Silas
Beloved of All
Your prayers for your children reveal a deep and faithful love, and it is right to bring each of them before the Lord Jesus, pleading His blood and asking for His protection, wisdom and peace over your home.
Scripture teaches that through faith in Christ we are adopted into the family of God. Jesus alone is the only begotten Son, but by grace we are born again by the Spirit and chosen as sons and daughters. Like a young heir who will one day receive an inheritance but for now remains under care and instruction, we are fully children of God yet still growing, still being taught and formed by our Father. That is your standing and your children's standing when you are in Christ, and it is from that secure place as His adopted children that you can ask for His hedge of protection, His full armor, and His angels to surround you. There is safety under His covering when we walk with Him, and His desire is to keep you close to Himself.
You have described many strained relationships, between sisters and brother, between mother and daughters, and the influence of others pressing into your family. Relationships among people so easily become tangled and hurtful. The Word of God is meant to be practical for exactly these pressures, and it shows a clear order. When our relationship with God is made right and kept right through Christ, the other relationships have a way of coming into balance. When that vertical relationship is neglected, the horizontal ones fall into confusion. You can often trace ongoing division and resentment back to a need to return more fully to the Lord Himself. God is one, a compound unity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and He made the family to reflect a unity as well, one household dwelling together in love and respect. One of the most helpful practices for a family is to keep the Word of God constantly before you, talking about the Lord in ordinary family conversation and keeping Scripture before your eyes at home, so that all of you are being shaped by the same truth.
Part of that truth is that we are called to care for the members of our own household and to honor father and mother. Scripture says that to neglect the needs of our own family is to deny the faith. It is good that your younger daughter loves her brother and has known success studying at home, and it is right to pray that she will have eyes to see what would burden her health, her studies, her ability to care for what has been entrusted to her, and her finances. Pray that the Lord will give her contentment and gratefulness for the blessings she already has, and strength not to be moved simply by pressure or persuasion. Wisdom will help her recognize when a friendship consistently leaves her confused and down, and give her courage to step back from unhealthy influences and to seek pure, godly friendships that respect her upbringing and her faith, perhaps even among fellow students who share her values.
You also asked for healing for your younger daughter from ongoing physical suffering and for your son who has been tormented and unsettled. We will pray with you for complete healing and for peace of mind, and we believe God is able to heal. At the same time Scripture shows that God does not bring physical healing in every case, as we see when Paul advised Timothy concerning his frequent infirmities rather than seeing an immediate divine healing. When healing does not come at once, it is not necessarily a sign of sin or lack of faith in the person who is ill. God has eternal purposes that we cannot fully understand, and we can trust His wisdom and love even as we continue to ask Him for mercy, restoration and daily strength. Continue to plead the blood of Jesus over your children and to put on the full armor of God, trusting the promise that no weapon formed against those who are in Christ shall prosper.
You mentioned your older daughter and the young man she is living with, and your concern that this relationship has brought isolation from family, from friends, from church fellowship, from purposeful work, and has led to financial exploitation and controlling behavior. Because we hold to the historic biblical ethic, we cannot affirm or ask God to bless living together outside of marriage. Scripture teaches that marriage is a lifelong covenant of one man and one woman, and that sexual union and sharing a home in that way belong within that covenant. What is outside of that is not marriage, however it may be presented, and it often does lead to being used, to loss of self worth, and to habits of manipulation and disrespect. It is loving to pray, as you have, that your older daughter will see these patterns clearly, that she will stop defending what is harmful and making excuses, that she will put her faith, her family and her responsibilities before this relationship, and that the Lord will give her wisdom, courage and a way of escape. Pray also that the young man and his family will turn to attend to their own responsibilities before God rather than overstepping into your children's lives and finances, and that any scheme to draw your younger daughter into the same living arrangement will be frustrated.
The Bible warns that when a culture seeks to make wrong relationships seem normal, whether adultery or other sexual relations outside of God's design, it sows seeds that bring a harvest of harm. What a person sows, that he will also reap. God calls these things sin because they damage people, and He calls us to a different path of purity and self control, beginning in the heart, for Jesus taught that sin begins not only in the act but in the desire.
Division within a family and within the people of God is a mark of immaturity and carnality. It grieves the Lord. Jesus Himself knew rejection in His own family and among His own relatives, and He taught that those who do the will of His Father become His true family, with a bond that can be even deeper than blood. When you follow Christ faithfully, it can create distance with those who do not, and that is painful. Yet God can restore fellowship, respect, freedom and unity in a home as each person humbles themselves before Him.
We join you in praying that the Lord will remove fear, jealousy, chaos, isolation and every spiritual attack from your household, that He will block dishonest, stubborn and disrespectful influences, and that He will rebuke every curse and work of darkness in Jesus name. We ask that He will anoint your younger daughter's studies and work in the lab, grant her efficiency without overwork, keep her safe as she drives, and fill her days and nights with favor, peace, joy and satisfaction. We ask that He will give everyone in your home strength, courage, wisdom, knowledge and understanding for each challenge, and that He will restore love between your daughters and their brother, so that they see one another as a blessing and not a burden. We pray for a peaceful and grateful atmosphere as your daughter attends classes, for healing and breakthrough for your son, and for your older daughter to be set free and to return to godly habits, to love for Christ, to freedom, joy and a restored sense of worth.
Keep bringing these needs to the Lord, keep speaking His Word in your home, and keep trusting that nothing is impossible with Him. He hears the prayers of His children and He is able to saturate your home with His peace that surpasses understanding and to make the bond between you and your children stronger and unbreakable in Him.
