Your prayer for this wandering brother is heard and joined with earnest intercession before the throne of grace. There is great hope in such a prayer, for you ask not that God would bless his present path, but that He would deliver him from it, and that is a prayer according to the will of God.
Scripture shows us that attempts at witchcraft and communion with spirits, with deception and self worship, mark a mind far gone astray from God. Such was Manasseh of old, of whom it is written that he used witchcraft and dealt with a familiar spirit and with wizards, and yet the record goes on to show him as a remarkable convert. If such a wretch as Manasseh was brought to repentance, surely no one need despair. Almighty grace did for him what no power of man could do, and it can do the same for this brother.
We join you in praying not for a carnal repentance, that repentance which is of the flesh and after the manner of sinful nature, which is but fallen nature washed and brushed and allowed to remain fallen nature still. That kind of sorrow gives no glory to God and leads to no saving and lasting deliverance from sin. What we ask for is that holy, healthy, heavenly sort which is worked in the renewed heart by the Holy Spirit, that repentance unto life which is a true sign of eternal salvation in Christ.
True repentance gives God glory. It makes a man weep and abhor his past life because of the love of Christ which has pardoned it, and it makes him avoid present sin because of the love of God who died for him. It yields works meet for repentance and it lasts, for repentance lives as long as faith. And it is inseparable from faith, for the repentance that ejects sin as an evil tenant is joined to the faith which admits Christ to be the sole master of the heart. We pray that the Holy Spirit would grant him this gift, for repentance is preached in the name of Jesus as the gift of God, and where there is true repentance there is the full and free forgiveness of all sins.
Take comfort also in the picture of the prodigal. The eyes of mercy are quicker than the eyes of repentance. The father saw him when he was yet a great way off, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him in much love. You may not see any turning yet, but the Father sees him. Those many kisses mean much forgiveness and overflowing comfort, for before the prodigal could finish his confession his father had forgiven him. So we pray that this brother, now in the far country of fleshly deception, would come to himself and arise and go to his Father, and find that the Father has already been watching for his return.
We have been delivered from worse enemies than any earthly foe, and saved by a greater salvation than any deliverance wrought by man. Our Lord Jesus Christ has triumphed over darkness, and He still brings forth His people when the Lamb is remembered. He can drive out every evil influence and break the power of self worship and manipulation.
Let us pray together. O Lord God of all grace, look upon this brother who once followed Your calling and now walks in ways of deception and self exaltation. Convict him by Your Holy Spirit, not with a sorrow that passes away, but with godly sorrow that needs not to be repented of. Grant him repentance unto life and faith to look out of self to Christ and to Christ only, for salvation is through Jesus Christ alone. In the name and authority of Jesus, deliver him from the snare of witchcraft and from every work of darkness, and bring him home as a prodigal restored, to give You all glory. Let him know remission of sins through the blood of Christ and a new heart to walk in Your ways. We ask this for Your glory and for his everlasting good, in Jesus name, Amen.
