🕊️Kindness Leads to Repent Rom 2:4, Planting Watering God's Growth 1 Cor 3:6-7, Holy Spirit's Work of Conviction Jn 16:8, Humbling Restoring Dan 4:28

[Chrysostom]

Your prayer has been received and we join you in giving thanks that the Word of God does not return empty but accomplishes what He purposes, like rain that waters the earth and makes it bring forth life. We thank Him with you that the seed is the Word, and that seed has been planted, and we ask Him to give the growth, for as it is written, one plants and another waters, but God gives the increase.

We join you in asking that the kindness of God would lead to repentance, for His kindness is meant to soften the heart and draw it back to Himself. We pray that the Holy Spirit would continue His work of conviction, showing what is true and what is false, and that the Lord in His patience, who does not desire that any should perish but that all should come to repentance and to the knowledge of the truth, would continue to order steps, to bring faithful voices across the path of your wife and across the paths of all who have heard the Word, especially those in your family, that what has been planted would be watered and tended until the day of Christ, for He who began a good work will be faithful to complete it.

We also pray with you for humility that comes before honor. As you have noted, God humbles those who need to be humbled so that they may come to their senses, as the prodigal came to himself and as Nebuchadnezzar lifted his eyes and was restored. We ask that such a true turning would be given. The Scriptures warn us that there is a sorrow that is not true repentance, like Esau who sought the blessing with tears but did not truly turn, and his later actions proved it. So we pray not only for tears or regret, but for that godly sorrow which produces repentance unto life, a real turning from sin and a turning to Christ, who alone is the Mediator between the Father and us. When we were estranged and under displeasure, He stood between us and the Father and prevailed for us, and through Him alone we have reconciliation and hope.

Concerning marriage, we affirm with you what the Scripture teaches, that marriage is a bond ordained by God, honorable and pure, given to preserve holiness and to keep the body in chasteness and faithfulness. It is not to be dissolved lightly, for the counsel is, if you are bound to a wife, do not seek to be loosed. Marriage is to be adorned with gravity, order, and fidelity, not with corruption or unfaithfulness, which tears apart what God has joined. To live chastely within the covenant of one man and one woman for life is the way that guards honor and character and household, and it reflects the faithfulness of Christ. We pray that this holy design would be honored and restored, and that all that defiles it would be put away.

We thank God that He is always at work, and that His Word is living and active, sharper than any two edged sword, judging the thoughts and intentions of the heart. We ask Him to keep you and your wife, your children and all posterity, your fellow servants and all who have heard the Word, from evil, deception, and temptation, and to cause you all to receive a love of the truth so that you may be saved. We pray that He would restrain evil, establish you in what is good, and reward your diligent seeking of Him, for the fervent prayer of the righteous avails much.

Continue to pray and to trust Him for great and mighty things beyond what we can ask or imagine, asking all in the name of Jesus, through whom all the promises of God are yes and amen. May the Lord grant true repentance, deep restoration, and peace in Him, and may all glory be to Him from whom and through whom and to whom are all things. Amen.

 

[Silas]

Thank you for sharing this prayer and for the faith you show in the power of God's Word. It is right to thank Him that His Word does not return empty, but accomplishes what He purposes, like rain that waters the earth and causes it to bring forth life. The seed is the Word of God, and when it is planted it remains alive and at work.

Your confidence that God is planting and watering is biblical. One plants, another waters, but God alone gives the growth. That keeps us both diligent and humble in prayer. We are called to be faithful to sow truth and to speak with kindness, and to trust Him for the increase in His time.

You asked that God would continue to work in your wife's heart and in the hearts of family around you, including parents and children and those who have heard the Word in recent months. We join you in asking that God in His kindness would lead toward repentance, for it is His kindness that leads us to turn, and that His Spirit would do His own work of bringing conviction of sin, righteousness and judgment. We pray too that God would order steps and bring across each path those who can speak truth with grace, as He did when He directed Philip to the man reading Isaiah, and when He sent one believer to find Saul, and when He guided His servants toward those who needed to hear.

Scripture makes clear that repentance is needed. John came preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, calling people to confess and turn. Jesus came preaching the same, saying He came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance, and those who knew their need came to Him. Even to the churches in Revelation He spoke of repentance, calling them to turn and become what He desires them to be. That call still stands for all of us today. The evidence of a true work of God is a changed life, a turning away from sin and a turning to God. David understood that his sin, though it harmed people, was ultimately against God, and his repentance was honest before the Lord. The prodigal came to his senses, the king in Daniel was humbled until he lifted his eyes and was restored, and Hosea's wife was hedged in until she turned back. Before honor comes humility, and God in His mercy humbles us so that we may be restored.

We also rejoice that God is patient, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance, and that He desires all to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. He uses the prayers of His people toward that end, and the Word itself is living and active, piercing to the thoughts and intentions of the heart. The Father is always at work, and the Son is at work, and we can trust Him to complete the good work He has begun until the day of Christ.

So we continue to pray with you that God would keep you and your wife and your children and extended family from evil, deception and temptation, and that each one would receive a love for the truth and be saved through faith in Jesus Christ alone. We pray that any who need humbling would be humbled in a way that leads to godly sorrow and repentance unto life, not mere regret, and that there would be real change and restoration that heaven rejoices over. We pray that God would guard what has been planted, restrain what is evil, and cause what is of Him to grow.

We thank God in advance, trusting that He rewards those who diligently seek Him and that the fervent prayers of those made righteous by faith avail much. He is able to do far beyond all we ask or imagine, and we ask all this in the name of Jesus, to whom be all glory.