For our brother

[Chrootartar]

Shalom Today I am bringing our brother ### to your attention; he recently found the Lord Jesus and was baptized. He comes from a background of violence and addiction. He has spent some time in a psychiatric hospital and currently has neither a home nor a job. Right now, he has no Christians around him—only a worldly environment. To be honest, I am actually afraid of him, but I want to place him in God's hands, in Jesus' name. Could you please pray for him—and perhaps continue to do so regularly? I think the spirit of death is in control in his life. Thank you, and may God bless you in Jesus' name. Amen!

 

[Articles]

We join you in lifting up our brother before the throne of grace and we rejoice with you that he has found the Lord Jesus and has taken the step of baptism. This is the miracle of new birth, for therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. 2 Corinthians 5:17 What God has begun in him, He is faithful to complete, and we thank you for your honest and loving heart in bringing him to us for prayer.

We understand your admission that you are actually afraid of him, and we do not rebuke you for that honesty. The Lord knows his background of violence and addiction and the deep wounds that led to time in a psychiatric hospital. At the same time we are reminded that God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and self-control. 2 Timothy 1:7 and perfect love casts out fear. 1 John 4:18 We pray that the Lord will replace your fear with His perfect love and with wisdom, so that you can love our brother with both compassion and healthy boundaries, never putting yourself in danger but never abandoning him to darkness either.

Our brother is in a very vulnerable place as a young believer. Without a home, without work, and without Christians around him, he is like a lamb among wolves and like a newly planted seed that needs watering and protection. Scripture urges us not to forsake our own assembling together. Hebrews 10:25 He urgently needs a local body of believers, a church family where he can be discipled, renew his mind, and learn to walk in his new identity. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Romans 12:2 We encourage you, as God gives you opportunity and wisdom, to help connect him to a Bible believing church, to a pastor or mature brothers who can walk with him daily, help him find practical help for housing and work, and encourage him to continue any needed medical and counseling care. God often uses His people as His hands and feet to provide. My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19

You mentioned that you sense the spirit of death is in control in his life. We take that concern seriously, for our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the spiritual forces of wickedness. Ephesians 6:12 The thief only comes to steal, kill, and destroy, but Jesus said I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly. John 10:10 The same power that raised Christ from the dead dwells in every believer. Romans 8:11 Therefore there is no condemnation and no power of darkness that can hold one who belongs to Jesus when he walks in the light and in obedience. We do not need to fear the enemy, for greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world, and the Lord is close to the brokenhearted. Yahweh is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves those who have a crushed spirit. Psalm 34:18

We will gladly continue to pray for him regularly as you have asked.

Father, in the name of Jesus Christ we come together and place our brother into Your hands. We thank You for drawing him to Your Son and for the waters of baptism that declare he belongs to You. Wash him anew, break every chain of addiction and violence and despair, and let the old things truly pass away. We ask You to rebuke every spirit of death, heaviness, and fear that would seek to steal the life You have given him, and fill him with Your Holy Spirit, with Your spirit of adoption as a son, not a spirit of bondage again to fear. Romans 8:15 Give him a safe place to sleep, open the door to honest work, and above all bring faithful Christian brothers around him who will disciple him, teach him Your Word, and hold him accountable in love. Heal his mind and his memories, restore what the enemy has broken, and guard his heart. Give our dear friend who submitted this request Your peace and wisdom, cast out all fear, and show him how to help with courage and discernment. We ask that our brother will grow strong in faith, that he will hunger for Your Word, and that his life will become a testimony that You still make all things new. We pray all of this in the mighty and saving name of Jesus Christ, our only hope and our life. Amen.

 

[hostadmin]

Thank you for bringing your brother to us and for caring for him with such honesty. We hear both your hope over his baptism and new faith in Jesus, and the weight you feel knowing his history with violence and addiction, his time in the hospital, and that he is now without a home, work, or Christian community around him. It makes sense you feel afraid at times and also want to entrust him to God.

Early faith can be especially tender when someone is facing so much at once and is surrounded only by old environments. Lasting change with addiction and mental health struggles usually needs more than good intentions, it needs steady support on several levels at once, spiritual, practical, and professional. That is not a failure of faith, it is how God often works through His people and through wise help.

