Please pray for my 14 year old son Elijah

[Butterflyyy]

Hello Beautiful @Butterflyyy,

How are you today? Prayers are still going up for your son, Elijah.......be encouraged!

Hold fast to your faith in Jesus Christ and know that God loves Elijah and there's a "fence line"........God is watching Elijah and Elijah will only be allowed to go so far and then he'll hit the "fence." God will meet him there and bring him back home.

Dear Heavenly Father,

Thank You for hearing our hearts and our prayers for Elijah, thank You for keeping Your eye on Elijah. We pray he hits the fence SOON and You meet him there and bring him home - safe and sound.

Heal all the emotional wounds of Elijah from his childhood and help him to see his dad through Your eyes and understand his dad.

Give Elijah faith to believe and know that You love him and Your plans for him are good - a future of hope and blessing - drug free and empowered with Your Word and Holy Spirit to preach reconciliation to fathers and sons and deliver the captives from drug addiction.

We believe You have a purpose for allowing Elijah to go through all this mess, to empower him to help others, what the enemy means for evil, God will use for good, in the Mighty Name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Wow Lafftur
I literally just received a phone call from Elijah saying he had tried to ring his Dad, and his Dad said he wants nothing to do with him... something is definitely happening, and Elijah said he is willing to sleep one night a week at home which is a miraculous start and I will hopefully have opportunity to let Christ’s light shine, praise God!! Thank you so much to you and everyone who is praying, the Lord is still leading me...
your encouragement helped me dust myself down and get up from the last trauma with him, and I was able to reach out in love to him, after a few days and prayer...
I am trying to get him to go to college, the Lord willing.
Thank you for the lovely picture and encouragement xxxx

 

[Butterflyyy]

Okay, thank you for clarifying that for me. In your original response, you made it seem like all fathers were inadequately trained to be fathers. You said, "Father issues are one of the leading statistic to drug use."

We have to be careful here. All too often pastors preach a message of male inadequacy.

I lost my wife because she bought into this idea that I was not a good enough Christian man. She had an affair with a "much better, more respected Christian man." She wound up marrying this pillar of the community. And now I am relegated to a being weekend father.

She wound up marrying an adulterer... how can she ever trust him knowing what he did?🤔

 

[Butterflyyy]

I do not believe I said that but if it was confusing then I apologize. Obviously there are good men but also unfortunately the good men in our culture are becoming hard to find. I saw another study about dating. Our cultures attack on the family unit has now created generations of men children who are either taught masculinity is toxic or the music, culture, media, and education teaches them that the carnal behaviors of self pleasing is more important than thinking of others. The media shows the female as a tool just to be used and abandoned with no consequences because either abortion or no fault divorce will fix the problem. While equally the male was one portrayed as masculine and a gentlemen like Andy Griffith but now men are the joke and the women are portrayed as the mature almost motherhood type to the husband like the King of Queens comedy.

As more Americans turn to online dating and the #MeToo movement leaves its imprint on the dating scene, nearly half of U.S. adults – and a majority of women – say that dating has become harder in the last 10 years.

Most women who are currently single and looking to date (65%) say they have experienced at least one of six harassing behaviors asked about in the survey from someone they were dating or had been on a date with, such as being touched in a way that made them uncomfortable or rumors being spread about their sexual history. This compares with 50% of men who are single and looking. The pattern holds when looking at all women and men, whether they are currently on the dating market or not.

https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/202...-harder-for-most-people-in-the-last-10-years/

And the sad truth is that many Christian women are looking for masculine men; it is very difficult to find such men and also as you rightly said, Godly men.
I have been single 10 years, dated online , and I have friends in a similar situation and they find the same; it is as you have said. True men of God who are masculine are very rare indeed, and for Christian women it gets discouraging trying to find a husband. Thankfully through God all things are possible, but it takes a miracle from Him to resolve this problem. I have seen thousands and thousands of profiles and try to not bother with dating sites anymore as it seems futile.

