We have heard your request and we join with you in bringing it before the Lord, and we thank you for sharing so honestly about your past and your present hope.
We grieve with you over the loss of your dad and we honor those long hard days you worked at his side before he passed. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted, for Psalm 34:18 says Yahweh is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves those who have a crushed spirit. We also grieve over how your parents strayed from faith and from prayer and from worship and from strict moral values. What you describe, late nights drinking and taking narcotics for fun and then giving cigarettes and alcohol and even Xanax and opioids to you and your sister while you were still teens, is a grave sin and a failure of their God given duty to protect and to raise you in the nurture and admonition of the Lord as taught in Ephesians 6:4. We must lovingly rebuke that pattern, and we also must rebuke your own past part in it, supporting an opiate habit by stealing from your mother, for Exodus 20:15 says You shall not steal and Ephesians 4:28 calls the thief to steal no more. We also rebuke the drunkenness and drug use itself, for Ephesians 5:18 says Don't be drunken with wine, in which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, and 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 reminds us that our body is a temple of the Holy Spirit and we are to glorify God in our body. We say this not to condemn you, because we rejoice that you are turning from these things, but so that you may fully renounce them and walk in the light, for 1 John 1:9 promises If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us the sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
We praise God that you have chosen to be sober and chaste, and we see the Lord's mercy in bringing into your life a good hearted gentle woman who loves you enough to wait and to call you to a higher standard. Her desire not to marry you until your heart has been fully converted to Christ is wise and biblical, for 2 Corinthians 6:14 says Don't be unequally yoked with unbelievers, and courtship should always be with the goal of marriage between a man and a woman who are both believers in Christ, a lifelong covenant that honors God as taught in Hebrews 13:4 which says Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the bed be undefiled. We strongly endorse your desire for marriage rather than simply a relationship, and we encourage you to continue to pursue her in purity, for 1 Corinthians 6:18 says Flee sexual immorality, and to keep yourself chaste until that marriage covenant is made. Her standard is protecting you both.
We also hear that you are still wrestling with old lingering new age beliefs from the past and with an avid interest in conspiracy theories from your youth. We urge you to bring these fully under the lordship of Christ, for Colossians 2:8 warns See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ, and Deuteronomy 18:10-12 shows that the Lord forbids practices that seek hidden spiritual knowledge apart from Him. The new age offers a counterfeit spirituality that cannot save, and conspiracy thinking can consume the mind and steal peace that belongs to Christ. We encourage you to set your mind on what is true and holy, as Philippians 4:8 says Finally, brothers, whatever things are true, whatever things are honorable, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is any praise, think about these things, and to be transformed by the renewing of your mind as Romans 12:2 teaches.
You prayed in the name of Lord Yeshua and we affirm with you that Yeshua is Jesus, and it is only by His name that we have access to God and are saved. Acts 4:12 says There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven that is given among men, by which we must be saved, and John 14:6 says Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me. A full conversion of the heart is not merely wanting to be a better man so you can marry the woman you love, though that desire is good, it is being made a new creation by faith in Jesus Christ who died for your sins and rose again. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. We encourage you to confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, as Romans 10:9 teaches, to turn from all sin including the lingering new age ideas, to be baptized and to walk daily in His Word, in prayer, in worship, and in fellowship with a faithful Bible believing church where you can be discipled and held accountable in sobriety and purity.
We pray together for you now.
Father in heaven, we come before You in the mighty name of Jesus Christ, our Lord Yeshua, and we thank You for this dear brother who has come out of much darkness and who now seeks You with a sincere heart. We ask You to forgive him for every sin, for the drunkenness and drug use, for stealing, for every new age belief and every thought that has exalted itself against the knowledge of You, and to wash him clean by the blood of Jesus shed on the cross. Lord, comfort him in his grief for his father and bring healing where there has been wounding from his upbringing. Fill him with Your Holy Spirit, renew his mind by Your Word, and make him a new creation, that the old things would pass away and all things would become new. Help him to renounce completely every new age practice and every fascination that distracts from Christ, and to fix his eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith. Keep him sober and vigilant, for 1 Peter 5:8 says Be sober and self-controlled, and keep him chaste and holy as he waits for marriage. We pray for this courtship, that if it is Your will, You would lead it toward a godly marriage that honors You, a marriage between a man and a woman committed for life, and that both would be equally yoked in Christ and would build their home on Your Word. Give him brothers in Christ to walk beside him, give him hunger for Scripture and for prayer and for worship, and let his conversion be not for the sake of marriage alone but for the sake of knowing You and being saved. We ask that You would make his heart fully Yours, that he would love You first and above all, and that out of that love he would love his future wife well. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray, amen.
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. God bless me to prosper, walk in excellent health, and never stop growing in the love, grace, wisdom, and knowledge of Christ Jesus. God bless me to know You in truth, fall in love with You with all my heart, mind, soul, body, and strength and never fall out of love with You. God, bless me to have an ever growing closer stronger, more intimate relationship with You. Bless me with the love, desire, strength, and the spirit of obedience to always delight myself in You, seek first Your kingdom, Your righteousness, and to always respect and obey You. Bless me to know You, the way You want me to know You. So that I will trust You with my life and anyway that You move in my life. Bless me to trust You with all my heart, lean not to my own understanding, acknowledge You in all my ways, and allow You to direct my footsteps and actions. Bless me with knowledge, wisdom, and understanding in all You have called me to do. 
