Lord Jesus please grant

[Chrysostom]

We have heard your prayer and we join you in bringing it before the Lord Jesus with thanksgiving for all He has already done and with trust for what He will yet do.

You have asked for strong protection for your family and yourself, and we pray with you for the covering of God according to Psalm 91 and Psalm 34:7, that He would be a shield around you and keep you from evil as taught in 2 Thessalonians 3:3. Our true protection is in Christ Himself, and we ask the Lord to guard your hearts and minds in Him, to give you peaceful sleep, and to keep you through every attack and abuse you have suffered.

You have asked for salvation, deliverance, healing and restoration, and we pray this with you in the name of Jesus Christ alone, for there is salvation in no other. Scripture reminds us that now is the acceptable time, now is the day of salvation, and that the death of Jesus is for the salvation of the world. We ask the Lord to pour His love into your hearts by the Holy Spirit according to Romans 5:5, to give you new hearts and new minds, to restore your souls as in Psalm 23, to heal you as promised in Isaiah 53:5 and Jeremiah 30:17, to break every curse through the cross according to Galatians 3:13 and turn it to blessing, and to restore what seems broken according to Joel 2:25. We pray that you would not lean on your own understanding but trust Him fully, and that He would give you supernatural trust, faith, strength and encouragement as you wait patiently for His complete work.

We also hear your burden for your family members, for school and teachers, for work and new responsibilities, for trauma and wounds of rejection and abandonment, and for relationships that have been painful and dysfunctional. We pray for healing of those wounds, for deliverance, for unity and reconciliation where it is according to God's will, and for wisdom and purity in every relationship. We ask the Lord to lead each person toward what is holy and good in His sight. We hold fast to what Scripture teaches, that marriage is a lifelong covenant of one man and one woman and that sexual intimacy and living together belong within that covenant, and we pray that every relationship in your family would be brought into conformity with His good design, that the Lord would prevent what is harmful and dysfunctional and would grant favor, self control, confidence in Him, and understanding in school and in daily duties.

You asked for help with conflicts, with words spoken in frustration, and with fear. We pray with you for forgiveness through the blood of Christ, for grace to do better, for comfort for those who are hurting, and for conviction and mercy for all involved. When we are tempted to pray against others, we remember that Christ came not to judge the world but to save it, and so we pray not for harm to come upon anyone but for God to confront what is not of Him, to bring repentance, and to save even those who have opposed or wounded you. We pray that you would endure affliction with patience, for as we have been taught, affliction patiently endured works comfort and salvation and makes us partakers with Christ.

You asked for help with devotions, with your prayer ministry and the gathering on Friday evening, and with the sermon. We pray that the Lord would anoint, protect and guide those times, that hearing the Word would be joined with careful remembering and doing, with fortitude and with freedom from worldly cares, for hearing alone is not sufficient for salvation but must be lived out. We ask Him to anoint your devotions and your preaching, to give you exactly what to say, to empower the Word for the salvation of hearers, and to draw many to pray together and to be filled with the fire of His Spirit.

We thank God with you for every answered prayer and we ask Him to keep you from losing sight of His mercies while you still wait. May He lead and guide you in all things, grant you success in the work He has given you, protect your home and your time together, and be glorified in a mighty way in all your lives.

We pray all this in the holy name of the Lord Jesus, trusting in His mercy and power to save, heal and keep you. Amen.

 

[Silas]

Your prayer has been heard, and thank you for sharing so much of your heart with such honesty. The pain and pressure you have carried, the attacks and abuse, the long waiting for full deliverance and healing for your family, these are heavy burdens. It is right to give thanks for all God has already done and answered, even while you continue to wait, and to ask Him to keep your eyes on His faithfulness when the waiting feels long.

I join you in asking for the Lord's strong protection over you and your household. Scripture presents Him as a shield around His people, as a wall of fire, and as the One who commands His angels to encamp around those who fear Him. No weapon formed against you will finally succeed, and when the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord lifts a standard against him. The Lord is faithful to guard you from evil, and if God is for us, no one can stand against us. I pray He will keep you and those you love under the shadow of His wings and make His presence your covering day and night.

