Spurgeon
Beloved of All
Your prayer has been laid before the Lord and we have heard the weight of your burden in these four matters which you have spread before Him, and we join our hearts with yours in seeking His gracious hand.
We thank God that you desire to walk in His way and to wait upon His provision. You have asked for clarity and diligence in your studies for your professional certification and other courses, for a new employment with a proper visa and sufficient provision that you may live independently and with stewardship, for the preservation of your present visa until the Lord opens that better door, and for a godly marriage ordained of Him. These are lawful petitions and we bring them to the throne of grace, that God would open doors which no man can shut and would grant you wisdom to walk through them in His time.
Concerning marriage, take comfort in what the Scripture reveals of this holy estate. Marriage is not a thing of birth or of compulsion, but as it has been well said, marriage union is the result of choice, and there ought to be no exception where there has not been a choice on each side. When God says, I am married unto you, it implies a blessed choice on both sides, and so it is a true marriage. Again, marriage is cemented by mutual love, and in a true marriage the husband and wife become one. Therefore do not be pressed by the voices behind you in your home country, nor by those who would have you compromise and be joined to one who walks not in the fear of the Lord, whether he be given to drink or to other vanities, because they judge according to age or custom. That would be to enter a yoke which Scripture forbids and to build upon sand. Wait upon the Lord, for a true marriage must be of one man and one woman, in a lifelong covenant, where chastity and purity are kept within that covenant alone, and where both hearts freely choose one another in the Lord. We will pray that the Lord keeps you from an unequal yoking and grants you, if it be His will, a partner who loves Christ as the Lamb who shed His blood, for it is as the Lamb that we first come to love Him, and only those betrothed to Christ can rightly be joined to one another in Him. Do not despise the Lord's timing, for the consummation of all redemption itself is set forth as the marriage of the Lamb, and He waits long for His perfected Church. He will not forget you.
For your studies, your visa and your employment, we pray that the Lord will grant you a sound mind and settled focus, and that He will establish the work of your hands. You have seen His hand in the lives of others in your prayer meeting, one receiving work and another also, and this is a token for good that He is not unmindful of you. Trust not in savings alone, nor in the favour of an owner or a manager to extend a paper, but in Him who holds all things in His hands. All things are yours if you are Christ's, and He is able to preserve you in the world until His purpose is fulfilled. Be diligent in preparation for your examinations, be faithful in little, and leave the issue with Him who numbers your days and orders your steps.
We hear also your sorrow regarding your sister and your brother in law, the sharp words, the comparisons, the pressure from relatives who spread rumours and the weariness of answering many inquiries. And we hear of the trial concerning your family garden and the unkindness of neighbours. These things try the soul. Remember that family piety is nourished by prayer. Family prayer is the nutriment of family piety and woe to those who allow it to cease. Where you cannot persuade by speech, you may yet prevail by prayer. Commit your sister to God, answer with gentleness when you are able, and when you have shared a matter that is better kept before the Lord alone, learn to wait until the contract is in hand before you publish it abroad. The Lord sees your desire to serve in His house and to be found faithful on the Lord's day, and He will honour that faithfulness.
As for evil eyes and fears concerning health and relationships, we do not look to charms or superstitions, but to Christ alone for salvation and protection. Those who have been quickened and brought into the family of God have one never failing mark, that they are led by the Spirit of God, not by dreams and visions nor by the dread of men's eyes. No weapon formed against those who are in Christ shall prosper beyond what His wisdom permits, and even that He will turn for good. Rebuke fear by faith, and rest in the whole family in heaven and earth which is one undivided household under one Head.
Let us pray together.
O Lord our God, who has entered into covenant to preserve those who trust in Thee, look upon this Thy servant who seeks to walk uprightly before Thee. Grant clarity of mind and steadiness of heart for study, and crown honest labour with success as it shall please Thee. Provide work suited to her hands, with lawful standing and sufficient wage, that she may live quietly and honestly and serve Thy kingdom without distraction. Preserve her present standing until Thou hast prepared the next place, and suffer not the designs of men to overturn Thy purpose. Keep her from compromise in the matter of marriage, and in Thy good time, if it be Thy will, bring to her one who loves Thee above all, that they may be one in Thee in a holy covenant of one man and one woman for life. Comfort her under reproach, reconcile what is broken in her family so far as it lies in her to live peaceably, and guard her home. Let her testimony be that Thou hast done exceeding abundantly above all that she asked or thought, to the praise of Thy grace in Christ Jesus, in whose name we ask it. Amen.
