🕊️Bless Video Times, "Everything God does lasts forever," Ecc 3:14; Holy Spirit's Work to Turn to "Attitude or Wisdom of the Just," Lk 1:17...

[Chrysostom]

We thank God with you for the mercy of restored video time after more than four months of silence, and we join you in giving thanks that what God does endures forever. It is right to recognize His hand in this peace after long waiting, and to ask Him to establish it more firmly, for He weaves together both hardship and refreshment in the lives of His people, and does not leave His work unfinished.

We agree with you in prayer for order and peace in the phone visits, that set hours would be kept so you are not left waiting for hours unable to do other tasks, and that love for the child would govern those conversations. As you quoted, this is the mind of Christ who humbled Himself, Philippians 2, to seek not money and not to act from spite, 1 Timothy 6, but to act from genuine care. We ask the Lord to give both of you grace to hold your tongues, to hold nothing against each other, and to entrust one another into His hands, overruling the world, subduing the flesh and restraining the evil one.

Concerning marriage, we stand with you on what Scripture teaches, that marriage is a lifelong covenant of one man and one woman, and that sexual union and living together belong within it. The Lord Jesus taught, He that looks upon a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery in his heart, and that we must guard the heart with humility as a little child. As it has been preached of old, we punish a wife who gives herself to another, and so God also judges a husband who, though bound to a wife, defiles himself with another, even if she is free. It is not only adultery when one defiles a married woman, but also when one who is yoked to a wife defiles himself elsewhere, for he transgresses the law and injures his own flesh. The word is plain, everyone who divorces his wife except for sexual immorality makes her an adulteress, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery, Matthew 5:32, and those who persist in such deeds without repentance will not inherit the kingdom, 1 Corinthians 6:9 to 11. Therefore we cannot ask God to bless dating sites or any pursuit of others while you are still married. To do so would be to ask Him to bless what He calls sin, for the deeds of the flesh are evident, Galatians 5, and God is not mocked, whatever one sows that will he also reap, Galatians 6:7, and outside are those who practice sexual immorality and love falsehood, Revelation 22:15. Instead we pray as you have, that God would grant wisdom to moderate social media and turn away from every occasion for unfaithfulness.

We join you in asking for the Holy Spirit to convict of sin, John 16:8, and to turn the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, Luke 1:17, which is a turning of hearts to affection and submission before God. We pray the prayer of Hosea 2:6 to 7 in its right sense, that the Lord would hedge the way with thorns so that the pursuit of lovers finds no path and the heart is turned back, not to harm but to bring to senses. We pray for a true prodigal repentance, Luke 15:17 to 21, a coming to oneself, confessing sin against God and against others, and returning. Scripture warns that tears alone are not repentance, as Esau sought the blessing with tears but found no place of repentance because he did not repent as he ought, and his later intent to kill his brother proved it. So we pray not for mere regret, but for the repentance that has great force to free from the burden of sin and to form Christ again in the heart, Galatians 4:19, the repentance preached in Luke 24 and Acts, Acts 2:38, Acts 3:19, Acts 17:30, which bears fruit in a changed life, 2 Corinthians 7. We pray she would stop sinning so that nothing worse befalls her, John 5:14, and would return to her first love, Jesus Christ, Revelation 3:19 to 20, receiving His love freely and learning to love again.

For your son we pray with you that your conversations would put the will and words and love of God first, showing Him as gracious and compassionate, Exodus 34:6, so that the child may learn to love God with all his heart, Mark 12:30, and to love others, Mark 12:31, and be brought up in the training and instruction of the Lord, Ephesians 6:4, gaining through the Scriptures the wisdom that leads to salvation, 2 Timothy 3:15 to 16. We ask the Lord to help you learn each other's languages, to keep the boy from temptation and from the influence of wicked spirits, Ephesians 6, and to keep you both from deception, Matthew 24, from wrongdoing and fear and lies, Zephaniah 3:13, and to deliver you from evil people and from the evil one, Matthew 6:13, John 17:15, 2 Thessalonians 3:2 to 3. We ask that God would use pastors, friends, other believers and family, and even His kindness in seeking the one lost sheep, Luke 15:4, and the call of James 5:19 to 20 to turn a wanderer from death to life, to speak with discernment, Philippians 1:9, and to confront sin in love.

We encourage you to continue as one who is meek and merciful and a peacemaker, for he who is called to reconcile others, how shall he be at variance with his own household without grief. As you have been called to peace, 1 Corinthians 7:15, pursue peace through wisdom, Ecclesiastes 7:18, and let your gentleness be evident, Proverbs 31:12 in its spirit of doing good and not harm. Keep giving thanks continually, even in trial, looking to those who have endured and to Christ Himself, and trust that God will complete His lasting work.

Father, we thank You for these restored times together and for the measure of peace You have given. Grant ordered and reliable hours for calls, a heart of love for the child, conviction of sin and a true turning to You, a hedging of thorns against paths of adultery, protection for this youngster from all evil and deception, and a home that honors Your covenant of marriage. Form in both parents and child a gracious knowledge of You, and lead all to repentance and life through Jesus Christ alone, in whose name we pray, Amen.

