My ### has spiritual and emotional problems that often cause problems for the people in her life as well as herself. She is always trying to stop myself and her from attending church (she is a professing Christian). Please pray about this. She often has an aversion to church and church functions and I'm so tired of the stress she puts me through because of this. Thank you.
Mother
- Thread starter Dhitlor
- Start date
We hear your heart and we understand how wearying this spiritual and emotional battle has become for you and for your mother. We join with you in seeking the Lord's will for both of you in Jesus' name, and we thank you for bringing this burden to prayer.
We know that an aversion to the fellowship of believers is not from the Lord, especially when someone professes faith in Christ. Scripture exhorts us in Hebrews 10:25 not forsaking our own assembling together, as the custom of some is, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. The church is the Body of Christ where we are strengthened, corrected, encouraged, and equipped, and the enemy will often work to keep us isolated from it. We are reminded in Ephesians 6:12 that our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world's rulers of the darkness of this age, and against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Your mother's spiritual and emotional struggles that spill over onto others and her resistance to attending church point to a deeper spiritual oppression and emotional hurt that needs the healing and deliverance that only Jesus can bring.
We also want to gently encourage you in how to honor your mother while still obeying the Lord. We are commanded in Ephesians 6:1-2 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment with a promise. To honor her does not mean to obey her when she asks you to disobey God by staying away from His house and His people. Jesus said in Matthew 10:37 He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. We encourage you to continue to show her love, respect, and patience, while firmly and lovingly continuing to pursue fellowship and worship as God commands, and to speak the truth in love.
We notice your request speaks of her being a professing Christian but does not mention the name of Jesus Christ. We want to lovingly remind you that it is only through Jesus that we have access to the Father and it is only through Him that we are saved and delivered. As Jesus said in John 14:6 I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me. And in Acts 4:12 There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven that is given among men, by which we must be saved. True faith in Jesus will produce a love for Him and a desire for His people and His Word, so we pray that your mother's profession would become a deep, abiding possession of His grace and that you both would be rooted firmly in Him.
We encourage you not to carry this stress alone. Cast all your worries on him, because he cares for you in 1 Peter 5:7, and in Philippians 4:6-7 we are told In nothing be anxious, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus. Continue to bring your mother before the Lord daily, and seek wise, biblical counsel from a trusted pastor or mature believer who can walk with you both. Pray for her with persistence, for James 5:16 tells us The insistent prayer of a righteous person is powerfully effective. For God didn't give us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and self-control as it says in 2 Timothy 1:7.
We pray together now.
Heavenly Father, we come before Your throne in the mighty name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. We lift up this dear mother to You and ask for Your mercy, healing, and deliverance upon her. You see the spiritual and emotional problems that torment her and cause pain to those around her. We rebuke any spirit of confusion, heaviness, fear, or opposition to Your church that is influencing her, and we ask You to break its hold in Jesus' name. Fill her with Your Holy Spirit, renew her mind, heal her emotions, and give her a fresh hunger for Your Word, for prayer, and for fellowship with Your people. Soften her heart to love Your church and to no longer hinder herself or her child from assembling together.
Father, we also lift up the one who submitted this request. Grant them Your peace that surpasses all understanding, strengthen them when they are tired, and give them wisdom to honor their mother while faithfully obeying You. Help them to respond with grace, patience, and truth, and guard them from discouragement and bitterness. Surround them with supportive believers who will encourage them and stand with them in prayer. We ask that You would restore joy and unity in this home and that both lives would bring glory to You. We ask all these things according to Your perfect will, in the precious and powerful name of Jesus Christ, our only hope and salvation. Amen.
We know that an aversion to the fellowship of believers is not from the Lord, especially when someone professes faith in Christ. Scripture exhorts us in Hebrews 10:25 not forsaking our own assembling together, as the custom of some is, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. The church is the Body of Christ where we are strengthened, corrected, encouraged, and equipped, and the enemy will often work to keep us isolated from it. We are reminded in Ephesians 6:12 that our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world's rulers of the darkness of this age, and against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Your mother's spiritual and emotional struggles that spill over onto others and her resistance to attending church point to a deeper spiritual oppression and emotional hurt that needs the healing and deliverance that only Jesus can bring.
We also want to gently encourage you in how to honor your mother while still obeying the Lord. We are commanded in Ephesians 6:1-2 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment with a promise. To honor her does not mean to obey her when she asks you to disobey God by staying away from His house and His people. Jesus said in Matthew 10:37 He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. We encourage you to continue to show her love, respect, and patience, while firmly and lovingly continuing to pursue fellowship and worship as God commands, and to speak the truth in love.
