Silas
Beloved of All
Thank you for bringing this heavy burden before the Lord so honestly and with so much Scripture. Your desire to see God intervene with conviction, with a hedge, and with healing is right and biblical, and we join you in praying according to His will.
We are praying that the Holy Spirit will do His work of conviction as Jesus promised in John 16:8, not merely to make someone feel sorry, but to bring the godly sorrow that produces a true change of mind and direction. As Scripture teaches in 2 Corinthians 7:9-11, there is a difference between worldly sorrow that ends in death and godly sorrow that works repentance. True repentance always shows itself in a changed life, in turning from sin and bearing fruit in keeping with repentance as Matthew 3:8 and Acts 3:19 describe.
We also join you in asking God to hedge the way with thorns as in Hosea 2:6-7, so that paths that lead away from Him and into adultery, which violates Exodus 20:14 and the heart adultery Jesus warns of in Matthew 5:28, become blocked and unfruitful. The thorns Jesus speaks of in the parables are the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desire for other things that choke the Word and make a life unfruitful. When a life is choked by those things it cannot bear fruit for God. Our prayer is that those entanglements would lose their attraction, that the deceit would be exposed, and that clarity and wisdom would be given as James 1:5 promises, so that there may be a filling with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding to walk worthy of the Lord as Colossians 1:9-10 and Colossians 4:12 describe, and that love may abound with knowledge and discernment to choose what is excellent and be blameless as Philippians 1:9-11 teaches.
We are praying for the Matthew 18:16-17 process you mentioned to be carried out in the right spirit. God has placed the church to be a place of truth and restoration, and though the history of the church shows it has often been imperfect and has allowed corrupting influences like leaven to spread through the whole lump, Jesus still calls His people to repentance. To five of the seven churches in Revelation He says repent, and that call still stands. The true pattern for the church is found in Acts, where there is honesty, purity, and power when sin is dealt with. We pray that any pastors, family, and friends who have said they are willing to speak the Word, which is the sword of the Spirit and is living and active as Hebrews 4:12 says, would do so not with negligence as Jeremiah 48:10 warns, but with love, reverence for God and for covenant, and with zeal, and at the same time gently and humbly, watching themselves lest they also be tempted, as Galatians 6:1 instructs. The goal is not to drive someone away from fellowship, but to rescue, as 2 Timothy 2:25-26 says, that God may grant repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth and escape from the snare of the devil, and that others may also learn the seriousness of sin as 1 Timothy 5:20 teaches. This is to be done in the spirit of 2 Timothy 2:22, fleeing youthful lusts and pursuing righteousness, faith, love and peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
We do not ask God to bless any relationship that is outside His design. Scripture is clear that salvation is through Jesus Christ alone, that marriage is a lifelong covenant of one man and one woman, and that sexual intimacy and living together belong only within that covenant. To ask God to bless what He calls sin would be to use grace as a license for immorality, which Jude 1:4 warns against, and to forget that God is not mocked as Galatians 6:7 says. Instead we pray for repentance, for deliverance from temptation, lies, and evil, and from evil men and impostors who are described in 2 Timothy 3:5, and for protection from the evil one as Jesus taught us to pray in Matthew 6:13 and John 17:15. We pray for a hatred of evil which is the fear of the Lord as Proverbs 8:13, Proverbs 9:10 and Job 28:28 teach, and for freedom from deception as Matthew 24:4 warns.
We hear your hope anchored in Philippians 1:6 that He who began a good work will be faithful to complete it, and your willingness to show the compassion of the father in Luke 15:20 if there is humble confession as in Luke 15:17-19, with the willingness to take a low place and demonstrate repentance unto life. That reflects the patience of God described in 1 Timothy 1:15-16 and Romans 2:4, where His kindness is meant to lead us to repentance, because He is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance as 2 Peter 3:9 says, knowing also that there is wrath and distress for every soul that does evil as Romans 2:9 warns. If God makes someone clean and holy, we do not call them unclean, as Acts 10:15 and Acts 15:7 show, and all Scripture is inspired and profitable as 2 Timothy 3:16 says. Yet that cleansing comes only through true new birth and not through being unequally yoked as 2 Corinthians 6:14 and Deuteronomy 22:10 illustrate, nor without agreement in vision as Amos 3:3 pictures.
We also pray for you for inner healing as Isaiah 1:6 describes the wounds that need binding up, and for the restoration of the soul that Psalm 23:1-6 promises when the Shepherd leads. We pray for wisdom, for strength for daily duties as Titus 3:14 encourages, for grace to fast when led as Isaiah 58:6-12 describes, for protection from temptation and deception, and for grace to meet pressing needs and to fulfill what God has called you to do as Matthew 6:10 asks. Remember the cautions given to all of us who still dwell in frail bodies as 2 Corinthians 5:1-2 says, to take heed lest we fall as 1 Corinthians 10:12 warns, to stand only by His grace as Romans 11:20 says, and to trust that He is able to keep us from stumbling as Jude 1:24 declares and to make us stand as Romans 14:4 promises, until we are made perfect with Him as Hebrews 12:23 describes, which is far better as Philippians 1:23 says.
We continue with you in prayer as Luke 18:1 urges, not giving up, believing that God is working even when we do not yet see it, and trusting His promise to give a hope and a future as Jeremiah 29:11 says. We thank Him in advance as Mark 11:24 teaches, asking all of this in the name of Jesus, that there would be repentance, cleansing, clarity, and a walk that is worthy of Him.
