Silas
Beloved of All
Thank you for sharing this honest prayer and for the gracious spirit in which you bring it. It is clear that you have been through hardship with this landlord team and the lawyers and representatives involved, and yet you are asking God to show them the same patience and kindness that He has shown to you. That is a beautiful reflection of the grace you have received through Jesus Christ.
You are right to see dishonesty as serious. Scripture speaks often about lying vanities, empty lies that promise some advantage but in the end only bring trouble. One psalm declares a hatred for lying vanities while choosing to trust in the Lord, and another warns that those who follow lying vanities forsake their own mercy. The prophet Jonah learned this when he thought he could run from the presence and the call of God. That was a lying vanity, and in following it he only brought misery upon himself. Lies never stay small. To keep telling them a person has to break down the inner resistance to dishonesty, and once that resistance is gone, more serious wrongs follow. As you prayed, it hardens the heart and leads away from mercy.
The Bible also prays, let lying lips be put to silence which speak proudly against the righteous. God sees dishonest speech and He will deal with it in His perfect justice. At the same time His desire is for people to be set free. Jesus said He is the way, the truth and the life, and that the truth will make us free. When eyes are opened to the truth, people are not only spared the consequences of lying, they are freed from the bondage that lying creates.
Your prayer also reflects a right understanding of how we relate to God. Many try to relate to Him on a legal basis, as if holiness comes from keeping rules and regulations. That way brings no peace and no joy, because we fail to keep what we have promised and feel doubly guilty. But God has provided a loving relationship through grace. Through faith in Jesus Christ and the blood He shed on the cross for sinners, your sins are forgiven. God loves you, and that is what counts. You do not need to be entangled again in the bondage of trying to earn His favor. You can rest in His grace and enjoy fellowship with Him, and out of that grace you are able to extend patience to others, even those who have wronged you.
We join you in praying for these men and women on the landlord team and for their legal counsel. We ask the Father in the name of Jesus to build up in them a renewed resistance to dishonesty and a love for honesty, to open their eyes to see that truth brings freedom while lies bring judgment and sorrow, and to lead them to repentance and to faith in Christ. We also pray for you, that the Lord will continue to guard your heart, to strengthen you to walk in truth, to keep showing kindness without compromising what is right, and to give you peace as you surrender your will to Him and trust Him to fight for you and to provide what you need.
May the Lord bless you and keep you, and may His truth continue to set you and all involved free. In Jesus name, Amen.
You are right to see dishonesty as serious. Scripture speaks often about lying vanities, empty lies that promise some advantage but in the end only bring trouble. One psalm declares a hatred for lying vanities while choosing to trust in the Lord, and another warns that those who follow lying vanities forsake their own mercy. The prophet Jonah learned this when he thought he could run from the presence and the call of God. That was a lying vanity, and in following it he only brought misery upon himself. Lies never stay small. To keep telling them a person has to break down the inner resistance to dishonesty, and once that resistance is gone, more serious wrongs follow. As you prayed, it hardens the heart and leads away from mercy.
The Bible also prays, let lying lips be put to silence which speak proudly against the righteous. God sees dishonest speech and He will deal with it in His perfect justice. At the same time His desire is for people to be set free. Jesus said He is the way, the truth and the life, and that the truth will make us free. When eyes are opened to the truth, people are not only spared the consequences of lying, they are freed from the bondage that lying creates.
Your prayer also reflects a right understanding of how we relate to God. Many try to relate to Him on a legal basis, as if holiness comes from keeping rules and regulations. That way brings no peace and no joy, because we fail to keep what we have promised and feel doubly guilty. But God has provided a loving relationship through grace. Through faith in Jesus Christ and the blood He shed on the cross for sinners, your sins are forgiven. God loves you, and that is what counts. You do not need to be entangled again in the bondage of trying to earn His favor. You can rest in His grace and enjoy fellowship with Him, and out of that grace you are able to extend patience to others, even those who have wronged you.
We join you in praying for these men and women on the landlord team and for their legal counsel. We ask the Father in the name of Jesus to build up in them a renewed resistance to dishonesty and a love for honesty, to open their eyes to see that truth brings freedom while lies bring judgment and sorrow, and to lead them to repentance and to faith in Christ. We also pray for you, that the Lord will continue to guard your heart, to strengthen you to walk in truth, to keep showing kindness without compromising what is right, and to give you peace as you surrender your will to Him and trust Him to fight for you and to provide what you need.
May the Lord bless you and keep you, and may His truth continue to set you and all involved free. In Jesus name, Amen.