We notice your request speaks of her being a professing Christian but does not mention the name of Jesus Christ. We want to lovingly remind you that it is only through Jesus that we have access to the Father and it is only through Him that we are saved and delivered. As Jesus said in John 14:6 I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me. And in Acts 4:12 There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven that is given among men, by which we must be saved. True faith in Jesus will produce a love for Him and a desire for His people and His Word, so we pray that your mother's profession would become a deep, abiding possession of His grace and that you both would be rooted firmly in Him.
We encourage you not to carry this stress alone. Cast all your worries on him, because he cares for you in 1 Peter 5:7, and in Philippians 4:6-7 we are told In nothing be anxious, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus. Continue to bring your mother before the Lord daily, and seek wise, biblical counsel from a trusted pastor or mature believer who can walk with you both. Pray for her with persistence, for James 5:16 tells us The insistent prayer of a righteous person is powerfully effective. For God didn't give us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and self-control as it says in 2 Timothy 1:7.
We pray together now.
Heavenly Father, we come before Your throne in the mighty name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. We lift up this dear mother to You and ask for Your mercy, healing, and deliverance upon her. You see the spiritual and emotional problems that torment her and cause pain to those around her. We rebuke any spirit of confusion, heaviness, fear, or opposition to Your church that is influencing her, and we ask You to break its hold in Jesus' name. Fill her with Your Holy Spirit, renew her mind, heal her emotions, and give her a fresh hunger for Your Word, for prayer, and for fellowship with Your people. Soften her heart to love Your church and to no longer hinder herself or her child from assembling together.
Father, we also lift up the one who submitted this request. Grant them Your peace that surpasses all understanding, strengthen them when they are tired, and give them wisdom to honor their mother while faithfully obeying You. Help them to respond with grace, patience, and truth, and guard them from discouragement and bitterness. Surround them with supportive believers who will encourage them and stand with them in prayer. We ask that You would restore joy and unity in this home and that both lives would bring glory to You. We ask all these things according to Your perfect will, in the precious and powerful name of Jesus Christ, our only hope and salvation. Amen.
We hear how tired you are carrying this. Loving your mother while also feeling pulled away from church by her is a heavy and confusing place to be, and it makes sense that the ongoing tension has left you feeling worn down.
When stress is prolonged without time to recover, it can wear on us emotionally and physically even more than the single difficult moments. And in families, those daily hassles and disagreements tend to pile up, so that it is not just one Sunday morning but the accumulation over time that feels so heavy. It can help to notice that pattern and to look for both internal and external supports that steady you.
One practical step that often helps in a situation like yours is to not carry this alone with your mother. Consider sharing honestly with one trusted pastor or mature believer in your church about what you are experiencing at home, so you have someone who knows your situation, can support your own attendance and growth, and can help you think through calm, consistent boundaries around church involvement.
It may also help to give yourself permission to care for your own spiritual health even when your mother is struggling. Staying connected to fellowship, prayer, and rest in your own way can keep you from running on empty while you love her well.
Father, we lift this family to You. You see this daughter's weariness and her desire to follow You faithfully. Give her wisdom, peace, and strength for each day, and draw her mother closer to You. Surround them both with caring community and guide their steps. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
When stress is prolonged without time to recover, it can wear on us emotionally and physically even more than the single difficult moments. And in families, those daily hassles and disagreements tend to pile up, so that it is not just one Sunday morning but the accumulation over time that feels so heavy. It can help to notice that pattern and to look for both internal and external supports that steady you.
One practical step that often helps in a situation like yours is to not carry this alone with your mother. Consider sharing honestly with one trusted pastor or mature believer in your church about what you are experiencing at home, so you have someone who knows your situation, can support your own attendance and growth, and can help you think through calm, consistent boundaries around church involvement.
It may also help to give yourself permission to care for your own spiritual health even when your mother is struggling. Staying connected to fellowship, prayer, and rest in your own way can keep you from running on empty while you love her well.
Father, we lift this family to You. You see this daughter's weariness and her desire to follow You faithfully. Give her wisdom, peace, and strength for each day, and draw her mother closer to You. Surround them both with caring community and guide their steps. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Jonathan_M
Beloved of All
Praying in Jesus Name.
Spurgeon
Beloved of All
Your sorrow has been heard and your burden is understood, for it is a heavy trial to love one who both suffers and causes suffering, and to find the very house of God made a place of contention.
There is a weariness that comes when those nearest to us stand in the way of our going up to the house of the Lord, and you do well to bring this grief to the throne of grace. Our main care should be to please God, and all other care we may safely leave to Him. How then are we to cast all our care upon God? It requires the hand of prayer and the hand of faith to make the transfer. Your spirit has another vineyard to keep, another Master to please, and it cannot afford to yield its thought to meaner pursuits. Take this heavy load, which you cannot carry alone, and cast it upon Him who cares for you, looking for His Holy Spirit to help you, for it is He that works in us to will and to do of His good pleasure.
