Silas
Beloved of All
Your heart cry has been heard, and I am so sorry for the heavy and difficult place you are in. Sleeping on a couch for more than a year, feeling treated like a servant, being pressured for money and groceries, having no peace in your own home with loud noise and mess, feeling watched and uncomfortable even when you go to get food, losing weight and feeling sick while taking many medications, this is a great burden to carry. It is also painful to love God and want to worship Him, to want to go to church and hear gospel songs and watch what feeds your faith, and to be told you cannot and that you must not speak of Him. Your longing for a safe place of your own, for peace, for health, and to be restored in God's grace is understandable and right.
First, please hear the good news about restoration. God has made one provision for the forgiveness of sin and for being brought back into His grace, and that is through His Son Jesus Christ. There is no other way our sin and guilt can be taken away. When we turn to Jesus in faith, trusting that He bore our sin and died for us and rose again, we are forgiven and welcomed into God's family. You do not have to earn your way back. If you have put your trust in Jesus, you are His. If you sense distance from Him, come to Him simply in prayer, confess your sin and your need, and ask Him to forgive you and restore you. He is merciful and ready to receive you. That restoration is the deepest healing any of us need, the healing of the incurable sickness of sin that only He can cleanse.
Your desire for your own housing is a good and godly desire. God's design for a man and a woman sharing a home is within the lifelong covenant of marriage, and living together outside of that is not His plan. Wanting to be out of this dependent and strained arrangement and into a quiet, safe place where you can live with dignity and worship freely is right to pray for. Pray that God will provide housing according to His wisdom and timing, and also take practical steps as you are able. Keep following up with the housing assistance you have applied for, and reach out to a trusted pastor, a local church that helps seniors, or a local social service agency for seniors who can help advocate for you, check on your situation, and help with food and medical needs. No one should be demanding your money or making you feel unsafe for eating. If you feel threatened or exploited, please seek help from a trusted family member, church leader, or a community service that cares for older adults.
You also asked for healing, and Scripture speaks to this with both hope and honesty. The prophet Isaiah said He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, and the Gospel of Matthew applies that to Jesus healing the sick and those oppressed, showing that His suffering covers both spiritual and physical need. When Jesus broke bread He said this is My body broken for you, and we remember Him in communion with faith for the whole person. God is able to heal, and He does heal in many ways. Sometimes healing comes at once, sometimes it comes gradually, and sometimes it comes through the natural processes of healing that God Himself built into our bodies, which are still His divine work. There is only one healing in the Gospels that was clearly gradual, when a blind man first saw partially and then saw clearly after Jesus touched him again, reminding us that God works in different ways and in His own time.
At the same time, the Bible shows that God does not will physical healing in every case in this life. The apostle Paul prayed three times for his thorn in the flesh to be removed, and God did not remove it but gave him grace to live with it. That teaches us not to presume what God will do in every situation. Not everyone is healed as we hope, and when healing does not come it is wrong to say it must be because of hidden sin or lack of faith. Those are like the misguided comforters of Job and they add hurt. God can heal, we should ask Him with faith, and we can also ask mature believers to pray for us, as the early church brought the sick to the apostles and as elders are called to pray for the sick. Bring your many health needs to the Lord daily, take your medications as prescribed and care for your body as best you can, and trust Him with the outcome, whether He brings full healing now, strength to endure, or gradual improvement.
It is right that you want truth rather than lies. God created the heavens and the earth and mankind, and what you are seeing on those programs does not reflect His truth. Stay rooted in what Scripture says about creation and about spiritual powers, and guard your heart by filling your mind with what is true when you can, even if it must be quietly with a small Bible or with gospel music on a phone with earbuds. Jesus has authority over all spiritual powers, and He went about doing good and healing and showing mercy. Seek a fellowship where the Bible is taught, where you can love and be loved, forgive and be forgiven, and worship without fear.
I am praying for you for these three things you named.
Father, in the name of Jesus, I ask for Your provision for this dear one. Open a door for safe, affordable housing soon, a quiet place to live with dignity and peace. Provide for daily needs and protect from being pressured or exploited. I ask for restoration, that You would assure this heart of Your forgiveness and grace through Jesus alone, and draw this life into close fellowship with You again. I ask for healing in the body, for appetite and strength to return, for relief from sickness, and for Your hand upon every medication and every care. Do what only You can do, whether through a sudden touch, a gradual process, or sustaining grace, and let Your will be done with mercy. Give comfort in this hard home, make a way to hear Your Word and sing Your praise, and surround this life with caring, trustworthy people who will help. Amen.
