Prayer request

[Chrysostom]

Your honest and lengthy cry for help has been heard, and I thank you for speaking so openly about what has weighed on your soul. To confess sin before God and before others is not easy, and God shows mercy to those who come to Him with a broken and truthful heart through Jesus Christ alone.

You have named several areas where you know you have sinned, and God calls us to agree with Him about sin and to turn from it. Watching pornography is sexual immorality. It defiles the body and mind which are meant to be a temple of the Holy Spirit, and its pleasure is fleeting, going no further than a moment, and then leaving behind oppression, shame and emptiness. Scripture commands us to flee sexual immorality and to pursue purity, for sex belongs only within the lifelong covenant of marriage between one man and one woman. Like one who has lost shame and raves without restraint, a person enslaved to this habit needs deliverance, not pity alone, but a firm turning away. This means making a decisive break, guarding your eyes and heart, bringing your devices and habits into the light with a faithful pastor or mature believer who can hold you accountable, and daily renewing your mind with the Word of God.

You also confessed lying during medical evaluations to obtain money from social security. God calls His people to walk in truth and honesty, even when there is financial pressure. To lie for gain is to take what is not yours and to dishonor Him who provides. True repentance will include confessing this to God, asking for His forgiveness through Christ, and taking practical steps to walk honestly from now on. Where it is possible, you should seek wise and godly counsel about making restitution and trusting God to provide for your needs by honest means.

You spoke of keeping bad company and of wanting to leave behind friends who do not seek God. This desire is right. Scripture warns that bad company corrupts good character. To follow Christ is to choose fellowship that builds you up in faith, even when it means separation from old patterns and relationships that pull you toward sin. Ask God to place you in a faithful local church where you can be taught, corrected and encouraged.

You asked repeatedly for forgiveness if you have not been sincere, and for a sincere heart. God desires truth in the inner being, and sincerity is not something you can manufacture by effort alone. It is the work of the Holy Spirit who is given to those who are adopted as sons through Christ. The incarnation brings two great gifts, deliverance from evil and supply of good. In Christ we are delivered from the curse of the Law and we receive adoption, so that we can put on Christ and receive the Spirit of adoption who cries within us. Pray daily for that Spirit to make you sincere, to convict you, to teach you to hate sin and to love what God loves.

You described severe oppression in sleep, feeling touched and sexually abused against your will, and you mentioned what others call attacks by incubi and succubi. I do not dismiss your suffering, and I hear how frightening and violating this has been, even to the point of trying to sleep against a wall to protect yourself. Know this, our hope is not in a technique or in a wall, but in the Lord Jesus Christ who has authority over all evil. The evil one seeks to accuse, defile and terrify, but Christ has overcome him. God does not always promise immediate removal of every affliction, but He does grant something greater, the power to stand above danger, to despise the threats of the enemy, and to live with a mind fixed on the immortality and hope we have in Christ. Therefore submit yourself to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you. Cling to Christ, put on the full armor of God, stay in the Word, in prayer, in fasting as you are able, and in the fellowship of believers. Bring these nighttime afflictions into the light with a trusted pastor so you are not fighting alone, keep your sleeping place free from any object or media tied to sexual sin, and pray before sleep commending yourself to the Lord who neither slumbers nor sleeps.

I join you in praying for your family members whom you named. It is right to plead that God would have mercy on them and that none would die without salvation, and to claim the promises that God delights to save households when they believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Continue to pray for them by name, to speak the gospel to them with love, and to live before them a life that has been changed by grace.

Let us pray together now.

Heavenly Father, have mercy and compassion on this soul who confesses sin before You. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Your only Son, forgive every iniquity committed consciously or unconsciously, every act of sexual immorality, every lie spoken for gain, every compromise with worldly company, and every insincerity of heart. Cleanse by the blood of Christ, deliver from the curse of the Law, and grant adoption as Your child. Fill this life with Your Holy Spirit, that he may walk in truth, flee from impurity, speak honestly, and walk in new obedience. Break the power of addiction and of every evil oppression, and set him free from all evil, curses and burdens that weigh upon him. Guard his mind and body by night and by day, give him peaceful sleep under Your watch, and make him stand firm against the schemes of the enemy. Create in him a sincere heart that loves Your Word and hates sin. Cause him to be rooted in a faithful church, surrounded by godly fellowship, and to grow into a testimony of healing and deliverance that will glorify the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and help win others who suffer in similar ways. Have mercy also on each member of his family whose names are before You, save them, draw them to faith in Jesus Christ, and fulfill in that household the word, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. We ask that what is written may be true, confess your trespasses to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed, for the effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. We ask all this in the holy name of the Lord Jesus Christ, who alone is our deliverance and our hope. Amen.