 

[Lafftur]

Wow Lafftur
I literally just received a phone call from Elijah saying he had tried to ring his Dad, and his Dad said he wants nothing to do with him... something is definitely happening, and Elijah said he is willing to sleep one night a week at home which is a miraculous start and I will hopefully have opportunity to let Christ’s light shine, praise God!! Thank you so much to you and everyone who is praying, the Lord is still leading me...
your encouragement helped me dust myself down and get up from the last trauma with him, and I was able to reach out in love to him, after a few days and prayer...
I am trying to get him to go to college, the Lord willing.
Thank you for the lovely picture and encouragement xxxx

Wooohooo!!! Hallelujah!! Do everything in LOVE - Love is powerful! Love will silence Fear!

Absolutely reject all fear and hold fast to your faith in Jesus Christ! You're such a wonderful Mom!

Much love to you and Elijah!

I do pray Elijah's father will get his wounds healed too, in the Name of Jesus Christ. We lift him up too, amen.

 

[soggykitten]

Praying! Amen!

 

[Roughsoul1991]

And the sad truth is that many Christian women are looking for masculine men; it is very difficult to find such men and also as you rightly said, Godly men.
I have been single 10 years, dated online , and I have friends in a similar situation and they find the same; it is as you have said. True men of God who are masculine are very rare indeed, and for Christian women it gets discouraging trying to find a husband. Thankfully through God all things are possible, but it takes a miracle from Him to resolve this problem. I have seen thousands and thousands of profiles and try to not bother with dating sites anymore as it seems futile.

It is sad when that becomes the state of the culture. It is sad because people suffer in poor relationships or kids grow up with one parent. It is sad knowing the world my kids are growing up in. What kind of guy my daughter will marry, or what kind of girls my sons will marry.

Your personal testimony describes where churches have failed. Churches that support men as men and guide men to live as God designed. Many men of today come from broken homes and never had a good example like a loving father. Our society is reeling from the absence of the Biblical man.

 

[DesertWanderer]

Is this a local observation or national? Our data for marriage, dating, and fatherhood are quite negative.

My advice is to forget the data and engage with the individual.

 

[DesertWanderer]

And the sad truth is that many Christian women are looking for masculine men; it is very difficult to find such men and also as you rightly said, Godly men.

You make my point beautifully in the following post:

https://christianchat.com/christian...the-new-millennium.189688/page-2#post-4133278

Unfortunately, I believe you have bought into the same nonsense.

 

[SoulWeaver]

And the sad truth is that many Christian women are looking for masculine men; it is very difficult to find such men and also as you rightly said, Godly men.
I have been single 10 years, dated online , and I have friends in a similar situation and they find the same; it is as you have said. True men of God who are masculine are very rare indeed, and for Christian women it gets discouraging trying to find a husband. Thankfully through God all things are possible, but it takes a miracle from Him to resolve this problem. I have seen thousands and thousands of profiles and try to not bother with dating sites anymore as it seems futile.

What do you consider a masculine man? Just out of curiosity.

 

[Butterflyyy]

You make my point beautifully in the following post:

https://christianchat.com/christian...the-new-millennium.189688/page-2#post-4133278

Unfortunately, I believe you have bought into the same nonsense.

I haven’t bought into any nonsense; it’s a fact; I have trawled Christian dating sites for years, seen thousands of profiles, spoken to Christian men, visited many churches and speak with other Christian women. The proof is what I have discovered for myself that there are few strong men of God, and many men seem to be chasing money or materialism and self- gratification, even leaving women to shoulder responsibility in the Church; I have even witnessed this in the older generation. Good churches are few and far between in my country and I have seen with my own eyes the women are taking responsibility they shouldn’t have to because the men are not. This in turn has an effect on the next generation as they need good male role models to look up to. Sadly, it’s reality brother.

 

[Butterflyyy]

You make my point beautifully in the following post:

https://christianchat.com/christian...the-new-millennium.189688/page-2#post-4133278

Unfortunately, I believe you have bought into the same nonsense.

Maybe I have misunderstood your point DW, sorry if I have. Maybe you could clarify.

 

[Butterflyyy]

What do you consider a masculine man? Just out of curiosity.

