Silas
Beloved of All
Your heartfelt prayer has been heard, and the burdens you carry for your children and your home are deeply understood. Thank you for bringing these things before the Lord with such honesty and urgency.
The Lord invites you into a close and living relationship with Him, not a distant or ritual one. Through Jesus Christ you have been adopted into His family, and He wants you to know Him as Father. Jesus taught us to pray, Our Father in heaven, and that speaks of intimacy, trust and love. He does not want you to relate to Him only through forms and words, but to walk with Him in love, knowing how deeply you are loved. When that primary relationship with God is restored and kept tender, the other relationships in life begin to find their proper balance. When the heart returns to its first love for Him, with hunger for His Word and fellowship with Him, He brings clarity and strength for everything else.
Scripture puts great weight on the family and on honoring parents, and it shows that our walk with God is at the very root of how we relate to one another. You can often trace confusion and division in the home back to a need to have the heart right with God first. As you seek Him, He will give you the wisdom, grace, strength and courage you have asked for to navigate this season.
God's design for marriage is a lifelong covenant between one man and one woman, and He reserves sexual intimacy and living together for that covenant alone. What you describe in your older daughter's living arrangement is not marriage in God's eyes, even if it is treated as such, and it is right that you do not ask God to bless it as if it were. Instead we can pray that God will open her eyes to truth, break every ungodly tie that binds her, and give her the courage to walk away from what is harming her and to return to safety, to faith, and to the family He has given her. Pray that any sense of obligation, worthlessness or being trapped will be lifted, and that her heart will again long for home, for peace and for righteousness. Pray that she will come to desire God's best for her life, and in His perfect timing a godly marriage that reflects His covenant love, where she is cherished and honored.
The Scriptures show how easily a polluted environment can touch a family. When Lot lived in a corrupt place, even though he himself knew God, the moral climate cost him deeply in the lives of his children. It is very hard to live closely joined to what is unhealthy and not be affected by it. In the same way, jealousy, rivalry and strife quickly appear when relationships are formed outside of God's pattern. We see this from the earliest families, where taking more than one wife or forming bonds outside God's design brought deep conflict into the home. For your daughter, continued closeness to influences that encourage rebellion, disrespect, manipulation and control will only bring more exhaustion, isolation and loss of self worth. God's call is to come out and return to the place of family and faith, and His promise to Jacob is still true for you, return and I will be with you. He will be with you as you stand for truth in love.
Even when a relationship has become painful, we are called to do good and to bless where we can, as Jacob did with his brother after years of hatred and division. He chose to share, to build up, to embrace and to seek peace. That does not mean accepting what is wrong or allowing ongoing harm, but it does mean keeping your own heart free from hatred and asking God to frustrate every plan that seeks to divide and isolate your family. Pray that every scheme to cause division, to use your daughter, or to put conditions on her love for her family will come to nothing, and that those who have influenced her will turn their attention to their own responsibilities and release her from this bondage.
For your home, ask the Lord to cover you, your children, your hearts and minds, every door and room with His holy protection. He promises to command His angels concerning you and to keep you under the shadow of His wings. Pray that no weapon formed against you and your family will prosper, and that His peace which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts. Ask Him to let your rest be deep and undisturbed, filled with His presence.
For your son, bring his thoughts, emotions and heart before the Lord. Ask God to calm him, to heal what has been wounded by trauma and anxiety, and to quiet frustration and confusion. Pray that the Lord will give him a calm and gentle spirit and help him to use the language God has given him to express his feelings, wants and needs. Ask that he will know the mind of Christ and walk in gentleness and grace, free from fear and torment, with dreams filled with comfort and joy.
For your younger daughter, ask for God's healing and strengthening of her body and mind, for His favor on her health, schooling and future work, for uplifting and godly friendships, and in time for a godly spouse according to His will. Pray that she will be saturated with His peace and satisfaction, and that even as she feels the hurt of seeing her sister changed by these influences, she will sleep peacefully, confident in God's love and protection.
For yourself, continue to look to your Father who sees your tears and hears your cries. Ask Him to fill you again with that first love for Jesus, to restore joy, unity and laughter to your family, and to root your home more deeply than ever in His love and grace. Ask Him to provide for your finances so you may also be a blessing to others, and to bring unexpected blessings, breakthroughs and miracles in the year ahead.
May the Lord shine His light into every dark place, drive out fear and confusion, and restore to your daughter wisdom, gratitude for the family God has given her, and a true sense of her worth in Christ. May He keep her safe, set her free, and guide her steps back to Him. In the mighty name of Jesus Christ we trust Him to do what only He can do. Amen.
