Silas
Beloved of All
I am grateful you shared so openly what is on your heart, and I hear how much you want to be blessed and to be a blessing to your family, your pets, and those around you including children, the elderly and others who are vulnerable.
It may help to see the verse you mentioned in its setting. The book of Deuteronomy means second law, and it is Moses giving a final review of God's law to the people before they entered the land He had promised them. Moses was at the end of his life, about one hundred and twenty years old, and these were his last exhortations, words of encouragement and also faithful warnings. He repeated what God had already given, adding more detail, urging the people to hear, learn, and carefully observe what God commanded. God does not want careless or half hearted obedience, but careful attention to His word. Jesus knew this book well and quoted from it more than any other in the Old Testament, including when He answered temptation by saying man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.
Deuteronomy 28:13, where it says the Lord will make you the head and not the tail, is part of that larger picture. It was a promise to Israel as a nation that if they listened carefully to the Lord and walked in His ways, He would lift them up and establish them. If they turned away, there were also warnings of consequences. It was never meant as a phrase to repeat to make things happen, or to earn favor by our own effort. The passage is about God's covenant faithfulness, not about a formula we control.
That also touches what you wrote about earning favor and power. Scripture teaches that God's favor is grace, which means unmerited favor. There is nothing in us that compels God to choose us because we are impressive or have worked enough. We receive His blessing because of what Jesus has done, the moment we put our faith in Him. Our obedience then is a loving response to grace, not a way to purchase it. There is a real tension we all feel, wanting the good God holds out and yet finding our own will and flesh cannot produce it on its own. Only Christ gives us the capacity to live as God intends.
For that reason, speaking words to try to create reality, or trying to loosen a verse over a situation many times to force an outcome, is not how Scripture teaches us to pray. We do not command God with our words. We come to Him humbly, trusting His will, living by His word, and asking Him to work. He is faithful to His word and to His promises, and He often warns us because He loves us, even when we do not heed the warning.
I also hear your longing for companionship and for a good man who could become your husband and share life with you, including your love for your cats. That desire for marriage is good. From the beginning God's design was that marriage be a lifelong covenant of one man and one woman, where a man leaves his father and mother and cleaves to his wife and the two become one flesh. Because hearts can be hard, God gave allowances, but His ideal remains a faithful, loving, lifelong union. Husbands are called to love their wives as Christ loved the church, and marriage is never meant to be lived in fear. If you desire a husband, pray for a godly man who loves the Lord and will love you faithfully, and pursue that relationship in a way that honors God, keeping physical intimacy and living together within the covenant of marriage itself. God can uplift you through a healthy marriage, but He also wants to be your first source of strength and identity.
Your love for your family and pets and your desire that people feel comfortable and at peace near you is a beautiful instinct. True blessing to others flows not from demanding that everyone feel happy around us, but from walking closely with the Lord so that His love and peace naturally overflow to those near us.
I also hear the hurt around being banned from a store and feeling accused of something you did not do, and the frustration with practical needs like reliable internet where you live. It is painful to be misjudged and to have your name spoken of falsely. God takes seriously the command not to bear false witness, and judgment ultimately belongs to Him. He sees what is true. It is right to pray that truth would be known and that God would bring peace, and also to release bitterness and not seek to return evil for evil. God is able to take what others meant for harm and use it for good as we trust Him, but that happens as we forgive, pray for those who have wronged us, and leave vindication in His hands, rather than trying to ban people or energies by our own declarations. The blood of Jesus is our covering as we trust in Him, not a phrase to control others.
The enemy is real, but our protection is not in repeating words to keep negative influences away. It is in a living faith in the living Lord Jesus Christ, walking in His light, confessing sin, and asking Him to guard you, your family, and your home.
May I pray for you. Father, I ask in the name of Jesus that You draw this dear one closer to Yourself and help her to hear and keep Your word with a sincere heart. Show her that Your favor is a gift of grace through Christ, not something earned, and give her peace to trust Your faithful warnings and promises. Provide for her practical needs, a stable home and what is needed for daily life, and give wisdom in every relationship. If it is Your will, bring a godly husband who will love You first and love her faithfully within the covenant of marriage, and help her to walk in purity and hope while she waits. Heal the hurt of being misjudged, help her to forgive as You have forgiven, and let truth and peace prevail. Guard her, her family and her beloved pets, and make her a gentle reflection of Your love to the elderly, to children, and to all around her. Help her to live not by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from Your mouth. In Jesus name, amen.