We will continue to bear you up before the Lord, that you may stand firm, be kept from hasty choices, and see His hand working for your good and His glory.
We thank God that you desire to walk in His way and to wait upon His provision. You have asked for clarity and diligence in your studies for your professional certification and other courses, for a new employment with a proper visa and sufficient provision that you may live independently and with stewardship, for the preservation of your present visa until the Lord opens that better door, and for a godly marriage ordained of Him. These are lawful petitions and we bring them to the throne of grace, that God would open doors which no man can shut and would grant you wisdom to walk through them in His time.
Concerning marriage, take comfort in what the Scripture reveals of this holy estate. Marriage is not a thing of birth or of compulsion, but as it has been well said, marriage union is the result of choice, and there ought to be no exception where there has not been a choice on each side. When God says, I am married unto you, it implies a blessed choice on both sides, and so it is a true marriage. Again, marriage is cemented by mutual love, and in a true marriage the husband and wife become one. Therefore do not be pressed by the voices behind you in your home country, nor by those who would have you compromise and be joined to one who walks not in the fear of the Lord, whether he be given to drink or to other vanities, because they judge according to age or custom. That would be to enter a yoke which Scripture forbids and to build upon sand. Wait upon the Lord, for a true marriage must be of one man and one woman, in a lifelong covenant, where chastity and purity are kept within that covenant alone, and where both hearts freely choose one another in the Lord. We will pray that the Lord keeps you from an unequal yoking and grants you, if it be His will, a partner who loves Christ as the Lamb who shed His blood, for it is as the Lamb that we first come to love Him, and only those betrothed to Christ can rightly be joined to one another in Him. Do not despise the Lord's timing, for the consummation of all redemption itself is set forth as the marriage of the Lamb, and He waits long for His perfected Church. He will not forget you.
For your studies, your visa and your employment, we pray that the Lord will grant you a sound mind and settled focus, and that He will establish the work of your hands. You have seen His hand in the lives of others in your prayer meeting, one receiving work and another also, and this is a token for good that He is not unmindful of you. Trust not in savings alone, nor in the favour of an owner or a manager to extend a paper, but in Him who holds all things in His hands. All things are yours if you are Christ's, and He is able to preserve you in the world until His purpose is fulfilled. Be diligent in preparation for your examinations, be faithful in little, and leave the issue with Him who numbers your days and orders your steps.
We hear also your sorrow regarding your sister and your brother in law, the sharp words, the comparisons, the pressure from relatives who spread rumours and the weariness of answering many inquiries. And we hear of the trial concerning your family garden and the unkindness of neighbours. These things try the soul. Remember that family piety is nourished by prayer. Family prayer is the nutriment of family piety and woe to those who allow it to cease. Where you cannot persuade by speech, you may yet prevail by prayer. Commit your sister to God, answer with gentleness when you are able, and when you have shared a matter that is better kept before the Lord alone, learn to wait until the contract is in hand before you publish it abroad. The Lord sees your desire to serve in His house and to be found faithful on the Lord's day, and He will honour that faithfulness.
As for evil eyes and fears concerning health and relationships, we do not look to charms or superstitions, but to Christ alone for salvation and protection. Those who have been quickened and brought into the family of God have one never failing mark, that they are led by the Spirit of God, not by dreams and visions nor by the dread of men's eyes. No weapon formed against those who are in Christ shall prosper beyond what His wisdom permits, and even that He will turn for good. Rebuke fear by faith, and rest in the whole family in heaven and earth which is one undivided household under one Head.
Let us pray together.
O Lord our God, who has entered into covenant to preserve those who trust in Thee, look upon this Thy servant who seeks to walk uprightly before Thee. Grant clarity of mind and steadiness of heart for study, and crown honest labour with success as it shall please Thee. Provide work suited to her hands, with lawful standing and sufficient wage, that she may live quietly and honestly and serve Thy kingdom without distraction. Preserve her present standing until Thou hast prepared the next place, and suffer not the designs of men to overturn Thy purpose. Keep her from compromise in the matter of marriage, and in Thy good time, if it be Thy will, bring to her one who loves Thee above all, that they may be one in Thee in a holy covenant of one man and one woman for life. Comfort her under reproach, reconcile what is broken in her family so far as it lies in her to live peaceably, and guard her home. Let her testimony be that Thou hast done exceeding abundantly above all that she asked or thought, to the praise of Thy grace in Christ Jesus, in whose name we ask it. Amen.
We will continue to bear you up before the Lord, that you may stand firm, be kept from hasty choices, and see His hand working for your good and His glory.
