Your heartfelt cry for your family has been heard, and the heaviness you carry as a parent is understood. There is a particular grief that comes when an only daughter or a cherished child makes choices that bring harm, a grief that can literally bow a parent down under its weight. God sees that sorrow, and He hears the prayers offered at the throne of grace for your household.
Scripture is clear that living together outside of marriage is not marriage. It dishonors the Lord and opens the door to spiritual bondage, deception, and harm, as taught in 1 Corinthians 6:18-20. For that reason we do not ask God to bless that arrangement, but we join you in praying that your older daughter will see it for what it is. She belongs to the Lord, not to a man who is not ready to love and lead as a husband should. We pray that the stubbornness and blindness that have taken root will be replaced with a hunger for righteousness, that she will recognize the selfishness, laziness, dishonesty, and rebellion that have brought exhaustion, financial hardship, and a sense of worthlessness, and that she will no longer feel responsible to carry and care for a man who should be taking responsibility for himself. We pray she will stop defending a false image of him and will see the disrespect, isolation, and division this has caused, and that God will give her courage to turn away from it with a sense of freedom, safety, and joy rather than regret or shame.
In the Scriptures, when Jacob was far from home, the Lord said to him, return to the land of your fathers and to your family, and I will be with you and deal well with you. That promise is a picture of what we are praying for your daughter now, that she would hear the Lord calling her back to the place of family, to safety, stability, and wisdom, and that she would know He will be with her and do her good as she steps toward home. Pray that the pride, pressure, and shame that keep her there are lifted, and that she remembers the values and unconditional love with which she was raised.
The story of Lot is a sober warning and also a great comfort. Though he was a righteous man vexed by the corruption around him, his choice to live in the midst of that corruption cost his family dearly and harmed the morals of his children. Yet the New Testament reminds us that the Lord knows how to deliver the righteous out of such places while reserving judgment for ungodliness. We pray for that kind of deliverance for your daughter, and for protection over your younger daughter and your son, that they not be pulled into the same harm. We pray that every generational pattern, every word curse, and every work of darkness would be broken by the victory Jesus won when He disarmed the powers of darkness at the cross, as Colossians 2:15 declares, and that no weapon formed against your family will prosper, for greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.
God's design for marriage is a covenant covering. In the story of Ruth, a mother sought rest for her daughter, that it might be well with her, and the Lord provided a kinsman redeemer from within the family, a man of character and means who offered covering and protection and sought to keep the family name and inheritance secure. That is the opposite of exploitation. We join you in praying that both of your daughters will desire and wait for godly husbands who will love them as Christ loves the church and honor the lifelong covenant of one man and one woman, as Ephesians 5:25 teaches, and that they will not be unequally yoked with those who would lead them astray, as 2 Corinthians 6:14 warns.
We also pray for the precious bond between your children. Scripture shows a beautiful bond between a mother-in-law and daughter-in-law who said, where you go I will go, your people will be my people. The enemy seeks to counterfeit and destroy such family fellowship through division and isolation. We pray that the sweet bond between your daughters and between your daughters and their brother will be guarded. When Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land, she placed herself in a vulnerable position outside the covering of her family, and it brought grief to her brothers and folly upon the household. In the same way we pray your younger daughter will be surrounded by godly friendships and mentors who encourage her in the Lord, that she will never see cohabitation as an acceptable path, and that she will not become ungrateful or hateful toward you or her brother.
For your son, we declare what is true, that he is not a burden or an embarrassment but a blessing. We pray he will be surrounded by love, acceptance, and protection, saturated with peace, and strengthened in his relationships with you, his sisters, caregivers, and extended family. We ask the Lord to block every hateful look, mocking word, and divisive influence, and to replace any friendship that looks down on him with those who will uplift and cherish him.
We bring before the Lord the influence of this young man's mother who has stepped into a parental role that is not hers and placed undue financial and emotional burdens on your daughter. We pray the Lord will correct that and move her to take responsibility for guiding her own son rather than shifting it onto your daughter, and that all manipulation, pride, and harm that makes your daughter feel small or dependent will be removed. We also lift your daughter's health to the Lord, her struggle to breathe and the harm of smoking in that home, and ask for protection and clear eyes to see how that environment harms her physically and spiritually.
We pray for the restoration of fellowship in your home, that what has been torn would be mended and what has been wounded would be healed. We ask that every plan to isolate, divide, and destroy your family would be frustrated, and that the Lord would turn the hearts of the parents to the children and the hearts of the children to their parents, as promised in Malachi 4:6. We pray the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds, as Philippians 4:7 says, and that the Lord Himself will fight for you, as Exodus 14:14 assures. We pray for provision for your household according to Philippians 4:19, not for selfish gain but so you may continue to be a testimony of His care and a blessing to others, and that your home would be a sanctuary of His presence where love, unity, and joy reign again.
We plead the blood of Jesus over every member of your household and stand on His finished victory, asking for complete restoration, respect, gratefulness, and fellowship to be established in your family in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.