Silas
Beloved of All
Your burden for this soul and your desire to see God work with mercy and truth comes through clearly, and it is good that you continue to pray with hope that He who began a good work will be faithful to complete it.
You have asked that God would hedge her way with thorns so she cannot overtake those she is pursuing. Scripture does speak of God placing a hedge around His people for protection, as He did with Job, and of sin breaking down that hedge. When the hedge is broken, God looks for those who will stand in the gap and intercede before Him for the land. In love He also at times blocks a path that leads to destruction, as described in Hosea, so that a person cannot find the way to sinful lovers and may instead turn back. That is a prayer for loving restraint, not for harm, that God in His kindness would make the way of sin hard and the way of righteousness plain. Proverbs pictures the way of the sluggish as overgrown with thorns and difficult, while the way of the righteous is made straight and clear. Pray that the Lord would make the right way clear and the wrong way hedged.
There is another picture of thorns that Jesus gave. Some seed falls among thorns and grows for a time, but the thorns grow up with it and choke it so it never matures and becomes unfruitful. He explained that the thorns are the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desire for other things entering in. Those things choke the word so it bears no fruit, thirty, sixty, or a hundredfold as it does on good soil. Much of the struggle you describe fits that picture. Lives hear the word, there is growth, but competing loves and anxieties crowd it out. So pray not only that God would block sinful pursuits, but that He would clear away the thorns that are choking the word, that the heart would be cultivated ground where the word can mature and bear fruit. What is sown among thorns and remains choked is unfruitful and near to being rejected, while what is sown on good soil bears fruit to His glory.
You are right to ask for conviction of sin and of judgment to come. The Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin, and God in His forbearance and patience does not strike immediately. His goodness is meant to lead to repentance. He is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance, and He gives time and warning through His word and through His people. At the same time Scripture warns that God is not mocked, whatever a person sows that will also be reaped, and there is wrath and distress for those who persist in doing evil. That patience should not be taken as permission to continue, or as a license to use grace as a covering for immorality. Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to life and bears fruit in keeping with repentance, turning from sin and returning to God for refreshing and salvation.
For that reason your prayer for the church and family to intervene according to Matthew 18 is biblical. If a brother or sister is caught in sin, those who are spiritual are to restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, keeping watch over themselves lest they also be tempted. The word of God is the sword of the Spirit and it discerns the heart. When sin is confronted, it is to be done gently but firmly, with love and reverence for God and for covenant, not negligently, and with the aim that the one who is ensnared by the devil and held captive to do his will may come to their senses and escape, and that others may learn to fear sin. This requires courage to fear God rather than people, for the fear of man is a snare, while the fear of the Lord is to hate evil and is the beginning of wisdom. Pray that pastors and friends who have said they are willing to bring the word will do so faithfully, speaking truth that heals and comforts rather than words that pour out foolishness. The tongue of the wise uses knowledge rightly and brings healing.
You also mentioned adultery, including online pursuit and lust of the heart. Jesus taught that to look with lust is already to commit adultery in the heart, and the law of God calls adultery sin. Confession that only hints without owning the sin does not bring freedom. Pray for honest confession and for a prodigal return, as in Luke 15, where the son came to himself, admitted he had sinned against heaven and before others, humbled himself to take the place of a servant, and found the father full of compassion and patience. That is the pattern of repentance unto life. If God makes a person holy and gives a new heart, we do not call unclean what He has cleansed, but that new life will not be unequally yoked and will not walk in two directions. Two cannot walk together unless they are agreed, and marriage is a lifelong covenant of one man and one woman, with intimacy belonging only within it.
You asked for inner healing and clarity. The prophet describes wounds that have not been bound up or softened with oil, and the Shepherd psalm speaks of restoring the soul and leading in paths of righteousness. Healing belongs to God. Sometimes He heals instantly in a way that is felt at once, sometimes He heals gradually through processes He has established in body, mind, and emotions. In either case the healing is from Him, and His purpose is to put us on the straight path and keep us from straying into dangerous territory. Pray that any wounds, lies, and deceptions would be healed, that the mind would be renewed, and that love would abound with knowledge and discernment to choose what is excellent and to be blameless until the day of Christ. Ask for wisdom generously, that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, to walk worthy of the Lord and to stand assured in all His will, and for strength to meet pressing needs and fulfill duties well.
Continue to pray without giving up, as you have been, and to ask for protection for yourself, for her, for the child, and for all involved, that you would be delivered from temptation, from lies, from evil people and impostors, and from the evil one himself, and kept from deception. We stand only by His grace, and we must take heed lest we fall. He alone is able to keep us from stumbling and to make us stand, and to present us faultless. Pray that each of you would pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart, and turn from youthful lusts and from those who have a form of godliness but deny its power.
Father, in the name of Jesus, we ask for Your mercy and truth to meet in this situation. Convict of sin and bring godly sorrow that leads to repentance and fruit. Block every path that leads to adultery and to destruction, and make the path of righteousness plain. Raise up faithful witnesses who will speak Your word with gentleness and firmness, without fear of man. Clear away the cares of this world and deceitful desires that choke Your word, and make the heart good soil that bears fruit. Bring inner healing, restore the soul, grant wisdom and discernment, and keep all from temptation and deception. Do this for Your glory and for the good of all involved, that there may be repentance, refreshing, and a hope and future in You. Amen.
