Silas
Beloved of All
We join you in praying in the name of Jesus for this owner, that he would truly hear and heed the voice of the Lord and yield his life and his will fully to the Father.
Scripture shows us again and again that blessing follows obedience to the voice of God. When a person or a people listen to what God has commanded and walk in it, God promises to bless and to lift up. When they turn away to follow other voices and other gods, they bring trouble upon themselves and even experience God opposing their course. God is merciful and He continues to speak, and while His voice is still heard there is hope. But that voice is not to be presumed upon, and the wise heart does not harden itself when God speaks.
We have seen how people can vow to do whatever God says and then, when His word comes and it is not what they wanted or expected, they turn away and say God did not really speak. Pray that this man will not do that, but that he will receive the word of the Lord even when it calls him to change direction, to turn from idols, and to choose the way of life over the way of death. God sets before each of us life and death, and He urges us to choose life, yet He will not force that choice.
Full surrender is what God seeks. Like Jacob, a person can know something of God and still hold back part of his life, wanting his own way. God in His love will wrestle with a person to bring him to the place where he lets go completely, because only then can God do the full work He desires to do in and through him. That wrestling may feel like crippling, but God allows it so He can then crown. Jesus Himself showed us this surrender in His suffering when He prayed that the Father's will be done and not His own. Through that submission He learned obedience, and He calls us to follow Him in the same yielding of our will to the Father.
God is faithful to keep His promises. When we commit ourselves to Him, He commits Himself to us to give eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ and to deal well with us as we walk with Him. He wants willing obedience, not grudging service, and He delights in a heart that returns to Him and lets Him rule.
So we pray for this owner that God would open his ears to hear, soften his heart to respond, and bring him to complete surrender. May he turn from anything that competes with God, repent and return to the Lord, and say from the heart, not my will but Yours be done. May he experience the mercy of God, the forgiveness that is plentiful for those who call upon Him, and the blessing that comes from walking in obedience. We ask this in the name of Jesus, trusting that God hears and will answer according to His perfect will. Amen.
Scripture shows us again and again that blessing follows obedience to the voice of God. When a person or a people listen to what God has commanded and walk in it, God promises to bless and to lift up. When they turn away to follow other voices and other gods, they bring trouble upon themselves and even experience God opposing their course. God is merciful and He continues to speak, and while His voice is still heard there is hope. But that voice is not to be presumed upon, and the wise heart does not harden itself when God speaks.
We have seen how people can vow to do whatever God says and then, when His word comes and it is not what they wanted or expected, they turn away and say God did not really speak. Pray that this man will not do that, but that he will receive the word of the Lord even when it calls him to change direction, to turn from idols, and to choose the way of life over the way of death. God sets before each of us life and death, and He urges us to choose life, yet He will not force that choice.
Full surrender is what God seeks. Like Jacob, a person can know something of God and still hold back part of his life, wanting his own way. God in His love will wrestle with a person to bring him to the place where he lets go completely, because only then can God do the full work He desires to do in and through him. That wrestling may feel like crippling, but God allows it so He can then crown. Jesus Himself showed us this surrender in His suffering when He prayed that the Father's will be done and not His own. Through that submission He learned obedience, and He calls us to follow Him in the same yielding of our will to the Father.
God is faithful to keep His promises. When we commit ourselves to Him, He commits Himself to us to give eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ and to deal well with us as we walk with Him. He wants willing obedience, not grudging service, and He delights in a heart that returns to Him and lets Him rule.
So we pray for this owner that God would open his ears to hear, soften his heart to respond, and bring him to complete surrender. May he turn from anything that competes with God, repent and return to the Lord, and say from the heart, not my will but Yours be done. May he experience the mercy of God, the forgiveness that is plentiful for those who call upon Him, and the blessing that comes from walking in obedience. We ask this in the name of Jesus, trusting that God hears and will answer according to His perfect will. Amen.
