We hear your cry for protection in your new neighborhood and in your workplace and we join with you in seeking the Lord's deliverance, for we know the spiritual battle is real and that our enemy the devil seeks to steal and destroy. At the same time we must lovingly rebuke and correct the way this request has been framed, because it does not align with the heart of God.
You have asked that your foes, those you name in your neighborhood and workplace, be plagued with scourges, killed and their blood shed like an ocean and reduced to ashes. We must tell you plainly that this is not how God calls us to pray. Vengeance belongs to the Lord alone and we are commanded not to seek the death and destruction of people, even those who do evil against us. The scripture says Vengeance is mine, and I will repay, says the Lord in Romans 12:19, and again in Romans 12:21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Jesus himself commands us in Matthew 5:44 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. Our warfare is not against flesh and blood, as Ephesians 6:12 teaches, 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. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal in 2 Corinthians 10:4, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds, which means we fight witchcraft, the occult, and demonic oppression with truth, righteousness, prayer and the Word of God, not by calling down physical death upon people.
We also hear your concern about witchcraft, occult practices, and sexual immorality including masturbation with objects, homosexuality and transsexuality which you rightly identify as marine spirits and confusion. We affirm what the Bible teaches that these are sin before God. You shall not allow a sorceress to live in Exodus 22:18 shows how seriously God views sorcery and witchcraft, and Deuteronomy 18:10-12 warns that anyone who practices divination or sorcery is an abomination to the Lord. Likewise the scripture is clear that sexual immorality defiles. In Galatians 5:19-21 the works of the flesh including sorcery and sexual immorality are listed, and in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 we are told that neither the sexually immoral nor men who have sex with men will inherit God’s Kingdom, but such were some of you, but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and in the Spirit of our God. This shows God condemns the sin but offers forgiveness and transformation to the sinner. Marriage as God ordained it is the lifelong union of one man and one woman and all sexual activity outside of that covenant, whether fornication, adultery, homosexual acts or impurity, is sin that needs repentance. God does not hate the people trapped in these things, He desires that they repent and be saved, for God desires all people to be saved and come to full knowledge of the truth in 1 Timothy 2:4 and is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance in 2 Peter 3:9.
We also notice you used IJMN to call on Jesus, and we rejoice that you know there is power in His name, for 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 in Acts 4:12, and Jesus said I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me in John 14:6. It is only through faith in Jesus Christ, His death and resurrection, that we have access to God and authority over the enemy, and we encourage you to abide in Him daily.
Therefore we will not agree in prayer for the killing and bloody destruction of your neighbors and coworkers. Instead we pray as scripture teaches, that God will protect you, frustrate every evil scheme, convict the hearts of those practicing evil, and bring them to repentance or remove their influence according to His perfect justice and mercy.
We pray together now. Father in heaven, we come before You in the mighty name of Jesus Christ, asking for Your protection over our dear one, over his family, his home in that new neighborhood and over his workplace. Lord, You see the oppression, the evil tongues, the occult practices and the sexual confusion that surrounds him. We ask that You put a hedge of protection around him as You did for Job, and that no weapon that is formed against him shall prosper in Isaiah 54:17. We put on the whole armor of God in Ephesians 6:11 and we stand against the wiles of the devil, against every incantation, spell and marine spirit, declaring that greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world in 1 John 4:4. Lord, we do not ask for the blood of people to be shed, for You have said in Ezekiel 33:11 that You have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. So we ask that You convict those who are practicing witchcraft, robbery, scamming and sexual immorality, that You would open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light in Acts 26:18. Frustrate their evil works, expose their deeds and let their witchcraft be burned up like chaff before Your holiness, but have mercy on their souls and grant them repentance. We ask that You give our brother peace and not fear, for You have not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and self-control in 2 Timothy 1:7. Let him dwell in the secret place of the Most High and abide under the shadow of the Almighty in Psalm 91:1. Fight for him, Lord, for The Lord will fight for you, and you shall be still in Exodus 14:14. Let Your will be done in his neighborhood and workplace, let Your light drive out darkness, and let him be a witness of Your grace and truth. We ask that You lead him to walk in holiness, to flee sexual immorality and to keep his heart pure before You, and to love his enemies while hating the sin. We pray all this in the saving and powerful name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and defender, Amen.
We encourage you to continue in daily prayer, fasting as the Lord leads, reading the Word, and walking in love and forgiveness. Do not rejoice when your enemy falls in Proverbs 24:17, but commit your cause to the Lord who judges righteously in Psalm 94:1-2. Stay faithful, keep your home and life free from any occult objects or immoral influences, and trust that God Himself will be your protection and your justice in His perfect time.