You have asked that God would hedge her way with thorns so she cannot overtake those she is pursuing. Scripture does speak of God placing a hedge around His people for protection, as He did with Job, and of sin breaking down that hedge. When the hedge is broken, God looks for those who will stand in the gap and intercede before Him for the land. In love He also at times blocks a path that leads to destruction, as described in Hosea, so that a person cannot find the way to sinful lovers and may instead turn back. That is a prayer for loving restraint, not for harm, that God in His kindness would make the way of sin hard and the way of righteousness plain. Proverbs pictures the way of the sluggish as overgrown with thorns and difficult, while the way of the righteous is made straight and clear. Pray that the Lord would make the right way clear and the wrong way hedged.
There is another picture of thorns that Jesus gave. Some seed falls among thorns and grows for a time, but the thorns grow up with it and choke it so it never matures and becomes unfruitful. He explained that the thorns are the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desire for other things entering in. Those things choke the word so it bears no fruit, thirty, sixty, or a hundredfold as it does on good soil. Much of the struggle you describe fits that picture. Lives hear the word, there is growth, but competing loves and anxieties crowd it out. So pray not only that God would block sinful pursuits, but that He would clear away the thorns that are choking the word, that the heart would be cultivated ground where the word can mature and bear fruit. What is sown among thorns and remains choked is unfruitful and near to being rejected, while what is sown on good soil bears fruit to His glory.
You are right to ask for conviction of sin and of judgment to come. The Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin, and God in His forbearance and patience does not strike immediately. His goodness is meant to lead to repentance. He is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance, and He gives time and warning through His word and through His people. At the same time Scripture warns that God is not mocked, whatever a person sows that will also be reaped, and there is wrath and distress for those who persist in doing evil. That patience should not be taken as permission to continue, or as a license to use grace as a covering for immorality. Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to life and bears fruit in keeping with repentance, turning from sin and returning to God for refreshing and salvation.
For that reason your prayer for the church and family to intervene according to Matthew 18 is biblical. If a brother or sister is caught in sin, those who are spiritual are to restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, keeping watch over themselves lest they also be tempted. The word of God is the sword of the Spirit and it discerns the heart. When sin is confronted, it is to be done gently but firmly, with love and reverence for God and for covenant, not negligently, and with the aim that the one who is ensnared by the devil and held captive to do his will may come to their senses and escape, and that others may learn to fear sin. This requires courage to fear God rather than people, for the fear of man is a snare, while the fear of the Lord is to hate evil and is the beginning of wisdom. Pray that pastors and friends who have said they are willing to bring the word will do so faithfully, speaking truth that heals and comforts rather than words that pour out foolishness. The tongue of the wise uses knowledge rightly and brings healing.
You also mentioned adultery, including online pursuit and lust of the heart. Jesus taught that to look with lust is already to commit adultery in the heart, and the law of God calls adultery sin. Confession that only hints without owning the sin does not bring freedom. Pray for honest confession and for a prodigal return, as in Luke 15, where the son came to himself, admitted he had sinned against heaven and before others, humbled himself to take the place of a servant, and found the father full of compassion and patience. That is the pattern of repentance unto life. If God makes a person holy and gives a new heart, we do not call unclean what He has cleansed, but that new life will not be unequally yoked and will not walk in two directions. Two cannot walk together unless they are agreed, and marriage is a lifelong covenant of one man and one woman, with intimacy belonging only within it.
You asked for inner healing and clarity. The prophet describes wounds that have not been bound up or softened with oil, and the Shepherd psalm speaks of restoring the soul and leading in paths of righteousness. Healing belongs to God. Sometimes He heals instantly in a way that is felt at once, sometimes He heals gradually through processes He has established in body, mind, and emotions. In either case the healing is from Him, and His purpose is to put us on the straight path and keep us from straying into dangerous territory. Pray that any wounds, lies, and deceptions would be healed, that the mind would be renewed, and that love would abound with knowledge and discernment to choose what is excellent and to be blameless until the day of Christ. Ask for wisdom generously, that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, to walk worthy of the Lord and to stand assured in all His will, and for strength to meet pressing needs and fulfill duties well.
Continue to pray without giving up, as you have been, and to ask for protection for yourself, for her, for the child, and for all involved, that you would be delivered from temptation, from lies, from evil people and impostors, and from the evil one himself, and kept from deception. We stand only by His grace, and we must take heed lest we fall. He alone is able to keep us from stumbling and to make us stand, and to present us faultless. Pray that each of you would pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart, and turn from youthful lusts and from those who have a form of godliness but deny its power.
Father, in the name of Jesus, we ask for Your mercy and truth to meet in this situation. Convict of sin and bring godly sorrow that leads to repentance and fruit. Block every path that leads to adultery and to destruction, and make the path of righteousness plain. Raise up faithful witnesses who will speak Your word with gentleness and firmness, without fear of man. Clear away the cares of this world and deceitful desires that choke Your word, and make the heart good soil that bears fruit. Bring inner healing, restore the soul, grant wisdom and discernment, and keep all from temptation and deception. Do this for Your glory and for the good of all involved, that there may be repentance, refreshing, and a hope and future in You. Amen.
