The Power of a Praying Wife Devotional (16 page)

L
ORD
, I pray You would give my husband and me wisdom, knowledge, and understanding so that we don’t make hasty decisions without first seeking You for direction. If either of us is ever about to do something like that at any time, I pray You would give us such clear revelation that it stops us in our tracks before we make a serious mistake. Help both of us to never trouble our house by being impulsive and quick to cater to what we
think
is right instead of waiting to hear from You so that we do what we
know
is right.

Don’t let us get off the path You have for us by taking even one step in the wrong direction that will lead to problems for us later on. Pull us back from our own way and help us live according to Yours. Keep us from pursuing our own desires over Your will. Wake us up to the truth whenever we have willfully stepped into the path of deception. Keep us from buying something we cannot afford, or committing to something we are not supposed to do, or investing time and money in something You will not bless. Keep our eagerness to have something from controlling our decisions. Give us wisdom, and let our good judgment lead us in the right way. Enable us to have a calm, sensible, Spirit-led approach to every decision we make.

In Jesus’ name I pray.

28

My soul, wait silently for God alone,
for my expectation is from Him.

P
SALM
62:5

W
E WIVES TOO OFTEN
come into our marriage with great expectations of what our mate is going to be like and who he will become. We see things we
want
to see, and we don’t always see the things we
should.
Because our expectations are so high, when our husband doesn’t live up to them we can’t hide our disappointment. It comes out in moodiness, discontent, disrespect, disdain, critical words, and the ever-popular silent treatment. A wife can become the victim of her own misplaced expectations, and her husband pays for it. King David had it right when he told his soul to wait quietly for the Lord and put his
expectations
in
Him.
We must do the same.

Your husband can only be who he is. You cannot put expectations on him to fulfill you in ways that only God can do. Your husband simply can’t be everything to you—nor is he supposed to be—but
God
can be. And He
wants
to be.

Has your husband fulfilled every expectation you have had of him? If not, tell God about it and ask
Him
to fulfill those needs instead. Of course, there are certain expectations you
should
have of your husband, such as fidelity, love, kindness, financial support, protection, and decency. If he cannot, or won’t, provide those things for you, he is not living up to what
God
expects of him either. But beyond that, if you are constantly disappointed in your husband, ask God to show you whether you should be looking to your Lord and Savior, instead of your husband, for everything you need.

My Prayer to God

L
ORD
, show me any expectations I have of my husband that are unfair, and for which I should be looking to You to provide instead. I know he cannot meet my every emotional need—and I should not expect him to—but
You
can. I look to You for my comfort, fulfillment, and peace. I thank You for all the good things my husband provides for me, and I ask You to keep me from being critical of him for not being perfect.

Lord, help me to wait quietly for You to provide what I need, for I put all my expectations in You. For everything I have expected from my husband and have been disappointed because he couldn’t provide, I now look to You. If I have damaged my husband’s self-respect in any way because I have made him feel that I am disappointed in him, I confess that to You as sin. Help me to apologize and make that up to him. Bring restoration, and heal any and all wounds. Where there are certain things I should expect of him as a husband and he has failed to provide, help me to forgive him. I release him into Your hands to become who
You
made him to be and not what I want him to be. Help me to keep my expectations focused on You so I can live free of expectations I have no right to put on him.

In Jesus’ name I pray.

29

God has not given us a spirit of fear,
but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

2 T
IMOTHY
1:7

J
ESUS CAME TO DELIVER US
from everything that controls our life other than Him. If your husband’s life is in any way controlled by something other than the Holy Spirit, he must have deliverance from that. If he has a tormenting fear, he needs the perfect love of God to set him free of it. The Bible says, “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love” (1 John 4:18). Pray for the love of God to perfectly fill your husband’s heart, soul, and mind and evaporate all fear from his life.

There are many things in this world to be afraid of, and it is wise to have enough sensible fear to keep yourself and your family safe. For example, you should have enough fear of predators to keep your children away from strangers. In that way fear can be protective because it keeps you and your family out of harm’s way. But a spirit of fear is oppressive because it controls our lives.

Ask God to show you where your husband is in any way controlled by fear. He cannot make sound decisions if he is motivated by fear, for that is opposite of moving with the leading of the Lord. If you ever see that happening in your husband, pray for him to be free of all ungodly fear. Say to him, or pray over him, the words, “God has not given you a spirit of fear; He has given you love, power, and a sound mind. Refuse anything but the sound mind God has given you.” God does not want you or your husband to live in fear. That is not His will for your life. He wants you both to live in fear of
Him
—fear meaning
reverence
here. He wants you to live in His love, and by His power, and with the sound mind He has given you.

My Prayer to God