United States (MNN) — When Ron Hutchcraft with Hutchcraft Ministries sat in on the final moments of a pastor’s conference, he saw more than he expected.
The conference speaker invited pastors to come forward if they had a child who was spiritually wandering. Hutchcraft witnessed the majority of the pastors and their wives come to the front to pray.
“I think the visual of seeing so many shepherds with their hearts broken for their own lambs did something in my heart,” he says.
(Image courtesy of Ron Hutchcraft Ministries)
It led him to write a booklet called “A Jesus of Their Own: Fighting for Faith in the Next Generation.”
“If you’ve got a son or daughter who’s away from the Father, there are some ways to pray, many of [which] were inspired by Hosea experience in the Old Testament,” Hutchcraft says.
If that’s your experience as a parent, here are the brief prayer points Hutchcraft shares. You can find them in full in the booklet here.
- Lord, frustrate their sin. “A prayer that their sin will not work for them, and it will be unsatisfying and cause them to rethink how they’re living.”
- Lord, block their exits. “Whatever their go-to is when things get rough… Make their go to a ‘no go.’ Block their exit so there’s only one door open to them when they hit a wall. And that is Jesus.”
- Lord, get their attention. “Psalm 119:67 says, ‘Before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now I obey your word.’ [Pray that God will] do something that would be a wake-up call for them.”
- Lord, remind them of Jesus. “Most of the young men and women from Christian backgrounds I know who are wandering, it’s not because of Jesus. It’s because of Christians. It’s because of Christianity. But thankfully, Jesus didn’t say, ‘Follow my followers or my leaders or my religion.’ He said, “Follow me.’”
- Lord, send a messenger. “Lord, you know the kind of person they would listen to. Send that kind of person who loves you into their life.”
- Lord, do whatever it takes.
A biblical story of hope
Hutchcraft reminds us of the story in Luke 7 where Jesus raises a widow’s son from the dead.
“There’s this beautiful little phrase: it says, ‘And Jesus gave him back to his mother,’” he says. “Jesus is still doing that miracle of bringing back to life people we thought were gone, and giving them back to a praying mom or dad.”
Hutchcraft encourages parents to keep praying and serving God’s purposes in their lives. Our children’s struggles don’t disqualify us.
“What the devil does with the wandering child is to shame the parent, because the real target is the pastor, the shepherd, the Christian leader. The accuser of the brethren says, ‘Who do you think you are to be bringing Christ to other people?’” Hutchcraft says.
“You bring that child to Jesus and let Jesus do His mighty work in their life. But don’t abandon His work. Don’t back down. Don’t retreat because of the attack of the enemy. You’re the real target. Take your stand against the devil’s schemes and let Jesus do that work in your child’s heart to bring that lamb back home.”
Header photo courtesy of Ali Haghighi via Unsplash.
