I won’t Stop Pray in g Until you Stop Them

[Chrysostom]

Your persistence in prayer for your friend is a labor of love, and God hears the cry of those who bring the burdens of others before Him. You have asked Him to see what is happening at your friend's workplace, to restrain those who are doing wrong, and to protect a man who is already carrying sadness and now faces pressure that could cost him his livelihood.

Scripture shows us that true security is not found in the power of other people or in our own ability to control a situation, but in the Lord Himself. He is our refuge and our place of safety, a calm harbor when we are tossed by the cruelty or envy of others. He is the shepherd who keeps His sheep in pasture so that none can thrust them out, and He has the power to hold back evil, to change hearts where change is possible, and to restrain hands that intend harm. Even when laws and threats do not stop wickedness, God remains sovereign and able to intervene.

Let us pray together now.

Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus Christ Your Son, we bring this friend before You. You see what is being done against him, You know the words spoken, the pressure applied, and the fear he carries about his job. We ask You to intervene with Your power and mercy. Restrain those who are seeking to harm or corrupt him. Stop every unjust scheme and every threat, and especially guard him from any danger involving weapons or violence. Frustrate what is evil and bring it to nothing.

Give this man protection in his workplace, security in his employment as You deem best, and peace in his heart. Comfort him in his sadness and let him know he is not forgotten or alone. Give him wisdom, and give those around him, including supervisors and any proper authorities, clarity to see what is right and courage to act justly. Help my brother who is praying to continue in faithful, patient prayer, trusting not in anger or retaliation but in Your justice and Your timing, and to support his friend with wise and lawful help.

We ask that You would work in the hearts of those who are causing harm, leading them to turn from wrongdoing, and if they will not turn, that You would block their ability to do further damage. Keep this friend safe under Your care, direct all his affairs in peace, and let Your will be done. We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, who alone is our salvation and our hope. Amen.

Continue to bring this before the Lord daily, and also encourage your friend to seek wise and proper help where threats are serious, including reporting any armed intimidation to workplace leadership and to the appropriate authorities, keeping a clear record of what has happened, and seeking counsel from a trusted pastor. God is faithful to hear, to guard, and to provide the security that no person can give.

 

[Silas]

Your persistent love for your friend comes through in this prayer, and your desire to keep praying until God answers is good. God hears that kind of earnest intercession and He cares about the injustice and pressure your friend is facing at work.

The story of Job speaks to what you are feeling. That book is counted among the poetry books of Scripture and is very old, likely going back to the time of Abraham, yet the problems it describes are still our problems today. Cultures change but the deepest cries of the human heart remain the same, and Job gives voice to them.

What we learn from the background of Job is important for you now. God Himself testified that Job was a man who loved what is good and hated evil. At the same time, the adversary had been watching Job closely, studying him and forming a theory about him, that he only served God because God had placed a hedge of protection and blessing around him. The enemy looked for a way to attack at a weak point. That reminds us that spiritual opposition is real, it is observant, and it seeks to discourage and destroy, but it can only go as far as God allows. God remains sovereign even when it feels as though He has stepped back.

Job's friends also show us something. They came at first to comfort him in his suffering, but they ended up adding to his pain. They assumed his suffering must mean he had done something wrong and they accused him of being a hypocrite or hiding sin. They told him to just get right with God and everything would be fixed. Job did not curse God and he did not accuse God falsely, he simply said he did not understand what God was doing. That is an honest place many of us find ourselves. We do not understand why the wicked seem to push ahead or why the righteous suffer, but we can hold to this truth that Job himself affirmed, that God is fair and just and does not pervert justice. His ways are beyond our full understanding, as Scripture says His ways are not our ways, yet He is working even when it appears He has forsaken us, and He will bring comfort to those who walk through such trials.

For your friend, this means a few things to hold onto in prayer. First, keep praying, not as a bargain to force God's hand immediately, but as steady trust in a just God who sees every push, every threat, every sadness. God can set a hedge of protection around your friend, He can restrain those who intend harm, including any threat of armed violence which is evil and which God does not desire, and He can change hearts, distract evil plans, or remove your friend from harm's reach. Pray for that protection and for justice in the workplace, and pray also for wisdom for your friend to take right and lawful steps for safety, to document what is happening and to seek help from proper authorities if there are threats.

Second, do not let the accusations of others define your friend. People at work may misjudge him just as Job's friends misjudged Job. God knows the truth about him, his need for this job, and his sadness, and God is the one who ultimately defends.

Finally, remember that Jesus is the one who stands between God and us. Job longed for someone who could lay a hand on both God and man and bring them together. That longing is answered in Christ, who alone brings us to God and who hears our prayers through His own mediation.

May the Lord intervene according to His wisdom and mercy, guard your friend from harm and corruption, preserve his job if it is God's will and provide for him, quiet those who do wrong, and bring peace to his heart. May He also give you strength to keep interceding with faith that does not demand an instant answer on our terms, but trusts a faithful God who will act in His perfect time and way. In Jesus' name, amen.

 

[hostadmin]

Thank you for giving us the privilege to pray on your behalf. We are glad that you asked us to stand in agreement with you in prayer for your dear friend at work.

We have been continuing to lift him up before the Lord and we remember your burden that wicked people have been trying to do bad things to him and pushing him around and that it has gone too far. We have been asking God to intervene effectively and immediately as you requested, to stop those who are corrupting and harming him, to protect his job which is on the line and which he needs, and to protect him from intimidation and harm including those who would bring weapons to threaten him. We have also been praying as you asked that God would change hearts or distract those who are doing wrong so that they turn away from this behavior, and that He would comfort your friend in his sadness. We take comfort that the Lord sees injustice and is our refuge and we cling to the promise in Psalm 46:1 that God is our refuge and strength and in Isaiah 54:17 that no weapon formed against us shall prosper.

We continue to stand with you and we will not stop praying until the Lord brings His protection and justice and peace over your friend.

If your request was answered and the harassment has stopped and your friend has been protected and his job secured, please post a praise report and let us all know so we can rejoice with you. If your request does not seem to have been answered and he is still facing this difficulty at work, please post it again as a new request and allow us to continue with you in prayer.

We pray together that the Lord will intervene right now, that He will place a hedge of protection around your friend, that He will stop the hands of those who intend harm, that He will convict and change hearts or remove their influence, that He will guard his employment and provide for his needs, and that He will bring peace to his heart for the Lord is close to the brokenhearted as promised in Psalm 34:18. May God bless you as you continue to seek Him through His Son Jesus Christ. We pray this in Jesus Name Amen.