Asking the Lord's help

[Chrysostom]

You have laid out before God a great many troubles and names and circumstances, and you ask for breakthrough and protection and for Him to move mightily against what you perceive as evil. But examine your own soul. Is your appetite for spiritual food as keen as your appetite to have these specific people corrected and these conflicts resolved according to your own desire? We often portion out all our time for trifles and the anxious recitation of our list, yet we become sick and thoroughly sated at the hearing of the divine doctrines twice or thrice in the week. That is a bad state of soul. The teaching of the soul, the more it is prolonged, renders the soul stronger. But now you spend yourself in naming every grievance and wanting the Lord to confront and convict and stop this one and that one. Did Job not say, after his great affliction, “I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear; but now mine eye hath seen Thee; wherefore I have made myself vile, and I accounted myself earth and ashes”? Consider whether your constant cataloging of others’ faults is the cry of a soul made low, or of a soul anxious to see its own justice done.

You ask for the Lord to anoint your outreach and your sermons, yet observe how Paul, when recounting his authority, pointed to his former life and his sudden conversion as proof that God alone taught him. He did not first run about demanding that God rebuke the Judaizers. He entrusted the troublemakers to God, saying only that whoever they are, they shall bear their judgment. Do you see? The good conduct of one must not become an encouragement to the evil disposition of another, but neither must your peace be destroyed by making their faults your constant meditation. You even confess that you spoke of a matter to others which you should not have done, forgive me for saying it plainly, but this is a sign of a heart that has not yet learned to keep still and let the Spirit work. The wind blows where it wills, and you hear its sound, but cannot tell where it comes from or where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit. Will you be overanxious about the working of the Holy Spirit in the lives of those you name, when you cannot even control the wind? God does not need you to direct His arm like a general ordering troops. He is mighty in battle, and He has already led captivity captive. The enemy is weaker than you think.

You ask for miracles for a young person, for healing, for help with exams. All these are good to ask. But love is the more excellent way. If you speak with tongues of men and angels and have not love, you are a sounding brass. Even if you have all knowledge, all faith to remove mountains, all prophetic insight into what is wrong with others, and you hand over your body to be burned in zeal, without love it profits nothing. Your long request is full of names and circumstances, but is your love patient and kind? Does it not envy? Does it not parade itself, is it not puffed up? Love does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil. You ask God to severely confront evil and convict. Yet the Lord said, “The Kingdom of God is come unto you.” He came to preach deliverance to captives. Are you yourself a captive to resentment or a disordered concern about what others are doing? Then receive that deliverance first.

Let food and baths and the necessary affairs of life have their appointed time, but let the teaching of heavenly philosophy have no separate time, let every season belong to it. This means that when you bring your requests, you must also bring a heart that hungers for God Himself, not merely for God to fix things outwardly. You ask Him to promote your church, to anoint the prayer gathering, to bring back those who have left. These are worthy prayers. Yet see how Paul spoke: “We commend not ourselves, but speak as giving you occasion to glory.” In all his perils and straits, he did not exalt himself or demand immediate relief. He saw his weakness as the stage for divine power. Why are you cast down? The Comforter is with you. The foundation of love is strong as death. That love made the timid courageous; it will make you able to bear these interpersonal trials without growing bitter.

I charge you, therefore: In season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort, yes, but begin with your own soul. Make yourself of no account before God. Trust that He will deal with those who trouble you, and pray for them with true charity, not as one who wishes them merely to be convicted for your comfort, but that they may find salvation and healing. Leave the timing to Him. Do not make the whole day’s meditation a rehearsal of your hurts. Meditate instead on His law day and night. Then the God who called Paul from being a persecutor to an apostle will suddenly work what you could never orchestrate. May you be found not seeking the things of this life so much that your soul grows feeble, but strong in love, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. He is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, not according to your careful list, but according to the power that works in us. Amen.

 

[Silas]

How often we feel the weight of trying to minister, to resolve conflicts, to step into what God has called us to do, and yet we sense that without His empowering presence, our efforts are laborious and empty. The request you’ve brought touches on so many areas where that dependence is acute: protection, breakthrough, broken relationships, anointing on services and outreach, healing, and wisdom. The Scriptures remind us that even our Lord Jesus, the Son of God, ministered through the power and anointing of the Holy Spirit. When that anointing rested on Stephen before the council, his face shone like an angel’s. It’s a picture of what God intends whenever His Word is preached, whenever prayer is lifted, whenever His people gather. There is a life-changing force that goes forth when the Spirit moves, turning what would be a mere human effort into something that sanctifies and sets apart.

Your desire for a mighty anointing on the sermons, the prayer gatherings, and all the planned outreaches is exactly the heart that pleases God. Just as Moses poured the anointing oil on Aaron and the tabernacle, consecrating them entirely for the Lord’s use, so we need that fresh outpouring. It’s not a mere ritual; it’s a recognition that everything, your work, the meetings, the translation, even the struggle to prepare, must be handed over to Him. The oil of the Spirit is upon you for service, and when it’s there, you can’t afford to leave that place of dependence. Keep seeking His face, and trust that He who began a good work will anoint you again and again.

You mentioned many conflicts: ones remembered and forgotten, strained relationships, deep hurt, and the need for conviction and confrontation of what is not of God. We live in a world filled with conflict, as the news reminds us daily, but the good news of peace is that those who have been at war with God and with themselves can be reconciled through Christ. When relationships fracture, God’s divine ideal remains a lifelong covenant of marriage and a call to unity. Yet Scripture shows that because of the hardness of human hearts, even under the law there was a provision for divorce, not as God’s best, but as an acknowledgment that some cannot rise to His ideal. That doesn’t mean we lower the standard or affirm what falls short, but it does mean we bring every broken place honestly before the Lord. He can confront, heal, and convict. He can intervene where a dysfunctional relationship is forming and bring restoration where it’s needed. Pray for those who are fueling harmful behavior, that their hearts would be softened and drawn to salvation. And where you’ve struggled, even in your own communication about these matters, remember that God’s grace is sufficient to turn missteps into blessing when we humble ourselves.

The request for protection and breakthrough is met with the assurance that God’s tabernacle was covered with layers of goats’ hair and linen, a picture of His sheltering care. The anointing oil that set Aaron apart also marked him as one for whom atonement had been made. Your own weakness and the heaviness you feel for , for the children, for those suffering in war zones, abused children, persecuted believers, and the unsaved, all of it, can be lifted to the One whose yoke is easy. The blood and the oil were sprinkled on Aaron and his sons, hallowing them for their priestly work. You, too, are set apart to intercede, to serve, and to witness. Do not grow weary.

Finally, when you ask for a very strong anointing on the next sermon and for the deliverance of it, hold fast to this truth: it is folly to rely on our own insight or strength. Trying to preach without the Spirit is so heavy that we’d be better off closing the book and going home. But when He breathes upon the Word, there is power, dynamic, a force that changes lives. Jesus opened the scroll and declared the Spirit was upon Him to preach good tidings to the poor. That same Spirit is upon you, not because you are worthy, but because you are called. So as you prepare, let it be in prayerful dependence. He will guide you; He will take over. The anointing will surely come, for He is faithful.

May the Lord defeat the works of the enemy that seek to discourage and divide. May He bring back those who have drifted, convict hearts, heal wounds, and pour out such a spirit of grace that your church and your gatherings are truly hallowed, set apart for His glory. Keep standing in the confidence that He is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all you ask or think. The day of the Lord is coming when every conflict will cease, but until then, walk in His peace and minister in His power.