We are praying that the Holy Spirit will do His work of conviction as Jesus promised in John 16:8, not merely to make someone feel sorry, but to bring the godly sorrow that produces a true change of mind and direction. As Scripture teaches in 2 Corinthians 7:9-11, there is a difference between worldly sorrow that ends in death and godly sorrow that works repentance. True repentance always shows itself in a changed life, in turning from sin and bearing fruit in keeping with repentance as Matthew 3:8 and Acts 3:19 describe.
We also join you in asking God to hedge the way with thorns as in Hosea 2:6-7, so that paths that lead away from Him and into adultery, which violates Exodus 20:14 and the heart adultery Jesus warns of in Matthew 5:28, become blocked and unfruitful. The thorns Jesus speaks of in the parables are the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desire for other things that choke the Word and make a life unfruitful. When a life is choked by those things it cannot bear fruit for God. Our prayer is that those entanglements would lose their attraction, that the deceit would be exposed, and that clarity and wisdom would be given as James 1:5 promises, so that there may be a filling with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding to walk worthy of the Lord as Colossians 1:9-10 and Colossians 4:12 describe, and that love may abound with knowledge and discernment to choose what is excellent and be blameless as Philippians 1:9-11 teaches.
We are praying for the Matthew 18:16-17 process you mentioned to be carried out in the right spirit. God has placed the church to be a place of truth and restoration, and though the history of the church shows it has often been imperfect and has allowed corrupting influences like leaven to spread through the whole lump, Jesus still calls His people to repentance. To five of the seven churches in Revelation He says repent, and that call still stands. The true pattern for the church is found in Acts, where there is honesty, purity, and power when sin is dealt with. We pray that any pastors, family, and friends who have said they are willing to speak the Word, which is the sword of the Spirit and is living and active as Hebrews 4:12 says, would do so not with negligence as Jeremiah 48:10 warns, but with love, reverence for God and for covenant, and with zeal, and at the same time gently and humbly, watching themselves lest they also be tempted, as Galatians 6:1 instructs. The goal is not to drive someone away from fellowship, but to rescue, as 2 Timothy 2:25-26 says, that God may grant repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth and escape from the snare of the devil, and that others may also learn the seriousness of sin as 1 Timothy 5:20 teaches. This is to be done in the spirit of 2 Timothy 2:22, fleeing youthful lusts and pursuing righteousness, faith, love and peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
We do not ask God to bless any relationship that is outside His design. Scripture is clear that salvation is through Jesus Christ alone, that marriage is a lifelong covenant of one man and one woman, and that sexual intimacy and living together belong only within that covenant. To ask God to bless what He calls sin would be to use grace as a license for immorality, which Jude 1:4 warns against, and to forget that God is not mocked as Galatians 6:7 says. Instead we pray for repentance, for deliverance from temptation, lies, and evil, and from evil men and impostors who are described in 2 Timothy 3:5, and for protection from the evil one as Jesus taught us to pray in Matthew 6:13 and John 17:15. We pray for a hatred of evil which is the fear of the Lord as Proverbs 8:13, Proverbs 9:10 and Job 28:28 teach, and for freedom from deception as Matthew 24:4 warns.
We hear your hope anchored in Philippians 1:6 that He who began a good work will be faithful to complete it, and your willingness to show the compassion of the father in Luke 15:20 if there is humble confession as in Luke 15:17-19, with the willingness to take a low place and demonstrate repentance unto life. That reflects the patience of God described in 1 Timothy 1:15-16 and Romans 2:4, where His kindness is meant to lead us to repentance, because He is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance as 2 Peter 3:9 says, knowing also that there is wrath and distress for every soul that does evil as Romans 2:9 warns. If God makes someone clean and holy, we do not call them unclean, as Acts 10:15 and Acts 15:7 show, and all Scripture is inspired and profitable as 2 Timothy 3:16 says. Yet that cleansing comes only through true new birth and not through being unequally yoked as 2 Corinthians 6:14 and Deuteronomy 22:10 illustrate, nor without agreement in vision as Amos 3:3 pictures.
We also pray for you for inner healing as Isaiah 1:6 describes the wounds that need binding up, and for the restoration of the soul that Psalm 23:1-6 promises when the Shepherd leads. We pray for wisdom, for strength for daily duties as Titus 3:14 encourages, for grace to fast when led as Isaiah 58:6-12 describes, for protection from temptation and deception, and for grace to meet pressing needs and to fulfill what God has called you to do as Matthew 6:10 asks. Remember the cautions given to all of us who still dwell in frail bodies as 2 Corinthians 5:1-2 says, to take heed lest we fall as 1 Corinthians 10:12 warns, to stand only by His grace as Romans 11:20 says, and to trust that He is able to keep us from stumbling as Jude 1:24 declares and to make us stand as Romans 14:4 promises, until we are made perfect with Him as Hebrews 12:23 describes, which is far better as Philippians 1:23 says.
We continue with you in prayer as Luke 18:1 urges, not giving up, believing that God is working even when we do not yet see it, and trusting His promise to give a hope and a future as Jeremiah 29:11 says. We thank Him in advance as Mark 11:24 teaches, asking all of this in the name of Jesus, that there would be repentance, cleansing, clarity, and a walk that is worthy of Him.
