Category: prayers

A Prayer for SIL, Day 5

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Lord, I lift up SIL to You again. Heal her heart, mind, and body of all that is wrong. Heal the scars and heal the raw areas. Bring her body into good health. Bring her mind into good health so her thinking lines up with Yours. Bring her heart into good health so she can love You and receive Your love, that her love for You will increase every day. Give her the strength to stop doing the things that displease You and to start doing the things that You call her to do, Give her discernment and the ability to hear You. You said Your sheep know Your voice. I pray that You open her ears so she can hear You, so she can follow You and only You. Give her the ability to differentiate between Your voice, her voice, and the voice of the enemy.

The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” John 10:3a-5

Jesus, You are the Good Shepherd – her Shepherd. May she hear Your voice as You call her name to lead her out of the place she is in. May she follow You as You go before her. May she flee from voices that are not Yours. May she desire to follow You above all else.

In Your Good Hands,

Amen.

A Prayer for SIL, Day 4

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Jesus, I lift SIL up to You. Open her eyes and ears to see and hear You. Speak to her, Lord, of your love and mercy as You reveal her heart to her and call her to repent. I ask that you work in her to mature her, that You heal whatever is in her, whatever pain or scars or walls that keep her a perpetual child. Heal her mind, Lord, so she can live out her life fully and with satisfaction. Lord, strengthen her to look at her deep, hidden feelings and not run from them.

But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. 1 Corinthians 3:1

Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature. 1 Corinthians 14:20

Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. 1 Peter 2:2

So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. 1 Corinthians 3:7

Lord, please grow SIL until You can address her as a spiritual woman and not as a woman of the flesh. I pray that she will want to be a child only in evil but mature in her thinking. I pray that she will crave pure spiritual milk so intensely that all distraction fall away as she fills herself with Your Word. Lord, Jesus, only You can make things grow. I pray that SIL will allow You to do so with her.

In Your Healing Name,

Amen.

A Prayer for SIL, Day 3

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Lord, calm the battle that swirls in and around SIL. Open her ears to the truth so that she can be freed. Bless the efforts she makes and call her to Yourself for healing and counsel. Jesus, she needs to be rescued as much as I did when You saved me. If this battle is one of her own making in which the enemy is taking advantage, show her what she’s doing that needs to be addressed. She can’t repent if she thinks nothing is her fault. She may feel as if she’s a helpless victim but she is not. Lord, if she is being convicted by the Holy Spirit for something, I pray You strengthen and enlighten her to see it so that she can confess what needs to be confessed, be forgiven, and be set free to walk with You. Keep her safe, Lord, in all of this.

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. Titus 2:11-14

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.1 John 1:9

Lord God, I pray that Your grace will bring salvation to SIL, that You train her to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and enable her to live a self-controlled, upright, and godly life in these troublesome times as she waits for Your glorious appearing. Jesus, You gave Yourself to redeem us – I pray that you redeem SIL from all lawlessness, and that You purify her for Yourself to be zealous for good works.

In You Glorious Name,

Amen.

A Prayer for SIL, Day 2

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Jesus, be with SIL as she sleeps. Give her a sense of Your presence. Counsel her. Show her what she needs to win the battle she is in. Clarify her vision and open her ears. Protect her from the enemy. Free her from her past. Show her her need for help, her need for other people, her need to look at herself, and her need of Your strength. Pour your grace over and through her. Heal her heart and her mind. Grow her faith so that she can mature in You. Make her to be the woman You call her to be.

I bless the Lord who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me.   Psalm 16:7

May she hear you as You speak to her in the night. Fill her heart with knowledge of who You are, what she needs to do, and what she needs to let go of. When she awakes, I pray she feels Your presence and will use the strength that comes from You to do the things You placed in her heart.

In Your Most Precious Name,

Amen.

Prayer for a Struggling Loved One – Day One

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Most Christians have no trouble praying for the needs of someone who is struggling. Words seem to flow from them no matter how often they pray.

Not so with me. I tend to pray very short prayers, and once prayed, don’t see the need to repeat them. God heard me. God will handle the situation. What else is there to say?

But recently I have found a situation that requires daily prayer. Several people I know are in intense battles for their minds, souls, finances, relationships, and health. A one-time prayer doesn’t seem to fit anymore.  And yet, I am unable to repeat myself every day without it becoming rote and passionless.  

I wonder how many Christians can identify with me.

For those who have no problem praying verbally, this series of blogs is not intended for you, although you may certainly read and pray them, too. This set of blogs is for those who struggle to find the words. As I work to put into words the yearning of my heart for my loved ones, I hope posting them will empower others to pray for their own struggling loved ones easier and more faithfully. May the Lord use our prayers to free His people from the battles that bind them.

(I will refer to the person I’m praying for as SIL – Someone I Love – in these posts. But when I pray, I use their real names. It would be good if you did the same.)

Day One

Lord, I lift up SIL to You. Please calm the storm around her so she can see. So she can hear Your words to her. Help her to fight. Strengthen her and show her who the enemy is. Whatever is in her, whatever pain or confusion or pride that is controlling her thoughts and reactions – and her silence and passive aggressiveness – I pray You break through and free her as You freed me. Not because I want it, though I do. Not because she needs it, though she does. But because You love her and died to set her free. Protect her from all forces trying to destroy her. Protect her from demonic thoughts as she fights her own flesh. Fill her with your Spirit. Let Your light illuminate the issues she’s struggling with. And let Your strength bolster her enough to have victory in this battle.

For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.  2 Corinthians 4:6

Scripture paraphrased:

May You, O God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” shine in the SIL’s heart to give her the light of the knowledge of Your glory in the face of Jesus Christ.

For it is in Jesus we find freedom.

Amen.