This prayer is laden with affection for one named ###, yet the soul that breathes it would do well to sit first at the Master’s feet and ask whether this love has been born from above or from the dust below. You plead for his heart to be unbarred to you, but has your own heart been fully unbarred to the Lord Jesus Christ? The creature’s love, however sweet, is a well that runs dry if the spring of Christ’s love be not opened in the bosom. O soul, the deepest craving of our nature was never meant to be filled by any mortal; it was fashioned for God alone, and until the love of Jesus becomes the chief delight, all earthly comforts will prove but broken cisterns.
You speak of hidden guilt in ### and pray that a false sense of it be washed away. Beware, I beseech you, lest you mistake the tender conviction of the Holy Ghost for a mere shadow of the mind. There is a guilt that is no delusion, the guilt of sin unpardoned, and it is never cleansed by bidding a man to be easy with himself, but only by confessing the iniquity and looking to the bleeding sacrifice of Calvary. I preached from Psalm 32 that “guile was as abundant in him as guilt, for he made no confession of his sin.” If ### has true guilt upon him, let him not bury it under a heap of new affections; let him go to the cross at once and have it slain. To you, dear pleader, I would whisper: is there any guile in your own heart? Have you examined the state of affairs between God and your soul, or are you, like so many, unwilling to do yourself this necessary service?
The command to go forward is a glorious one, but it is forward to Christ, forward to holiness, forward in the pathway of His commandments. Tell me, has the Lord indeed bid you go forward into this union? Or do you perchance mistake your own desire for a heavenly warrant? The children of Israel must go forward into the Red Sea at God’s bidding, but to rush forward without His voice is presumption. Forward to the cross, sinner! Forward to the five wounds! Forward to the bloody sweat! Get this first step taken, and then you shall know what forward steps are pleasing in His sight. If you have been sitting down in prayer, let tonight be the time to go forward by a true believing in Jesus, and then shall your way be made clear.
I fear that in this plea there is a wrong order of love. The Scriptures teach us that “except a man is born again, he cannot see this precious sparkling jewel of the kingdom of God, love to Christ.” Search yourselves, do you love Him? Does ### love Him? If love to Christ be the master passion, then every other affection will fall into its proper place. A great delusion of this age is the notion that romantic love must be pursued as the supreme good. But I would have you know that a mother’s love, which is of the purest and most intense sort, is most practical; it gives hands to labor and feet to run. The love that God approves is active for His glory, longing to see King Jesus return triumphant. Does this love you seek promote that? Or does it rather consume the thoughts and steal the heart away from its first Husband, the Lord of hosts?
You pray that ### be given permission to move forward with you and that regret be broken like a chain. But I ask you: has the former season of his life been closed in righteousness? If there be a living spouse, or if the Scripture forbids this new tie, then what you call freedom God names adultery. Our Lord Jesus has spoken plainly: “Whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.” Take heed, then, that you do not ask the Holy Spirit to bless a union which the Word withers with a curse. The law of marriage is a lifelong covenant of one man and one woman; any love that tramples upon this is not love at all, but a fire that shall consume the soul.
Did you feel the force of that sermon text: “O love the Lord, all ye his saints”? Spell all other love in little letters, but spell love to God in the largest capitals you can find! The less love you have to God, the lower is your rank among His saints; the more you have to Him, the higher your rank. Past guilt has a remedy, it is the healing leaves from the tree of life which is in the midst of the Paradise of God. They are for the healing of the nations, for every soul-sickness. If ### is troubled by sin, lead him to that tree, not to your own arms. The leaves can purge away the guilt, yes, and also the tendencies to evil. But you cannot act as his savior; point him to the only Savior.
This petition smells strongly of a false comfort. You would have the Holy Spirit whisper that it is well to be happy again. But what if God is using this sorrow to drive him from his iniquities? “Though He may smite us again and again to drive us from our iniquities, yet even then His gracious heart overflows with love.” When the Lord corrects, He does it in love: “In love I correct you, your gold to refine.” Let the sadness do its work, the perfect work of repentance, before you seek to wipe away all tears by the offering of a new love.
I charge you, then, to return to your first love, your love to Christ. If this earthly affection be the fruit of that, it will endure the test and wait His time. But if it sprout from the soil of self, let it wither. Better to be kept waiting at the door of grace than to rush into a path that ends in the chambers of death. Let your prayer be turned: “Lord, let me love Thee more entirely, and then, if it be Thy will, grant me to love another as a reflection of Thee.” Be willing to suffer for Him; pain will become light when it is borne in submission to His will.
Finally, I leave with you that text: “a time to love, and a time to hate.” Christ Himself had a time to love us, unworthy though we were, and now is the time for us to love Him with all our heart. If you and ### will both do that, you shall find that all other loves will be sanctified or stripped away, to your everlasting gain. Let no false guilt hinder him from the cross; let no false love hinder you from heaven.
Prayer Focus: God, Thank You for loving me. Thank You for loving me, Jesus. God, I ask You in Jesus’ name please bless me with everything that I stand in need of and everything You want me to have. 
