiritual passion, to see the church make a greater impact by living out the gospel among 'the least of these.'

In the midst of conversation I asked him about his family. He told me of his wife, and two boys- one 29 the other 21. With a voice strained with the pain of heartbreak he said his son was an addict in the city. Then he told me the unknown details of the story of two young people who 'escaped' to the city. Yeah the same story that I have just written above.

I waited for him to continue to pour out the pursuit of God's love on these two prodigals. Last week the parents met with the two young people- discovering that they were holed up in a crack house. They were besides themselves with what to do? They prayed, and you were praying with them. Last weekend the ex-hell's angel who owned the crack house over dosed and died; the police came in, closed the house down, putting those hanging out there onto the streets. After a day of being without drugs the couple was hurting physically, mentally and spiritually- they called home. The parents came to the city to find them on the streets and in the rain. My friend told his son that they could come home only if they got help- God's pursuit of us is relentless! He disciplines us because He loves us...yes He loves us. That day on the streets of H-fax two prodigals began the journey of being found!

Both are in separate detoxes out side the city. Both are enrolled in separate follow up programs in Christian recovery organizations. As I shared with this dad my side of the story and that God had used you to pursue this couple in prayer- he and I just sat in amazment. God loves and seeks the prodigal. We were so moved to witness the Hound of Heaven chasing hard after His lost sheep.

THANK YOU!! On behalf of these families, these kids....THANK YOU for praying! Your prayers were a part of the protection and pursuit of God on our streets. These two young people still have a long way to go...don't stop praying now.

"I fled Him, down the nights and down the days;
I fled Him, down the arches of the years;
I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways
Of my own mind; and in the mist of tears
I hid from Him,...
My thirsting mouth.
Nigh and nigh draws the chase,
With unperturbèd pace,
Deliberate speed, majestic instancy ;
And past those noisèd Feet
A Voice comes yet more fleet --
"Lo ! naught contents thee, who content'st not Me." ....

"And human love needs human meriting :
How hast thou merited --
Of all man's clotted clay the dingiest clot ?
Alack, thou knowest not
How little worthy of any love thou art !
Whom wilt thou find to love ignoble thee,
Save Me, save only Me ?
All which I took from thee I did but take,
Not for thy harms,
But just that thou might'st seek it in My arms.
All which thy child's mistake
Fancies as lost, I have stored for thee at home :
Rise, clasp My hand, and come !" "- from The Hound of Heaven