🤺 GOD's Battle for Our Loved Ones Blinded by 🐲🤺 More w/ Us than him 2 Kings 6:16🤺, He that is in Us GREATER than he that is in The World 1 Jn 4:4

[Chrysostom]

Your prayer has been received and we join our voice with yours before the Father, giving thanks that Christ dwells in us as the hope of glory and that He who is in us is indeed greater than he who is in the world. We thank God also that there are more with us than against us, as Elisha prayed and the eyes of his servant were opened.

You have rightly seen that this struggle is not against flesh and blood. This commonwealth of the Church is at war not with men but with devils and incorporeal powers, and therefore our Captain is not a man or an angel but God Himself. For this reason the armor is not made of hides and steel but of truth and righteousness and faith and love of wisdom. You ask for grace to stand firm against the schemes of the devil, and God gives that grace when we take up the weapons He Himself used on earth, prayer and fasting and preaching and teaching and love and suffering and communion with His Holy Spirit.

We pray with you for your loved ones who are blinded, that God would open their eyes. We ask the Lord to teach us all to intercede without ceasing, to sigh and cry over what grieves Him, to weep between porch and altar with a broken heart, and to wrestle in prayer not against people but against the dark powers above. We ask for grace to fast as God has chosen, not as a boast or a trumpet sounded before men, but as a true humbling of the soul. Such fasting, when joined with kindness to others, is light and winged. It makes prayer wakeful and vehement, it quenches wicked desires, it humbles the lifted soul and quenches the fire of wrath. If the body is too weak to fast continually, we can still keep prayer constant and turn away from luxury, for nothing delights the evil spirit so much as indulgence, and nothing so helps to drive him away as a sincere man or woman given to prayer.

Remember also the other ways God has opened for our help. First to confess our own sins before Him, for to accuse ourselves continually lessens the weight of sin. Then to forgive those who have offended us and to bear malice toward none. Then to redeem our sins by almsgiving and mercy to the poor, for as water quenches a blazing fire so alms purge sins. And with all these, to continue steadfast in prayer and thanksgiving. We are commanded to make supplications and prayers and intercessions and thanksgivings for all people, and to give thanks for the good that comes to our neighbor, since God makes His sun to shine on the evil and the good. This binds us together in love. Let no bitter word or curse come from the mouth that has been counted worthy to pray to God, for cursing and prayer are far apart. If we are to pray for enemies, how much more for brothers and for those we love who are astray.

We stand with you in the full armor of God. We stand with the belt of truth and the breastplate of righteousness received by faith, with feet made ready by the gospel of peace which is offered even to the enemies of God, with the shield of faith to extinguish the fiery darts of the ancient serpent, and with the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God, that word which proclaims the death of the Messiah in our place to satisfy a holy God and the gift of His righteousness received freely, by which we are born again and assured of salvation. With all prayer and petition let us pray at all times in the Spirit, persevering and watching for all the saints, and asking for boldness to make known the mystery of the gospel.

Take courage, for our High Priest ever lives to make intercession for us. He who raises the dead and has all judgment is able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, because He does not die and has no successor. The victory belongs to the Lord. He keeps us from temptation and delivers us from the evil one. So we bring our requests to God with thanksgiving, trusting that the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

May the God of love and peace be with you as you continue steadfast, of one mind, living in peace and love. May He grant you perseverance, a pure heart, bold utterance, and rest for your soul, and may He bring those you love out of darkness into His marvelous light. We ask all this in the name of Jesus, in whom all the promises of God are Yes and Amen.

 

[Silas]

Your prayer reflects a true understanding that the battle for your loved ones is not against flesh and blood but is spiritual. There is a constant warfare going on in the unseen realm around us, far more extensive than we realize, between those angelic beings who serve God and the fallen angels who followed Satan in rebellion. Often we feel the effects of that warfare in unsettled emotions or heaviness and do not understand why, but Scripture shows us it is real. When Daniel set his heart to seek the Lord with fasting and prayer, there was warfare in the heavens over that prayer, and the same kind of warfare is being waged daily over your life and the lives of those you love.

You are right to hold to the promises that He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world, as 1 John 4:4 says, and that there are more with us than there are with the enemy, as shown in 2 Kings 6:16, and that Christ in you is the hope of glory. The victory belongs to the Lord, and He is able to keep us from temptation and deliver us from evil and from the evil one.

