Silas
Beloved of All
Your honest and detailed requests have been read and taken to the Lord in prayer, and your struggles and questions are understood before God.
First, your greatest need and the greatest need of every person is the forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ. Whatever physical, financial or family need is pressing, that question must be settled first, because until sins are forgiven everything else remains secondary. Scripture teaches that we are saved by grace through faith, and that not of ourselves, it is the gift of God. Abraham believed God and his faith was counted for righteousness, and all who are of that same faith are counted as his true children. The promise is not to a physical line alone but to all who trust in Christ. The just shall live by faith. The law cannot make anyone righteous because the law is about works, but righteousness comes by believing in Jesus.
That same faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. It is not earned by works, though true faith will always show itself in works. A faith that says it believes but has no change of life and no deeds to match it is dead and cannot save. As with Abraham when he obeyed God and offered Isaac, his works did not create his faith but proved that his faith was real and living. Faith must come first, and then works follow as the fruit of it. God looks at the faith that prompts the actions.
For your family members seeking permanent government work and for the one in a temporary position who is waiting for salary and a smooth release from the previous place, we pray that God will provide what is best according to His wisdom and will. Faith does not mean demanding a particular outcome, but trusting God to open the right doors and to give favor with authorities and employers, and to supply daily needs while you wait. Continue to work faithfully and honestly where you are, for that faithfulness is one way living faith shows itself. We also pray for the other family member seeking temporary work now and permanent work in time, that God will guide each step.
For the marriage request, we join you in asking for a godly bridegroom who walks according to Scripture, with good habits and no pattern of sin, a man who fears the Lord and will keep the covenant of marriage as God designed it for one man and one woman for life. We pray for the proposal that is under consideration. If it is of the Lord it will go forward with peace and clarity, and if not, that God will clearly close the door. We also pray for your healing after the fall from your two wheeler. Scripture shows that Jesus bore our infirmities and that healing is part of His work, and we ask the Lord for healing for you. At the same time, when we bring physical needs to God we do so saying Lord, Your will be done, trusting His great wisdom and love more than we trust our own understanding. He is sovereign and He can heal through faith and also apart from our faith, according to His purpose. We ask for a full recovery in the coming weeks so you can return to your daily duties.
For the desire for your own house, for wise use of money without waste, for establishing clinics according to your training to help others, and for providing work to those who are poor and in need, we pray that God will give you wisdom as stewards. Faith that is alive will seek to use what God provides in useful, generous and careful ways, not wasting what He entrusts to you, and seeking to be a blessing to others.
Concerning the house lease and the large amount you paid, and the owner who has not returned the money or the rent he promised for more than a year, with bank interest increasing, we understand the weight this has placed on your family, the sleepless nights and the tension at home. It is right to pray for justice and for the return of what is owed, and we pray that God will move on this man to repay what is due, whether the rent for those months or the interest and charges you have borne, without further loss to you. God does see dishonesty and He will judge it. The Scripture you mentioned is true, the Lord watches over all who love Him and He will deal with the wicked.
At the same time we cannot ask God to cut off hands or tongues, to destroy a house, to take away jobs forever, to spoil children's education, or to bring lifelong suffering and death upon a family. Vengeance belongs to the Lord, not to us. Jesus calls us to love our enemies, to pray for those who wrong us that they may repent and be saved, and to leave judgment in God's hands. To pray for the harm of children or for mutilation is not in keeping with the love that must accompany faith, and faith, hope and love remain, with love being the greatest. We can pray for earthly consequences that lead to repentance, but we must not curse. Instead we pray that God would convict this man and his wife of what is false, bring them to truthfulness and to repayment, and bring them to repentance toward God. If they do not repent, God will deal with them in His perfect justice, whether in this life or at the final judgment.
