Silas
Beloved of All
Your honest and tender heart for the Lord and for your marriage is evident, and your desire to see your home ordered according to Scripture honors God. It is right to thank Him for His grace, mercy and forgiveness, and to hold fast to hope while you walk through this painful season.
God has shown us His order clearly. From the beginning He said a man shall leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. Jesus affirmed this when He taught about marriage, that two become one, a deep unity like the oneness of God Himself. That oneness is not broken by other loyalties. When a man and woman are joined in covenant, they become a new family unit under God, with children entrusted to them within that union. God is to be first, and then that covenant union, then children and extended family in their proper place.
You feel the hurt when that order is reversed, and Scripture helps us understand why this matters so much. On one occasion when Jesus was told His mother and brothers were outside wanting Him, He looked at those around Him who were listening and doing the will of God and said that whoever does the will of God is His brother and sister and mother. He was not dishonoring His earthly family, but He was showing that loyalty to the Father comes first, above even the closest earthly ties. That is the pattern for every believer. No parent, no matter how loved and honored, is to take the place that belongs to God or the place that belongs to a husband or wife within marriage. To honor parents is commanded, but to put a parent before God and before the covenant of marriage is out of order and brings confusion and pain into the home.
It is encouraging that you have chosen forgiveness and prayer over bitterness. The gospels show us that even the apostle Peter was a married man, yet very little is said about his family, because the focus is on Christ. Still we are given a glimpse into his home. When his wife's mother was sick with a fever, Jesus came into the house, took her by the hand, lifted her up, and the fever left her, and she rose and served them. When Jesus is welcomed into a home, He brings healing and restores the ability to serve one another in love. That is what we can ask Him to do in your home, to enter, to heal what is sick or out of balance, and to make each heart willing to serve in the right order.
Your prayer for your husband's salvation and surrender is the most important prayer of all. Only through Jesus Christ alone is there forgiveness and new life, and only the Holy Spirit can give a new nature that wants to walk in obedience. No one else can intercede for us or transform a heart. We come boldly to the throne of grace directly through Jesus, and He alone can change a life from the inside. Continue to bring your husband before that throne, asking that he would truly believe, repent, and be filled with the Spirit so he can walk as a man of God, loving you as Christ loves the church and leading your son in the ways of the Lord.
Thank God with you for the praise report that drinking has lessened. That is a mercy, and we will agree with you in faith that the Lord would bring complete freedom. Alcohol can cloud judgment and weaken resolve to do what is right, and God is able to deliver fully and give self control through His Spirit. Pray also for your own heart, that the Lord would keep your emotions and spirit steady and balanced as you wait. He sees your weariness and He will be your strength. Do not grow weary in doing good and in praying, for in due season God brings fruit as we do not give up.
It is wise to ask God to bring godly, mature men alongside your husband who can mentor him, speak truth in love, and model what it means to put Christ first and to love a wife and children faithfully. Ask the Lord to provide those friendships, and ask Him to give you fellowship and counsel as well, so you are not carrying this burden alone.
Let us pray with you. Father, in the name of Jesus we thank You for Your love and for this sister's faithfulness in prayer. We thank You for her husband and son. We ask that You draw her husband to Yourself, that he would surrender his life fully to Jesus Christ and be born anew by Your Spirit. Teach him Your order for the family, that he would love You first with all his heart and then love his wife as his own flesh, cleaving to her and leading his home in Your wisdom. Heal any hurt and confusion that has come from misplaced loyalties, and bring healing into this household as You did in Peter's home. Bring complete deliverance from alcohol and give a sound mind and self control. Guard this wife and mother, give her peace that passes understanding, balance in her emotions, and strength to keep praying without giving up. Provide trusted brothers in Christ to walk beside her husband and encourage him toward maturity. Let Your will be done in this family, and let Your name be glorified through a home that reflects Your grace. In Jesus name, Amen.
God has shown us His order clearly. From the beginning He said a man shall leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. Jesus affirmed this when He taught about marriage, that two become one, a deep unity like the oneness of God Himself. That oneness is not broken by other loyalties. When a man and woman are joined in covenant, they become a new family unit under God, with children entrusted to them within that union. God is to be first, and then that covenant union, then children and extended family in their proper place.
You feel the hurt when that order is reversed, and Scripture helps us understand why this matters so much. On one occasion when Jesus was told His mother and brothers were outside wanting Him, He looked at those around Him who were listening and doing the will of God and said that whoever does the will of God is His brother and sister and mother. He was not dishonoring His earthly family, but He was showing that loyalty to the Father comes first, above even the closest earthly ties. That is the pattern for every believer. No parent, no matter how loved and honored, is to take the place that belongs to God or the place that belongs to a husband or wife within marriage. To honor parents is commanded, but to put a parent before God and before the covenant of marriage is out of order and brings confusion and pain into the home.
It is encouraging that you have chosen forgiveness and prayer over bitterness. The gospels show us that even the apostle Peter was a married man, yet very little is said about his family, because the focus is on Christ. Still we are given a glimpse into his home. When his wife's mother was sick with a fever, Jesus came into the house, took her by the hand, lifted her up, and the fever left her, and she rose and served them. When Jesus is welcomed into a home, He brings healing and restores the ability to serve one another in love. That is what we can ask Him to do in your home, to enter, to heal what is sick or out of balance, and to make each heart willing to serve in the right order.
Your prayer for your husband's salvation and surrender is the most important prayer of all. Only through Jesus Christ alone is there forgiveness and new life, and only the Holy Spirit can give a new nature that wants to walk in obedience. No one else can intercede for us or transform a heart. We come boldly to the throne of grace directly through Jesus, and He alone can change a life from the inside. Continue to bring your husband before that throne, asking that he would truly believe, repent, and be filled with the Spirit so he can walk as a man of God, loving you as Christ loves the church and leading your son in the ways of the Lord.
Thank God with you for the praise report that drinking has lessened. That is a mercy, and we will agree with you in faith that the Lord would bring complete freedom. Alcohol can cloud judgment and weaken resolve to do what is right, and God is able to deliver fully and give self control through His Spirit. Pray also for your own heart, that the Lord would keep your emotions and spirit steady and balanced as you wait. He sees your weariness and He will be your strength. Do not grow weary in doing good and in praying, for in due season God brings fruit as we do not give up.
It is wise to ask God to bring godly, mature men alongside your husband who can mentor him, speak truth in love, and model what it means to put Christ first and to love a wife and children faithfully. Ask the Lord to provide those friendships, and ask Him to give you fellowship and counsel as well, so you are not carrying this burden alone.
Let us pray with you. Father, in the name of Jesus we thank You for Your love and for this sister's faithfulness in prayer. We thank You for her husband and son. We ask that You draw her husband to Yourself, that he would surrender his life fully to Jesus Christ and be born anew by Your Spirit. Teach him Your order for the family, that he would love You first with all his heart and then love his wife as his own flesh, cleaving to her and leading his home in Your wisdom. Heal any hurt and confusion that has come from misplaced loyalties, and bring healing into this household as You did in Peter's home. Bring complete deliverance from alcohol and give a sound mind and self control. Guard this wife and mother, give her peace that passes understanding, balance in her emotions, and strength to keep praying without giving up. Provide trusted brothers in Christ to walk beside her husband and encourage him toward maturity. Let Your will be done in this family, and let Your name be glorified through a home that reflects Your grace. In Jesus name, Amen.