Keep seeking the Lord each day, keep asking for help from safe people nearby, and keep trusting that God has left room to work in your life as He desires. He sees you sleeping on that couch, He hears your prayers for grace and mercy, and He is able to make a way.
First, please hear the good news about restoration. God has made one provision for the forgiveness of sin and for being brought back into His grace, and that is through His Son Jesus Christ. There is no other way our sin and guilt can be taken away. When we turn to Jesus in faith, trusting that He bore our sin and died for us and rose again, we are forgiven and welcomed into God's family. You do not have to earn your way back. If you have put your trust in Jesus, you are His. If you sense distance from Him, come to Him simply in prayer, confess your sin and your need, and ask Him to forgive you and restore you. He is merciful and ready to receive you. That restoration is the deepest healing any of us need, the healing of the incurable sickness of sin that only He can cleanse.
Your desire for your own housing is a good and godly desire. God's design for a man and a woman sharing a home is within the lifelong covenant of marriage, and living together outside of that is not His plan. Wanting to be out of this dependent and strained arrangement and into a quiet, safe place where you can live with dignity and worship freely is right to pray for. Pray that God will provide housing according to His wisdom and timing, and also take practical steps as you are able. Keep following up with the housing assistance you have applied for, and reach out to a trusted pastor, a local church that helps seniors, or a local social service agency for seniors who can help advocate for you, check on your situation, and help with food and medical needs. No one should be demanding your money or making you feel unsafe for eating. If you feel threatened or exploited, please seek help from a trusted family member, church leader, or a community service that cares for older adults.
You also asked for healing, and Scripture speaks to this with both hope and honesty. The prophet Isaiah said He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, and the Gospel of Matthew applies that to Jesus healing the sick and those oppressed, showing that His suffering covers both spiritual and physical need. When Jesus broke bread He said this is My body broken for you, and we remember Him in communion with faith for the whole person. God is able to heal, and He does heal in many ways. Sometimes healing comes at once, sometimes it comes gradually, and sometimes it comes through the natural processes of healing that God Himself built into our bodies, which are still His divine work. There is only one healing in the Gospels that was clearly gradual, when a blind man first saw partially and then saw clearly after Jesus touched him again, reminding us that God works in different ways and in His own time.
At the same time, the Bible shows that God does not will physical healing in every case in this life. The apostle Paul prayed three times for his thorn in the flesh to be removed, and God did not remove it but gave him grace to live with it. That teaches us not to presume what God will do in every situation. Not everyone is healed as we hope, and when healing does not come it is wrong to say it must be because of hidden sin or lack of faith. Those are like the misguided comforters of Job and they add hurt. God can heal, we should ask Him with faith, and we can also ask mature believers to pray for us, as the early church brought the sick to the apostles and as elders are called to pray for the sick. Bring your many health needs to the Lord daily, take your medications as prescribed and care for your body as best you can, and trust Him with the outcome, whether He brings full healing now, strength to endure, or gradual improvement.
It is right that you want truth rather than lies. God created the heavens and the earth and mankind, and what you are seeing on those programs does not reflect His truth. Stay rooted in what Scripture says about creation and about spiritual powers, and guard your heart by filling your mind with what is true when you can, even if it must be quietly with a small Bible or with gospel music on a phone with earbuds. Jesus has authority over all spiritual powers, and He went about doing good and healing and showing mercy. Seek a fellowship where the Bible is taught, where you can love and be loved, forgive and be forgiven, and worship without fear.
I am praying for you for these three things you named.
Father, in the name of Jesus, I ask for Your provision for this dear one. Open a door for safe, affordable housing soon, a quiet place to live with dignity and peace. Provide for daily needs and protect from being pressured or exploited. I ask for restoration, that You would assure this heart of Your forgiveness and grace through Jesus alone, and draw this life into close fellowship with You again. I ask for healing in the body, for appetite and strength to return, for relief from sickness, and for Your hand upon every medication and every care. Do what only You can do, whether through a sudden touch, a gradual process, or sustaining grace, and let Your will be done with mercy. Give comfort in this hard home, make a way to hear Your Word and sing Your praise, and surround this life with caring, trustworthy people who will help. Amen.
Keep seeking the Lord each day, keep asking for help from safe people nearby, and keep trusting that God has left room to work in your life as He desires. He sees you sleeping on that couch, He hears your prayers for grace and mercy, and He is able to make a way.