Your questions about why the honest suffer while the wicked seem to prosper are deeply felt, and Scripture itself raises them, as when the prophet asks why God seems silent while the wicked swallow up the more righteous. The Bible teaches that God's timing is not slowness as we count slowness, but patience and mercy, wanting people to come to repentance. A day with the Lord is as a thousand years, not to say He has no grace for us now, but to show He is not limited by our clock. His grace and mercy are for today, for all who call on Him, and His miracles did not stop two thousand years ago. He still hears and acts. Yet the proving of our faith often comes through waiting and trial. That proving is not for God to learn what is in us, for He already knows, but for us to see what is in our hearts and to grow. Even great people of faith in Scripture had lapses and knew discouragement and defeat, and many died in faith without having received all that was promised, looking for a better fulfillment. Having faith does not guarantee that we will always have perfect health, constant prosperity or immediate answers, but it means we keep trusting God through both victory and hardship.
It is understandable that your faith has felt weak minute by minute, especially when your husband says God is nowhere and that trusting God brings punishment. God is not nowhere, He is now here, present and faithful, even when we do not see His hand immediately. He is not powerless, and Satan is not more powerful than He is. He is not inactive or without mercy. His silence for a time is not absence. Do not let a belief system with preconditions limit your trust, as if God must act in a certain way or at a certain speed to prove He cares. Passive faith says God can do it, active faith trusts that God will do what is right and best now according to His will, and finds a way to release that trust to Him in prayer.
We pray for you now: Father in heaven, we come through Jesus Christ alone for forgiveness and mercy. Forgive our sins and make us right through faith in Him. We bring these family needs to You, jobs, marriage, a home, daily provision, and healing from this accident. Provide according to Your will and give wisdom and peace. We ask for justice and for the return of what was taken, without further loss, and we ask that You would work in the heart of the one who has done wrong to speak truth and to make restoration, and above all to turn to You. Comfort this family, give them sleep, remove misunderstanding, strengthen faith where it is weak, and help them to show their faith by faithful living. Guard them from bitterness and teach them to trust You day by day, for the just shall live by faith. In Jesus name, Amen.
Continue to hold to Christ, keep praying, and let your faith be seen in steady obedience, kindness and hope, trusting that God honors those who look to Him in true faith.
First, your greatest need and the greatest need of every person is the forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ. Whatever physical, financial or family need is pressing, that question must be settled first, because until sins are forgiven everything else remains secondary. Scripture teaches that we are saved by grace through faith, and that not of ourselves, it is the gift of God. Abraham believed God and his faith was counted for righteousness, and all who are of that same faith are counted as his true children. The promise is not to a physical line alone but to all who trust in Christ. The just shall live by faith. The law cannot make anyone righteous because the law is about works, but righteousness comes by believing in Jesus.
That same faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. It is not earned by works, though true faith will always show itself in works. A faith that says it believes but has no change of life and no deeds to match it is dead and cannot save. As with Abraham when he obeyed God and offered Isaac, his works did not create his faith but proved that his faith was real and living. Faith must come first, and then works follow as the fruit of it. God looks at the faith that prompts the actions.
For your family members seeking permanent government work and for the one in a temporary position who is waiting for salary and a smooth release from the previous place, we pray that God will provide what is best according to His wisdom and will. Faith does not mean demanding a particular outcome, but trusting God to open the right doors and to give favor with authorities and employers, and to supply daily needs while you wait. Continue to work faithfully and honestly where you are, for that faithfulness is one way living faith shows itself. We also pray for the other family member seeking temporary work now and permanent work in time, that God will guide each step.
For the marriage request, we join you in asking for a godly bridegroom who walks according to Scripture, with good habits and no pattern of sin, a man who fears the Lord and will keep the covenant of marriage as God designed it for one man and one woman for life. We pray for the proposal that is under consideration. If it is of the Lord it will go forward with peace and clarity, and if not, that God will clearly close the door. We also pray for your healing after the fall from your two wheeler. Scripture shows that Jesus bore our infirmities and that healing is part of His work, and we ask the Lord for healing for you. At the same time, when we bring physical needs to God we do so saying Lord, Your will be done, trusting His great wisdom and love more than we trust our own understanding. He is sovereign and He can heal through faith and also apart from our faith, according to His purpose. We ask for a full recovery in the coming weeks so you can return to your daily duties.
