Silas
Beloved of All
Thank you for sharing this burden for someone you clearly love very much. It is a joy to hear that he has found happiness and that you have been praying for him for years, and that you see this new relationship as an answer to prayer. Your care for his whole life, not only his happiness in this relationship but his health, his stewardship and his future, reflects a godly love.
The greatest encouragement I can offer is to keep the first thing first. God does not want a distant, ritual or legal relationship with us where we try to earn His favor by keeping a routine. He invites us into a close, loving relationship as a Father with His children. Jesus taught us to pray, Our Father in heaven, and that word Father speaks of intimacy, trust and love. God wants him to know how much he is loved and to love God in return. When that vertical relationship with God is right, every other relationship begins to find its proper balance. If the center is right, our relationships with other people, with our possessions, with our own bodies and even our struggles come into order, not because we are trying harder to fix each one separately, but because our life is revolving around the right axis.
That is why the deeper need beneath the good desires you mentioned is a growing walk with Jesus. The changes you are praying for, to care for his health, to be a good steward of money, to be faithful and diligent in work and to grow in responsibility, are good and right. Scripture shows that there is a real connection between the health of the soul and the health of the body and the way we live. But those good habits are best seen as fruit that grows naturally from a living relationship with Christ, not as works we do to earn love or to impress others. When a person is made right with God through faith in Jesus Christ alone, and lives close to Him in the Spirit, the desire to honor God with his body, his money and his work grows as a natural consequence. Sin always separates and pulls us away from God, while walking with Him brings joy that does not depend on circumstances.
So as you pray for the meeting with her parents, pray that they would see genuine character, kindness, honesty and a heart that loves God and loves their daughter well. True riches are not measured first in income or promotions, but in a life that is faithful, loving and trustworthy. A right relationship with God will shape him into the kind of man who can love a wife as Christ loves the church and who can provide for and lead a family within the lifelong covenant of marriage between one man and one woman, with purity and commitment that honors God. Pray also for his health and work, not only that a promotion would come quickly, but that he would become a faithful steward of the body God gave him and the resources God has entrusted to him, seeking wise counsel for medical and dental care, discipline in daily habits, and diligence in his job as unto the Lord. God delights to give good opportunities to His children in His perfect timing.
Let us pray together. Father in heaven, thank You for Your great love and for the gift of being known as Your children through Jesus Christ. I lift up this young man to You. Draw him into a deeper, loving and intimate relationship with You. Help him to know he is fully loved and forgiven through Jesus alone, and to walk with You daily. Heal what is wounded, strengthen what is weak, and produce in him the fruit of a life close to You. Give him wisdom to steward his health, his money and his work faithfully. Guide this new relationship according to Your will, guard them in purity, and if it is Your will, lead it toward a marriage that honors You. Give favor and understanding in the meeting with her parents, and let all who know him see Christ at work in him. Above all, prosper his soul, and in Your grace care for every other need according to Your perfect wisdom and timing. In the name of Jesus, Amen.
The greatest encouragement I can offer is to keep the first thing first. God does not want a distant, ritual or legal relationship with us where we try to earn His favor by keeping a routine. He invites us into a close, loving relationship as a Father with His children. Jesus taught us to pray, Our Father in heaven, and that word Father speaks of intimacy, trust and love. God wants him to know how much he is loved and to love God in return. When that vertical relationship with God is right, every other relationship begins to find its proper balance. If the center is right, our relationships with other people, with our possessions, with our own bodies and even our struggles come into order, not because we are trying harder to fix each one separately, but because our life is revolving around the right axis.
That is why the deeper need beneath the good desires you mentioned is a growing walk with Jesus. The changes you are praying for, to care for his health, to be a good steward of money, to be faithful and diligent in work and to grow in responsibility, are good and right. Scripture shows that there is a real connection between the health of the soul and the health of the body and the way we live. But those good habits are best seen as fruit that grows naturally from a living relationship with Christ, not as works we do to earn love or to impress others. When a person is made right with God through faith in Jesus Christ alone, and lives close to Him in the Spirit, the desire to honor God with his body, his money and his work grows as a natural consequence. Sin always separates and pulls us away from God, while walking with Him brings joy that does not depend on circumstances.
So as you pray for the meeting with her parents, pray that they would see genuine character, kindness, honesty and a heart that loves God and loves their daughter well. True riches are not measured first in income or promotions, but in a life that is faithful, loving and trustworthy. A right relationship with God will shape him into the kind of man who can love a wife as Christ loves the church and who can provide for and lead a family within the lifelong covenant of marriage between one man and one woman, with purity and commitment that honors God. Pray also for his health and work, not only that a promotion would come quickly, but that he would become a faithful steward of the body God gave him and the resources God has entrusted to him, seeking wise counsel for medical and dental care, discipline in daily habits, and diligence in his job as unto the Lord. God delights to give good opportunities to His children in His perfect timing.
Let us pray together. Father in heaven, thank You for Your great love and for the gift of being known as Your children through Jesus Christ. I lift up this young man to You. Draw him into a deeper, loving and intimate relationship with You. Help him to know he is fully loved and forgiven through Jesus alone, and to walk with You daily. Heal what is wounded, strengthen what is weak, and produce in him the fruit of a life close to You. Give him wisdom to steward his health, his money and his work faithfully. Guide this new relationship according to Your will, guard them in purity, and if it is Your will, lead it toward a marriage that honors You. Give favor and understanding in the meeting with her parents, and let all who know him see Christ at work in him. Above all, prosper his soul, and in Your grace care for every other need according to Your perfect wisdom and timing. In the name of Jesus, Amen.
