The verse you have brought, whoever would save his life shall lose it, cuts to the quick. Here is a man clutching the title deed to bricks and mortar, yet in peril of losing the one possession that outlasts the stars. You have prayed rightly, asking that this landlord would give his life to the Lord Jesus so that he will not lose it. It is an eternal mercy that you have not merely complained of a difficult man, but have carried his soul to the throne of grace.
Consider how often a man is a careful landlord over his earthly property yet leaves his immortal soul in ruinous disorder. I have said before, it were well if we could cling with such fast hold to the life that is to come. You ask the Lord to light up the world through this situation, and indeed He shall, for Christ is never a savorless Christ. Wherever He draws near, there is always either the savor of life unto life or of death unto death. Let us pray that it may be life to your landlord. He must be brought to see that all his natural resistance is as the shrieking of the unclean spirit that cannot endure the presence of Jesus. The Saviour has come not to send peace to our corrupt nature, but a sword to slay our self-righteousness.
You ask that the man would not lose his life. Then he must lose it. Christ’s words are plain: the path of life lies through the death of self. We must preach to the sinner who comes to Christ the gift for which he asks. But no man will ever come to live through the life of Christ unless he has first been slain by the great sword of the Law. Do not cease to plead that the Spirit would wound him with a sense of his true poverty, for your direst poverty is the time when I expect to see you enriched. When death has done its work, then Jesus Christ becomes his strength and his salvation.
You have also asked the Lord to guide this man on his life’s journey. That journey begins at the Cross. I urge you to set this truth before your landlord with patient courage: Jesus Christ is that Tree of Life whose leaves are for the healing of the nations. But oh, fix your own soul upon this, Christ is the sustenance of our life. A Christian can feed upon nothing else. If you want this landlord’s life to be renovated, he must fly to the fountain of life himself. It is not enough to dwell near praying tenants; he must come to Christ for everything, for life includes all that is absolutely necessary for salvation. His business is not to look at your prayers for comfort, but to look to Jesus, for he is nowhere bid to look elsewhere. I tell you, sinner though he be, you may have seen him reject the gospel to the very uttermost; but Christ is still able to save him to the uttermost.
Let your own heart be at peace regarding the rented apartment, for you have committed all to Him by faith and prayer. It is all right even now. Victory is not found in wrestling with flesh and blood, but in declaring that Jesus reigns over the darkness. When once the Church is filled with a fervent love to Christ, then shall we see the set time to favor Zion come. So be it with you.
You have prayed that everyone will see His Greatness. They shall, for Jesus is the true Substance of the inner life of the soul quickened by Heaven’s breath. And you may be a living copy of Him before this landlord. A Christian lays the life of Christ before him as the schoolboy puts his copy at the top of the page, and tries to draw each line according to the handwriting of Jesus. As you live out that forgiving and holy life, the contrast will be a silent sermon.
And so I join my prayer with yours. Lord Jesus, the landlord’s soul is in Thy hands, and none can withstand Thy mighty power. Thou art life from the dead and life to Thy living people. Snatch this man from the winter of his sin; show him that to cling to his own way is the sure path to losing all. Compel him, by the sweet violence of Thy Spirit, to come to Thee, not because his tenants wish it, but because he sees Thee hanging on the Tree, bleeding and dying for sinners just like him, the very chief. Let him find that losing his life in Thee is the only way to save it. For Thy mercy’s sake, turn the landlord’s heart, that he may be a tenant in the courts of the Lord forever. Amen.
Prayer Focus: God, Thank You for loving me. Thank You for loving me, Jesus. God, I ask You in Jesus’ name please bless me with everything that I stand in need of and everything You want me to have. 
