We join with you in prayer and we thank you for giving thanks to God for this day and for His presence in your life and in the lives of your children, for every good and perfect gift is from above and we give Him thanks in all things as we are taught in 1 Thessalonians 5:18. We hear the deep weariness and pain in your heart from years of feeling stolen from and lied about and hurt by your ex step sister and her family, and the burden you carry for your children and for the many others you have lifted up by name, and we bring all of this before the Lord with you.
We want to gently and lovingly correct a few things in your prayer so that your prayers may align more fully with the will of God. You prayed that the devil would be removed from your life and sent over to your ex step sister's house and onto her children. We understand the hurt that would make you pray this way, but Scripture does not teach us to ask God to send evil upon another person or family, even those who have hurt us. We are told to resist the devil and he will flee from us in James 4:7, and to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us in Matthew 5:44. Vengeance belongs to the Lord and He will repay in Romans 12:19, and we are told not to repay evil for evil but to overcome evil with good in Romans 12:21. Instead of asking God to transfer evil to them, we pray that God would deliver you and your children from the evil one in Matthew 6:13, that He would protect your home and your minds, and that He would also bring conviction, repentance and salvation to your ex step sister and her children if they do not know Him, for God desires that all should come to repentance in 2 Peter 3:9.
We also hear your prayers concerning several men in your life. You prayed for one who tried to kill you that love would be put back in his heart and in yours so you can heal. We must speak plainly here out of love and concern for your safety. God is your refuge and protector in Psalm 46:1, and He does not call you to return to or to long for a relationship with someone who has tried to take your life and has not shown true repentance and transformation. Forgiveness is commanded in Ephesians 4:32, but forgiveness does not mean returning to danger or trusting someone who remains unsafe. We pray for your complete healing and that God would restore life and joy to your heart, and that He would heal that man only as he truly repents before God, and we urge you to seek wise counsel and protection and to keep healthy boundaries.
You also prayed for a man who struggles with addiction and who womanizes women, that he would return to you and then choose to change. We pray earnestly for his deliverance, for God can set the captive free in John 8:36, and we pray that he would repent of sexual immorality, for the body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord in 1 Corinthians 6:13 and we are told to flee sexual immorality in 1 Corinthians 6:18. Womanizing and addiction are serious sins that destroy lives and relationships, and a man living in that way is not ready to be a godly husband until God has done a deep work of repentance and cleansing in him. We encourage you not to set your heart on being with someone in that condition, but to pray for his salvation and to trust God to bring you, if it is His will, a godly spouse who is a faithful Christian believer, for we should not be unequally yoked with unbelievers in 2 Corinthians 6:14. The same is true for the other relationships you mentioned. You prayed for a man to leave the woman he is with for the right woman, and for another man to be with his rightful girlfriend, and for a young woman and her boyfriend to become serious. We believe in the sanctity of marriage as a lifelong commitment between a man and a woman, and we encourage that any courtship between a man and a woman should be with the goal of godly marriage, not simply being a boyfriend or girlfriend, and that sex before or outside of marriage is fornication and is sin before God in Hebrews 13:4. Rather than asking God to move people from one romantic partner to another according to our own desires, we pray that each of these people would seek first God's Kingdom and His righteousness in Matthew 6:33, that they would pursue purity, and that God would lead each one to the spouse He has for them if they are to marry, or give them contentment in Him.
We hear your exhaustion and your cry that you and your children deserve to laugh and be a family again, and we agree that God wants to give you joy and restoration. You mentioned depression and suicide, and we want you to know that God is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit in Psalm 34:18, and He heals the broken in heart and binds up their wounds in Psalm 147:3. The Lord has plans for you for peace and not for evil, to give you hope and a future in Jeremiah 29:11. If these thoughts of depression and suicide are weighing heavily on you or on those you love, please reach out quickly to a trusted pastor, counselor, or other help and do not carry this burden alone, for we are called to bear one another's burdens in Galatians 6:2. We also see your weariness from lies and stealing, and we pray that God would bring truth to light in Luke 8:17, that what has been taken would be restored according to His justice, and that He would help you to release bitterness, for bitterness defiles many in Hebrews 12:15, and to walk in forgiveness while trusting God as your defender.
We are grateful that you prayed in the name of Jesus, for there is no other name under heaven by which we must be saved in Acts 4:12, and it is through Jesus that we have access to the Father in John 14:6. We are glad you ended your prayer in His name.
We pray together now for you.
Father, in the name of Jesus Christ we come before You and we lift up this dear mother and her children to You. Lord, we thank You for Your mercy and for being present in their lives. We ask that You would place Your hand of protection over this home and over the minds and hearts of these children, that no weapon formed against them would prosper in Isaiah 54:17, and that You would send Your peace which surpasses all understanding to guard their hearts and thoughts in Christ Jesus in Philippians 4:7. We ask that You would resist the devil on their behalf as they submit to You and resist him in James 4:7, and that You would deliver them from all evil. We pray for the return and restoration of her children to her home according to Your will and Your perfect timing, and that You would be their shield and their comfort while they wait, and that You would provide godly help and counsel for them.
Lord, we pray for each person she named before You. We pray for the one fighting depression, that You would restore to him what has been lost and lift his heaviness with Your joy, and for every person struggling with addiction and sexual sin, that You would bring deep conviction, repentance and deliverance, that they would be made new creations in Christ in 2 Corinthians 5:17. We pray for those seeking jobs and education, that You would open doors for honest work and provision so they can provide with dignity in Colossians 3:23, and for the young woman in her studies, that she would use her gifts for Your glory. We pray for the man who has done violence, that You would bring him to true repentance or keep Your daughter safe from him, and we ask for healing for her heart from that trauma. For all these relationships, we pray that Your will be done, that purity and holiness would be upheld, and that any future marriages would honor You.
Father, we also lift up the ex step sister and her children. We do not ask for evil upon them, but we ask for Your mercy and truth to work in their lives, that any stealing, lying or harm would be brought into the light and repented of, and that bitterness would be removed from all hearts and replaced with forgiveness and love that comes from You in Ephesians 4:31-32. Let all who do not belong in this home and in these children's lives be removed by Your righteous hand, and let what has been undone by wrongdoing be restored as You see fit. Heal this family from exhaustion and sorrow, and let them laugh and be a family again in Your joy, for the joy of the Lord is our strength in Nehemiah 8:10. We ask all this in the mighty and saving name of Jesus, amen.