Protection

[Chrysostom]

Your heartfelt prayer has been heard, and I join you in bringing your family before the Lord Jesus Christ, who alone is our salvation and our protection.

I thank God for your faith and your love for your children. Like the woman in the Gospel who cried out for her daughter, you have come with great persistence and love for your children, and Christ honors such faith. He said to that mother, be of good cheer, your faith has made you whole, and He shows us that a parent's faithful prayer does contribute greatly to the healing and deliverance of a child. Continue to bring them before Him with that same trust.

I pray with you for protection over your home tonight. May the Lord cover you and your children, your hearts and minds, every door and window and room, and grant you all a peaceful and restful night under the shadow of His wings. I pray for your older daughter as she travels to and from her work event, that God will keep her safe, give her strength and energy, and grant her favor. I pray for your younger daughter, that God will strengthen her body and mind, guard her health and her studies and work, surround her with godly and uplifting friendships, and in His perfect time provide a godly husband if it is His will. I pray for your son, that the Lord will calm his thoughts and emotions, give him peace that surpasses understanding, and help him to grow in gentle and gracious speech to express his needs and feelings. We ask God for His grace and comfort over every struggle with anxiety, confusion and past trauma, trusting that His power is made perfect in our weakness and that He will give daily grace and peace as your son rests in His love.

I also lift up your older daughter and her current living arrangement before the Lord with truth and love. God has given marriage as a lifelong covenant between one man and one woman, and He intends sexual union and shared living as husband and wife to belong within that covenant. It is a holy mystery of Christ's presence. Because of this, I cannot ask God to bless a living arrangement outside of marriage, but I do pray earnestly for your daughter's deliverance and restoration. I pray that God will open her eyes to truth, break every ungodly tie that binds her, and free her from any manipulation, control, obsession or confusion that has isolated her from you and from His purpose for her life. I pray that He will restore her wisdom, her self worth in Christ, and her love for home and family, and give her the courage to walk away from what is exhausting and dividing her and to return to safety and purity. I pray that any schemes to cause division or to use her will be frustrated, and that she will no longer feel obligated or trapped but will seek to honor God with her body and her choices. As Scripture teaches, we have been delivered from the curse and brought into adoption as sons and daughters through Christ, and that adoption is our true identity and worth. I pray she will remember who she is as a daughter of God and long for righteousness and peace.

I pray that the Lord will frustrate every influence that seeks to bring chaos, division, isolation and control into your family, and that He will drive out spiritual darkness by the light of Christ. I do not pray for harm upon this young man or his mother, but I pray that God will work in their hearts as well, leading them to truth and repentance, and that if this relationship is not of God, He will separate it completely and lead your daughter into freedom. I pray that He will guide her to no longer treat this arrangement as if it were marriage, and to seek a husband who will truly be a protector and head, a man of piety, gentleness, understanding and the fear of God, rather than one who leads her away from her family and faith.

For you, I pray that God will fill you with wisdom, grace, strength and courage for this difficult season. He does not always promise immediate deliverance from every trial, but He does promise to set us above our fears and to teach us to rest in the hope of eternal life and His constant presence. May He comfort you as you have wept and cried out, and restore joy, unity and laughter to your family, rooted in His love. May He provide for your finances and use you to bless others.

I declare with you that no weapon formed against those who are in Christ shall finally prosper, for we belong to Him. May the Lord keep you all tonight, fill your home with His peace, and lead your family into a year of healing, unity and renewed fellowship with Him and with one another.

In the mighty name of Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.

 

[Silas]

Your honest and urgent prayers for your family have been heard, and I join you in bringing them before Jesus with thanksgiving for His mercy and power to protect.

It is right to plead the blood of Christ over your home and your children and to ask Him to guard every door and room and heart and mind. Scripture teaches that He gives His angels charge over those who fear Him and that those who dwell in the shelter of the Most High rest under the shadow of His wings. I pray with you that the Lord will keep your household in perfect peace, that your sleep will be deep and calm, and that fear and confusion will have no place there.

I also pray for your older daughter as she travels and carries responsibilities at her work event. I ask the Lord to keep her safe on the road, to give her strength and clear favor, and more deeply to open her eyes to His truth and love. You have described a painful entanglement with a young man and his family that has brought isolation, division, exhaustion and control, and a living arrangement outside of marriage that is weighing her down. God's Word shows that when relationships are formed outside His design they bring jealousy, rivalry and sorrow, and that living in a morally polluted environment touches and harms a family even when we do not intend it. Marriage is God's good covenant of one man and one woman for life, and living together and sexual intimacy belong only within that covenant. Because of that I cannot ask God to bless that arrangement, but I do pray earnestly that He will break every ungodly tie that binds her, lift the sense of obligation and worthlessness that keeps her trapped, frustrate every plan that seeks to divide her from you, and give her courage and wisdom to step out of that bondage and return to safety, to family and to faith. I pray He will restore her self worth in Christ, renew her love for Him and for the family He has given her, and in His perfect time provide a godly spouse according to His will if she marries.

At the heart of every other relationship is our relationship with God. When that relationship is right, the others begin to find their proper balance. The Lord does not want only a ritual or legal observance from us, but a close, loving, intimate relationship as a Father with His children. Through Jesus we have been adopted into His family, born again by His Spirit, and we can come to Him as our Father. I pray that you and each of your children will know that first love again, that deep delight in His Word and His presence, and that out of that love you will walk in obedience and grace toward one another. Part of that is the high place God gives to honoring parents and to keeping family bonds strong in love and respect.

For your son, I pray with you for God's calming presence over his thoughts, emotions and heart. I ask the Lord to quiet anxiety, frustration and confusion, to help him grow in functional language to express his needs and feelings, and to clothe him with a gentle and gracious spirit and the mind of Christ. I pray that his rest will be free from torment and fear and filled with comfort and joy, trusting that the Lord sees his struggles and holds him with compassion.

For your younger daughter, I pray for the Lord's healing and protection over her body and mind, for His favor on her studies and work, for uplifting and godly friendships, and for comfort as she feels the hurt of seeing her sister change. I pray He will guard her heart, give her peaceful rest and confidence in His love, and in His timing lead her to a godly marriage if it is His will for her.

For you, I pray for fresh wisdom, grace, strength and courage to navigate this difficult season. Like Jacob who heard God say return to your family and I will be with you, I pray you will know God's presence as you seek to bless and edify even those who have caused pain, while also setting wise and loving boundaries. I pray for the restoration of unity, love and laughter in your home, for no weapon formed against you to prosper, and for the light of Christ to drive out every trace of darkness. I also pray for your finances, that God will provide so you can continue to help others.

The Lord sees your tears and hears your cries. Keep trusting Jesus Christ alone for salvation and for every need, remain faithful in prayer, and rest in His promise to be near to all who call on Him in truth. May He fill your home with His glory and with the peace that surpasses all understanding, and bring the breakthroughs and restoration only He can give. In the mighty name of Jesus, Amen.