Well firstly a man who is not afraid of hard work and to provide, also a man who seeks and knows the Lord for himself and takes responsibility in the Church/Body of Christ somehow, according to the gifts given him, and very importantly a man who can face shouldering responsibility, who is not afraid to love, whether it be in his own family relationships, someone else’s kids or any lost soul that needs Christ. Someone selfless and who asks God for wisdom. Takes the initiative and cares, doesn’t take the easy way out. Gets tough when the going gets tough, gets on his knees to the Lord, a prayer warrior. A rock, a man of faith.
I guess a real man is what the Bible describes him as; he has Christ as His head, he lays his life down for his wife, he is a protector and is not happy to sit back and let the woman do everything. I don’t think it’s someone who lords it over or oppresses women though.

 

[Butterflyyy]

This morning I realised an amazing blessing, that Elijah, when he rang, told me he had made a call to his younger brother (who has gone to live with his Dad). I had shared with Elijah that his younger brother had upset me by saying that a baby is not alive until it is born and can be aborted.
Elijah told him that if an unborn baby has a heart-beat then it’s alive😃.
What a blessing in the midst of this storm. Thank you Lord.

 

[Roughsoul1991]

What do you consider a masculine man? Just out of curiosity.

I know you were asking the OP. But here is a good explanation of who a man should be. https://www.gotquestions.org/godly-man.html
Anything else outside of God's design or commands is destructive to society and the individual. Most of these traits every civilization sees as valuable for the man even if they do not equate it to God. The problem comes as civilizations begin to fall then so does the image of the great men who fought and built it.

 

[SoulWeaver]

I know you were asking the OP. But here is a good explanation of who a man should be. https://www.gotquestions.org/godly-man.html
Anything else outside of God's design or commands is destructive to society and the individual. Most of these traits every civilization sees as valuable for the man even if they do not equate it to God. The problem comes as civilizations begin to fall then so does the image of the great men who fought and built it.

I'm all set up bro, no need to read I have the definition right here at home with me

 

[Infinite_Ark]

Joining everyone else here as we pray for Elijah.

 

[Belka]

Praying for Elijah and @Butterflyyy !

God will bring him home! Be patient and steadfast, dear sister 💗

I am truly impressed at your faith and ability to handle the situation. The Lord is surely watching over you and your son and giving you the grace in this time of need. You are doing great, keep up the good fight of faith!

Hellelujah all glory to our Father. Yes Lord we thank You in advance for the miracles You're going to do! May Your will be done and may salvation come into that family quickly. In Jesus' name, amen.

 

[Butterflyyy]

My advice is to forget the data and engage with the individual.

I’m trying to find the individual to engage with....😎

 

[Butterflyyy]

An update for my precious, kind brothers and sisters who are/ have been praying...
I am seeing the Lord at work, it’s heart-breaking but I am very encouraged that there is definitely progress... Elijah opened up to me yesterday, stayed til 1am talking, told me he doesn’t want to be forced to sell drugs to buy food and clothes so I have agreed to trust him with food money... I dropped him at his girlfriend’s and was home after 2am, at 2:30 he rang just to tell me he had seen his first shooting star...
He had allowed me that night to see where he sofa- surfs to be with his 17 year old girlfriend. A wall has come down, only by love and grace, thank you so much for all praying and encouraging me. I’m crying writing this... I was able to tell him that if it all goes wrong I’m there for him and he nodded.
I am taking him to look at a college tomorrow and I hope he will be allowed to go. He really wants to. He was 15, two weeks ago and he wants to work and is too young.
I don’t know how I’ve got the grace to keep doing this after the way he’s treated me, but love and tears just keep pouring out of me and he let me hold him last night as I just sobbed and told him I just love him so much.
I can’t explain it all but thank you and thank you God. X❤️

 

[Kim82]

Elijah opened up to me yesterday, stayed til 1am talking, told me he doesn’t want to be forced to sell drugs to buy food and clothes so I have agreed to trust him with food money... I dropped him at his girlfriend’s and was home after 2am, at 2:30 he rang just to tell me he had seen his first shooting star...
He had allowed me that night to see where he sofa- surfs to be with his 17 year old girlfriend.

Butterflyyy you should have put your foot down and let him know that if he wants food, he is to return home, and stop being so unruly. You don't need to give him money.

Why would you take him at 1am to this girl's house? And what does her parents have to say about all this?