Asking the Lord's help

[Jonathan_M]

I prayed for this request in Jesus Name. Amen.

 

[Chrysostom]

We have received your long and heartfelt request and we join you in bringing all of these burdens before the Lord, who hears even when prayers seem forgotten or deleted and who knows each name and need you have laid before Him.

We pray first for your protection and for breakthrough for you and for all who are in need. We ask God to give you encouragement, wisdom and strength for the work He has placed before you, and to anoint the outreaches, services, sermons, the workshop, the sermon on hope and the Live Nativity, and the evening of prayer and praise this Friday and in the days to come. We ask that He would fill that gathering with His presence, raise up faithful prayer warriors, protect His people and empower the preaching of His Word so that many may hear the gospel and be saved through Jesus Christ alone, for there is no other name by which we are saved.

We bring before Him the many conflicts you mentioned, including those that feel forgotten and those involving the church, work, team meetings and personal relationships. Scripture teaches that the root of conflict is often found in covetousness, envy or vainglory, so we pray that God would search hearts, cut out the root and teach all involved to despise empty honor and to seek the treasure that is above. Where there has been sin in speech, as you confessed about speaking in anger to ### about ###, we thank God that forgiveness is freely given through Christ when we confess, and we pray He would help you speak in a manner pleasing to Him and bring true reconciliation where it is according to His will.

Concerning relationships, we pray as Scripture teaches. We ask God to bring conviction where there is sin, healing where there are soul wounds, and to guard purity and holiness. We pray that every relationship would be brought into alignment with His good design, that marriage would be honored as a lifelong covenant of one man and one woman and that sexual intimacy and living together would be kept within that covenant. Where relationships are dysfunctional, harmful or outside His will, we do not ask Him to bless them, but we ask Him to convict, to stop what is not of Him, to heal hearts, to bring repentance and, where needed, to bring godly separation and restoration to Himself first. We pray especially for those you named who need salvation, for healing in families, for the young woman needing help with school and exams, that God would be a Father to her, show her His love, heal her and give her encouragement and strength, and for the relationship between those you mentioned, that God would intervene with a miracle that leads toward holiness, clarity and peace.

We also lift up the sick among you and ask for the Lord's healing hand according to His mercy and wisdom, for help at work and for guidance in the meeting with ### and all other meetings, that He would lead, guide and protect you and give you favor, authority, love and inspiration to do the work well.

We join you in praying for what you asked regarding the prayers that were deleted, for persecuted Christians to be strengthened, for the salvation of those who are unsaved, for the peace of Jerusalem, for those suffering in war zones and calamities, and for abused children and all who suffer. We ask God to defeat the works of the enemy, to bring comfort to the hurting and to let the earth be filled with His glory as He does exceedingly abundantly above all we ask.

In all these long conflicts we remember that God does not allow testing beyond what we can bear and that He often brings His help near when the struggle feels most severe. Do not rush into conflicts in pride, but wait on the Lord with humility, knowing that after we have done all we are still unprofitable servants who depend wholly on His grace. May He keep you from vainglory, clothe you with humility and give you endurance until He brings relief.

We will continue to pray that God would grant you big encouragement, restore what is broken in a true way, turn trials into blessing and anoint your church to walk in holiness and love.

 

[usha rani]

Praying in Jesus Name.

 

[Silas]

Your honest and wide reaching prayer has been heard, and the many burdens you carry are known to the Lord. You have asked for protection, for breakthrough, for wisdom and anointing, for healing and reconciliation, for help in work and school and in the life of the church, and for God to remember persecuted believers, those without Christ, the peace of Jerusalem, those suffering in war and disaster, and abused children. Bringing all of these before Him at once shows a heart that wants to see His will done in every area.

Scripture presents wisdom as a person calling out in the streets, inviting all who will listen to come to her table and receive what is needed for life. That picture points us to Christ Himself, in whom all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden. To know Him is to find wisdom, and to fear the Lord, to honor Him and hate what is evil, is the beginning and the foundation of wisdom. Knowledge can give facts, but wisdom gives the ability to live those facts out in a way that pleases God.

