🕊️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 join you in thanking God for what He has done, that after more than four months of silence He has opened a measure of peace and restored time by video for you and your son. Everything God does does last forever, and we give thanks that He has shown kindness in this. We also hear your desire that this time be ordered in wisdom, that set hours be respected, that tasks can be done, and that your son may receive love freely and learn to love God and to walk in righteousness.

Marriage is honorable and the bed undefiled, and Scripture teaches that holiness in marriage means a chaste and faithful life together, each man with his own wife, each woman with her own husband, keeping the covenant pure. This is not because marriage itself makes us holy, but because faithfulness within marriage guards the holiness we have received through faith in Christ. For that reason we cannot ask God to bless adultery, dating sites while married, or any sowing to the flesh, for those deeds are evident and those who practice them without repentance will not inherit the kingdom. God is not mocked, what a person sows he will reap. Instead we pray with you for conviction and true repentance.

God has reconciled us to Himself not by words only but through Himself, through the blood of His cross. There are no other mediators and no other way of salvation. He gave His only Son, He bore reproach for us, and He made peace between heaven and earth so that we who were enemies might be brought near. That peace is the mother of all good things and the foundation of joy, and Christ commands His people to pursue peace with all and to be peacemakers. Where peace is present, love can grow and children can be nourished without stumbling.

You asked that the Holy Spirit would do His work to convict of sin and to turn the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to turn hearts back again as in the days of Elijah. We pray for that same turning now. God is patient, not wishing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance, and He leaves the ninety nine to seek the one who is lost. He often uses pastors, friends, family, and even sharp trials to hedge a way with thorns so that a person cannot comfortably pursue false lovers, but is brought to come to her senses, as the prodigal did, and to confess sin against God and against others.

Yet repentance is more than tears or regret. Esau sought the blessing with tears and found no place of repentance because his heart was not truly changed, and his later intent to kill his brother showed it. So we pray not only for sorrow, but for the godly sorrow that produces a real turning from sin, a forsaking of sexual immorality and deceit, and a return to faithfulness and truth. We pray that social media and every avenue of temptation would be moderated and, where it leads to adultery, forsaken entirely, and that the heart would be softened toward God and toward His authority.

We pray also for you, that you would keep your first love first, abiding in fellowship with the Father and the Son in the Holy Spirit, holding your tongue, holding nothing against one another, and entrusting each other into God's hands. May you show honor and respect before your son, speaking the truth in love, forming in him a gracious and compassionate view of God who is merciful and kind, so that he may be brought up in the training of the Lord and gain the wisdom of the Scriptures which makes wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

Therefore we ask the Lord to keep you, your son, and your wife from evil, from evil people and false teachers, from the hireling who cares nothing for the sheep, and from the evil one himself. May Christ the Good Shepherd who laid down His life for the sheep guard your household, restrain the world, the flesh and the devil, and grant you grace to walk in the light, to receive love and to pour love upon your children, and to live in the peace which Christ leaves with His people.

Father, we thank You for the time You have given this father and son together. Establish it in peace and wisdom. Convict of sin where there is sin, hedge the way that leads to destruction, and grant true repentance and faith in Jesus Christ alone for salvation. Turn hearts back to You, make Your will and Your love fruitful in this family, and keep this child from temptation and deception. Let Your Word dwell richly among them and let Your peace rule. We ask this in the name of Jesus, who alone is our reconciliation and our hope, Amen.

 

[Silas]

Thank you for bringing this burden before the Lord so honestly and with so much Scripture. It is right to thank Him for ending a long season of silence and giving back video time that brings peace and stability for you and your son. What God does endures, and when He grants peace it is for your good and for the good of your child. It is good to ask that the practical details you have agreed on would be carried out in a spirit of peace, since God has called His people to peace.

Your desire to keep first love first is the right foundation. Fellowship with the Father and with Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit is to come before everything else, and out of that fellowship you can freely receive love and freely pour love on your children. Praying that your time with your son would show the fruit of God's will and word and love is a worthy prayer, that he would come to see God as gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and from that view learn to love God with all his heart and to love others, while being brought up in righteousness and finding in the Scriptures the wisdom that leads to salvation.

It is also right to bring the practical needs to the One who created the heavens and the earth to be inhabited. Ask Him to help the set hours be respected so tasks can be done, and to work in hearts so that care for the child comes from genuine love and not from love of money, and with honor and respect for the Holy Spirit's work.