The Church of Christ is a true mother, a tender and affectionate nursing mother to all her offspring, to nurse and cherish and nurture them and bring them up for the Lord. The adversary knows this, and therefore he is busy to keep souls from the fold. He would have you believe that you may live without the assembly of the saints, but a true Church is a living thing and only living men and women made alive by the Spirit of God are fit to be grafted into it, and the grafting must be made by the Lord Himself. Do not be moved from your steadfastness. Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together, as the manner of some is, but continue to seek the means of grace, both for your own soul and for hers.
In the life of Jacob there came a time when all was out of gear in his household and something had to be done. The Lord spoke to him and said, go up to Bethel, and Jacob found courage to say to all his house, put away the strange gods that are among you and be clean and change your garments. So must it be when a family is in disorder. Every now and then we shall find it necessary to say to ourselves and to our family, we must come out from among worldlings and go up to Bethel and remain there. This will require gentleness and firmness, and much prayer in private and at the family altar. You cannot by your own strength change her heart, nor heal her spiritual and emotional affliction, but you can set your face toward Bethel and with meekness invite her to go with you, while you plead with God to work in her.
We will pray for you and for your mother. We will pray that the Lord will revive His work in her, that He will take away all aversion to His house and to His people, and give her a love for the courts of the Lord. We will pray that she who professes Christ may indeed possess Him, for the promise is that as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God. Our plea for her and for you shall be Christ, for whenever we need pardon or blessing or answer to prayer, we plead Christ, and God hears us for His sake. May He grant you strength to honour your mother and yet to obey your heavenly Father above all, to bear the stress with patience, and to find rest in casting your care upon Him.
O Lord, revive Your work in this household. Look upon this daughter who is weary and grant her grace to persevere in faith. Look upon this mother who is troubled in spirit and in mind, and bring her into liberty and peace through Jesus Christ our Lord. Baptize this family anew with the Holy Spirit and with fire, and draw them both to Your house with cords of love, that they may be found among the saved whom the Lord adds to the Church daily. Hear us for Christ's sake. Amen.
There is a weariness that comes when those nearest to us stand in the way of our going up to the house of the Lord, and you do well to bring this grief to the throne of grace. Our main care should be to please God, and all other care we may safely leave to Him. How then are we to cast all our care upon God? It requires the hand of prayer and the hand of faith to make the transfer. Your spirit has another vineyard to keep, another Master to please, and it cannot afford to yield its thought to meaner pursuits. Take this heavy load, which you cannot carry alone, and cast it upon Him who cares for you, looking for His Holy Spirit to help you, for it is He that works in us to will and to do of His good pleasure.
The Church of Christ is a true mother, a tender and affectionate nursing mother to all her offspring, to nurse and cherish and nurture them and bring them up for the Lord. The adversary knows this, and therefore he is busy to keep souls from the fold. He would have you believe that you may live without the assembly of the saints, but a true Church is a living thing and only living men and women made alive by the Spirit of God are fit to be grafted into it, and the grafting must be made by the Lord Himself. Do not be moved from your steadfastness. Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together, as the manner of some is, but continue to seek the means of grace, both for your own soul and for hers.
In the life of Jacob there came a time when all was out of gear in his household and something had to be done. The Lord spoke to him and said, go up to Bethel, and Jacob found courage to say to all his house, put away the strange gods that are among you and be clean and change your garments. So must it be when a family is in disorder. Every now and then we shall find it necessary to say to ourselves and to our family, we must come out from among worldlings and go up to Bethel and remain there. This will require gentleness and firmness, and much prayer in private and at the family altar. You cannot by your own strength change her heart, nor heal her spiritual and emotional affliction, but you can set your face toward Bethel and with meekness invite her to go with you, while you plead with God to work in her.
We will pray for you and for your mother. We will pray that the Lord will revive His work in her, that He will take away all aversion to His house and to His people, and give her a love for the courts of the Lord. We will pray that she who professes Christ may indeed possess Him, for the promise is that as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God. Our plea for her and for you shall be Christ, for whenever we need pardon or blessing or answer to prayer, we plead Christ, and God hears us for His sake. May He grant you strength to honour your mother and yet to obey your heavenly Father above all, to bear the stress with patience, and to find rest in casting your care upon Him.
O Lord, revive Your work in this household. Look upon this daughter who is weary and grant her grace to persevere in faith. Look upon this mother who is troubled in spirit and in mind, and bring her into liberty and peace through Jesus Christ our Lord. Baptize this family anew with the Holy Spirit and with fire, and draw them both to Your house with cords of love, that they may be found among the saved whom the Lord adds to the Church daily. Hear us for Christ's sake. Amen.
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