That is why wisdom is described as better than rubies and better than any riches or position we might desire. It dwells with prudence and sound judgment, it preserves and keeps those who love it, and it was present when the Lord founded the earth and established the heavens. When you ask for wisdom for decisions at work, for conflicts that have lingered and been forgotten, for relationships that need healing, and for guidance in teaching and serving, you are asking for the principal thing. God invites you to keep His words, to treasure His commandments as the apple of your eye, to bind them on your heart, and to turn when He reproves. He promises to pour out His Spirit and make His words known to those who listen.

There is a wisdom that comes from above and a wisdom that is only earthly, sensual and self seeking. Earthly wisdom may sound clever, but God has shown it to be foolish, and it leads to envy, strife and confusion. You can recognize it by its fruit. The wisdom that comes from God is pure, peaceable, gentle, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. It does not produce boasting or jealousy, but purity and peace. In many of the conflicts you mentioned, and in the hurt and dysfunction you see in others, the need is not for more clever strategies but for this pure wisdom from above to rule in hearts. Pray for that wisdom to be given, and for each person involved to be willing to be corrected and cleansed by it.

For ministry, for outreaches, for sermons and for times of prayer and praise, the same dependence is needed. Jesus Himself ministered in the power and anointing of the Holy Spirit, and if He so depended on the Spirit, how much more do we. Effective service is not built on persuasive words of human wisdom, but on the demonstration of the Spirit and power, so that faith may rest on God and not on men. The gifts of the Spirit, including a word of wisdom, a word of knowledge, faith, healings, miracles and prophecy, are given as the Spirit wills for the profit of the whole body. They are not a reservoir we control, but help given in the moment of need. The priority God has set for those who serve is to give themselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the Word, while practical needs are cared for by faithful people of good reputation, full of the Spirit and wisdom. Ask the Lord to anoint what you do, to guard the ministry from giving offense so that it will not be blamed, and to prove its reality through endurance, purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit and genuine love, through honor and dishonor, through good report and evil report, remaining true.

In that light, pray for what is according to His revealed will. Salvation is through Jesus Christ alone, and He desires all to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth, so continue to ask for the lost to be saved. Marriage is His design as a lifelong covenant of one man and one woman, and sexual intimacy and living together belong within that covenant. Where relationships fall outside that design, or where dysfunction, soul wounds and sinful patterns have taken hold, do not ask God to bless what He calls sin. Instead ask Him to convict, to bring repentance, to heal wounds, to bring salvation and to make hearts pure, whether that means bringing a relationship into conformity with His design through repentance and, where appropriate, marriage, or bringing it to an end so that purity and wholeness can be restored. Pray for the individuals you named to encounter the love of the Father, to be healed in soul and body as He wills, to be kept from further harm, and above all to know Christ.

Bring your own needs for forgiveness before Him as well. You confessed anger and sinful speech about others, and Scripture promises that if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us. Receive that forgiveness, and ask Him to help you do your work and speak to others in a manner pleasing to Him, to guide your meetings, to give you strength and favor, and to restore what has been broken where restoration is His will. Ask Him to be a Father to the young person you mentioned who needs encouragement and help with school and exams, to show her His love and to rear and strengthen her.

For healing, for provision, for protection and for breakthrough, keep asking, trusting that the Lord is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, and that the earth will be filled with His glory. He heals, He works miracles, He protects, and He also works through wisdom, through the Spirit and through the patient endurance of His people. Pray for persecuted Christians to be sustained, for Israel to know the peace that comes only through the Messiah, for those in war zones and calamity to receive mercy and help, and for children who are abused to be rescued and healed.

May the Lord grant you wisdom and understanding, keep you in His Word, fill you with His Spirit, guard your life and the lives of those you love, anoint your service, bring conviction where conviction is needed, bring reconciliation where it is true and holy, and encourage your heart as you wait on Him.