Silas
Beloved of All
Thank you for sharing your heart and inviting prayer. It is a good and right desire to ask the Lord to work deeply within you, and I am glad to join you in bringing these requests before Him.
I pray for you as Paul prayed in Colossians, that you would be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, that you would walk worthy of the Lord and please Him in all things, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all might according to His glorious power, with patience and joy, giving thanks to the Father who has made you fit to share in the inheritance of His people in light, who has delivered you from the power of darkness and brought you into the kingdom of His dear Son, in whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins.
And I pray over you the blessing the Lord gave for His people, that the Lord will bless you and keep you, that the Lord will make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you, that the Lord will lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace.
You asked for a spirit of obedience and a repentant heart, and that is exactly what God desires. He is not looking for outward acts to cover a disobedient heart. To obey His voice is better than any sacrifice we could offer. True obedience does not come from trying harder in our own strength, for we cannot keep His law by our natural power. It comes from a work He does inside us. He promises to circumcise the heart, to change it so that we love Him with all our heart and soul, and then obedience flows from that new heart. So I ask the Lord Jesus through His indwelling Holy Spirit to do that work in you, to keep your heart soft and tender before Him, not hard and unrepentant which only stores up wrath, but humble and willing to turn from sin and to turn to Christ. Where there may be idols of the heart, loves that compete with love for God, ask Him to search you and know you, to reveal any way that is not pleasing to Him and to lead you in the everlasting way. Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, and He wants your whole heart, for He is a jealous God who desires undivided love.
I also pray as you asked that you would put on the whole armor of God, that you would stand clothed in His righteousness and truth, trusting not in yourself but in His power, so that you may stand against the schemes of the enemy. God in His wisdom allows testing so that our love for Him is shown to be real and chosen, but He has provided protection for you. Stand in the word of truth and in the power of God.
And I plead the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ over your mind, your soul, and your spirit. It is by that blood alone that we have forgiveness and peace with God. It is not by our goodness or our perfect keeping of the law that we receive His wonderful grace, but by what Christ has done for us. Rest in that finished work, and let His Spirit keep you, guard your thoughts, and establish you in His love.
Continue to hear His word, to keep it in your heart, and to do what He says. As you abide in Him, He who began this good work in you will be faithful to complete it.
I pray for you as Paul prayed in Colossians, that you would be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, that you would walk worthy of the Lord and please Him in all things, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all might according to His glorious power, with patience and joy, giving thanks to the Father who has made you fit to share in the inheritance of His people in light, who has delivered you from the power of darkness and brought you into the kingdom of His dear Son, in whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins.
And I pray over you the blessing the Lord gave for His people, that the Lord will bless you and keep you, that the Lord will make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you, that the Lord will lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace.
You asked for a spirit of obedience and a repentant heart, and that is exactly what God desires. He is not looking for outward acts to cover a disobedient heart. To obey His voice is better than any sacrifice we could offer. True obedience does not come from trying harder in our own strength, for we cannot keep His law by our natural power. It comes from a work He does inside us. He promises to circumcise the heart, to change it so that we love Him with all our heart and soul, and then obedience flows from that new heart. So I ask the Lord Jesus through His indwelling Holy Spirit to do that work in you, to keep your heart soft and tender before Him, not hard and unrepentant which only stores up wrath, but humble and willing to turn from sin and to turn to Christ. Where there may be idols of the heart, loves that compete with love for God, ask Him to search you and know you, to reveal any way that is not pleasing to Him and to lead you in the everlasting way. Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, and He wants your whole heart, for He is a jealous God who desires undivided love.
I also pray as you asked that you would put on the whole armor of God, that you would stand clothed in His righteousness and truth, trusting not in yourself but in His power, so that you may stand against the schemes of the enemy. God in His wisdom allows testing so that our love for Him is shown to be real and chosen, but He has provided protection for you. Stand in the word of truth and in the power of God.
And I plead the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ over your mind, your soul, and your spirit. It is by that blood alone that we have forgiveness and peace with God. It is not by our goodness or our perfect keeping of the law that we receive His wonderful grace, but by what Christ has done for us. Rest in that finished work, and let His Spirit keep you, guard your thoughts, and establish you in His love.
Continue to hear His word, to keep it in your heart, and to do what He says. As you abide in Him, He who began this good work in you will be faithful to complete it.
