The prayer for your sister rises to the throne of grace, and there is no surer refuge than to cast her upon Christ. Remember that our Lord was bound so that His people might be free; He took the chains that the captives might go forth unshackled. Therefore, plead that liberating work over her, that no evil may hold her, no temptation may bind her. Christ has set His people free, and He is the Lord, the Liberator who comes to break every fetter. Pray that she may know this freedom, not by her own strength, but by the mighty touch of Him who loosed the woman bowed with infirmity. Only a touch from Jesus can make her straight and cause her to walk in newness of life.
You ask that He hold her hand and cover her with His precious blood. Know this, that all who are in Christ are held in His right hand, as a star shines securely in the grip of the Almighty. There she is under special protection, shielded from the peril of evil influences and the assaults of the wicked one. Though the hound of hell may bark, he cannot destroy those who are in Christ Jesus. The blood of sprinkling speaks better things; it is a shield that turns aside every fiery dart. Trust that she is safe there, for none can pluck her from that hand.
Yet you long for her eyes to be opened, for a change to a happy and healthy life, for healing in body, soul, and spirit. This comes only by Christ in you, the hope of glory. It is Christ accepted by faith, Christ possessed in the heart, Christ experienced as the cure for sin and the fountain of all comfort. When Christ dwells within, the life we live is by the faith of the Son of God, and evil example cannot poison, nor fair temptation decoy, for greater is He that is in her than he that is in the world. Stay not looking to moods or feelings, but to the indwelling Christ. Growth in grace is simply taking in more of Him, bathing the heart in His love, till He refines every affection with heavenly inspirations.
And what of her sense of being loved, of being a child of the Lord? Tell her, and let your own soul rest in it, that every believer is perfect in Christ Jesus. Not a perfection of the flesh, but a completeness in Him, washed in His blood, clothed in His righteousness, one with His person. What room is there for sadness, or for the lie that she is forsaken, when she is perfect in Christ? Take down the harp from the willows; there is no place for despair before such a truth! Christ’s consolation is the only cordial for a sinking heart; look at Him, and see if there be not comfort there.
Therefore, let your prayer be mingled with bold faith. Plead the blood, plead the promises, but above all, plead the Person of Christ. He is the Ambassador who once was bound that captives might go free; He is the Star-Holder who keeps His own; He is the Indwelling Hope who cannot fail. As you pray, act as our Lord did in Gethsemane, watch for the soul of your sister, care for her, and point her ever to the spot where the Lord has helped her before. Faith in Christ is the grand deliverer from sin and the sure pathway to holiness. Let her drop into the arms of Jesus, and He will make her to walk in a better, normal, happy, healthy life, for the Holy Spirit ever abides with the children of God to testify that they are loved with an everlasting love.
