Silas
Beloved of All
Your prayer reflects a heart that understands both the power of the cross and the love of God as Father. Thank you for bringing this man before the Lord with faith that God hears when His people agree together in the name of Jesus.
God does not want a distant or ritual connection with us. Jesus taught us to pray, Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, because He invites us into a close, intimate relationship as children with a Father who loves us. That is very different from a legal or formal religion that only tries to keep rules. God wants a loving relationship, and He wants us to know how deeply He loves us. Sin always damages that relationship. Scripture says your sins have separated you from God, and when we turn from Him to follow our own desires, it is like spiritual unfaithfulness that breaks fellowship with Him.
That is why your prayer for this man to see his true identity in Christ is so important. When we put our faith in Jesus, we die with Christ to the old way of trying to be right with God by the law, and we are joined to Christ in a new covenant. We become married to Him, bound not to indulge the flesh but to live by a greater law, the law of love. A false identity built on sinful relationships or activities can never give what that new relationship with Christ gives. It promises freedom but brings bondage, control, and even danger. Only in Christ do we find who we really are as sons and daughters of the Father.
You are right to pray that God would break a stony heart and soften it. God alone can take a hard heart and give a heart that is responsive to Him, and give courage to walk the narrow path that leads to life. True deliverance is something God does. When we believe in Jesus we are delivered from the hold the world has on us, and day by day He continues to deliver us while we are still in the world until the day He finally delivers us out of it. Like Israel's deliverance from Egypt, it is a great act of God that we are meant to remember and trust Him to complete.
Part of that deliverance is repentance. Godly sorrow is not just feeling sorry, it works a real change. John preached a baptism of repentance, a dying to the old life and rising to walk in newness of life. Repentance bears fruit that shows the change is real. For this man, that will mean turning from evil and from relationships that are outside of God's design. Scripture is clear that marriage is the lifelong covenant of one man and one woman, and that sexual intimacy and living together belong within that covenant alone. We cannot ask God to bless what He calls sin, but we can and must ask Him to grant repentance, forgiveness through Jesus Christ alone, and a new way of life.
You also prayed that he would be separated from ungodly influences, even in his household. Scripture calls us to come out and be separate and not touch what is unclean, so that the Lord will receive us as a Father and we will be His sons and daughters. Our relationship with God is the central axis of our lives. When that vertical relationship is right, every other relationship begins to come into order. When it is out of order, every other relationship suffers. Sometimes God even allows a person to feel the isolation of being apart from healthy fellowship so that he will come to his senses, turn back, and be restored. The goal is always salvation and restoration, not punishment.
So let us pray together for him now.
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the cross and for Your Son Jesus who suffered for all who believe. We thank You that Your thoughts and plans for us are far greater than ours. We lift this man to You. You know him and You love him. Draw him to Yourself and help him hear Your voice. Open his eyes to see who he is in Christ and to see the emptiness of the false identity he has taken on through sin. Break his hard heart and give him a soft heart that fears Your holy name and desires to please You. Give him courage to leave the broad way and walk the narrow path. Deliver him from every controlling, hateful and sinful entanglement, from blackmail and danger, and from every ungodly influence that holds him back, and lead him away from evil. Bring him into a living, loving relationship with You as his Father through Jesus Christ, and help him bear fruit that shows true repentance. Protect his life and set him free to love and follow You. In the powerful name of Jesus we ask this, amen.
Continue to pray for him with steadiness and hope. God is faithful to hear, to convict, to deliver, and to keep those who turn to Him. Keep pointing him, as God gives opportunity, to the love of the Father and to new life in Christ.
God does not want a distant or ritual connection with us. Jesus taught us to pray, Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, because He invites us into a close, intimate relationship as children with a Father who loves us. That is very different from a legal or formal religion that only tries to keep rules. God wants a loving relationship, and He wants us to know how deeply He loves us. Sin always damages that relationship. Scripture says your sins have separated you from God, and when we turn from Him to follow our own desires, it is like spiritual unfaithfulness that breaks fellowship with Him.
That is why your prayer for this man to see his true identity in Christ is so important. When we put our faith in Jesus, we die with Christ to the old way of trying to be right with God by the law, and we are joined to Christ in a new covenant. We become married to Him, bound not to indulge the flesh but to live by a greater law, the law of love. A false identity built on sinful relationships or activities can never give what that new relationship with Christ gives. It promises freedom but brings bondage, control, and even danger. Only in Christ do we find who we really are as sons and daughters of the Father.
You are right to pray that God would break a stony heart and soften it. God alone can take a hard heart and give a heart that is responsive to Him, and give courage to walk the narrow path that leads to life. True deliverance is something God does. When we believe in Jesus we are delivered from the hold the world has on us, and day by day He continues to deliver us while we are still in the world until the day He finally delivers us out of it. Like Israel's deliverance from Egypt, it is a great act of God that we are meant to remember and trust Him to complete.
Part of that deliverance is repentance. Godly sorrow is not just feeling sorry, it works a real change. John preached a baptism of repentance, a dying to the old life and rising to walk in newness of life. Repentance bears fruit that shows the change is real. For this man, that will mean turning from evil and from relationships that are outside of God's design. Scripture is clear that marriage is the lifelong covenant of one man and one woman, and that sexual intimacy and living together belong within that covenant alone. We cannot ask God to bless what He calls sin, but we can and must ask Him to grant repentance, forgiveness through Jesus Christ alone, and a new way of life.
You also prayed that he would be separated from ungodly influences, even in his household. Scripture calls us to come out and be separate and not touch what is unclean, so that the Lord will receive us as a Father and we will be His sons and daughters. Our relationship with God is the central axis of our lives. When that vertical relationship is right, every other relationship begins to come into order. When it is out of order, every other relationship suffers. Sometimes God even allows a person to feel the isolation of being apart from healthy fellowship so that he will come to his senses, turn back, and be restored. The goal is always salvation and restoration, not punishment.
So let us pray together for him now.
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the cross and for Your Son Jesus who suffered for all who believe. We thank You that Your thoughts and plans for us are far greater than ours. We lift this man to You. You know him and You love him. Draw him to Yourself and help him hear Your voice. Open his eyes to see who he is in Christ and to see the emptiness of the false identity he has taken on through sin. Break his hard heart and give him a soft heart that fears Your holy name and desires to please You. Give him courage to leave the broad way and walk the narrow path. Deliver him from every controlling, hateful and sinful entanglement, from blackmail and danger, and from every ungodly influence that holds him back, and lead him away from evil. Bring him into a living, loving relationship with You as his Father through Jesus Christ, and help him bear fruit that shows true repentance. Protect his life and set him free to love and follow You. In the powerful name of Jesus we ask this, amen.
Continue to pray for him with steadiness and hope. God is faithful to hear, to convict, to deliver, and to keep those who turn to Him. Keep pointing him, as God gives opportunity, to the love of the Father and to new life in Christ.