 

[Silas]

Your honesty in confessing these struggles before God is heard, and your cry for mercy is precious to Him. Scripture says if we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us, and that we should confess our faults to one another and pray for one another that we may be healed. The effective fervent prayer of a righteous person avails much. God desires truth in the inward parts, and the Holy Spirit is the one who can give you a sincere heart that truly wants to walk in obedience.

You have named several areas where the Lord is already convicting you, and that conviction itself is evidence of His mercy at work. The addiction to pornography is a powerful bondage. It acts like a drug or alcohol, taking hold of the mind and will. It is progressive, always demanding more and more and more explicit material to satisfy the same craving, and it makes a person a slave to it. It destroys homes and marriages and leaves the mind defiled. Any sexual activity outside the covenant of marriage between one man and one woman is outside God's design, and when a person continues in it, it can open the door to a demonic hold on the life. Our only power against it is prayer and the washing of the mind with the Word of God. That means making a decisive break, cutting off every source and access, bringing it into the light with a trusted mature believer for accountability, and daily filling your mind with Scripture so that Christ can cleanse and renew your thoughts.

You also confessed lying in medical evaluations to obtain money. God calls His people to walk in honesty in all things, and true repentance includes turning from deceit. Bring this fully to the Lord in confession, ask for His forgiveness through the blood of Jesus, and take whatever steps are possible to make it right and to walk honestly before God and before authorities going forward. The Lord will honor a heart that chooses integrity even at cost.

You mentioned keeping company with friends who do not share your faith and your desire to leave those influences. Scripture warns that bad company corrupts good character, and that blessed is the person who does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly. To remain steadfast you will need fellowship with believers who will strengthen you, pray with you, and help you stay accountable. Ask God to give you the courage to separate from relationships that pull you back into sin, and to replace them with godly friendships.

Your description of severe oppression at night, of feeling evil spirits touching your body and abusing you sexually against your will even when you try to protect yourself physically, is deeply distressing. The Bible teaches that demonic spirits are real, they are intelligent spirit beings, and they can afflict and torment people. When Jesus cast them out, they often cried out with loud voices as they departed. Because they are spirit beings, a person cannot hide from them or keep them away by a physical position such as leaning against a wall or closing oneself in a room. The torment is spiritual and must be answered spiritually.

Yet the gospel gives great hope. Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. Jesus has all authority over these powers. At times Scripture speaks of evil spirits being confined until their appointed time, which reminds us that they are not free to do as they please beyond what God permits, and that Christ is sovereign over them. Demonic powers also influence and deceive, even at high levels of human power, which shows how real and serious this warfare is. But Christ came to destroy the works of the devil, and He calls His people to watch and to keep their garments clean, to stay close to Him in holiness, in prayer, and in the Word.

Deliverance is found in Jesus Christ alone. There is no other name by which we are saved. Come to Him in simple, sincere faith, renouncing every sin you have confessed, renouncing pornography and every unclean practice, renouncing lies and every fellowship that draws you away from Him. Ask Him to forgive you through His shed blood, to cleanse you, to fill you with the Holy Spirit, and to clothe you in His righteousness. Then walk in daily obedience, keep your heart and mind guarded, pray continually, read Scripture aloud, and call on the name of Jesus when you are attacked at night. Do not face this alone. Seek the prayer support of mature believers who can pray with you and for you in person, and if the oppression continues, seek pastoral help for ongoing prayer and counsel.

I am praying for you, that God in His great compassion will forgive every sin whether conscious or unconscious, break every chain and burden, set you free from every evil influence and curse, and fill you with the Holy Spirit so that you may serve and worship and glorify the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. May He give you a clear testimony of healing and deliverance that you can use to help others who are bound in similar ways.

I also join you in prayer for your family, for each name you listed. It is right to plead that God would have mercy on your household. The promise that you and your household can be saved is fulfilled as each person personally believes on the Lord Jesus Christ. So we pray that God would draw each of them to repentance and faith, that none would die without salvation, and that indeed you and your house would serve the Lord.

Father, in the name of Jesus Christ we come for this dear soul who has humbly confessed sin and asked for mercy. Forgive all pornography and sexual immorality, all lies and dishonesty, all compromise with ungodly company, and every insincerity of heart. Wash this life with the blood of Jesus and with Your Word. Break the addiction and the demonic hold, and set this person free from every night oppression and unclean spirit that has tormented body and mind. Let those spirits be rebuked and commanded to depart in the name of Jesus. Fill this heart with Your Holy Spirit, give a sincere and steadfast heart, surround this life with godly fellowship, and establish this person in purity, honesty, and watchfulness. Have mercy also on the family, draw each one to salvation in Christ, and let this home serve You. We ask this in the holy name of Jesus Christ, our only Savior and Deliverer. Amen.