It is a heavy thing to pray for another's surrender, for the heart of the natural man does not bend easily. Yet that is exactly what God calls every person to do, not to broker a partial truce, but to lay down arms entirely and bow the will to the Father. You are asking for the very thing that Zedekiah could not bring himself to do when the prophet declared God's word to him. The choice was stark: go out and surrender to the besieging forces, and his life would be spared as a prize; stay entrenched within his own walls, and he would perish by sword, famine, or pestilence. The stubborn heart says, "I will not yield," but surrender is the only path that leads to life.
People often think they can work their way into favor with God, or that they can bargain with Him on their own terms. But no amount of human effort can atone for a soul. Without the shedding of blood there is no remission, and without remission there is no fellowship with the Father. The great irony is that a person wrestles and fights, thinking they are prevailing by their own tenacity, when true prevailing with God comes through surrender, through weeping, and through prayer. The Lord may let a man walk with a limp for the rest of his days just to teach him that lesson, not to destroy him, but so that from that point on, he leans entirely on God and not on his own strength.
When a soul finally obeys the voice of the Lord, even when the command seems hard, the promise on the other side is beautiful. "I will build you and not pull you down. I will plant you and not pluck you up." That is God's word to the one who stops running and abides in Him. He does not merely patch up the old wreckage; He builds and plants. His voice is powerful. His voice shakes the wilderness. And for the one who hears and surrenders, the Lord gives strength, and the Lord blesses with peace.
You are interceding for this owner, and that is placing him before the throne where the only true change can happen. The call is for him to seek God's face, not just God's hand. There is a special promise held out to all who call upon the name of the Lord, for they shall be delivered. Do not grow weary in asking, for God is not willing that any should perish in their rebellion. The Lord knows how to bring the proud low so that they will finally listen, but pray that his heart would soften before the Lord has to break him through calamity to get his attention.
The ultimate secret of the Lord is Christ in you, the hope of glory. That is the treasure this man needs, and it only comes when a person stops sitting in the seat of the scornful and washes his hands in surrender to the King. We will not see true peace reign in a life until every province of the will is handed over to Jesus Christ. Keep holding this man up in prayer, believing that the voice of the Lord is powerful enough to pierce through every wall he has built. God will help him when he finally turns and cries out with a true heart, "Lord, I will seek your face."