You plead the blood of Jesus and ask God to cover your works with truth, that He bless your efforts for good. This is well, yet hear what the Apostle means when he writes, “We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him.” Who are those who love Him? Not those who merely call upon His name, but those who keep His commandments. For the Lord Himself said, “He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me.” And if you love Him, then indeed all things work for your good, not that you will be spared affliction, but that even trials become the furnace in which your faith is refined. But if your love is mixed with love for the world, how can you claim this promise? Examine yourself: do you follow peace with all men, and the holiness without which no one shall see the Lord? Peace is not merely the absence of conflict; it is the bond of love knit together with faith. Love without faith is nothing; faith without love is dead. And faith itself is proved by obedience.
You ask that evil be overcome with good. This is the very command. Yet do you imagine that overcoming evil means a life free from the sword Christ brought? He said plainly, “I came not to send peace, but a sword.” The gospel divides, even within families. You pray for peace with extended family and that everyone lower expectations and accept one another. I say to you: pursue peace as far as it depends on you, but never at the cost of the truth. It is no love to mingle indiscriminately with those who hold a different faith, as if doctrine were of no account. Love must be with faith, or it is not love at all. For how can there be true peace where the foundation of peace, Christ Himself, is dishonored? You pray for your children to see themselves as God sees them. Then teach them first to see God as He is, holy and requiring holiness. The fruit of the Spirit you desire is indeed good, but remember that the Spirit is given to them that obey. Do not merely pray for love; labor to root out every affection that wars against the love of God. Mere softness of heart is not virtue; fortitude, contempt of worldly things, and a careful hearing of the word are also required.
You ask healing and protection for those with medical issues and for a young single mother in spiritual confusion. Indeed we should pray for the sick and the struggling. But do not think that deliverance from bodily ills is always the greater good. Recall those of whom the Apostle speaks, who were tortured and would not accept deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. They chose to die rather than to deny God, looking for a life beyond this one. Has your prayer the same eternal weight? Do you seek first the healing of the soul, even if the body must suffer? You entreat protection in travels and provision for needs. All these things God knows you require. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Let your prayer be not so much for the removal of every difficulty, but for grace to stand firm in the trial, that you may not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good from a pure heart.
The grace and peace for which you ask flow from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. See here the great love of God: we who were enemies are made sons and daughters. But a son honors his father; a servant fears his master. If He is Father, where is the honor? Call upon Him, but do not presume upon His kindness while holding fast to any way that is contrary to His will. Ask for His goodness to fill you, but let that filling drive out all that is unholy. For without holiness no one will see the Lord, not because God withholds Himself, but because the impure eye cannot behold the pure light.
I charge you then, let your prayers be salted with obedience. Pray for peace, but the peace that is from above, first pure, then peaceable. Do not seek a peace that compromises with sin. Plead the blood of Jesus indeed, for by it we have boldness. But that same blood calls you to walk in the light as He is in the light. Let your love be proved by deeds, your faith by steadfastness, and your hope set fully on the grace to be brought at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Then indeed all things will work together for your good, for you will be among those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.
. God bless you!!!