At the heart of your prayer is repentance, and that is exactly what God calls for. John preached a baptism that was marked by a turning from sin so that sins could be forgiven. Jesus Himself called sinners to turn and change, saying He came not to call those who think they are righteous but sinners to repentance, because those who are sick need a physician. Even to the churches in Revelation He called for repentance. That call is still needed today for all of us, to turn and become what He wants us to be. True turning is not only words but a change that shows itself in restoration, as David understood when he confessed that his adultery and murder were ultimately sin against God Himself. In contrast, when publicans and sinners truly turned, they followed Jesus and their lives were changed.

So we join you in praying that the Holy Spirit would do His work of convicting of sin, that He would turn the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, as was promised in the work of Elijah when he prayed that God would turn the hearts of the people back to Himself. We pray that where there is pursuit of what is empty and false, the way would be hedged with thorns so it cannot be followed, that like the prodigal son she would come to her senses, see sin against God and against others, and turn back in repentance and stop sinning so that nothing worse follows. God does not want anyone to perish but wants all to come to repentance, and heaven rejoices over one who truly turns.

We also stand with you on what Scripture teaches about marriage. Marriage is a lifelong covenant of one man and one woman, and sexual intimacy and living together belong within it. Adultery and sowing to the flesh bring destruction, and those who practice such things without repentance will not inherit the kingdom of God, and those who love and practice falsehood remain outside. Do not be deceived, God is not mocked. So we pray for grace and wisdom to turn away completely from social media and dating sites while married, and for protection for you, your son, and your wife from evil, from evil people and false believers, from hirelings who do not care for the sheep, and from the evil one himself. Jesus is the Good Shepherd who laid down His life for the sheep, and He alone gives eternal life so that no one can snatch His sheep from His hand.

We pray also for you both as parents, that you would learn each other's language, hold your tongues, hold nothing against each other, and entrust each other into God's hands, showing exemplary value and honor before your son, asking that the world would be overruled, the flesh subdued and the devil restrained.

God is able to use many means to seek the one lost sheep when He leaves the ninety nine, through other believers, family, kindness, and even trials, to bring someone from death and cover a multitude of sins through fervent love. We ask Him to give discernment to see through deception, to grant repentance which is at the heart of the gospel preached from Luke to Acts, that all should turn and be forgiven, and to give you wisdom and peace as you continue to walk faithfully, guard your son from temptation, deception and fear, and keep your home under the care of the Shepherd. We ask all of this in the name of Jesus, who hears and answers according to the Father's will. 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 rejoiced with you in thanking God for the blessed video times and for His enduring work, as remembered in Ecc 3:14, and for ending four months of silence with some peace and restoration of video time for the well being of you and your youngster. We were honored to agree with you that the details you have agreed on would be implemented and that you would be called to peace as in 1 Cor 7:15, and for your desire to keep your first Love first and to walk in fellowship as in Rev 3:19, 2 Cor 13:14 and 1 John 1:2.

We have continued to bring before the Lord your practical requests for help in monitoring the video time, that set hours would be respected and tasks accomplished, and that concern for the child would be out of love as in Phil 2:1 rather than for money as in 1 Tim 6:6. We are still standing with you for the deeper work of the Holy Spirit to turn the disobedient to the wisdom of the just as in Luke 1:17, to hedge with thorns as in Hos 2:6, to grant conviction as in John 16:8, and to bring to her senses and to repentance as in Luke 15:17, so that she may stop sinning and nothing worse befall her as in John 5:14. We also continue to pray with you for the guarding of your son from temptation and deception and from the evil one as in Matt 6:13 and John 17:15, and for protection from stumbling blocks through unguarded social media and for faithfulness in your marriage, for the grace to hold your tongues and to hold nothing against each other and to show honor before your youngster, and for the world to be overruled and the flesh subdued and the devil restrained.

If your request was answered and you have seen continued peace, consistent video times, and further softening of hearts back toward God as in 1 Kings 18:37 and Mal 4:6, please post a praise report and let us all know so we can rejoice with you. If your request does not seem to have been answered yet, or the restoration and transformation you are seeking is still unfolding, please post it again as a new request and allow us to continue with you in prayer.

We pray that the Lord will keep you and your son in His hand as the Good Shepherd in John 10:27, that His will and Word and love would be fruitful in your time together, and that your youngster would be brought up in righteousness as in Eph 6:4 and grow in the wisdom of the Scriptures which is able to give salvation as in 2 Tim 3:15. May God bless you as you continue to seek Him through His Son, Jesus Christ. We pray in Jesus Name, Amen.