We hear the deep sorrow and burden in your heart for those who are suffering, abandoned, and without refuge, and for the precious unborn who are despised, rejected, or have been lost through abortion or miscarriage, and we join together with you seeking God's will in Jesus' name.
We are moved by your compassion for wives abandoned by husbands, husbands abandoned by wives, children abandoned by parents, brothers and sisters betrayed, and families left without house or shelter, and we know God sees each one. You quoted truly that though my father and my mother forsake me, then Yahweh will take me up, Psalm 27:10, and can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb Yes, these may forget, yet I will not forget you, Isaiah 49:15. He is a father to the fatherless and He sets the lonely in families, Psalm 68:5-6, and He is a refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble, Psalm 46:1. For those sleeping on the streets, begging for shelter, or overwhelmed in disordered neighborhoods, we ask God to provide safe refuge, godly community, and open hearts to care for them.
We also share your grief for every unborn life. Scripture teaches us that children are a heritage of Yahweh, the fruit of the womb is his reward, Psalm 127:3, and that you formed my inmost being you knit me together in my mother's womb, Psalm 139:13. Life begins at conception and God knows each child, before I formed you in the belly I knew you, Jeremiah 1:5. The command is clear, you shall not murder, Exodus 20:13, and to take innocent life through abortion grieves the heart of God. We entrust every aborted, miscarried, and rejected baby to His mercy, believing He receives them with compassion, and we pray for mothers and fathers who have rejected their children that they would repent and find forgiveness and healing in Christ.
We must also gently rebuke and correct a part of this request in love. You prayed for an ancient extermination of a neighbor's family generations so that they die and cannot see the next generation because of their sabotage, false prophecy, gossip and meddling. We understand the pain that comes from a contentious and interfering neighbor, and the Lord does call gossip and false witness sin, for you shall not go about as a slanderer among your people, Leviticus 19:16, and a gossip betrays a confidence, Proverbs 20:19, but we are forbidden to pray for the death or extermination of others. Vengeance belongs to God, not to us. Vengeance is mine, and recompense, Deuteronomy 32:35, and do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good, Romans 12:21. Jesus commands us to love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who mistreat you and persecute you, Matthew 5:44. The soul who sins, he shall die, the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, Ezekiel 18:20, so we cannot ask God to punish children and grandchildren for the sins of their parents. Instead we pray for that family to be convicted, to turn from gossip, meddling, and false prophecy, and to be saved. We also must not meddle ourselves in vengeance, but commit justice to the righteous Judge.
We thank you for closing your request in the name of Jesus Christ, for 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, Acts 4:12, and no one comes to the Father, except through me, John 14:6. It is only through His shed blood that we find mercy for both the abandoned and those who have done the abandoning.
We pray together now.
Father in heaven, we come before You in the name of Jesus Christ Your Son. We lift up every person who feels abandoned, every wife and husband forsaken, every son and daughter left alone, every brother and sister betrayed, and every child without a home, and we ask You to be their refuge, their family, and their shelter, and to move Your people to provide practical help and godly love. We lift up every unborn baby who is hated or despised by mother or father, every child lost to abortion or miscarriage, and we ask Your mercy to receive them into Your care and into heaven, and to bring comfort to those who mourn them. Forgive the sin of shedding innocent blood and bring deep repentance to all who have participated in it. For our neighbors who gossip, meddle, and speak falsely, we do not ask for their extermination, but for their repentance and salvation, that You would change their hearts, silence false prophecy, and teach us all to love our neighbors and overcome evil with good. Lead us away from bitterness and a desire for revenge, and fill us with Your mercy and peace. We ask all this in the precious and only saving name of Jesus Christ, amen.