- On January 1st, 2011,Lori Wilkerson Stewart

felt God giving her an unusual message.

It was a verse fromJeremiah and it said this.

"The Lord is with melike a violent warrior."

Well, as soon as Lori read it,

she knew she was gonnahave a difficult battle

on her hands that year,

but she knew she wouldn'tbe fighting it alone.

- [Narrator] Lori WilkersonStewart and her husband Matt

come from a long line of pastors

on both sides of their family.

Lori never imaginedthat any of her children

would ever walk away from God.

So, when one of her sons wanted to live

contrary to God's word,Lori was broken-hearted,

but she found peaceand learned how to pray

for her wayward child.

In her books, Promises for Prodigals,

Lori shares the prayershe declared over her son

and why she wants to see others

pray their way to a breakthrough too.

- Lori Wilkerson Stewartis here with us now

and we welcome you to the program today.

Tell me a little moreabout what happened in 2011

when God spoke to your heart.

- Right well, I had to hadthat word from the Lord

and I was kind of takenaback, uh oh, here we go.

And then in March of thatyear, we got a phone call

that there were some things going on

in my oldest son's life.

He was about to graduate from high school

and had so far been really a perfect son.

I mean, I never saw this coming.

And there was some thingsthat he was involved with

that were completelycontrary to God's word

and when we confronted him about it,

he had no desire to change

and he just wanted to go full steam ahead

with that lifestyle and

I was just, I was completely undone.

- What did you do?

- Well, for awhile, I justcried a lot and freaked out

and my husband and I were trying to

plant a church and it was just chaos.

And then I realized, I'mgoing to lose my mind

if I don't fast and pray.

I've gotta get real, I mean, this is real.

I've gotta start fighting for my son.

So, as I began to fast, Itook three days off work

and just got alone with God

and He began to showme promises in His word

and the fear began to lift off of me

and the faith began to rise up

and a supernatural peace came upon me

that I can't explain it andit's still with me to this day

and it's been seven years.

- One of the things Godtold you that it was really,

it really spoke to mewas that you needed to

shut off the TV andput your cellphone down

as you sought Him during this time.

- Yeah, well, this isactually jumping ahead.

I had been, I had starteda journal for my son.

I actually brought it on the show today.

I had filled it with promises

that through these lastseveral years God's given me

and they also have biblicaldeclarations and their prayers

and last year the Lord began to say Lori,

you're meeting so many people

that are going through thesame thing with their kids

and they are freaking out and you're not

'cause you have these promises.

And He said, I want youto turn this into a book

and He showed me how todo that and I was like

well, that's a really good idea God,

but I don't have time.

I've got this job, I've gotall these things going on

and He said well, if you got off TV

and if you got off screens,

you would have time to write these books

and I was like oh snap, oh yes.

You're so right 'cause I'mon my phone every night

or I'm watching TV mindlessly

and so that's what I did.

I took two months thebeginning of this year

and put them into a book.

- Let me go back if I can for a moment to

you and Matt at thetime that this occurred.

As parents, how didyou express to your son

that you loved him

but the choice he wasmaking was not acceptable?

- Well, that was really tough.

I still don't to this day

don't know if hecompletely understands that

but he does know we love him.

We have a good relationship with him,

but we had two younger kids in the house.

We had to let him knowif you're not gonna come

under the rules of our household,

this is what we believe in.

And so, we had to part waysand it was just so terrible,

it was so hard, but the love'sbeen there the whole time.

The relationship's still there.

We still spend holidays together.

- Were you and Matt onthe same page all the way?

- I think I came to aquicker supernatural peace

than my husband did.

He'll tell you he was in a darkplace for about three years.

It was tough and he waspastoring that whole time

so it was not easy.

- You can't do it without Jesus.

- No, we made it throughit and we're kind of

on the other side of itand standing in faith,

but man, it's not easy for families.

- So, you put this journal together

during that time that you were fasting

and praying and seeking God.

God tells you to write a book.

I mean, first of all, writing a book

is a labor of love in of itself,

but publishing a book is a project,

but it's so evident that Godhas been in this all along.

The books, by the way,

are Promises for Prodigals:One Hundred Biblical Promises,

one is for boys, one is for girls.

I almost don't know a parentthat doesn't need that book,

myself included, can I just say?

- Or grandparents, or aunts and uncles.

I mean, everybody has aprodigal in their life.

Somebody that they dearlylove that's away from God.

When this happened tomy son, it reminded me

my mom had walked throughthis with my sister

and that's why I made two separate books

because my sister went through this

and it got to a point that it was so bad,

she actually tried to commit suicide.

- [Interviewer] You were only 17.

- I was 17 at the time andI went for a run that day

when I found out and Iwas so angry at the Devil

that he had tried to steal mybeautiful, wonderful sister

because he just comes tosteal, kill, and destroy,

and I said Devil, that's it.

You try to take mysister, I'm taking 10,000,

and I began to pray God,give me 10,000 souls.

But then, and I believe God has given me

through some of the workthat we've done here at CBN,

but then when this happenedto my son, I wanted 100.

I said, that's it, youtry to mess with my son,

God, I want 100,000 prodigals

and I believe God,there's a great outpouring

anointing right now for prodigals.

I really believe that there'sa prophecy by Dutch Sheets.

He said that church isgonna double in size.

They're gonna double withprodigals coming back to God

and I believe that.

- Well, this is the heart of God

for His sons and Hisdaughters to come home.

In the Bible, of course,we all know the story

of the prodigal son and we think okay,

well that's one story about prodigals,

but there are many promises,

this is Promises for Prodigalsyou've written about.

You found them throughout the Word.

- All through the Word.

Ezekiel says, "God will searchfor your lost loved ones

"and will bring them safely home again."

Isaiah says, "I will fight for you

"and I will save your children."

And then Luke says he leavesa 99 to go after the one.

- [Interviewer] I love that one.

- There's a really cool one too,

I gotta mention this one in Hebrews

where it says that God sends angels

to protect those that Hehas marked for salvation.

And I pray that over my son all the time

because he's out there but I believe God

has assigned angels to him.

That he's under God's care right now

until he comes to Christ.

- Yeah and you know I just wanna say

to all of you, I have loved these books

from the time I first saw them,

because Lori's done all the work for it.

Can I just tell you?

She has scoured the scriptures and so

we thank you for sharing your story,

but for parents, these aretwo versions of Lori's book.

One is Promises for Prodigals for a guy.

The other is the gal's version.

Both are available through Amazon

or you can find out how to get a copy

by going to cbn.com but get serious

about praying for theprodigals in your family,

whether it's your immediate family,

or as Lori has suggested, nephews, nieces.

It can be anyone but thepromises of God stand

and when we pray themout loud, they hover.

- [Lori] Amen, amen.

- Until the spirit ofGod accomplishes them.

Thank you so much.

- Thank you, Cari.

- Great books for all of us.