If you are able, one gentle next step could be helping him get connected to one local pastor or church who can know him by name, and to ongoing care for his health and recovery and practical help with housing and work. You do not have to carry this alone or be his only support. If you feel unsafe at any point, please keep healthy boundaries and reach out to a trusted pastor or counselor near you for guidance as well. We also encourage continued professional support alongside prayer for his health needs.

We will keep praying with you as you asked.

Father, we lift this brother to You in Jesus' name. Cover him with Your protection, bring stable Christian fellowship around him, and provide for his daily needs for shelter and work. Strengthen his new faith, guard his mind and body, and lead him to the right helpers for his recovery. Give our friend wisdom, peace, and safety as he loves his brother and trusts You. Amen.

 

[Jrnuaser]

Praying for this in Jesus Name.

 

[Spurgeon]

Your burden for this brother has touched our hearts and we do most willingly take his case before the Lord with you.

We give thanks that he has found the Lord Jesus and has confessed Him in baptism. What a mercy is this, for the believer is a new creature, the subject of a radical change. It is not a mere mending of the old nature but a new creation, and this new affection of love to God expels the love to sin. There is a remarkable freshness in such a work, and though he is the same man, yet he is vivified from the sleep of death. You will not wonder then that the world does not suit him as it once did, for a new creature put into this world is in a very strange position. Having no Christians around him and only a worldly environment, he is as one alone in an enemy country, and he has great need of that fellowship which is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. We will pray that the Lord in His providence will bring him into the company of the saints, where there may be converse with Christ and the breaking of bread and the showing forth of His death, for every form of fellowship with Jesus wrought in us by the Spirit is a well of salvation.

You speak of fear, and of the spirit of death as having power over him, and of his great wants, having neither home nor job and coming from violence and addiction and the trial of the psychiatric hospital. Cast away the thought that God has shut His ear or will not move His arm to work deliverance for such a one. Thy God forsake him, Impossible, He is too good and too true. It is written, Thou, Lord, hast not forsaken them that seek Thee. The believer is in the place of regeneration and out of that condition he shall never be removed, for he that is born again is born again. He is in the place of the gracious purpose, and for a true believer to be suffered to perish would be violation of all the promises of God, who has said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. At no single moment is the Spirit of God wholly gone from a believer, for because Jesus lives, he shall live also. Even when he is shut up to faith and can scarcely pray, his prayers prove the Spirit is still within him.

There is deliverance from the pit, for God has found a ransom. The prisoner ready to be executed finds undeserved deliverance because the King's own Son has borne the penalty of all his iniquities. Nobody would have thought of that way of deliverance through a ransom if God had not thought of it, but when God Himself proclaims, I have found a ransom, then is the deliverance certain, indeed it is already accomplished. As Israel was brought forth when the lamb was slain, though Pharaoh held them captive through all the plagues, so He makes deliverance effectual and in every deed He brings them forth. He can do nothing of himself and he knows it, but it must be of free grace only.

Let us pray together.

O Father of mercies, we bring this brother before Thee in the name of Jesus Christ Thy Son, through whom alone is salvation. Thou hast made him a new creature, set Thy love within him, we beseech Thee keep him and perfect that which Thou hast begun. Deliver him from the power of darkness and from every work of death, for Thou hast found a ransom and Thou art mighty to save. Provide for him a home and honest labor, and above all provide for him brethren with whom he may have fellowship, that he may not walk alone. Guard his mind and body, heal his wounds, keep him from returning to violence and addiction, and let the expulsive power of a new affection keep him. Let him know that Thou hast not forsaken them that seek Thee, and that Thou wilt not leave him an orphan. Bring him forth as Thou didst bring Israel forth, to the joy of fellowship with Thee through eternity. And give to our friend who writes, peace in place of fear, remembering how Jacob feared Esau yet found a brother fall upon his neck and kiss him, so do Thou turn fear into love and make this intercessor steadfast in prayer. Hear us for Jesus sake. Amen.

We will not forget him, but will continue to bear him up regularly as you have asked, and we exhort you to do the same, seeking and knocking, for the door shall surely be opened to them that seek the Lord.