Come Home, Part 2
From the book Come Home, by Tim Sheets and Rachel Shafer, on praying for our prodigals:
“‘Thus says the Lord: “Restrain your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears, for your work [raising of your children, prayer] will be rewarded,” says the Lord; “and your children will return from the enemy’s land. There is [confident] hope for your future,” says the Lord; “Your children will come back to their own country.” (Jeremiah 31:16-17 AMP)'
“In the study and preparation for this book, we came across a powerful truth regarding the biblical illustration of the Prodigal Son.
“Luke 15:20 (NKJV) says, concerning the prodigal son, ‘...when he was still a great way off, his father...had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.’
“Jewish history enlightens us as to why the father ran, and it is a stunning revelation. This man’s son had demanded his inheritance, wanting what he considered to be his now, rather than when his father died, as was the custom of the day. After receiving his portion, the son left his home, turning his back on the values he had been taught. He eventually lost everything, wasting it all on parties and prostitutes, and ended up working in a pigpen. The son broke his father’s heart, as well as breaking all the rules of the tight-knit community he had been brought up in. After he came to his senses, the son decided to return home. Luke 15:20 tells us his father saw his son when he was still a long way off and ran to him.
“In those times, a Middle Eastern man never ran, because in order to do so, he would have to raise up his tunic so he wouldn’t trip, and in so doing would expose his bare legs. In that culture, it was considered humiliating and shameful for a man to show his bare legs. In addition, it was known that if a Jewish son lost his inheritance among Gentiles, and then returned home, the community would perform a ceremony called the kezazah, or a ‘ceremony of shame.’
“During this ceremony, they would break a large pot or pitcher in front of the son. As they smashed it into pieces, they would declare him to be cut off from his people, all ties broken, and he would no longer be welcome in the community.
“This, then, brings us to the question: Why did the father run to his son, which also brought a level of shame to himself? In essence, the father was running to get to his son in order to extend grace before anyone else could get to him with the law. He wanted to extend love, acceptance, welcome, and hope before anyone else could take it away. He wanted his son welcomed, not ashamed with humiliation and rejection.
“As onlookers watched the father run toward his son, reuniting, hugging, and kissing him, it would be apparent there would be no kezazah. Instead, there would be a homecoming party, a celebration of his restoration, which only the father could bring. No rejection—his father bore the shame and showed everyone that his son was welcomed home.
“The application for us is fairly obvious. Our Father bore our sin and shame through Jesus. We can be forgiven and redeemed, and even our lost purpose and destiny can be restored. As we repent, He wipes the slate clean and gives us a fresh start.
“God’s Promise: What He did for the prodigal son, He will do for you, and He will also do it for those for whom you are praying. Lost purpose will be recovered.”
Tim and Rachel tell us later in the book that our Father not only welcomes the prodigal, taking their shame and refusing to treat them as outcasts, but He Himself will war for their salvation.
“The prophet Isaiah gives us a great promise that I believe we need to embrace:
“‘Who can snatch the plunder of war from the hands of a warrior? Who can demand that a tyrant let his captives go? But the Lord says, “The captives of warriors will be released, and the plunder of tyrants will be retrieved. For I will fight those who fight you, and I will save your children,’ (Isaiah 49:24-25 NLT).
“Several other words for ‘retrieved’ are gotten back, recovered, restored. Joel prophesied in Joel 2:25 (KJV) that the years the locust, cankerworm, caterpillar, and palmerworm have eaten, God was going to restore. These pests were grubworms that would eat the harvest. God was literally saying that He was going to restore His people’s lost harvests. How many harvests (prodigals) have we lost? Millions and millions, and that’s why we prophesy a billion souls are coming in. They’re going to be recovered. God is going to fight those who fight us, and He is going to save our children.
“There are evil cultural warriors promoting iniquity and perversion in our society. Tyrants have sought to capture our children with confusing lies and distorted ideologies. There are those who think they are giants, too big for us to stop them from indoctrinating our children with demonic ideas, who are about to discover that God is at war with them.
“They will soon realize they are contending with Almighty God, and they cannot beat Him. Our God is saying to us, ‘I will contend with those who contend with My people. I will fight those who fight you. I’m on your side, and I will defend your cause. I will take the plunder of war away from them, and I will deliver those who are held captive. I will save your children; I will rescue them.’
“The Hebrew word for ‘contend’ is ruwb,(1) and it means ‘to grapple, to defend, to grab someone by the hair of the head.’ It means ‘to fight with words, to fight physically, legal combat through laws,’ and it is sometimes used as the word in the Old Testament for ‘ambush.’ It sounds to me like God means business!
“Perhaps that is why Jesus says in Matthew 18:6 (PassionTranslation), ‘If anyone abuses one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for him to have a heavy boulder tied around his neck and be hurled into the deepest sea than to face the punishment he’s deserved.’
“The Hebrew word for ‘save’ in Isaiah 49 is yasha(2) and it means ‘to free, to avenge, to rescue, to save physically and soulishly.’ It was very interesting to me when I studied this word. Hebrew scholars say yasha was specifically pointed toward the healing of emotions, or it referenced healing for someone’s emotional state.
“The coming generation has been traumatized these past few years. Fears have oppressed them. Covid and ridiculous lockdowns have affected so many of our children to the point that some of them are suffering from depression and are on drugs for that. Depression is plaguing hundreds of thousands of American children.
“But God says, ‘I’m going to pour out My Spirit and change things. I’m going to avenge them, and I’m going to heal their emotions. I’m going to heal their souls. I’m going to fight those who teach them demon doctrine. I’m going to wrestle with those who lie to them, exploiting their innocence. I’m going to contend, and I’m going to save them.’”
Let’s agree with Him!
Our Prayer and Decree (from the book Come Home)
I decree a Holy Spirit outpouring is beginning to move upon all flesh, upon our sons and daughters.
I decree revivals will occur in hundreds of places where our young people gather, in all 50 states and nations of the world.
I decree God is on our side, defending our cause and saving our children.
I decree God is pouring out His Spirit and changing things. He is avenging our children and healing their emotions.
I decree our sons and daughters are discovering that Father loves them, wants them, and is preparing a place for them.
I decree that chains are falling off in Jesus’ name, and truth is revealed—and the truth is setting them free.
I decree Romans 2:4, that God’s kindness leads to repentance.(3)
Portions of today’s post were taken from Tim and Rachel’s book Come Home. You can find this book here or at TimSheets.org.
Click on the link below to watch the full video.
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James Strong, The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1990), ref. no. 7378.
Ibid. Ref. no. 3467.
Tim Sheets and Rachel Shafer, Come Home (Destiny Image Publishers: Shippensburg, PA, 2024), pp. 27-29, 82-84, 91.