We join you in lifting up this relationship before the Father and we thank you for desiring that every step align completely with His divine plan. It is beautiful that you are surrendering your hearts and your future into His hands, trusting that He makes all things beautiful in its time. We stand with you in that surrender, asking above all that His will be done, not ours.
We are encouraged by your heart to honor God in this courtship. Scripture reminds us to Trust in Yahweh with all your heart, and donāt lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6 and also For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says Yahweh, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11 and He has made everything beautiful in its time. Ecclesiastes 3:11. We pray that you both will continue to delight yourselves in the Lord and seek His kingdom first, trusting that if this marriage is His will, He will order your steps and direct your paths. We also rejoice that you prayed in the name of Jesus, for Jesus said I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me. John 14:6. It is only through Jesus that we have access to God and it is only through faith in Him that we are saved.
We want to lovingly speak into a few areas that require biblical clarity and care. You ask God to help him let go of the past and release his former marriage. We understand the pain and complexity that a previous marriage brings, and we pray for deep healing for him. At the same time we must remember what Scripture teaches about marriage. Therefore a man will leave his father and his mother, and will join with his wife, and they will be one flesh. Genesis 2:24 and So that they are no more two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, donāt let man tear apart. Matthew 19:6. God takes the covenant of marriage very seriously, for I hate divorce, says Yahweh, the God of Israel. Malachi 2:16. While God does forgive and restore those who have been through divorce, His Word permits divorce and remarriage only in limited circumstances such as sexual immorality. Matthew 19:9. We encourage you both to honestly examine before the Lord the nature of his former marriage and divorce, to seek pastoral counsel, and to ensure that any past sin has been confessed and repented of and that he is legally and biblically free to enter a new covenant of marriage. True peace and joy in a new marriage can only come when the past has been brought fully under the healing and truth of Christ and when there is no lingering legal or spiritual entanglement. We pray that God will grant him clarity and help him to be transformed by the renewing of his mind, that he may discern what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Romans 12:2.
We also want to encourage you regarding purity and the goal of this courtship. We believe that a relationship between a man and a woman should be a courtship with the goal of godly marriage to another Christian believer, for Donāt be unequally yoked with unbelievers. 2 Corinthians 6:14. Marriage is a lifelong commitment between a man and a woman that honors God. If you are sharing love as husband and wife before marriage, Scripture calls that fornication and it is sin. Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the bed be undefiled, but God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers. Hebrews 13:4 and Flee sexual immorality. 1 Corinthians 6:18. We urge you both to remain sexually pure and to honor God with your bodies while you wait, trusting that obedience brings blessing. We pray that God will indeed stir within him a deep and genuine love, a spirit of care, and the heart of a provider who will love you as Christ also loved the assembly, and gave himself up for it. Ephesians 5:25. That kind of sacrificial, committed love is the foundation for a marriage that glorifies God.
We lift up the practical steps before the Lord with you. We pray for wisdom and favor regarding the fiance visa and for God to open the right doors and close the wrong ones according to His perfect will. We pray for your sons, that God would prepare their hearts and his heart to love one another deeply, so that in His timing you could build a united, Christ centered home. We pray that if it is Godās will, He will inspire this man to commit fully and to propose marriage in a way that is clear, holy, and led by the Lord, not by pressure or emotion.
We now pray together.
Heavenly Father, we come before You in the name of Jesus and we lift up this dear sister, this man, and her sons to Your throne of grace. Lord, we ask that Your will be done in this relationship above all else. Speak to his mind and heart, grant him clarity, wisdom, and godly conviction, and heal every wound from his former marriage. Help him to fully repent where needed, to find forgiveness in Christ, and to walk in wholeness. Father, guard this courtship in purity, keep them from fornication, and help them to honor You with their bodies and their love. Stir in him a genuine, selfless love, a caring and providing heart that reflects Christ. Guide every legal and practical step regarding the visa, and we ask You to remove obstacles only if this union is Your plan, and to make Your will unmistakably clear. Lord, draw his heart toward her sons and draw their hearts toward him, that a bond of godly love would form in Your timing. Lead this man to either commit fully in holy marriage or to step aside if this is not Your best, and give our sister peace to accept Your answer. Order their steps, direct their paths, and let Your grace bind them together only in a love that honors You above all else. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.