Silas
Beloved of All
Your prayer reflects a sincere desire to abide in Christ and to have His words abide in you, to abide in His love, and to walk by His Word as a lamp to your feet and a light to your path. That is the right foundation. The Scripture itself gives us the test for every impression, dream or vision, that we speak according to the law and the testimony. If we do not, there is no light in it. Whatever we sense or hear must be weighed by the written Word.
The Bible does show that God has spoken at times in dreams and visions of the night. Job 33 says God speaks in one way and then another, in a dream, in a vision of the night when deep sleep falls on people, to warn a person, to turn him from wrongdoing and keep him from pride, to preserve his life from the pit. We see this with Abraham and Abimelech, with Laban being warned not to harm Jacob, with Joseph and the Magi being directed, with Paul seeing the man from Macedonia, with Daniel seeing night visions of one like a Son of Man coming with the clouds of heaven, and with the promise in Joel that in the last days God would pour out His Spirit and sons and daughters would prophesy and old men would dream dreams and young men would see visions. God is able to do this, His arm is not too short to save, nothing is impossible with Him, and He is able to save forever those who come to God through Jesus, because Jesus lives to make intercession for us.
At the same time we must distinguish between God's testing and solicitation to evil. God cannot be tempted with evil and He does not solicit anyone to evil. When God tests us, He gives us an opportunity to answer either in the flesh or in the Spirit. Solicitation to evil, the suggestion that immediate fulfillment can be had if we will just turn aside from God's path, that God is withholding something good from us, is not from God. That voice came to Eve in the garden and it came to Jesus in the wilderness, and it comes to us. It is from the enemy. Understanding this helps you pray with discernment for your wife, your children, your family and all those you named. Pray that God would expose every lie, every deception and every solicitation to evil for what it is, and that He would give warning and turning where it is needed.
God's ideal for marriage is clear from the beginning. The two become one, and that union is meant to be a lifelong covenant. Jesus pointed back to that ideal and said that from the beginning it was not so that this bond should be broken. Because of hardness of heart a provision was made under Moses for divorce, but that was never God's perfect desire. Marriage is meant to be a process of completion where two people work through differences over a lifetime. There are times when following Jesus does cost a person deeply, even within a family, and Scripture acknowledges that some have had to forsake houses and lands and family for His sake. Yet God's heart is for reconciliation and faithfulness. For those who are married, His instruction is to avoid the path of evil altogether, to turn from it and pass away, not to linger near it. He warns against becoming sexually involved apart from marriage and points husband and wife to find full satisfaction in one another within the covenant, letting that legitimate fountain be the source of life for children and family. The commandments and wisdom that keep a person from the flattery of the strange woman are meant to protect and strengthen every home.
So for your situation, continue to look to Jesus alone for salvation and to His Word for direction. Keep asking for a pure heart, sincere faith and a blameless conscience, which is the goal of all instruction. Draw strength from prayer itself, as Jesus did. Though He is the Son of God, He resorted to prayer for strength, for guidance, for life itself, which shows how much more we need it.
We join you in praying that the Father would keep you, your wife, your children, your extended family, your prayer and ministry partners and the leaders and churches you mentioned from temptation, from sin and evil, from wrongdoing, from lies and fear, from deception and from the evil one. We ask that where there has been wrongdoing, God would bring the loving warning that turns a heart from pride and preserves a life, and that He would strengthen love and faithfulness in every marriage represented. We thank Him in advance that what is impossible with man is possible with God, and that He is fully able to fulfill what He has promised.
Remain in the Word, remain in His love, and let every dream, vision or thought be brought under the light of Scripture. God is faithful to lead those who seek Him in this way.
The Bible does show that God has spoken at times in dreams and visions of the night. Job 33 says God speaks in one way and then another, in a dream, in a vision of the night when deep sleep falls on people, to warn a person, to turn him from wrongdoing and keep him from pride, to preserve his life from the pit. We see this with Abraham and Abimelech, with Laban being warned not to harm Jacob, with Joseph and the Magi being directed, with Paul seeing the man from Macedonia, with Daniel seeing night visions of one like a Son of Man coming with the clouds of heaven, and with the promise in Joel that in the last days God would pour out His Spirit and sons and daughters would prophesy and old men would dream dreams and young men would see visions. God is able to do this, His arm is not too short to save, nothing is impossible with Him, and He is able to save forever those who come to God through Jesus, because Jesus lives to make intercession for us.
At the same time we must distinguish between God's testing and solicitation to evil. God cannot be tempted with evil and He does not solicit anyone to evil. When God tests us, He gives us an opportunity to answer either in the flesh or in the Spirit. Solicitation to evil, the suggestion that immediate fulfillment can be had if we will just turn aside from God's path, that God is withholding something good from us, is not from God. That voice came to Eve in the garden and it came to Jesus in the wilderness, and it comes to us. It is from the enemy. Understanding this helps you pray with discernment for your wife, your children, your family and all those you named. Pray that God would expose every lie, every deception and every solicitation to evil for what it is, and that He would give warning and turning where it is needed.
God's ideal for marriage is clear from the beginning. The two become one, and that union is meant to be a lifelong covenant. Jesus pointed back to that ideal and said that from the beginning it was not so that this bond should be broken. Because of hardness of heart a provision was made under Moses for divorce, but that was never God's perfect desire. Marriage is meant to be a process of completion where two people work through differences over a lifetime. There are times when following Jesus does cost a person deeply, even within a family, and Scripture acknowledges that some have had to forsake houses and lands and family for His sake. Yet God's heart is for reconciliation and faithfulness. For those who are married, His instruction is to avoid the path of evil altogether, to turn from it and pass away, not to linger near it. He warns against becoming sexually involved apart from marriage and points husband and wife to find full satisfaction in one another within the covenant, letting that legitimate fountain be the source of life for children and family. The commandments and wisdom that keep a person from the flattery of the strange woman are meant to protect and strengthen every home.
So for your situation, continue to look to Jesus alone for salvation and to His Word for direction. Keep asking for a pure heart, sincere faith and a blameless conscience, which is the goal of all instruction. Draw strength from prayer itself, as Jesus did. Though He is the Son of God, He resorted to prayer for strength, for guidance, for life itself, which shows how much more we need it.
We join you in praying that the Father would keep you, your wife, your children, your extended family, your prayer and ministry partners and the leaders and churches you mentioned from temptation, from sin and evil, from wrongdoing, from lies and fear, from deception and from the evil one. We ask that where there has been wrongdoing, God would bring the loving warning that turns a heart from pride and preserves a life, and that He would strengthen love and faithfulness in every marriage represented. We thank Him in advance that what is impossible with man is possible with God, and that He is fully able to fulfill what He has promised.
Remain in the Word, remain in His love, and let every dream, vision or thought be brought under the light of Scripture. God is faithful to lead those who seek Him in this way.
