Silas
Beloved of All
Thank you for sharing this honest and burdened prayer. Your desire to hold both things together is itself from the Lord, and the Scripture you cited gives the right picture, to take hold of the one without letting go of the other, and by grace to do both.
Your thanksgiving is right at the start. His mercies are new every morning and His faithfulness is great, and that is the foundation for everything else you are asking. In the New Testament the order is always this way, first what God has done for us and then what we are called to do for Him. You are loved and received not because of your own faithfulness but because Christ has borne your sin and will present you in His righteousness. The new covenant does not rest on our work but on His work, and because it rests on His faithfulness it will stand. That is your confidence as you pray and as you serve.
It is good to continue to intercede for the one who is now your former, that she would come to genuine repentance that leads to life, to real trust in Christ and new birth, and for the little one, that the Lord would save, protect, fill with His Spirit, and bring up in the nurture and instruction of the Lord and in His Word, with respect for godly authority. God is able to save to the uttermost those who come to Him, for Christ ever lives to intercede, and He came to seek and to save. Keep bringing them before Him, as Romans 10 teaches us to pray for salvation, and trust His mercy which is great toward us.
At the same time God is calling you to not live only in what is past. A past experience with God is only valid as it is translated into present reality, into present fellowship, present obedience, present power. Paul's desire was to be found in Him now, pressing forward toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ, forgetting what lies behind and reaching for what is ahead. The Lord is doing new things, and He invites you to look forward with expectation to what He will do in and through you in this season. That means giving attention to the pressing needs at hand, to learn to devote yourself to good works to meet those needs, to set things in order and to strengthen what remains, to care for the flock among you as a steward of God.
These two callings are not in competition when grace is at work. Grace enables you to keep praying for those you love while also running the race set before you with endurance, laying aside every weight and distraction, running in such a way as to win, abiding in His Word and making disciples of all He has commanded. You do not have to choose between intercession and obedience. You are to do both, each in its proper place, trusting that the Lord will work while you stand still and that He will open doors that no one can shut for the Word to go forth.
So we join you in asking the Father for daily grace, for open doors for Bible study and prayer and for the lost to hear the gospel, for favor as a shield, for wisdom and full knowledge of His will, for love to abound with knowledge and discernment, for the Spirit's overflow and guidance as you abide in Christ and are led by Him, and for power to glorify Him and to reflect His image, which only He can do in you. We ask for protection from temptation and sin and evil and evil men and the evil one, and for a clear mind to navigate what is next with new evangelism, encouragement, discipleship, fellowship with the body of Christ, and growth in the Word.
May the Lord keep you rooted in what He has already done for you in Christ, and from that place make you fruitful in every good work He has prepared for you now, interceding with hope and serving with joy, until He completes the work He has begun. We thank Him with you in Jesus name.
Your thanksgiving is right at the start. His mercies are new every morning and His faithfulness is great, and that is the foundation for everything else you are asking. In the New Testament the order is always this way, first what God has done for us and then what we are called to do for Him. You are loved and received not because of your own faithfulness but because Christ has borne your sin and will present you in His righteousness. The new covenant does not rest on our work but on His work, and because it rests on His faithfulness it will stand. That is your confidence as you pray and as you serve.
It is good to continue to intercede for the one who is now your former, that she would come to genuine repentance that leads to life, to real trust in Christ and new birth, and for the little one, that the Lord would save, protect, fill with His Spirit, and bring up in the nurture and instruction of the Lord and in His Word, with respect for godly authority. God is able to save to the uttermost those who come to Him, for Christ ever lives to intercede, and He came to seek and to save. Keep bringing them before Him, as Romans 10 teaches us to pray for salvation, and trust His mercy which is great toward us.
At the same time God is calling you to not live only in what is past. A past experience with God is only valid as it is translated into present reality, into present fellowship, present obedience, present power. Paul's desire was to be found in Him now, pressing forward toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ, forgetting what lies behind and reaching for what is ahead. The Lord is doing new things, and He invites you to look forward with expectation to what He will do in and through you in this season. That means giving attention to the pressing needs at hand, to learn to devote yourself to good works to meet those needs, to set things in order and to strengthen what remains, to care for the flock among you as a steward of God.
These two callings are not in competition when grace is at work. Grace enables you to keep praying for those you love while also running the race set before you with endurance, laying aside every weight and distraction, running in such a way as to win, abiding in His Word and making disciples of all He has commanded. You do not have to choose between intercession and obedience. You are to do both, each in its proper place, trusting that the Lord will work while you stand still and that He will open doors that no one can shut for the Word to go forth.
So we join you in asking the Father for daily grace, for open doors for Bible study and prayer and for the lost to hear the gospel, for favor as a shield, for wisdom and full knowledge of His will, for love to abound with knowledge and discernment, for the Spirit's overflow and guidance as you abide in Christ and are led by Him, and for power to glorify Him and to reflect His image, which only He can do in you. We ask for protection from temptation and sin and evil and evil men and the evil one, and for a clear mind to navigate what is next with new evangelism, encouragement, discipleship, fellowship with the body of Christ, and growth in the Word.
May the Lord keep you rooted in what He has already done for you in Christ, and from that place make you fruitful in every good work He has prepared for you now, interceding with hope and serving with joy, until He completes the work He has begun. We thank Him with you in Jesus name.
