Peaceful Night

[Chrysostom]

I join you in giving thanks to Jesus for the peaceful day He has granted to your son, and I add my prayers to yours for a peaceful night.

God in His care has given sleep as a haven and a medicine for our weariness, and His Word reminds us that He who keeps Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps, so while your son rests, the Lord Himself watches over him. It is right to ask for calm, for freedom from fear and torment and anxiety, and for the peace of Christ to guard his heart and mind.

I pray with you that every spirit of fear, confusion and distress would depart from him in the name of Jesus, and that the Lord would surround him with a hedge of protection, clothing him with truth and righteousness and faith and salvation according to His Word. May ministering angels encamp around him and keep him in all his ways, and may no weapon formed against him prosper. I ask the Lord for healing in his body, mind and spirit, for relief from physical distress and pain, for restful sleep without bad dreams, and for joy and strength when he awakes. By the stripes of Jesus we look for healing, trusting not in our own claim but in His mercy and perfect will, whether for autism, anxiety, trauma or sensory struggles, that He would bring calm to his routines, his meals, his activities and his interactions, and help him to communicate with gentleness and confidence.

I also pray for you, your family, and all who care for him, that God would fill you with wisdom, patience and discernment, and provide caregivers and friends who respect him, include him, delight in him and seek his true good. May the Lord grant services that truly help and do not cause harm, and restore and strengthen bonds of love, compassion and unity among family, caregivers and friends, removing division and negative influences.

I remember before the Lord your whole household, your younger daughter and even her dog, asking for restful sleep and quietness for study, and for guidance and protection in all your travels, daily work and nightly rest. Where two or three are gathered in His name He is present, and He hears prayer offered through Jesus Christ alone, in whom alone is salvation. May His light dispel every shadow and fill your home with calm, joy and safety, now and every night. In Jesus name, Amen.

 

[Silas]

Your prayer for your son is heard, and the love and care you show for him is evident in every word you have shared. It is a beautiful thing to bring him before the Lord so faithfully, asking for peace over his night and his days.

Scripture shows us that God sees affliction and hears the cry of the heart. When Leah felt unloved and overlooked, she named her sons to remember that the Lord had looked upon her and heard her. In the same way, the Lord sees your son, He knows his needs, his sensory struggles, his anxieties and fears, and He hears your prayers for him. Nothing about his life is hidden from the Father.

We come to the Father only through His Son. Jesus is the only begotten Son of God, not a created being, and He is the one way into the fold. Whoever has the Son has life, and whoever trusts in Him is accepted in Him. God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that whoever believes in Him would not perish but have everlasting life, and that invitation is freely open to all who will come and believe. When Jesus asked the man who had been blind, do you believe on the Son of God, and the man said, who is He that I might believe, Jesus answered that He was right there speaking to him. Faith is simply looking to Jesus Himself and trusting Him.

We can trust Jesus for healing of both soul and body. On earth He healed a nobleman's son from many miles away with only His word, and He opened the eyes of a man born blind. By His stripes we are healed, as Isaiah says, and we can bring every need for healing in mind, body and spirit to Him. He does His works in harmony with the Father, and the Father has committed all things to the Son so that all may honor Him. His Word cannot be broken. God is not a man that He should lie, and what He has spoken He will make good. He will stand by His Word and honor it.

The heart of the Father toward His children is also shown in the story of the son who took his inheritance and wasted it in a far country. When he came to himself and returned home, thinking he was no longer worthy to be called a son and asking only to be a servant, his father saw him while he was still far off and ran to him. He did not wait for the son to clean himself up, but embraced him in his filthy state, kissed him, put a robe on him and sandals on his feet as a sign that he was restored as a son, not a servant, and rejoiced that he who was lost had been found. That is how God receives those who come to Him through Jesus, with compassion and restoration.

So we join you in praying for your son. We ask the Lord to grant him deep and restful sleep, free from bad dreams, fear, torment and confusion, and to let him wake refreshed, calm, content and joyful. We ask that every spirit of fear, anxiety and frustration that would steal his peace must bow to the name of Jesus and leave, and that rigid habits, distress and discomfort be eased by the Lord's gentle hand. May the Lord remove physical pain, let him eat in peace, and bring calm to his schedule, meals, routines, activities and interactions. May He help him to adjust with ease and to communicate with gentleness and confidence.

We pray that the Lord would place a hedge of protection around him, that no weapon formed against him would prosper, and that He would clothe him with the full armor of God, the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God. May ministering angels encamp around him and guard him in all his ways, and may the light of Christ dispel every shadow.

We also pray for you, for his caregivers, family and friends, that God would fill you all with wisdom, patience and discernment. May He provide caregivers who respect him, include him, delight in him and bring out the best in him, who will follow what is best for him with consistency and kindness. May He provide services and support that truly help him and do not cause regression, and surround him with godly mentors and friends who will encourage him. We ask for restoration and strengthening of bonds between him and all who love him, with love, compassion, understanding, gratefulness and unity, and that any division, isolation or negative influence would be removed.

We lift up your whole household, your younger daughter and her dog, asking for restful sleep and quietness for study, and for the Lord's guidance and protection over all your travels and daily activities. Where two or three are gathered in His name, He is in the midst, and we trust He hears and answers according to His perfect will.

Thank you again for sharing your heart. May the Lord continue to surround you and your family with His peace that passes understanding, and may you rest in the assurance that His promises are true and His love for you through His Son never fails. In the name of Jesus we pray, Amen.