So many who pray for prodigals are tired—so tired, some to the point of weariness. The fight has been laborious. The wait has been long. The situation is painful.

There is a tired from working hard all day and getting so much accomplished. That’s a good tired. There’s a tired from working hard on a project you’ve been wanting to finish. That’s also a good tired. Then there is the tired of fighting a spiritual battle. That is a deep tired, not only of the body, but of the mind and spirit. It affects everything about us.

After a hard day of working or a long span of time dealing with finishing a project, we can rest our bodies and be fine. Our minds and spirits are already rested from the feeling of accomplishment.

But there is a rest for those fighting spiritual battles that is like no other.

The third and fourth chapters of Hebrews talk about the rest from the Lord. Faith is the key (4:2). The Word promises that “[t]here remains therefore a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His” (4:9-10 NKJV). We can rest because we have faith in Him and who He is.

What does it mean to cease from works? Do we stop praying? Do we stop fighting? No. We cease from our own plans, our own works, our own ideas—any work that isn’t ordained or inspired by God—while we continue to pray and fight, using the mighty, effective spiritual weapons the Lord has provided.

The difference is faith. We trust Him to do the work. We trust Him to be Elohay Yishi, The God Of Salvation that He is. We trust His way more than seeing it done our way. We trust that what He has promised, He is able to do (Romans 4:21).

I believe Jesus Himself explained how rest in this journey comes about. He said, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30):

• Jesus gives us rest.
• The yoke of the burden of the salvation of our prodigals belongs to Jesus. It’s His yoke, His burden. (We’ve all been known to try to do God’s job, or to tell Him how to do it, or to at least help Him along. It works better when we follow His lead.)
• Part of the process of rest is taking His yoke, in being in His yoke with Him.
• He invites us to be in His yoke with Him.
• We are not to be in our own yoke, inviting Him to join us. We are not The God Of Salvation. He is.
• He is the Lead in the yoke, and we go where He goes and do what He does in the fight. We learn from Him in His yoke.
• When we follow His lead, we are never disappointed in God or the way the situation is going, because we trust Him to handle it and keep His promises.
• We don’t have to figure out what to do apart from Him or trust in our ability and our thoughts and our plans to see them saved. We simply have to obey. We trust Him.
• He is “gentle and lowly in heart,” and He will never ask us to carry a yoke of our own.
• In His yoke, we find rest.

Later in the fourth chapter of Hebrews, mentioned above, for the times we just can’t seem to let go and rest, we are given instructions in how to enter the rest of the Lord. First, we are reminded: “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin,” and then we “therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (vv. 15-16).

So how do we lay our own yoke aside and get in the yoke with the Lord? How do we cease our own works and join the Lord with His?

• We spend time with God, getting familiar with His voice, His presence, and how He lets us know what to do and say.
• We practice listening to the voice of the Lord.
• We ask before acting.
• We ask God to help us trust, to know Him more and more, to see with spiritual eyes what is coming, for a promise from God onto which we can hold, for help in rest in Him and His work to see them saved, and for help in hearing His voice.
• We praise, because that puts our focus where it really needs to be and reminds us just how much more our God is than anything the enemy throws at us or our prodigals.
• We obey immediately and completely, even if the command is to be still and say nothing.

The Word has given us a prescription to keep us from being swallowed up by the pain and processes of loving and praying for our prodigals. This is a hard journey, and this blog is not meant to be a condemnation, but a call to fight in a way that is not only best for our prodigals, but in a way that is best for us. We truly can “Trust in the LORD with all [our hearts], And lean not on [our] own understanding; In all [our] ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct [our]paths” (Proverbs 3:5-6).

Real rest before your prodigal is saved may have seemed like an impossibility, and it may have been our experience until now—but the Lord promised, and I believe Him. Let’s get there!

PRAYER: Elohay Yishi, we praise You; we are grateful that You are The God Of My Salvation, and that You are not waiting for us to save our prodigals. We praise You, Almighty, All-Sufficient God; Savior , and omnipresent, Most High God!

Our Father, thank You for these promises and instructions in Your Word. Thank You for providing rest for us and telling us how to rest.

Father, we lay down our own yokes and join You in Yours. That is the best possible place, the most effective place for us to be. Rest, trust, healing, deliverance, power, a plan, and so much more is in the yoke with You. When we participate with You in what You know is best, good things happen. Healing happens. Forgiveness happens. Salvation happens.

Help us to hear Your voice clearly. Father, I know You want to be that close with us.

Help us to trust You more, to know You more. Help us to see the situation with spiritual eyes, knowing that what You say and promise is reality. Give us a personal promise on which we can hold when times are difficult. Help us to rest in You and in Your work to see our prodigals saved.

When we are tempted to take the burden back and claim it as our own, help us be aware of the reason for the stress and anxiousness we begin feeling again. Help us, Lord, to reject our yoke and climb safely back into Yours.

When we are tired and feeling burdened, help us to cast our cares on You, because You truly care for us (1 Peter 5:7). Help us to trust You for rest, healing, and instructions on each move we are to make. We can rest, because Your plan is perfect.

When we feel anxious, help us to keep our mind on You, because then “You will keep [us] in perfect peace … [b]ecause [we trust] in You” (Isaiah 26:3).

We are waiting on You, Lord. Renew our strength (Isaiah 40:31).

You are the answer to all of this. We trust You and depend on You.

In Jesus’ name we pray.

I don’t know how long your journey has been, nor how much longer it will be, but I know this: when we are yoked with Jesus, the journey is much easier. He truly is the center of this:

• When we think of Him more, we have more peace.
• When we praise Him more, we have more faith.
• When we join with Him and follow His lead in this fight, we have more rest.

He is always a win-win.