Scripture teaches that through faith in Christ we are adopted into the family of God. Jesus alone is the only begotten Son, but by grace we are born again by the Spirit and chosen as sons and daughters. Like a young heir who will one day receive an inheritance but for now remains under care and instruction, we are fully children of God yet still growing, still being taught and formed by our Father. That is your standing and your children's standing when you are in Christ, and it is from that secure place as His adopted children that you can ask for His hedge of protection, His full armor, and His angels to surround you. There is safety under His covering when we walk with Him, and His desire is to keep you close to Himself.
You have described many strained relationships, between sisters and brother, between mother and daughters, and the influence of others pressing into your family. Relationships among people so easily become tangled and hurtful. The Word of God is meant to be practical for exactly these pressures, and it shows a clear order. When our relationship with God is made right and kept right through Christ, the other relationships have a way of coming into balance. When that vertical relationship is neglected, the horizontal ones fall into confusion. You can often trace ongoing division and resentment back to a need to return more fully to the Lord Himself. God is one, a compound unity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and He made the family to reflect a unity as well, one household dwelling together in love and respect. One of the most helpful practices for a family is to keep the Word of God constantly before you, talking about the Lord in ordinary family conversation and keeping Scripture before your eyes at home, so that all of you are being shaped by the same truth.
Part of that truth is that we are called to care for the members of our own household and to honor father and mother. Scripture says that to neglect the needs of our own family is to deny the faith. It is good that your younger daughter loves her brother and has known success studying at home, and it is right to pray that she will have eyes to see what would burden her health, her studies, her ability to care for what has been entrusted to her, and her finances. Pray that the Lord will give her contentment and gratefulness for the blessings she already has, and strength not to be moved simply by pressure or persuasion. Wisdom will help her recognize when a friendship consistently leaves her confused and down, and give her courage to step back from unhealthy influences and to seek pure, godly friendships that respect her upbringing and her faith, perhaps even among fellow students who share her values.
You also asked for healing for your younger daughter from ongoing physical suffering and for your son who has been tormented and unsettled. We will pray with you for complete healing and for peace of mind, and we believe God is able to heal. At the same time Scripture shows that God does not bring physical healing in every case, as we see when Paul advised Timothy concerning his frequent infirmities rather than seeing an immediate divine healing. When healing does not come at once, it is not necessarily a sign of sin or lack of faith in the person who is ill. God has eternal purposes that we cannot fully understand, and we can trust His wisdom and love even as we continue to ask Him for mercy, restoration and daily strength. Continue to plead the blood of Jesus over your children and to put on the full armor of God, trusting the promise that no weapon formed against those who are in Christ shall prosper.
You mentioned your older daughter and the young man she is living with, and your concern that this relationship has brought isolation from family, from friends, from church fellowship, from purposeful work, and has led to financial exploitation and controlling behavior. Because we hold to the historic biblical ethic, we cannot affirm or ask God to bless living together outside of marriage. Scripture teaches that marriage is a lifelong covenant of one man and one woman, and that sexual union and sharing a home in that way belong within that covenant. What is outside of that is not marriage, however it may be presented, and it often does lead to being used, to loss of self worth, and to habits of manipulation and disrespect. It is loving to pray, as you have, that your older daughter will see these patterns clearly, that she will stop defending what is harmful and making excuses, that she will put her faith, her family and her responsibilities before this relationship, and that the Lord will give her wisdom, courage and a way of escape. Pray also that the young man and his family will turn to attend to their own responsibilities before God rather than overstepping into your children's lives and finances, and that any scheme to draw your younger daughter into the same living arrangement will be frustrated.
The Bible warns that when a culture seeks to make wrong relationships seem normal, whether adultery or other sexual relations outside of God's design, it sows seeds that bring a harvest of harm. What a person sows, that he will also reap. God calls these things sin because they damage people, and He calls us to a different path of purity and self control, beginning in the heart, for Jesus taught that sin begins not only in the act but in the desire.
Division within a family and within the people of God is a mark of immaturity and carnality. It grieves the Lord. Jesus Himself knew rejection in His own family and among His own relatives, and He taught that those who do the will of His Father become His true family, with a bond that can be even deeper than blood. When you follow Christ faithfully, it can create distance with those who do not, and that is painful. Yet God can restore fellowship, respect, freedom and unity in a home as each person humbles themselves before Him.
We join you in praying that the Lord will remove fear, jealousy, chaos, isolation and every spiritual attack from your household, that He will block dishonest, stubborn and disrespectful influences, and that He will rebuke every curse and work of darkness in Jesus name. We ask that He will anoint your younger daughter's studies and work in the lab, grant her efficiency without overwork, keep her safe as she drives, and fill her days and nights with favor, peace, joy and satisfaction. We ask that He will give everyone in your home strength, courage, wisdom, knowledge and understanding for each challenge, and that He will restore love between your daughters and their brother, so that they see one another as a blessing and not a burden. We pray for a peaceful and grateful atmosphere as your daughter attends classes, for healing and breakthrough for your son, and for your older daughter to be set free and to return to godly habits, to love for Christ, to freedom, joy and a restored sense of worth.
Keep bringing these needs to the Lord, keep speaking His Word in your home, and keep trusting that nothing is impossible with Him. He hears the prayers of His children and He is able to saturate your home with His peace that surpasses understanding and to make the bond between you and your children stronger and unbreakable in Him.