At the center of all you have asked for is salvation, and there is only one way of salvation. God has provided no other escape. His grace that brings salvation has appeared to all, and His arm is not too short to save. The name Jesus itself means the Lord is salvation, for He shall save His people from their sins. That salvation is not only being saved from judgment and the power of the enemy, but being saved for a purpose, that we might serve Him without fear in holiness and righteousness, being made right before Him. This comes through the tender mercy of God, like the sunrise visiting us after a dark night, by the forgiveness of sins. If we confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in our heart that God raised Him from the dead, we will be saved. That confession now brings salvation, and now is the day of salvation. Do not put off His offer. I pray that for every member of your family, including those who do not yet know Him, God would open eyes and hearts to receive this great salvation while it is freely offered, and that each one would be brought as sons and daughters into His family through faith in Christ. His purposes will stand and He will deliver His people, and He desires that none would be left out. Salvation is entirely His work, placed outside our own ability so that no one can boast. You are His workmanship, His poem of grace, and He is forming you for His glory.

You have also asked for healing, deliverance, and restoration. The Lord is able to heal and to deliver, and Isaiah shows us that Christ bore our griefs and carried our sorrows, and Matthew applies that also to physical healing. Yet the greatest miracle in any life is the forgiveness of sins. Even the apostle Paul learned that God does not always remove every thorn as we might expect, even after earnest prayer, but His grace remains sufficient and His strength is made perfect in weakness. So we ask boldly for healing, for the mending of wounds and trauma, for the lifting of rejection and abandonment, for restored sleep and peace of mind, trusting that God does hear and that He will do what is best according to His wise and loving will. I pray He will restore your soul as the Shepherd promises, pour His love into your hearts by the Holy Spirit, give you new hearts and new minds, and cause you to walk in love, peace, joy and all the fruit of His Spirit. Christ has redeemed us from the curse, becoming a curse for us on the cross, so that the blessing might come to us, and He promises to restore the years that have seemed hopelessly broken.

For your family and relationships, I pray for true reconciliation and unity where it is possible, and for wisdom in every difficult tie. The bond we have in Christ is the deepest bond of all, even closer than natural family ties when family members do not yet share faith, and the family of God is given to encourage us along the way. I pray that every relationship in your circle would be brought under the Lordship of Jesus and tested by His Word. Marriage is His design as a lifelong covenant of one man and one woman, and all sexual intimacy and living together belong within that covenant. Where any relationship is harmful, dysfunctional, or outside His design, I pray God would give clear discernment, courage to set boundaries, and power to step away, and that He would heal deep wounds and bring supernatural confidence that is rooted in Him. For school needs, for understanding lessons and homework, for favor with teachers and fellow students, and for protection from those who fuel harmful behavior, I ask the Lord to intervene, to rebuke what is not of Him, and to grant wisdom and peace beyond your own understanding.

For your own heart, for the need for encouragement and strength, for the weight of new responsibilities and work, for help with daily needs and for rest, for the conflict and the times you have spoken out of frustration or fear, I pray for fresh grace. God forgives when we confess, and He helps us to do better. He calls us not to lean on our own understanding but to trust Him with all our hearts, and to work out what He has already worked in us with reverence, not working for salvation but living out the salvation He has given. He knows you feel overlooked at times and weary from carrying so much. I pray He would lift your eyes to His faithfulness and fill you with His own trust and faith and love.

I also pray for your devotional life, for your prayer gatherings and for the ministry of prayer God has placed on your heart, and for the message you will share. I ask that the Lord would anoint His Word, guide you in exactly what to say, protect and empower all who gather to seek Him, and pour out His Spirit so that many would be drawn to pray and to hear the gospel. May He send clear encouragement and breakthrough, and may He be glorified in a mighty way in your life and in the lives of all you have lifted before Him. We ask all this in the holy name of Jesus, who alone is our salvation, our healer, our protector and our hope. Amen.