Praying in the Promise

We receive promises from God regarding our prodigals for two main reasons:

• So that we will stand on them and allow them to build our faith to overcome the fiery darts of the devil
• So that we can pray them in. Because promises tell us God’s plan so we can stand in the gap between heaven and earth for God’s perfect will to be done.

When God gives us a vision of what is to come in our prodigals’ lives, we pray them in. It isn’t time to stop.

When God give us a Scriptural promise, it is time to pray in the promise. It isn’t time to stop praying.

Daniel is a great example of praying in a promise. He “understood by the books the number of the years specified by the word of the LORD through Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolation of Jerusalem. Then [Daniel] set [his] face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes” (Daniel 9:2–3).

Daniel went to the Lord and prayed in the promise (vv. 4–19). He spoke, prayed, confessed his sin, confessed the sin of his people, and presented his supplication before the Lord God (v. 20). He didn’t take for granted that just because the Lord promised—and the Lord can do it with or without us—we are part of the equation through our prayers and fasting. We are to fight for the promise.

This is how I see promises functioning.

A promise from God is a powerful weapon in this fight for your prodigal’s salvation. When you have a promise, you can stand on it, and when the enemy tries to lie to you, telling you your prodigal will never be saved, you can rebuke the lie and the liar, because what God says is always true.

In a hymn we sang in church when I was younger, a particular verse applies:

Standing on the promises that cannot fail,

When the howling storms of doubt and fear assail,

By the living Word of God I shall prevail,

Standing on the promises of God.[1]

So true! No matter what is going on around us, what situations we face, the decisions our prodigals make, or the circumstances of loving a prodigal, the promises will not fail. We can be victorious, standing on the Word of God.

If you have not received a promise from God regarding your prodigal’s salvation, pray until you do; read your Word until you do; worship until you do; fast. Practice your awareness and recognition of God’s voice, and stay alert while you wait for it, because it may come in a way you could never have imagined.

If you have received a personal promise, stand. Don’t doubt. If doubt tries to creep in, confirm your promise with God. He wants you to be armed. He wants you to have peace and rest.

When God promises, He always, always comes through.

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[1] Carter, R. K. (1885). “Standing on the Promises”.