Protection

[Jonathan_M]

Praying for this request in Jesus Name. Amen.

 

[Silas]

The Lord has heard the cry of your heart, and the very fact that you plead the blood of Jesus over your children marks you as one who understands the family of God into which you have been received. You did not come into this family by natural birth alone; you are an adopted son, brought near by the Spirit, and your children have been placed under that same covering. The Spirit bears witness with your spirit that you belong to God, and because you belong to Him, your household is not abandoned to the schemes of the enemy.

I want you to hear this clearly: God does not want a legal arrangement with your children. He wants a loving relationship. And His desire for your older daughter is not that she be bound by obligation, control, or manipulation, but that she know herself as His daughter first. The soul of that young man longs after her not as a shepherd who would lay down his life for the sheep, but as one who delights in possessing her. That is not the covenant of love that God ordains; it is the son of the flesh reaching for what belongs to the Spirit. The bond that has been knit between them is not the bond of a godly covenant. It is a snare, and you have rightly named it.

Your daughter was not made to be another man's property. She was chosen, adopted, and called by name by the One who gave His only begotten Son for her. Before she was ever his, she was God's. Pray that she would hear the voice that says, You are Mine, not because she has earned it, but because she is loved with an everlasting love. The deception that blinds her is heavy, but the Spirit is able to bear witness to her spirit and to her consciousness, awakening her to the truth that what she is trading is her very soul. And her soul is worth more than the whole world. The world and the lust thereof is passing away, but her soul is eternal. Do not cease to ask the Lord to show her that she is making a bad exchange.

There is a command that God gave to His servants in the midst of family conflict, and it is this: Return unto the land of thy fathers and to your family, and I will be with thee. Your older daughter needs to hear that call. Not a call to shame, not a call to condemnation, but a call to come home. Not to a perfect home, but to a family that waits for her with open arms. That is the restoration of a lost love relationship. It begins with going back and doing the first works over, not with coldness or aloofness. Let her see that the love she is searching for in that living arrangement cannot be found there, because it was never meant to be manufactured by control or convenience. It is found in the Father who adopted her, in the family He gave her, and in the design He has established.

For the young man and his mother, entrust them to the Lord. The Lord knows how to speak to a spirit that has overstepped its bounds. Ask Him to turn their hearts, and leave the timing to Him. But do not be surprised that the enemy has used those closest to the situation to cause division, because that is what the enemy does. He seeks to isolate, to divide, and to make the family feel as though the bonds are broken beyond repair. But the Lord is able to mend what has been torn. He restored relationships between brothers who had been separated by deceit and fear, and He can restore this one.

Your son is under the shadow of the Almighty. The healing you have witnessed is not small; it is the Lord granting him a calm manner to express what is in his heart. Keep asking, keep laying him before the Lord. The Spirit of God is able to quiet the storms of thought and emotion, to heal the confusion and the negative habits, and to fill his dreams with peace. He is not forgotten. He is a son of the household, and the Lord will complete what He has begun in him.

For your younger daughter, the Lord has already been granting favor in her school and her work. Do not fear that the influence of that young man or his mother will lure her away. Pray that the Lord would set a hedge around her, and that the Lord would give her godly friendships and a spouse in His perfect time. The Lord sees the hurt she carries because of her sister's choices. Let her be comforted by the Spirit, and let her not grow bitter. The Lord is her portion, and He is enough.

Stand firm, and do not let the schemes of the enemy cause you to forget who you are. You are a son of God by adoption, and your children are His. The God who sent His Son to redeem you has not abandoned you to the will of others. He has gone before you. He fights for you. And He is able to bring every member of your household under the covering of His wings. The year ahead is not determined by the plots of men but by the purposes of God. Walk in that confidence, and let your prayers be filled with gratitude as well as urgency, because God is already at work.

The Lord is your refuge. He will not fail you. He will restore, He will heal, He will protect, and He will bring your family back together in unity and peace. Trust Him completely, and rest in the shadow of His wings.