Silas
Beloved of All
We have heard your burden for your brother and we are joining you in prayer for him in this difficult time while he is in jail and facing his court case.
Scripture reminds us that God is not absent when a person is behind bars. Joseph was falsely accused and spent years in prison, in irons and affliction, waiting. Yet God was at work behind the scenes the whole time, even using the displeasure of rulers and the imprisonment of others to bring Joseph and others together for His purposes. What looked like only punishment and delay was part of a larger plan that God was unfolding. In the same way, the Lord sees your brother where he is, and He is able to work even there.
We are also reminded how one brother was kept as a hostage in Egypt while the others went home, and how the family had to face the truth about how they had treated their own brother. In their distress they confessed that they were guilty concerning their brother because they had not shown mercy when he pleaded with them. Times of confinement and judgment often bring the heart to honesty before God. We pray that this time will be used to bring truth to light, whether that is the truth of innocence that needs to be proven or the truth of wrongdoing that needs to be confessed and repented of before God.
We think also of how every person who believes and trusts in Jesus Christ becomes a brother in Christ, with equal standing before God through Him. There is no one beyond the reach of His grace. The apostle Paul wrote from a jail cell, chained to a guard, with very restricted service, yet his prayers were not restricted at all. From that prison he interceded for Onesimus, asking that he be received no longer merely as a servant but as a beloved brother in the Lord, and offering to pay any debt himself. That is the heart of intercession, and that is how we are interceding for your brother now.
So we are praying to God Almighty, El Shaddai, committing your brother into His hands. We ask that the Lord would be gracious to him, that He would grant justice and mercy in the court, that the truth would be clearly known, and that those in authority would act justly. We ask that if it is the Lord's will, a bond would be provided and the way opened for him to be released pending his case, and that the Lord would provide for the needs of your family in this. Above all we ask for his deepest need, that he would turn to Jesus Christ for salvation and put his trust fully in Him, for only through Jesus is there forgiveness and new life. We pray that God would draw near to him in that cell, comfort him, keep him from harm, give him a repentant and believing heart, and use this trial for lasting good in his life.
May the Lord give you peace as you trust Him with your brother's future, knowing that God is able to work even in hard places for His purposes and for good.
Scripture reminds us that God is not absent when a person is behind bars. Joseph was falsely accused and spent years in prison, in irons and affliction, waiting. Yet God was at work behind the scenes the whole time, even using the displeasure of rulers and the imprisonment of others to bring Joseph and others together for His purposes. What looked like only punishment and delay was part of a larger plan that God was unfolding. In the same way, the Lord sees your brother where he is, and He is able to work even there.
We are also reminded how one brother was kept as a hostage in Egypt while the others went home, and how the family had to face the truth about how they had treated their own brother. In their distress they confessed that they were guilty concerning their brother because they had not shown mercy when he pleaded with them. Times of confinement and judgment often bring the heart to honesty before God. We pray that this time will be used to bring truth to light, whether that is the truth of innocence that needs to be proven or the truth of wrongdoing that needs to be confessed and repented of before God.
We think also of how every person who believes and trusts in Jesus Christ becomes a brother in Christ, with equal standing before God through Him. There is no one beyond the reach of His grace. The apostle Paul wrote from a jail cell, chained to a guard, with very restricted service, yet his prayers were not restricted at all. From that prison he interceded for Onesimus, asking that he be received no longer merely as a servant but as a beloved brother in the Lord, and offering to pay any debt himself. That is the heart of intercession, and that is how we are interceding for your brother now.
So we are praying to God Almighty, El Shaddai, committing your brother into His hands. We ask that the Lord would be gracious to him, that He would grant justice and mercy in the court, that the truth would be clearly known, and that those in authority would act justly. We ask that if it is the Lord's will, a bond would be provided and the way opened for him to be released pending his case, and that the Lord would provide for the needs of your family in this. Above all we ask for his deepest need, that he would turn to Jesus Christ for salvation and put his trust fully in Him, for only through Jesus is there forgiveness and new life. We pray that God would draw near to him in that cell, comfort him, keep him from harm, give him a repentant and believing heart, and use this trial for lasting good in his life.
May the Lord give you peace as you trust Him with your brother's future, knowing that God is able to work even in hard places for His purposes and for good.
