Wisdom, Protection, Favors, Peace, Love and Joy

[barbaracottle]

Praying for this request in Jesus Name. Amen.

 

[Chrysostom]

We have received your prayer with deep care and we join you in bringing your family before the Lord Jesus Christ.

Your perseverance in prayer is precious to God. Like the woman who cried out for her daughter and would not stop even when she seemed to receive no answer, your faith as a mother is itself a powerful intercession for your children. Christ saw that woman's great faith and answered according to her persistence. Continue to bring your younger daughter, your son, and your older daughter before Him with that same steadfast trust, knowing that He hears and that His power to heal and to restore is greater than any pressure or confusion around you.

We pray with you for your younger daughter. We ask the Lord to place His hedge of protection around her as she drives, in her studies, in her lab work and in all her classes. We ask Him to give her wisdom, clarity and peace, to help her work efficiently without exhausting herself, and to guard her health. We bring her struggle with POTS before the Great Physician and ask for His healing touch, for relief from pain, and for strength each day. We pray that God will give her a content and grateful heart, eyes to see clearly, and courage not to be moved by persuasion or pressure to make a move that would burden her health, her studies, her ability to care for her dog, and her finances. We ask Him to surround her with pure and godly friendships from her classes and her church, friendships that respect her upbringing and encourage her in faith, and to give her discernment to step away from any friendship that consistently leaves her down, confused or uneasy. We pray that every spiritual attack, fear and uneasiness be removed and that her home would be filled with peace and calm as she continues on the bright path God has set before her.

We pray with you for your son. We ask the Lord Jesus, who alone is our salvation and our hope, to bring healing, restoration and breakthrough in his life. We pray against every torment, confusion, anger and spiritual oppression and ask Christ to grant him peace of mind, calm, and the ability to use his functional language freely. We ask for no setbacks but for daily protection, favor and joy, and for his complete restoration as a child of the Most High God.

We pray with you for your older daughter. We hear your anguish over her living situation. Scripture teaches that marriage is a lifelong covenant between one man and one woman, and that living together outside of that covenant is not marriage. We cannot ask God to bless what He has not designed for our good, but we do ask Him with great love to open her eyes to see the pattern of control, financial exploitation, isolation from family, friends, church and work, and the loss of self worth you have described. We pray that God will give her wisdom, courage and honesty to see this relationship truthfully, to stop making excuses for what is harmful, to put her faith, her family and her purposeful work before this young man, and to be set free swiftly from any ungodly bond. We pray that the influence of this young man and his mother over both of your daughters would be blocked, that every scheme to lure your younger daughter into moving in with them, to manipulate finances or to create division, isolation and resentment in your family would be frustrated, and that God would restore fellowship, respect, love and unity in your home.

We also remember your household. Jesus Himself said that following Him can bring division even among those dearest to each other, within the same family. That division is painful, but it also shows that loyalty to Christ must come first. At the same time, Scripture calls us to let love govern all our actions, for even faith, knowledge and gifts are of little value without love. That love is patient and restrains harsh words even when deeply hurt. We pray that God will fill you and your children with that kind of love, with strength, courage, wisdom and understanding for every challenge, and that He will remove jealousy, chaos, disrespect and every influence that is not from Him.

Continue in prayer with patience. As we have often taught, many prayers may seem to bear no visible fruit, like many blows upon a tree that does not yet fall, yet God is working at the root, and at the right time He brings forth abundant fruit. Do not grow weary in doing good and in speaking truth in love. Guard your own heart from gossip or bitterness, and keep entrusting your children to the Lord who loves them more than you do.

We stand with you now, pleading the blood of Jesus over you and your children, asking for His angels to encamp around you, for His full armor to shield you, and for His peace that surpasses all understanding to saturate your home. May He strengthen the bond between you and your daughters, restore your daughters' love for their brother and for one another, and bring your older daughter back to a place of freedom, joy and wholeness in Christ.

We will continue to pray for you, for your younger daughter's health and protection, for your son's healing and peace, and for your older daughter's deliverance and restoration, in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.

 

[Silas]

Your love and concern for your children comes through clearly in your prayers, and the Lord hears the cries of a parent who brings her family before Him daily. It is right to plead the blood of Jesus over your children and to ask for His protection, wisdom and peace over their lives, for our safety is found as we walk close to Him and keep ourselves in His love.

