November 12, 2026 | Be Connected
Praying for a Backsliding Brother
Scripture: 1 John 5:16-17(NIV)
16 If you see any brother or sister commit a sin that does not lead to death, you should pray and God will give them life. I refer to those whose sin does not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not saying that you should pray about that. 17 All wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin that does not lead to death.
Devotional
Throughout this epistle, John has been combating the infiltration of Gnosticism (silent “G”) in the Christian community. This heresy denied Jesus as being God in the flesh. Earlier in this letter John called these people antichrists. They had consciously chosen to reject Jesus as the Son of God. When John speaks of sin that leads to death for which even prayer can’t help, this is what he may have been referring to. If somebody chooses to abandon the way that leads to eternal life and embark on the path toward eternal death, only repentance will get them back on the right track.
But for other sins, which are common to all people, we should pray for those committing them. When people who are part of the church restart a life of wrongdoing, it is the responsibility of believers to pray for them. Some of my hardest conversations in my four decades of ministry have been with brothers or sisters in the faith who have backslidden. Even harder is when others have had those conversations with me.
In Matthew 18:15-17, Jesus outlined steps to take when fellow Christians sin. It involves offering a loving confrontation. Ouch. And his brother James said this about praying for other believers: “If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective” (James 5:15-16).
Secrecy is the enemy of community. It’s counterproductive to keep our lives private while trying to be part of the family of God. And it’s unhealthy when we allow a brother or sister in that family to do whatever they want with their personal lives. True community means taking off the dirty shoes to reveal the smelly feet. And it means bending down to wash between the toes when a fellow believer has stunk it up.
How can you “confess your sins to each other and pray for each other?” Are you willing to risk the relationship in order for there to be restoration to the family of God?