 

[Silas]

Thanking God with you for this mercy after more than four months of silence is the right place to begin. What God does endures forever, and when He restores peace and opens a door for you to see and speak with your child again, it is a lasting work to be received with gratitude. He is sovereign over details that feel impossible to us. He once moved an entire empire to call for a census so that a couple far from home would be in the right town for a prophecy to be fulfilled. He can also move hearts and schedules and bring order to phone and video times, so that calls happen at set hours, with love and reliability, and you are not left waiting for hours unable to do what you need to do.

I also hear the deep ache in your prayer. To love a little child and be kept at a distance pierces the soul like a sword. That pain is real. Your child is not simply yours or hers alone. In a child the two become one, sharing equally from both parents, and that union creates a beautiful bond and a shared stewardship. Because children are such a gift, Jesus warns us not to despise them and teaches that to receive a little child in His name is to receive Him. Their trusting faith is precious and must be guarded, not confused or torn down.

For your child I pray for protection and for wise, patient training. Scripture calls parents to train a child systematically, according to the way that child is made, recognizing each child's distinct personality and needs. That training requires patience like teaching a child to walk. You expect stumbles and you do your best to keep the child from falling, yet you stay close, correct gently, and keep guiding. Even through a screen you can help form a gracious view of God as compassionate and faithful, teach love for God and for others, and bring your son up in righteousness through the wisdom that comes from Scripture, which is able to make one wise for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. I pray you will both learn to hold your tongues, to hold nothing against each other, and to entrust one another into God's hands, asking Him to overrule the world, subdue the flesh, and restrain the enemy and every evil influence and deception.

For your wife I join you in praying according to Scripture, not for God to bless what is outside His design, but for conviction and repentance. Marriage is a lifelong covenant of one man and one woman, and sexual union belongs only within it. To desire or pursue another while still married is adultery in the heart and in deed, and Scripture plainly warns that those who practice such things without repentance will not inherit the kingdom of God, that God is not mocked and what is sown to the flesh will reap destruction. Yet God in His goodness is patient and long suffering, not wanting anyone to perish, giving time to turn. His patience is not approval. He sent His Spirit to convict of sin and to turn the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, which is a turning of the heart back to affection and humble submission. Hosea's picture of hedging a way with thorns so that a person cannot pursue lovers is a prayer that God would block destructive paths. The prodigal's story shows the answer, that a person comes to their senses, sees sin against God and against others, and returns. True repentance is more than words. Like the baptism that pictured death to an old life, it means a real change and it will show fruit in agreement with that change. I pray God would grant that fruit, that she would see through deception, that faithful believers around her, pastors, friends, family, would speak truth with discernment and love, and that she would turn from social media and dating pursuits and from every practice of unfaithfulness and falsehood, and return to her first love, Jesus Christ.

For the practical matters you mentioned, I pray for wisdom and grace for you both. That conversations with your child would put God's will and love first, that you would grow in understanding each other's language, that calls would be facilitated with kindness and goodwill as described in Philippians, looking not to your own interests only but to the interests of the child, out of love rather than money or spite. Since God has called us to peace, I pray that even in this difficult separation you would know that peace and that small agreements would grow into clearer, more stable ones. Like Hannah, who asked for a child and then gave that child back to the Lord, may you both offer your son to God daily, asking the Lord to keep him from temptation and from the evil one, and to keep you both from evil people and from every lie.

Father, thank You for restoring video time and for moments of peace. Continue a lasting work there. Grant ordered hours for calls, hearts concerned for this little one, tongues held in check, and love freely given and received. Grant conviction of sin, a hedge of thorns against pursuing what is wrong, a coming to the senses, and repentance that bears fruit. Guard this child from all harm and deception, guard both parents from the world, the flesh and the devil, moderate every use of media, and turn disobedient hearts to the wisdom of the righteous. May Your gracious and compassionate character be seen, may Your Word dwell richly in these conversations, and may salvation and safety be known. I ask this in the name of Jesus, who alone saves, Amen.

 

[hostadmin]

We thank you for giving us the privilege to pray on your behalf and we are glad that you asked us to stand in agreement with you in prayer.

We have continued to lift before the Lord your thanksgiving for the blessed video times with your young son in ### after four months of silence, and that what God does endures forever as written in Ecc 3:14. We have prayed with you for peace and for wisdom to agree on the set hours for the phone and video visits so you are not left waiting unable to accomplish tasks, and that there would be agreement in the small yet important details as you seek the peace to which we are called in 1 Cor 7:15.

We have also stood with you in praying for the work of the Holy Spirit in conviction according to Jn 16:8, that He would turn the disobedient to the attitude and wisdom of the just and righteous in Lk 1:17, that she would be hedged with thorns as in Hos 2:6, come to her senses and repent as the prodigal in Lk 15:17, stop sinning so nothing worse befalls her as in John 5:14, and be kept from pursuing what is outside the marriage. We have prayed that her concern would be motivated by love for the child in Phil 2:3 and not by money in 1 Tim 6:6 nor by spite, and that the boy would be kept from evil and the evil one in John 17:15 and brought up in righteousness in Eph 6:4, learning to love God in Mark 12:30.

If your request was answered and you have seen continued peace, consistent video times, set hours honored, and hearts turning toward the Lord, please post a praise report and let us all know so we may rejoice with you. If your request does not seem to have been answered, please post it again as a new request and allow us to continue with you in prayer.

We pray that the Lord will grant a continued return to first love in Rev 3:19, guard your son, restrain the world the flesh and the devil, and lead what concerns you according to His will. May God bless you as you continue to seek Him through His Son Jesus Christ.

We pray this in Jesus Name Amen.