Protection

[Chrysostom]

We have heard your prayer and we join you in lifting your family before the Father in the name of Jesus Christ, through whom alone we have salvation and adoption as sons and daughters.

We thank God with you for His mercy in waking you and your children to a new day. We ask Him to cover your home, your hearts and your minds with His holy protection. May His peace which surpasses all understanding guard you and your children today, and may His angels keep watch over every door and window, every room and yard and vehicle. In the discomfort of the broken air conditioner we ask Him to grant you comfort and patience, and to let your home be filled with His presence, with kind words, pure thoughts and actions guided by His Spirit.

We pray for your son as you have asked. The Lord knows his needs and the struggles he carries. We ask for the Lord's healing and restoration according to His perfect will, that He would grant calmness, gentleness and peace of mind, remove what is not of Him, and help him to walk in obedience and joy. We pray that his day with his caregiver would be peaceful and settled, and that his life would reflect the light of Christ wherever he goes. As it is written, with God nothing will be impossible.

We lift up your younger daughter. We ask God to give her strength for her studies, to bless her health and her work, and to surround her with godly friendships that build her up. When she is weary we ask Him to renew her. We pray that He would give her clear wisdom to see what would harm her health, overwhelm her schedule, hinder her responsibilities and bring financial hardship, and that He would give her courage to stand firm and to say no to what would lead her away from His good path. We ask the same for you, that you would have wisdom, focus and favor in all He has entrusted to you.

We also lift up your older daughter with love and truth. We do not ask God to bless living together outside of marriage, for His word teaches that marriage is a lifelong covenant of one man and one woman and that sexual union and shared living as husband and wife belong within that covenant alone. Instead we pray as you have prayed, that the Lord in His loving kindness would speak to her heart, draw her to repentance, and lead her into a life of purity that honors Him. We pray that any ungodly tie would be broken, that spiritual clarity, independence and a renewed faith would be restored to her, and that she would find her worth in Christ alone and not in the approval of others. We ask God to frustrate every plan that seeks to divide your family, to poison gratitude, or to control through manipulation, pride or deceit, whether from this young man or his mother. If it is not His will for this relationship to continue toward a holy marriage, we pray He would remove its influence completely. If it be His will, we pray He would bring even those who now oppose your family to salvation through Jesus Christ, for there is no other name by which we are saved. We pray that your daughter would be shielded from obsessive and controlling influences, that she would not put a boyfriend before her family, her health, her work, her finances and her faith, and that she would be given courage to make godly choices. We pray for an unbreakable, loving and respectful bond between you and your children, rooted in Christ.

We are reminded that faith makes us children of God. As the Lord called the woman who came to Him in faith daughter and said her faith had made her whole, so He calls all who trust in Him and put on Christ to be sons and daughters, giving us the Spirit of adoption. This is not merely an outward cleansing but a new creation in righteousness and holiness of truth. The sure proof of our love for Him is hearing and keeping His commandments, for His word is not His alone but the Father's. This requires careful hearing, continual remembrance, and the cultivation of virtue with contempt for worldly things, not only deliverance from one struggle but growth in all that pleases Him.

We know too that following Christ can bring division even within a household, when some choose His way and others do not. Yet this also shows His power, that those who hear Him can stand firm in love and truth and continue to invite others to Him. He who loved us when we were still sinners and gave Himself up for us will surely keep those who are now His friends. He is both willing and able to save and to guard you.

Therefore we pray that no weapon formed against you, your daughters or your son shall prosper, that the Lord would clothe you with His full armor, guide every step, and let every dark and deceptive influence lose its power and flee in Jesus name. We ask for an overflow of the Holy Spirit in your home, that it would be a beacon of His light, filled with laughter, fellowship, gratitude and joy. We declare over you restoration, protection and blessing in Christ, trusting Him for breakthrough and for the mending of broken relationships in a godly, peaceful and respectful manner.

May the Lord keep you and your children today, grant you favor and recognition for your work at school and at your jobs without overwork or exhaustion, and make you all beacons of His light. May He unite your hearts in love, patience, respect and understanding, and grant you a peaceful and joyful day together. In the mighty name of Jesus we pray. Amen.

 

[Silas]

Your prayer has been heard and I join you in bringing your family before the Lord. It is a beautiful thing that you begin with thanksgiving for a new day, and that you plead the blood of Jesus over your home and your children. That is the right place to begin, because our standing before God is not a cold legal arrangement. Scripture teaches that Jesus is the only begotten Son of the Father, full of grace and truth, and that those who trust in Him are adopted into the family of God and born again by the Spirit. God does not want mere outward compliance from you. He wants a loving relationship with you, that you would know how deeply He loves you and that you would love Him in return.

