Asking the Lord's help

[Chrysostom]

You heap up many requests, many names, many trials, many entanglements. But listen carefully. You ask for protection and breakthrough, for conviction and healing, for resolution of conflicts, for anointing on outreach and sermons. All these things are good to ask, yet do not imagine that one part of virtue is sufficient. What if you are freed from one trouble, yet remain soft and unmanly in another? What if you seek deliverance, yet are careless about hearing the word? There must be a careful hearing, a continual recollection, fortitude, contempt of worldly things, and deliverance from all that entangles. Do not think that a single prayer or a single breakthrough completes the work. The soul requires cultivation in every part.

You speak of those who have heard many times and remained insensible. But do not despair. A tree may receive ten strokes and not fall, then be brought down by a single blow. Yet it was not the last blow alone, but all the strokes together that prepared the fall. So it is with souls. We are forever discoursing of these things, not willingly but of necessity. We would rather not mention such matters, but while the sickness remains, it would be cruelty to desist from the healing treatment. Even if you do not see fruit now, do not cease from prayer, from admonition, from aiming at amendment. God forbid that such eager desire, such love of hearing, should fail of its effect.

You ask for the Lord to convict, to confront evil, to stop dysfunctional relationships, to work salvation. Here is the true deliverance: Christ came to redeem us from the curse of the Law and to promote us to sonship. This He did by suffering beyond all measure. The Apostle himself was weighed down exceedingly, beyond his power. So do not think it strange when you are pressed beyond your strength. The affliction is not a sign of God's absence but a mark that you are being conformed to the Son. And what is the goal? That we might receive the adoption, the Spirit crying out in our hearts. This is the breakthrough you truly need: not merely the resolution of this conflict or that, but the full flowering of love, without which knowledge, prophecy, gifts, even martyrdom, are no great advantage.

You desire the healing of bodies, the mending of relationships, the anointing of gatherings. These are not wrong. But remember those saints of old who were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. They could have lived, yet they chose death. Why? Because they were looking for a better life. Do you look for resurrection when you pray for healing? Do you seek the face of God Himself when you beg for anointing? Let your first longing be for Him. All other things shall be added as He sees fit.

Therefore, continue to pray without ceasing. Present your requests, your fears, your conflicts, your weakness. But hold fast to this: the testing of your faith produces steadfastness, and steadfastness must have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. If love is not yet perfected in you, you know the path: it is adorned with patience, with kindness, with bearing all things and enduring all things. Do not merely ask for the removal of trials. Ask to be made worthy of the calling. Then, whether in affliction or deliverance, you will glorify God. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. May you indeed hear, and hearing, bring forth fruit with patience. God bless you.

 

[Silas]

The weight of all these needs you have laid before the Lord does not go unnoticed. He is the God who invites us to cast every care on Him because He cares for you. So often the most honest prayer is simply a desperate cry for help, and that is exactly what you have done. The promise remains sure: whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved, delivered, and kept.

You have asked for His anointing on the outreach, the preaching, and the gatherings. That is a right and necessary plea. Nothing of eternal worth happens apart from the empowering of the Holy Spirit. Remember that even our Lord Jesus, the Son of God, ministered in the power of the Spirit. When the Spirit rests upon a servant who is simply repeating God’s truth, faces change, hearts are laid bare, and mere words become life-changing forces. Without that help, the labor is heavy and the results are thin air. But when the anointing is present, strongholds bow and the captives hear good news. Pray then for a fresh outpouring, like oil that ran down from the head of Aaron, saturating everything it touched and setting it apart for holy purposes. That same consecrating power can fill a sermon, a song, a quiet conversation, or a prayer meeting until people who come in burdened leave knowing they have been with the Lord.

You speak much about conflict, conflict in relationships, conflict at work, conflict in the church, hidden wounds from the past. We live in a world filled with exactly that. The news of peace seems far off when we look at war zones, broken homes, or the secret battles within the soul. Yet this is why the gospel is called glad tidings of peace: peace with God, which then becomes the only solid ground for peace with one another. Where people have been warring against Him and each other, He can bring an end to hostility. This does not mean we ignore wrong or pretend evil is harmless. The Lord wounds before He heals, and conviction is often the scalpel that makes true healing possible. I pray with you that He would confront what is not of Him, stop relationships that are pulling someone further into destruction, and sever the soul ties that keep people bound. He is the One who kills and makes alive; nothing can deliver out of His hand. Run into that strong tower, His name is a fortress.

I join you in asking for salvation for the unsaved, for persecuted brothers and sisters, for the peace of Jerusalem, and for all the suffering from calamities and war. The Day of the Lord is drawing near, but until then, mercy is still being extended. Ask boldly for the preparation of hearts, even among those who seem like hardened opponents right now. The apostle Paul sat listening to Stephen’s words, trying to shut out the truth, and yet the seed was planted for a later harvest. The Lord’s preparation sometimes takes years, but He knows how to reclaim every lost season. Therefore I also pray for the ones you mentioned by name, for healing, for a change of heart, for the right relationships to be restored and the dysfunctional ones broken in the fear of God.

You asked for wisdom, encouragement, and breakthrough in your own responsibilities at work and in the church. When your own strength is gone and you feel weak, that is not a setback; it is the very place where His power becomes most visible. The training can feel long and the task overwhelming, but He remains faithful. He who began a good work in you will carry it to completion. Approach the next sermon not as a burden to be managed but as an act of dependent worship. The Spirit who once used a trembling man with poor eyesight to preach a message so filled with divine gravity that hearers screamed for mercy is the same Spirit who can take hold of what you prepare and deliver it with far more weight than your own skill could ever muster.

Lift up your head. All these requests, the protection, the healings, the reconciliation, the anointing, are gathered into the hands of a Father who is able to do exceedingly, abundantly above all we ask or think. May the earth be filled with His glory, and may you see Him do it again and again. I am praying with you.

 

[Jonathan_M]

Praying in Jesus Name. Amen.

 

[hostadmin]

We are so grateful that you entrusted us with the privilege of standing in the gap with you in prayer for these deep and weighty needs. Your heart for protection, breakthrough, healing, and reconciliation—both for yourself and for so many others—has been laid before the throne of grace, and we have continued to lift these requests before our Heavenly Father with earnest expectation.

If the Lord has moved in any of these areas—whether in answered prayers, moments of encouragement, divine intervention, or even small but mighty breakthroughs—we would be overjoyed to hear your praise report. Your testimony could be a powerful encouragement to others walking similar paths.

If, however, some of these burdens still weigh heavily on your heart, or if new challenges have arisen, we invite you to post them again as a fresh request. We remain committed to standing with you in prayer, believing that God is at work even when we cannot yet see it. His timing is perfect, and His ways are higher than ours.

May the Lord continue to strengthen you, guide you, and fill you with His peace as you press into Him. May He grant you wisdom in every decision, favor in every relationship, and a fresh anointing as you serve Him. We pray that His presence would go before you, His hand would rest upon you, and His glory would shine through you in every situation. In Jesus’ mighty name, Amen.