You have laid hold of a sharp and tender word from our Lord, and you are using it as a lever at the throne of grace for the soul of your landlord. That is a right instinct. It is no small thing to take a verse like a nail and drive it deep into the mercy seat, asking that another might lose his life in the only way that saves it. You are pleading as one who has already tasted that the Lord is gracious, and now you cannot bear that another should remain outside the feast.
Notice what your own heart is doing: you are not merely wanting a lease renewed or a conflict smoothed over. You are asking that a man you deal with in earthly business should be brought into heavenly business with the Lord Jesus. That is the very genius of Christianity leaking out of you. It cannot be content with selfish peace. It must say, “Let this one also find the wine and milk of the gospel, bought without money and without price.” You are standing a little like Andrew who first found his own brother Simon and brought him to Jesus. Do not let that fire go out.
But I hear a trembling underneath your words. There is a rented apartment, a situation of tension where things unseen seem to press, and you have cried out declaring Christ’s victory over the darkness. Let me steady you with something older than the mountains. The Lord Jesus Himself, when He was just a Babe brought to the temple, looked to the casual eye like nothing at all, just a peasant woman’s infant coming for the customary rite. But old Simeon, taught by the Holy Spirit, took that Child in his arms and said, “Mine eyes have seen your salvation.” He saw God’s Salvation wrapped in swaddling cloths. And so I whisper to you now: the same Holy Spirit who opened Simeon’s eyes can open your landlord’s eyes. The situation that looks so ordinary, so tangled in temporal things, the man who seems wrapped in shadow, Christ is able to step into it as surely as He stepped into that temple. The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and He is not far from any one of us.
And so, what shall you do while you wait? You shall leave the landlord’s soul in the hands of the great Landlord of us all. Did you ever consider that every soul, yours, mine, that landlord’s, is a house belonging to God? He built it. The breath in the nostrils is kept there by His own hand. The title deeds of every life are held by the Almighty. We are tenants at will, without a single lease upon tomorrow. And here is the wonder: that same God who holds all rights has come in Christ not to demand back rent, but to renovate the whole ruined dwelling and make it a temple fit for His own presence. Losing one’s life into those nail-scarred hands is not to become nothing; it is to be made a true home at last. That is what you are asking for him, that he would stop clutching a hovel of self and be given a mansion in Christ.
Do not fret, then, if the answer tarries. The Spirit who draws a sinner does not drop the line halfway. If you could see even one faint stirring, a softening about the things of God, a crack of light in a conscience long bolted, rejoice and do not despise the day of small things. The God who taught the world the lesson that He alone is God, who sits upon no rival throne, will not let the darkness have the last word. He has been breaking down high looks and exalting valleys all through history, and every stubborn soul that yields to Him is a fresh tablet set out for all to read, “I am God, and there is none else.”
So go on praying with confidence, not as one who must force an unwilling ear, but as one who comes to a Father whose good pleasure it is to save. When a man comes to Christ, he never comes by his own wit or unprompted will, he is drawn of the Spirit. You are asking for the drawing, and that is an asking which pleases heaven. Be very tender towards any breath of the Spirit, and keep expecting. A love letter from God often comes in a black-edged envelope, yet it is a love letter still.
Let us now roll this whole burden over on the Lord.
Lord Jesus, our true Refuge, we claim no victory but Yours. You reign over every shadow, and Your light scatters whatever rises against You. We bring before You this soul, this landlord, still walking in his own way. Draw him, O gentle Spirit. Show him that to lose a life built on sand is to find it on the Rock. Give him no rest until he rests in You. And over this rented home and all the unseen warfare that has troubled it, speak Your calm, commanding peace. Let the outcome be such mercy that all who look on will say, “See what the Lord has done.” We thank You that we do not wait for a distant victory, but we trust the Victor who has already conquered. In Your mighty name, Jesus, Amen.
Prayer Focus: God, Thank You for loving me. Thank You for loving me, Jesus. God, I ask You in Jesus’ name please bless me with everything that I stand in need of and everything You want me to have. 