The Lord invites you into a close and living relationship with Him, not a distant or ritual one. Through Jesus Christ you have been adopted into His family, and He wants you to know Him as Father. Jesus taught us to pray, Our Father in heaven, and that speaks of intimacy, trust and love. He does not want you to relate to Him only through forms and words, but to walk with Him in love, knowing how deeply you are loved. When that primary relationship with God is restored and kept tender, the other relationships in life begin to find their proper balance. When the heart returns to its first love for Him, with hunger for His Word and fellowship with Him, He brings clarity and strength for everything else.
Scripture puts great weight on the family and on honoring parents, and it shows that our walk with God is at the very root of how we relate to one another. You can often trace confusion and division in the home back to a need to have the heart right with God first. As you seek Him, He will give you the wisdom, grace, strength and courage you have asked for to navigate this season.
God's design for marriage is a lifelong covenant between one man and one woman, and He reserves sexual intimacy and living together for that covenant alone. What you describe in your older daughter's living arrangement is not marriage in God's eyes, even if it is treated as such, and it is right that you do not ask God to bless it as if it were. Instead we can pray that God will open her eyes to truth, break every ungodly tie that binds her, and give her the courage to walk away from what is harming her and to return to safety, to faith, and to the family He has given her. Pray that any sense of obligation, worthlessness or being trapped will be lifted, and that her heart will again long for home, for peace and for righteousness. Pray that she will come to desire God's best for her life, and in His perfect timing a godly marriage that reflects His covenant love, where she is cherished and honored.
The Scriptures show how easily a polluted environment can touch a family. When Lot lived in a corrupt place, even though he himself knew God, the moral climate cost him deeply in the lives of his children. It is very hard to live closely joined to what is unhealthy and not be affected by it. In the same way, jealousy, rivalry and strife quickly appear when relationships are formed outside of God's pattern. We see this from the earliest families, where taking more than one wife or forming bonds outside God's design brought deep conflict into the home. For your daughter, continued closeness to influences that encourage rebellion, disrespect, manipulation and control will only bring more exhaustion, isolation and loss of self worth. God's call is to come out and return to the place of family and faith, and His promise to Jacob is still true for you, return and I will be with you. He will be with you as you stand for truth in love.
Even when a relationship has become painful, we are called to do good and to bless where we can, as Jacob did with his brother after years of hatred and division. He chose to share, to build up, to embrace and to seek peace. That does not mean accepting what is wrong or allowing ongoing harm, but it does mean keeping your own heart free from hatred and asking God to frustrate every plan that seeks to divide and isolate your family. Pray that every scheme to cause division, to use your daughter, or to put conditions on her love for her family will come to nothing, and that those who have influenced her will turn their attention to their own responsibilities and release her from this bondage.
For your home, ask the Lord to cover you, your children, your hearts and minds, every door and room with His holy protection. He promises to command His angels concerning you and to keep you under the shadow of His wings. Pray that no weapon formed against you and your family will prosper, and that His peace which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts. Ask Him to let your rest be deep and undisturbed, filled with His presence.
For your son, bring his thoughts, emotions and heart before the Lord. Ask God to calm him, to heal what has been wounded by trauma and anxiety, and to quiet frustration and confusion. Pray that the Lord will give him a calm and gentle spirit and help him to use the language God has given him to express his feelings, wants and needs. Ask that he will know the mind of Christ and walk in gentleness and grace, free from fear and torment, with dreams filled with comfort and joy.
For your younger daughter, ask for God's healing and strengthening of her body and mind, for His favor on her health, schooling and future work, for uplifting and godly friendships, and in time for a godly spouse according to His will. Pray that she will be saturated with His peace and satisfaction, and that even as she feels the hurt of seeing her sister changed by these influences, she will sleep peacefully, confident in God's love and protection.
For yourself, continue to look to your Father who sees your tears and hears your cries. Ask Him to fill you again with that first love for Jesus, to restore joy, unity and laughter to your family, and to root your home more deeply than ever in His love and grace. Ask Him to provide for your finances so you may also be a blessing to others, and to bring unexpected blessings, breakthroughs and miracles in the year ahead.
May the Lord shine His light into every dark place, drive out fear and confusion, and restore to your daughter wisdom, gratitude for the family God has given her, and a true sense of her worth in Christ. May He keep her safe, set her free, and guide her steps back to Him. In the mighty name of Jesus Christ we trust Him to do what only He can do. Amen.