That loving relationship with God is primary. The first commandments concern our relationship with Him, and until that vertical relationship is right, our relationships with others cannot be right. Your life turns on that center. When your walk with God is in order, it brings order to every other relationship. When it is out of order, everything else becomes out of balance. So as we pray for protection, peace, and restoration in your home, we keep that foundation first, that you and your children would know the Lord, abide in Him, and seek His will above all.

I pray with you for the comfort and protection you asked for. Even in small trials like a broken air conditioner, the Lord cares for your comfort and sees your need. I ask Him to cover your home, every room and door and window, your yard and vehicles, and to give you that peace which surpasses all understanding to guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. I pray that no weapon formed against you shall prosper, and that the Lord would station His angels around you and clothe you with His armor against every spiritual attack, fear, jealousy, and manipulation. I join you in asking that every dark and deceptive influence would lose its power and flee in the name of Jesus, and that your home would be filled with light, kindness, and the presence of the Holy Spirit.

For your son, I pray with deep compassion for healing, calm, and restoration. You quoted that by His stripes we are healed, and that with God nothing shall be impossible, and those promises are true. At the same time Scripture shows us that God in His wisdom does not always bring immediate physical healing in every case, as we see even with faithful servants who continued to suffer infirmity. We can therefore pray boldly for a miracle of healing and peace for your son, for calmness and joy and gentleness in his daily life with his caregiver, and at the same time trust the Lord's sovereign goodness and timing, knowing He loves your son even more than you do and will work for his good.

For your younger daughter, I pray that God will give her clear wisdom, strength, and courage to make Godly choices about her time, health, studies, and resources. It is right to ask for discernment to see when a path would bring harm, overwhelm her schedule, hinder her stewardship of what God has entrusted to her, including care for her pet, or bring financial hardship. I pray the Lord will surround her with uplifting, Godly friendships, bless the work of her hands, and keep her from confusion and exhaustion.

For your older daughter, I must speak to you with both love and truth. You have asked God to show her the sin of living together outside of marriage, and that is a faithful prayer. Scripture teaches that marriage is a lifelong covenant of one man and one woman, and that sexual union and living together belong within that covenant alone. A relationship outside of marriage is not marriage and does not carry its rights or responsibilities. For that reason I cannot ask God to bless that living arrangement, but I do join you in praying that He will draw her with loving kindness to repentance and to a life of purity that honors Him. I pray that every ungodly tie would be broken, that her spiritual clarity, independence, and faith would be restored, and that she would find her worth in Christ alone rather than in the approval of another person.

This is important because Scripture warns us how powerfully ungodly alliances pollute a life and a family. We see how Lot, though counted righteous, was vexed by the wickedness around him and how the moral corruption of that city touched his own family for generations. We see how a king who made joint ventures with wicked rulers saw those ventures broken by the Lord, and how his son, through a marriage alliance with a family that had turned Israel to deep moral depravity, was polluted by that influence, and how the influence of an ungodly mother can help shape a tyrant. In the same way, a relationship driven by fleshly desire, like that of Shechem who delighted in Jacob's daughter and sought to take her apart from God's way, brings sorrow and division rather than blessing. By contrast, the story of Ruth and Boaz shows God's design, where a man acts as a faithful kinsman redeemer and covers a woman in a covenant of marriage that preserves a family and honors the Lord, a line through which blessing came.

I pray that the Lord will frustrate every plan and scheme that seeks to bring division, isolation, and chaos into your family, and that He will expose and remove any controlling or manipulative influence that has overstepped its bounds, whether from the young man or his mother. I pray that your daughters would be shielded from influences that would poison their gratitude for family, faith, friendships, and work, and that they would not idolize or mimic rebellious behavior or put another person before God, family, purpose, health, and calling.

Above all, I pray for an unbreakable, loving and respectful bond between you and your children that is rooted in Christ. That your words would be kind, your thoughts pure, and your actions guided by the Spirit. That your home would be a beacon of light to all who enter it, filled with laughter, fellowship, joy, and divine protection. May the Lord go before you and prepare your paths, keep you safe from harm and distraction, and fill you with an overflow of His Spirit.

Father, I lift this mother and her children to You. Let them know they are Your adopted children through Jesus Christ, redeemed from under the law to receive that adoption. Let their love for You be real and personal. Grant healing and peace to their son according to Your perfect will. Grant wisdom and strength to the younger daughter and purity and restoration to the older daughter. Break every ungodly tie and bring complete restoration and protection to this family, for with You nothing shall be impossible. Let this day and this year be marked by Your favor, breakthrough, and peace that surpasses all understanding, in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.