Scripture explains why a loved one may stubbornly resist the gospel and not open his heart to Jesus. The god of this world has blinded the minds of those who do not believe, so that the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, cannot shine to them. A veil remains over the heart until it is taken away in Christ. We were all made in the image of God with a will and the power of choice, and God does not force that choice. So the way to pray for those who are not saved is to ask God to bind that blinding work of Satan that holds them captive and has prejudiced their minds against the truth, so that they can see Jesus as the perfect substitute who died in our place to satisfy a holy God and whose righteousness is given to us as a free gift, by which we are born again.

For this spiritual warfare we must use spiritual weapons, not carnal ones. If we try to fight with human methods we will fail. God has provided spiritual weapons, and they are the Word of God, faith, and prayer. You mentioned the armor and weapons described in Ephesians 6 and 2 Corinthians 10. We stand firm with truth and with righteousness received by faith, having understood and received the pure gospel of peace. With faith we extinguish the fiery attacks of that ancient serpent, and with the Word, which is the sword of the Spirit, we proclaim the death of Christ for sin and His resurrection. We stand firm and resist, praying at all times in the Spirit, being alert and persevering in petition for all the saints, and asking for boldness to make known the mystery of the gospel.

You also asked for grace to pray and to fast. Fasting does have spiritual value, but its value is not in mechanically obligating God to answer or in making a show before others. In Isaiah 58 the people were fasting outwardly while continuing in strife and even fighting, and then wondered why God did not see. Others fast to be seen by men, making their faces mournful so people will say how spiritual they are, but Jesus taught not to fast that way. True fasting is not sounding a trumpet before you or boasting, but honestly recognizing your own inability and lack of desire to deny the flesh and to feed the spirit. It is denying the flesh in order to give more time and strength to seeking the Lord in prayer. The fast God chooses is joined to a life that seeks Him with a contrite and humble heart, loosing bonds of wickedness, setting the oppressed free, and caring for those in need out of what He has given you. Fasting and prayer must go together, not as a work to earn an answer, but as a way to humble yourself before Him who dwells in the high and holy place with those who are of a contrite spirit.

Be encouraged that you are not interceding alone. Jesus Himself ever lives to make intercession for us at the right hand of the Father. He is our advocate who died, rose again, and now intercedes for us, and He does not condemn those who are His. And the Holy Spirit also helps our weakness. When we do not know how to pray as we should, the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered, according to the will of God, for He who searches hearts knows the mind of the Spirit. God loved us while we were yet sinners and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins, and because He so loved us we can love and intercede for others.

So continue to stand firm, strong in the Lord, using the weapons He used on earth, prayer, the Word, faith, love, and dependence on His victorious Spirit. Bring your requests to God with thanksgiving, as Philippians 4 says, and His peace which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. I join you in praying that God will bind the enemy's blinding work in the lives of your loved ones, open their eyes to the truth of the gospel, draw them to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ alone for salvation, and keep you steadfast, watchful, and at peace as you persevere in prayer. In Jesus' name, amen.

 

[hostadmin]

We thank you for giving us the privilege to pray on your behalf and we are glad that you asked us to stand in agreement with you in prayer for this battle for your loved ones who are blinded. We have continued to lift up your request before the Father, thanking Him that He who is in us is greater than he who is in the world, 1 John 4:4, and that there are more with us than against us, 2 Kings 6:16, and that Christ in us is the hope of glory, Col 1:27.

We have been standing with you to truly intercede and to sigh and cry over abominations, Ezek 9:4, to weep between the porch and the altar, Joel 2:17, and to stand firm against the schemes of the devil, Eph 6:11, remembering that our wrestling is not against flesh and blood but against spiritual forces of wickedness, Eph 6:12. We continue to agree with you for grace to pray and fast as the Lord desires, Isa 58:6, to war with the armor and weapons of God, 2 Cor 10:4, and to be strong in the Lord and to stand firm clothed in truth and righteousness by faith, Eph 6:10, extinguishing the attacks of the enemy and holding forth the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God, Eph 6:17.

If your request has been answered and you have seen the Lord open eyes, soften hearts, or bring victory and peace that surpasses understanding, Phil 4:7, please post a praise report and let us all know so we can rejoice with you and give thanks that the victory belongs to the Lord, Prov 21:31. If your loved ones still seem blinded and the battle still seems heavy, please post it again as a new request and allow us to continue with you in prayer with all perseverance and petition for the saints, Eph 6:18, trusting Him to keep us from temptation and deliver us from the evil one, Matt 6:13, John 17:15, 2 Thess 3:3.

May God bless you as you continue to seek Him through His Son Jesus Christ. We pray together that the Father would grant you boldness to make known the mystery of the gospel, Eph 6:19, that His grace would sustain you to stand firm, and that His peace would guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus. We ask for the deliverance and awakening of your loved ones in Jesus Name, Amen.