For the desire for your own house, for wise use of money without waste, for establishing clinics according to your training to help others, and for providing work to those who are poor and in need, we pray that God will give you wisdom as stewards. Faith that is alive will seek to use what God provides in useful, generous and careful ways, not wasting what He entrusts to you, and seeking to be a blessing to others.
Concerning the house lease and the large amount you paid, and the owner who has not returned the money or the rent he promised for more than a year, with bank interest increasing, we understand the weight this has placed on your family, the sleepless nights and the tension at home. It is right to pray for justice and for the return of what is owed, and we pray that God will move on this man to repay what is due, whether the rent for those months or the interest and charges you have borne, without further loss to you. God does see dishonesty and He will judge it. The Scripture you mentioned is true, the Lord watches over all who love Him and He will deal with the wicked.
At the same time we cannot ask God to cut off hands or tongues, to destroy a house, to take away jobs forever, to spoil children's education, or to bring lifelong suffering and death upon a family. Vengeance belongs to the Lord, not to us. Jesus calls us to love our enemies, to pray for those who wrong us that they may repent and be saved, and to leave judgment in God's hands. To pray for the harm of children or for mutilation is not in keeping with the love that must accompany faith, and faith, hope and love remain, with love being the greatest. We can pray for earthly consequences that lead to repentance, but we must not curse. Instead we pray that God would convict this man and his wife of what is false, bring them to truthfulness and to repayment, and bring them to repentance toward God. If they do not repent, God will deal with them in His perfect justice, whether in this life or at the final judgment.
Your questions about why the honest suffer while the wicked seem to prosper are deeply felt, and Scripture itself raises them, as when the prophet asks why God seems silent while the wicked swallow up the more righteous. The Bible teaches that God's timing is not slowness as we count slowness, but patience and mercy, wanting people to come to repentance. A day with the Lord is as a thousand years, not to say He has no grace for us now, but to show He is not limited by our clock. His grace and mercy are for today, for all who call on Him, and His miracles did not stop two thousand years ago. He still hears and acts. Yet the proving of our faith often comes through waiting and trial. That proving is not for God to learn what is in us, for He already knows, but for us to see what is in our hearts and to grow. Even great people of faith in Scripture had lapses and knew discouragement and defeat, and many died in faith without having received all that was promised, looking for a better fulfillment. Having faith does not guarantee that we will always have perfect health, constant prosperity or immediate answers, but it means we keep trusting God through both victory and hardship.
It is understandable that your faith has felt weak minute by minute, especially when your husband says God is nowhere and that trusting God brings punishment. God is not nowhere, He is now here, present and faithful, even when we do not see His hand immediately. He is not powerless, and Satan is not more powerful than He is. He is not inactive or without mercy. His silence for a time is not absence. Do not let a belief system with preconditions limit your trust, as if God must act in a certain way or at a certain speed to prove He cares. Passive faith says God can do it, active faith trusts that God will do what is right and best now according to His will, and finds a way to release that trust to Him in prayer.
We pray for you now: Father in heaven, we come through Jesus Christ alone for forgiveness and mercy. Forgive our sins and make us right through faith in Him. We bring these family needs to You, jobs, marriage, a home, daily provision, and healing from this accident. Provide according to Your will and give wisdom and peace. We ask for justice and for the return of what was taken, without further loss, and we ask that You would work in the heart of the one who has done wrong to speak truth and to make restoration, and above all to turn to You. Comfort this family, give them sleep, remove misunderstanding, strengthen faith where it is weak, and help them to show their faith by faithful living. Guard them from bitterness and teach them to trust You day by day, for the just shall live by faith. In Jesus name, Amen.
Continue to hold to Christ, keep praying, and let your faith be seen in steady obedience, kindness and hope, trusting that God honors those who look to Him in true faith.