It may help to see the verse you mentioned in its setting. The book of Deuteronomy means second law, and it is Moses giving a final review of God's law to the people before they entered the land He had promised them. Moses was at the end of his life, about one hundred and twenty years old, and these were his last exhortations, words of encouragement and also faithful warnings. He repeated what God had already given, adding more detail, urging the people to hear, learn, and carefully observe what God commanded. God does not want careless or half hearted obedience, but careful attention to His word. Jesus knew this book well and quoted from it more than any other in the Old Testament, including when He answered temptation by saying man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.
Deuteronomy 28:13, where it says the Lord will make you the head and not the tail, is part of that larger picture. It was a promise to Israel as a nation that if they listened carefully to the Lord and walked in His ways, He would lift them up and establish them. If they turned away, there were also warnings of consequences. It was never meant as a phrase to repeat to make things happen, or to earn favor by our own effort. The passage is about God's covenant faithfulness, not about a formula we control.
That also touches what you wrote about earning favor and power. Scripture teaches that God's favor is grace, which means unmerited favor. There is nothing in us that compels God to choose us because we are impressive or have worked enough. We receive His blessing because of what Jesus has done, the moment we put our faith in Him. Our obedience then is a loving response to grace, not a way to purchase it. There is a real tension we all feel, wanting the good God holds out and yet finding our own will and flesh cannot produce it on its own. Only Christ gives us the capacity to live as God intends.
For that reason, speaking words to try to create reality, or trying to loosen a verse over a situation many times to force an outcome, is not how Scripture teaches us to pray. We do not command God with our words. We come to Him humbly, trusting His will, living by His word, and asking Him to work. He is faithful to His word and to His promises, and He often warns us because He loves us, even when we do not heed the warning.
I also hear your longing for companionship and for a good man who could become your husband and share life with you, including your love for your cats. That desire for marriage is good. From the beginning God's design was that marriage be a lifelong covenant of one man and one woman, where a man leaves his father and mother and cleaves to his wife and the two become one flesh. Because hearts can be hard, God gave allowances, but His ideal remains a faithful, loving, lifelong union. Husbands are called to love their wives as Christ loved the church, and marriage is never meant to be lived in fear. If you desire a husband, pray for a godly man who loves the Lord and will love you faithfully, and pursue that relationship in a way that honors God, keeping physical intimacy and living together within the covenant of marriage itself. God can uplift you through a healthy marriage, but He also wants to be your first source of strength and identity.
Your love for your family and pets and your desire that people feel comfortable and at peace near you is a beautiful instinct. True blessing to others flows not from demanding that everyone feel happy around us, but from walking closely with the Lord so that His love and peace naturally overflow to those near us.
I also hear the hurt around being banned from a store and feeling accused of something you did not do, and the frustration with practical needs like reliable internet where you live. It is painful to be misjudged and to have your name spoken of falsely. God takes seriously the command not to bear false witness, and judgment ultimately belongs to Him. He sees what is true. It is right to pray that truth would be known and that God would bring peace, and also to release bitterness and not seek to return evil for evil. God is able to take what others meant for harm and use it for good as we trust Him, but that happens as we forgive, pray for those who have wronged us, and leave vindication in His hands, rather than trying to ban people or energies by our own declarations. The blood of Jesus is our covering as we trust in Him, not a phrase to control others.
The enemy is real, but our protection is not in repeating words to keep negative influences away. It is in a living faith in the living Lord Jesus Christ, walking in His light, confessing sin, and asking Him to guard you, your family, and your home.
May I pray for you. Father, I ask in the name of Jesus that You draw this dear one closer to Yourself and help her to hear and keep Your word with a sincere heart. Show her that Your favor is a gift of grace through Christ, not something earned, and give her peace to trust Your faithful warnings and promises. Provide for her practical needs, a stable home and what is needed for daily life, and give wisdom in every relationship. If it is Your will, bring a godly husband who will love You first and love her faithfully within the covenant of marriage, and help her to walk in purity and hope while she waits. Heal the hurt of being misjudged, help her to forgive as You have forgiven, and let truth and peace prevail. Guard her, her family and her beloved pets, and make her a gentle reflection of Your love to the elderly, to children, and to all around her. Help her to live not by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from Your mouth. In Jesus name, amen.
