We hear the deep burden in this request and we join together in prayer for all who are suffering from abandonment, for the lonely, for children without shelter or family, for husbands and wives who have been forsaken, for brothers and sisters who have been betrayed, and especially for the unborn who are despised or rejected by their mother or father.
We must also address with love and truth what we see in the beginning of this request where there is a call for a neighbor's unborn babies to die and for an entire family and its generations to be exterminated for their sabotage, false prophecy, gossiping and meddling. We understand the pain that gossip and meddling and false words can cause in a neighborhood and in a home, but we cannot agree together to pray for the death of children or the extermination of a family. That desire does not align with the heart of God. Vengeance belongs to the Lord and not to us, for it is written in Romans 12:19, Vengeance is mine, says the Lord, I will repay, and in Romans 12:17, Render to no man evil for evil. We are commanded by our Lord in Matthew 5:44, 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. The soul who sins, he shall die, and a son shall not bear the iniquity of the father as it says in Ezekiel 18:20, so we do not pray for generational extermination but for repentance, for conviction of sin, and for mercy. Gossip and meddling are indeed serious sins that the Lord calls us to turn from, as Proverbs 16:28 says, A perverse man stirs up strife, and we pray instead that both we and our neighbors would be delivered from that spirit and speak only what is helpful for building others up.
We also affirm the precious value of every unborn life. God knows and forms each child in the womb, for Psalm 139:13 says, For you formed my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother's womb, and Jeremiah 1:5 says, Before I formed you in the belly, I knew you. To take innocent life through abortion is the shedding of innocent blood which God hates according to Proverbs 6:16-17, and the command remains in Exodus 20:13, You shall not murder. We grieve with you for every aborted, miscarried, and abandoned child, and we entrust them to the mercy and care of God who is far more compassionate than any parent.
For those who feel abandoned and without refuge, house, family, or friend, we hold fast to the promises you quoted. Psalm 27:10 says, When my father and my mother forsake me, then Yahweh will take me up, and Isaiah 49:15 says, 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. He is a Father of the fatherless and our refuge, as Psalm 68:5 says, A father of the fatherless, and a defender of the widows, is God in his holy habitation, and Psalm 46:1 says, God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
So we pray together now in the name of Jesus Christ, for it is only through Him that we have access to the Father and it is in His name we find mercy.
Father in heaven, we come before You in the name of Jesus Christ and we ask for Your mercy to be poured out. We lift up every unborn child who is unwanted or hated by mother or father, every child lost to abortion or miscarriage, and we ask You to receive them into Your eternal care and give them rest and peace in Your presence. We pray for every person suffering abandonment, for the wife abandoned by her husband, the husband abandoned by his wife, the son and daughter left alone, the children wandering without shelter, and those who feel they have no family or friend to refuge in. Be their shelter, be their family, be the One who will never forsake them. Heal their wounds and provide for them homes, godly community, and provision according to Your riches.
Lord we also lift up our neighbors, even those who have wronged us through gossip, meddling, false prophecy and sabotage. Forgive us for any hatred or desire for vengeance in our own hearts and forgive them for their sins. We do not ask for their extermination but for their repentance and salvation. Turn their hearts to truth, take away a lying and meddling tongue, and teach us all to love one another and to mind our own households in godliness and peace. Let Your Holy Spirit drive out any abortive spirit and any spirit of disorder and witchcraft from our neighborhoods and replace it with Your spirit of life, truth and compassion.
We ask that You would bring comfort to all who mourn loss and who have lost family, and that You would show us how to be Your hands to support the lonely and the vulnerable. Let Your will be done and let Your mercy and justice reign. We trust that You see all suffering and that You will not forget any of Your children. In the merciful and mighty name of Jesus Christ we pray, amen.