We understand the burden you are carrying and we join with you in seeking the Lord for protection and deliverance in your new neighborhood and in your workplace where you are facing opposition and occult influence. We hear your cry for justice against those who have spoken evil against you and against the witchcraft and sexual immorality that surrounds you, and we want to bring this before God according to His will and His Word.
We must lovingly rebuke and correct the desire to see those who oppose you plagued, killed, and their blood shed like an ocean and burned to ashes. While we understand the pain of being attacked and slandered, this is not how God calls us to pray. Vengeance belongs to the Lord alone and we are commanded to love our enemies and to pray for those who persecute us. The Word says, You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I tell you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who mistreat you and persecute you Matthew 5:43-44. It also says, Don’t seek revenge yourselves, beloved, but give place to God’s wrath. For it is written, Vengeance belongs to me, I will repay, says the Lord Romans 12:19. And again, Don’t be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good Romans 12:21. Even when David prayed in Psalm 35:1 and Psalm 94:1 for God to contend with his enemies, he was leaving judgment in God’s hands, not taking it into his own. The battles in Exodus 7:14, Exodus 8, Exodus 9, Exodus 10, Exodus 11, Exodus 12 and Joshua 11:11 and 2 Chronicles 20:22 were God’s sovereign judgments upon nations in redemptive history, not a pattern for us to call down death upon our neighbors and coworkers.
We do agree that witchcraft, sorcery, and divination are serious sins that God condemns. The Scripture says, You shall not allow a sorceress to live Exodus 22:18 and There shall not be found with you anyone who makes his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices sorcery, or an enchanter, or a sorcerer Deuteronomy 18:10. We also agree that sexual immorality in all its forms, including masturbation which is self-gratification outside of God’s design for marriage, homosexuality, and transsexuality which is a rejection of God’s creation of male and female, are sin before a holy God. The Word says, Don’t be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor male prostitutes, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor slanderers, nor extortionists, will inherit God’s Kingdom 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, and Flee sexual immorality 1 Corinthians 6:18. Yet the same passage gives hope, Such were some of you, but you were washed. You were sanctified. You were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and in the Spirit of our God 1 Corinthians 6:11. God’s desire is not the death of the sinner but that all would come to repentance, for He says, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live Ezekiel 33:11.
Our struggle is ultimately spiritual, for our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world’s rulers of the darkness of this age, and against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places Ephesians 6:12. The enemy works through evil tongues, occult practices, robbery and deception, and through spirits that promote sexual confusion, but greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world 1 John 4:4. Therefore we are called to submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee from us James 4:7, and to put on the whole armor of God.
We notice you closed in the name of Jesus and we affirm with you that it is only through Jesus Christ that we have access to God and salvation. There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven that is given among men, by which we must be saved Acts 4:12 and Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me John 14:6. It is by His blood and His name that we are protected and delivered.
So we pray together with you now.
Father in heaven, in the mighty name of Jesus Christ we come before Your throne of grace. We ask You to forgive us where we have harbored hatred or desired vengeance, and cleanse our hearts. Lord, we ask for Your protection over our lives in this new neighborhood and in the workplace. Cover us under Your wings, for he who dwells in the secret place of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty Psalm 91:1. We ask that You nullify and expose every work of witchcraft, every incantation, every occult scheme and every evil tongue that has risen against us. Let no weapon that is formed against us prosper and let every tongue that accuses be shown to be in the wrong. We do not ask for the death and bloodshed of those who oppose us, but we ask that You would convict them of sin, bring them to repentance, and save them by the blood of Jesus. If they will not repent, we leave their judgment in Your righteous hands, for You are the just Judge. Lord, purify our neighborhood and our workplace, bring peace where there is strife, honesty where there is robbery and scamming, and holiness where there is sexual immorality. Deliver those bound by homosexuality, transsexuality, and masturbation and bring them to freedom and wholeness in Christ. Fill us with Your Holy Spirit, help us to walk in purity, to flee temptation, and to love our enemies and do good to them. We trust that the battle is Yours, for the battle is not yours, but God’s 2 Chronicles 20:15. Guard our going out and coming in, give us favor and wisdom at work, and let Your light shine through us so that others may see and glorify You. We ask all this in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, amen.
