Silas
Beloved of All
Your care for him comes through clearly and it is right to bring him before the Lord in prayer. God knows him fully, for He formed him, and He loves him perfectly, and He hears when you intercede for him.
One truth that can help him is that God is present everywhere at all times. Scripture asks where can anyone flee from His presence, and the answer is nowhere. If we go up or go down, He is there. Often we think we only enter God's presence when we gather for worship, as if we were away from Him on the way there and only arrive once we are inside. That is not true. He is with us when we wake, when we drive, when we sit alone, and when we scroll. What we lack is not His presence but a living awareness of it. Nothing changes our choices more quickly than remembering in the moment that we are before the Lord and cannot hide anything from Him. When that awareness fades, we begin to look for substitutes.
That is where something like a phone can take a wrong place in the heart. God's word says you shall have no other gods before Him, meaning He alone is to be the exclusive God of our lives. An idol is often a sign that we have lost the consciousness of His nearness and are trying to replace it with something we can see or touch. A screen can become that kind of reminder or replacement. It offers comfort, distraction, and quick relief from loneliness, anxiety, boredom, or restlessness, but it cannot give real rest. When we live with a steady sense of God's nearness we do not need those substitutes to fill the emptiness.
It is also helpful to remember how God made us. He keeps control of what sustains our lives without our thought, such as the beating of our hearts and the breathing of our lungs. Those work without our will. But He has given us responsibility for other choices, what we do with our hands, our eyes, and our time. Habits that constantly stimulate the mind can weaken judgment and the strength of the will, making it harder to choose what is good. That is why self control is described as fruit that comes from the Holy Spirit. We cannot produce it on our own for long, but God can give strength to set healthy boundaries, to put the phone down, and to choose presence over distraction.
So let us pray for him as an individual before God, and for you as you care about him.
Father, in the name of Jesus Christ who alone is the way of salvation, I lift this young man to You. You know his heart, his habits, and his needs. Make Your presence real to him throughout the day, not only in moments of worship but in ordinary moments. Where the phone has become a comfort or a habit, loosen its hold on his mind, his time, and his heart. Fill the places of loneliness, anxiety, boredom, and restlessness with Your peace and purpose. Teach him to find rest in You rather than in endless scrolling. By Your Spirit give him self control to set wise limits and to choose what is life giving. Draw him first into deeper fellowship with You, and then into richer, undistracted fellowship with family and friends. Restore to him joy in real conversation and clarity of mind. Make him whole and lead him into balance and freedom in Christ.
I also pray for you, that the Lord would give you wisdom and grace as you care for him. God designed marriage to be a lifelong covenant between one man and one woman, and He calls those who are not yet in that covenant to walk in purity and to seek Him first. I encourage you both to pursue Christ individually above all else, to guard your hearts and bodies for His glory, and to seek wise and godly counsel as you consider the future. Trust the Lord to lead each of you into His best as you keep Him on the throne of your lives.
May the Lord continue His work in both of you and draw you closer to Himself.
One truth that can help him is that God is present everywhere at all times. Scripture asks where can anyone flee from His presence, and the answer is nowhere. If we go up or go down, He is there. Often we think we only enter God's presence when we gather for worship, as if we were away from Him on the way there and only arrive once we are inside. That is not true. He is with us when we wake, when we drive, when we sit alone, and when we scroll. What we lack is not His presence but a living awareness of it. Nothing changes our choices more quickly than remembering in the moment that we are before the Lord and cannot hide anything from Him. When that awareness fades, we begin to look for substitutes.
That is where something like a phone can take a wrong place in the heart. God's word says you shall have no other gods before Him, meaning He alone is to be the exclusive God of our lives. An idol is often a sign that we have lost the consciousness of His nearness and are trying to replace it with something we can see or touch. A screen can become that kind of reminder or replacement. It offers comfort, distraction, and quick relief from loneliness, anxiety, boredom, or restlessness, but it cannot give real rest. When we live with a steady sense of God's nearness we do not need those substitutes to fill the emptiness.
It is also helpful to remember how God made us. He keeps control of what sustains our lives without our thought, such as the beating of our hearts and the breathing of our lungs. Those work without our will. But He has given us responsibility for other choices, what we do with our hands, our eyes, and our time. Habits that constantly stimulate the mind can weaken judgment and the strength of the will, making it harder to choose what is good. That is why self control is described as fruit that comes from the Holy Spirit. We cannot produce it on our own for long, but God can give strength to set healthy boundaries, to put the phone down, and to choose presence over distraction.
So let us pray for him as an individual before God, and for you as you care about him.
Father, in the name of Jesus Christ who alone is the way of salvation, I lift this young man to You. You know his heart, his habits, and his needs. Make Your presence real to him throughout the day, not only in moments of worship but in ordinary moments. Where the phone has become a comfort or a habit, loosen its hold on his mind, his time, and his heart. Fill the places of loneliness, anxiety, boredom, and restlessness with Your peace and purpose. Teach him to find rest in You rather than in endless scrolling. By Your Spirit give him self control to set wise limits and to choose what is life giving. Draw him first into deeper fellowship with You, and then into richer, undistracted fellowship with family and friends. Restore to him joy in real conversation and clarity of mind. Make him whole and lead him into balance and freedom in Christ.
I also pray for you, that the Lord would give you wisdom and grace as you care for him. God designed marriage to be a lifelong covenant between one man and one woman, and He calls those who are not yet in that covenant to walk in purity and to seek Him first. I encourage you both to pursue Christ individually above all else, to guard your hearts and bodies for His glory, and to seek wise and godly counsel as you consider the future. Trust the Lord to lead each of you into His best as you keep Him on the throne of your lives.
May the Lord continue His work in both of you and draw you closer to Himself.
