Silas
Beloved of All
Your heartfelt prayer for this man is right and pleasing to God, and it rests on the true foundation that salvation is only through the cross where Jesus suffered for all who believe.
It is good that you are agreeing together in the name of Jesus, for the Lord does hear when His people pray together according to His will. His plans for us are greater and higher than our own thoughts, and His desire is to lead each person into truth and life.
You have prayed exactly as Scripture directs, that this man would hear the voice of the Lord concerning His holy plan for his life and would see his true identity in Christ. Apart from Christ we take on false identities when we follow our own desires and stray from the narrow path. The heart becomes hard like stone, and only God can take away that stony heart and give a soft heart that wants to obey Him. Yet God made us with free will so that our relationship with Him would be real and meaningful. He will not force a person to follow Him. He calls, He softens, He gives courage, but each person must choose to respond and walk the narrow way.
You are also right to pray that he would be separated from ungodly influences, even those in his own household. Scripture teaches that our relationship with God is primary. When that relationship is not right, no other relationship can be right. Many of the broken and controlling relationships we see can be traced back to a broken relationship with God. When a person is restored to a right, loving, intimate relationship with the Father through Jesus, not a mere ritual or legal religion but a living relationship of love and trust, then the other relationships begin to come into order as well.
Part of your prayer asks that he would recognize the depth of God's love and also see the sinful and harmful nature of the relationships that are controlling and endangering him. This is so important because deception is rarely obvious. Those who lead others astray seldom appear as they truly are. Jesus warned that false prophets come in sheep's clothing, looking harmless while speaking what is destructive. If what they said were entirely false no one would be deceived, but often much of what they say sounds true, and then the falsehood is woven in. In the same way, false teachers and ungodly companions often give false assurance, saying peace, peace when there is no peace, and telling people that they can continue in sin without consequence. To be a victim of false information about the soul is far more serious than any other loss, because it keeps a person from doing what he most needs to do, which is to repent and turn to God.
That is why your prayer for the fear of the Lord is so biblical. To fear the holy name of the Lord is to hate and depart from evil. Pray that God would open his eyes to see that he has been fed false information and false promises, and that the only true peace and safety are found in turning away from sin and walking in obedience. Pray that he would see that these controlling and hateful entanglements, including this relationship with this woman that is outside of God's design for marriage as a lifelong covenant between one man and one woman where sexual union belongs, are not love at all but bondage, and that God offers deliverance.
Continue to bring him before the throne of grace. Ask the Lord to break through the deception, to soften his heart, to help him desire the narrow path, and to give him a clear understanding that he must depart from evil and from every influence that pulls him away from Christ. Ask that the Lord would place true voices around him who will speak the whole truth without flattery and without seeking gain, and that he would have the courage to listen.
We join you in asking the Father to have mercy on him, to reveal to him the love of Jesus, to grant him repentance and a new heart, and to lead him out of darkness into the freedom of a restored relationship with God. May the Lord guard his life, bring him to genuine faith in Christ alone, and establish him in holiness for His glory. In Jesus' name, amen.
It is good that you are agreeing together in the name of Jesus, for the Lord does hear when His people pray together according to His will. His plans for us are greater and higher than our own thoughts, and His desire is to lead each person into truth and life.
You have prayed exactly as Scripture directs, that this man would hear the voice of the Lord concerning His holy plan for his life and would see his true identity in Christ. Apart from Christ we take on false identities when we follow our own desires and stray from the narrow path. The heart becomes hard like stone, and only God can take away that stony heart and give a soft heart that wants to obey Him. Yet God made us with free will so that our relationship with Him would be real and meaningful. He will not force a person to follow Him. He calls, He softens, He gives courage, but each person must choose to respond and walk the narrow way.
You are also right to pray that he would be separated from ungodly influences, even those in his own household. Scripture teaches that our relationship with God is primary. When that relationship is not right, no other relationship can be right. Many of the broken and controlling relationships we see can be traced back to a broken relationship with God. When a person is restored to a right, loving, intimate relationship with the Father through Jesus, not a mere ritual or legal religion but a living relationship of love and trust, then the other relationships begin to come into order as well.
Part of your prayer asks that he would recognize the depth of God's love and also see the sinful and harmful nature of the relationships that are controlling and endangering him. This is so important because deception is rarely obvious. Those who lead others astray seldom appear as they truly are. Jesus warned that false prophets come in sheep's clothing, looking harmless while speaking what is destructive. If what they said were entirely false no one would be deceived, but often much of what they say sounds true, and then the falsehood is woven in. In the same way, false teachers and ungodly companions often give false assurance, saying peace, peace when there is no peace, and telling people that they can continue in sin without consequence. To be a victim of false information about the soul is far more serious than any other loss, because it keeps a person from doing what he most needs to do, which is to repent and turn to God.
That is why your prayer for the fear of the Lord is so biblical. To fear the holy name of the Lord is to hate and depart from evil. Pray that God would open his eyes to see that he has been fed false information and false promises, and that the only true peace and safety are found in turning away from sin and walking in obedience. Pray that he would see that these controlling and hateful entanglements, including this relationship with this woman that is outside of God's design for marriage as a lifelong covenant between one man and one woman where sexual union belongs, are not love at all but bondage, and that God offers deliverance.
Continue to bring him before the throne of grace. Ask the Lord to break through the deception, to soften his heart, to help him desire the narrow path, and to give him a clear understanding that he must depart from evil and from every influence that pulls him away from Christ. Ask that the Lord would place true voices around him who will speak the whole truth without flattery and without seeking gain, and that he would have the courage to listen.
We join you in asking the Father to have mercy on him, to reveal to him the love of Jesus, to grant him repentance and a new heart, and to lead him out of darkness into the freedom of a restored relationship with God. May the Lord guard his life, bring him to genuine faith in Christ alone, and establish him in holiness for His glory. In Jesus' name, amen.
