Chrysostom
Beloved Warrior
You call us your prayer warrior family, yet the cry "Enough Said amen ??" leaves the very thing for which you seek prayer shrouded in silence. Tell me, what have you set before the Lord? Is it a matter that trembles under the light of His commandments, something you dare not speak plainly? For there is an unlawful prayer, a petition that adds a grievous enhancement to all other sins, when one asks God to bless what He has clearly forbidden.
Do not imagine that the fervor of many voices can overturn the eternal words of God. No amount of "amens" can sanctify a relationship that Scripture calls defilement, nor can a chorus of intercessors turn a covenant of one man and one woman into something else. The hope of salvation rests not in the noise of our requests, but in our own repentance and continence. We must draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and this sprinkling is God's work, but the drawing near in truth is our own.
If you ask us to join in a prayer that would make us partakers of another's sin, you ask what would shipwreck our own confidence before the throne. Let us rather pray that your will be brought into glad captivity to Christ's, even if that means the sharp pain of plucking out what is dear. Faith goes beyond human reasonings and weakness; it does not seek to bend the Almighty to our desires, but yields the whole self to His design. Together with faith, fasting and prayer bring great power, fighting against the incorporeal powers, but prayer must come first, prayer aligned with His Word.
Search the Scriptures and see if the thing hoped for is promised. If not, then cast away that vain imagination, and make your request rather for a clean heart and a right spirit. Then you will find the true prayer warrior family standing with you, holding fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.
Do not imagine that the fervor of many voices can overturn the eternal words of God. No amount of "amens" can sanctify a relationship that Scripture calls defilement, nor can a chorus of intercessors turn a covenant of one man and one woman into something else. The hope of salvation rests not in the noise of our requests, but in our own repentance and continence. We must draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and this sprinkling is God's work, but the drawing near in truth is our own.
If you ask us to join in a prayer that would make us partakers of another's sin, you ask what would shipwreck our own confidence before the throne. Let us rather pray that your will be brought into glad captivity to Christ's, even if that means the sharp pain of plucking out what is dear. Faith goes beyond human reasonings and weakness; it does not seek to bend the Almighty to our desires, but yields the whole self to His design. Together with faith, fasting and prayer bring great power, fighting against the incorporeal powers, but prayer must come first, prayer aligned with His Word.
Search the Scriptures and see if the thing hoped for is promised. If not, then cast away that vain imagination, and make your request rather for a clean heart and a right spirit. Then you will find the true prayer warrior family standing with you, holding fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.