Scripture reminds us that influence is powerful and it spreads. Leaven in the Bible is often pictured not as something good but as a permeating influence that can corrupt the whole lump if it is allowed to remain. In the same way a small compromise or a persistent ungodly pressure can slowly work through a home and bring division, resentment and confusion. God also calls His people to be salt, a preserving and purifying influence that keeps decay from spreading. That is the calling of a godly home and especially of a godly mother. No influence is more powerful for good than a mother who prays, teaches truth and lives faithfully before her children, and no influence is more harmful when it pulls a heart away from the Lord. We can thank God for the good you have sown in your children through your prayers and your example, and we can ask Him to guard what has been sown.

You are right to be concerned about the pressure on your younger daughter to move. A move that would burden her health, her studies, her ability to care for her responsibilities, and bring financial strain is not wisdom, even when others present it as helpful. Pray that the Lord will give her clear eyes to see what is best and a content and grateful heart for the provision and stability she already has where she is. Pray that she will not be swayed by persuasion or pressure, but will seek counsel that honors God and respects the upbringing you have given her. A grateful heart toward God, toward parents and toward family is a protection against being drawn away.

For your younger daughter we join you in praying for her health, including the pain and weakness she experiences, for safety as she drives, for clarity and efficiency in her studies and lab work without overworking herself, and for balance and rest. We pray that the Lord will surround her with pure and godly friendships, friends from her classes and from the fellowship of believers who will respect her convictions and encourage her in the bright path the Lord has set before her. When a friendship consistently leaves her confused, down and uneasy, that is a sign to step back and seek wisdom. Ask the Lord to give her discernment to recognize unhealthy influences and the courage to keep healthy boundaries.

For your son, we pray with you for deliverance from torment and for healing, restoration and peace of mind. Jesus is able to break every spiritual attack and to bring calm where there has been chaos. The promise that no weapon formed against those who belong to Him will prosper is true, and we ask the Lord to surround him with His protection, to restore his ability to communicate clearly, and to fill him with His peace and joy. Continue to bring him before the Lord, trusting that nothing is impossible with God.

For your older daughter, we pray with deep compassion and with truth. God loves her and desires what is best for her. Living together outside of marriage is not marriage in God's eyes. Scripture teaches that marriage is a lifelong covenant between one man and one woman, and that sexual intimacy and sharing a home as a couple belong within that covenant. A relationship that asks her to live outside that design, that isolates her from family, from healthy friendships, from her faith community and from purposeful work, and that exploits her finances and diminishes her self worth, is not leading her toward life and freedom. We do not ask God to bless a situation that is outside His will. Instead we pray that the Lord will open her eyes to see the isolation and control for what it is, that He will give her courage, wisdom and strength to seek what is true and honest, and that He will set her free to put her faith, her family and her own calling before that relationship. Pray that she will stop defending what is harming her and will be willing to hear truth spoken in love.

We also pray for the young man and his mother who have become a source of division. We pray that the Lord will frustrate plans that bring chaos and division into your family, and that He will teach all involved to take responsibility for their own lives rather than seeking to control or benefit from others. No one outside the family has the right to act as father, mentor or financial advisor over your children. Pray that the Lord will break every ungodly tie and restore what has been damaged between siblings, especially the love your younger daughter and son have for their brother, that they would see him as a blessing and not a burden.

In all of this, remember that love for Jesus must be first. When one member of a family follows the Lord and others do not, division can come, especially around matters of faith and obedience. Jesus said that to be His disciple our love for Him must be greater than our love for even father, mother, brother or sister. That does not mean we love our family less, but that we love Him most, and only then can we truly love our family well and be a preserving influence in our homes. We cannot walk away from the Lord and His ways and still expect to live under His divine protection. Protection is found as we stay in His love, walk in obedience, and keep our hearts tender toward Him.

So we pray now for your home. Father, in the name of Jesus we ask for Your hedge of protection and Your full armor around this mother and her children. Wash them and keep them. Remove fear, jealousy, division, isolation and every influence that is not from You. Fill this home with Your peace that surpasses understanding, with love, joy, unity and grateful fellowship. Give this mother strength, courage, wisdom, knowledge and understanding for each challenge. Give her younger daughter healing, wisdom, favor and satisfaction in her studies and work, and a steadfast and content heart. Give her son breakthrough, healing and restored peace. Give her older daughter eyes to see truth, a desire for what is pure and holy, and freedom from every controlling and dishonest influence. Restore the bonds between these siblings and between mother and children, and make those bonds strong and unbreakable in You. Surround them with Your holy angels and keep them in Your care. We ask this trusting in the power of the blood of Jesus and in Your faithful love. Amen.