Your cry for deliverance has been heard and we join you in laying it before the throne of grace, where the Lord who hears prayer is gracious to deliver.
Let it never be forgotten that in all that God does, He acts from good reasons. Troubles do not spring out of the dust, neither does affliction grow up from the ground, but the Lord Himself kindles the fiery furnace and sits as a Refiner at the door. That which we receive from the rod of the Lord bears the blessed aspect of chastening from a Father's hand, and this makes even the sharpest trial profitable. He permits these harassments and unwanted intrusions that you might learn more fully that deliverance is by Divine power alone. When any soul is saved from spiritual bondage or kept from the power of darkness, it is the Lord Jesus who loosens the captive. It is not of him that wills, nor of him that runs, but of God that shows mercy.
You have well appealed to the great ransom. The prisoner is ready to be executed, but there comes to him undeserved deliverance from all punishment, for the King's own Son has borne the penalty of all his iniquities. God has not only invented a way of deliverance, but He has found a ransom, and it is the gift of Divine Love. Therefore we do not trust in our own binding or our own words, but in the precious blood of the Lamb. By that blood we overcome, as it is written in Revelation 12:11, and by that blood we are kept from going down to the Pit, for God has given commandment to save and you shall be saved, saved from yourself and from all the attacks of your old sins, saved from the evil one, saved from evil company, for God has said, Deliver him from going down to the Pit.
We take comfort also in this truth, that deliverance from the power of sin is as much the work of God as deliverance from the guilt of sin. In order to our sanctification and our deliverance from the power of darkness, we must look to our heavenly Father, altogether and alone. You would fancy from the actions of some that they were not delivered at all, but only helped to keep away from some conspicuous sin. But the believer can say in truth, He has delivered us from the fascinating power of sin, from the power of darkness. The tempter may shoot his poisoned arrow, but the Lord is our defense.
So we pray with you, and for you and your household:
O Lord our God, who sees from the height of Your sanctuary, look down in pity upon Your child who is pressed by unwanted pursuit. The Lord rebuke every evil design, as it is written, The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan, even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee, standing on Zechariah 3:2. We ask that You would set a hedge about this home and grant peace within its borders, delivering from the noise of strife. Grant wisdom to set needful and firm boundaries, and courage to keep them in meekness and holiness.
Teach this soul to submit unto God and to resist the devil, that he may flee, according to James 4:7, not by mere words of man, but by humble dependence upon Christ and obedience to Your Word. Let no transfer of evil have power where the blood of Jesus has been applied, for we overcome by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of our testimony. Let Christ, who has found the ransom, be the wall of fire round about this household, and let His power alone be your confidence, for all true liberty is that of which Christ makes you free.
We ask that You would work also in ### and in those with him, to grant repentance and understanding, that he may see there is no open door here and may turn aside to go his own way in peace, seeking what is right before You. If it be Your will, humble his heart and lead him to seek You rather than to pursue what You have not given him to pursue.
Grant after this affliction a song of deliverance, that this tried one may live and declare the works of the Lord, saying with the Psalmist, The Lord hath chastened me sore, but He hath not given me over unto death. Keep this soul abiding in personal contact with Christ, not in mechanical religion, but touching Him by faith, that virtue may go out from Him for protection and peace.
We ask this not because we are worthy, but because He is gracious and has said, Deliver him, for I have found a ransom. In the name of Jesus Christ our only hope and Redeemer we pray. Amen.