Three Prayers of Paul After Demas Left Him for Thessalonica

Heavenly Father, as I grow under Your wings, help me to be able to bear the loss of a loved one. Help me to be able to know that not all who begins well ends well, that not all with whom I started this Christian walk together will end this journey with me. Strengthen my heart, Father, to bear the loss of people like Demas, who, loving the pleasures and glory of this world, and being so full of the desires of the flesh, threw away the faith in exchange for the mundane things of this world. Help me to cast my eyes on the Lukes that are left with me in this arduous walk of faith.

“After this, many of His disciples drew back (returned to their old associations) and no longer accompanied Him. Jesus said to the Twelve, Will you also go away? [And do you too desire to leave Me?]” — John 6:66‭-‬67, AMPC

Help me to be able to imitate the example of Christ Jesus, who preached a single sermon in John 6 and several of His disciples—disciples, not multitudes—turned away from following Him, returning to their old, evil associations, returning back to their pits of sinfulness and eternal destruction. If all forsake You, LORD, help me to be numbered among the Twelve (Eleven, actually) who stood with You, who stood to follow and suffer with You, knowing fully well that only You has the word of eternal life.

“Do your best to come to me soon. Demas fell in love with this present world and has deserted me, going off to Thessalonica …. Only Luke is with me” — 2 Timothy 4:9‭-‬11, GNB

Father, deliver me from pretenders of the faith, from men who fake salvation in order to get near me, bite me and destroy my soul. Let me not rely upon and walk with men who will eventually fall away from the faith and leave me shocked, stranded and bewildered, even though instances like this are inevitable. Let me not walk with men who will, by hook or crook, eventually drag me away from You. Preserve me, oh LORD, preserve my soul from destruction! Preserve me, for I am but a worm! Preserve me, Lord, for unto You alone I surrendered my life, and I’ve purposed to follow You to the end. Never let me fall away, by the falling away of a loved one. Amen. ♦