Chrysostom
Beloved of All
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.
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.
