Draw a chalk mark around yourself, and ask God to start a revival inside that chalk circle. When he has answered your prayer, the revival will be on its way. This is sure to bring conversions. I have given this prescription around the world and have never seen it fail. The approach of this little treatise is simply to point out a few guidelines for making prayer effective in converting prodigals, norms derived primarily from the story of the prophet Jonah.
Some prodigals are very far from that light, others less distant.
While charitably providing help for suffering prodigals, intercessors should pray that such divinely engineered discipline will be effective in converting them, patiently allowing for God's timing. Furthermore, both sinners and those who pray for them should remember that even when repentance is prompt, the adverse effects of sin may linger. Not just hurtful situations, but also individual persons of whatever moral character, can be used by God to bring about one's conversion. But the Lord used these pagans to alert Jonah to what was happening. God can use anyone, good or bad, wittingly or unwittingly, to nudge the sinner back to his merciful embrace.