The Power of a Praying Wife Devotional (19 page)

L
ORD
, I pray You would help my husband and me to make each other a priority. Teach us to lay down our work and responsibilities for special times to be together alone. I know we cannot have the marriage You want us to have if we are never spending quality time together. Enable us to affirm each other by communicating the deep thoughts and feelings that need to be expressed and seldom are because there just isn’t time or inclination. Remind each of us why we chose to marry in the first place.

Keep our love and attraction for each other alive so that we don’t allow each other to slip from a place of top priority. Where that has already happened, help us to change it by deliberately setting aside time for each other, to build each other up, and to clear the air of any miscommunication or unloving thoughts we have acquired. Help us to take the time to peacefully talk everything out so we are current on all emotions and no specter of the past can rise up to steal our joy. Most of all, enable us to fully treasure each other more than all the wealth that we have, or people that we know, or dreams that we follow.

In Jesus’ name I pray.

34

A man shall leave his father and mother
and be joined to his wife,
and they shall become one flesh.

G
ENESIS
2:24

T
OO OFTEN WHEN WOMEN READ
the Bible, certain passages that have the word “man” in them
seem
to say that it is not applicable to a woman. While there are a number of Scriptures where this is true—such as the one above—the Bible also says, “He created them male and female, and blessed them and
called them Mankind
in the day they were created” (Genesis 5:2, emphasis added). From the beginning we were made in God’s image and were called “Mankind”—later in common usage it was shortened to
man.
When we refer to “all mankind,” we are not just talking about men and excluding women. The Bible says of the great flood, “All flesh died that moved on the earth…and every man” (Genesis 7:21). This doesn’t mean only men died and women didn’t. “Man” means every person.

It’s important for women understand this, because if we don’t we can acquire an attitude that says, “It’s a man’s world and I will always be thought of as second class in comparison.” And, granted, in the
world
in many instances and situations this is true. But in the eyes of God, you and your husband are one. God sees you as equal. He gives you different responsibilities in the relationship, but one is not less important than the other.

God calls you to submit to your husband not because you are less than he is, but because ultimately one person has to lead and one has to submit themselves to the leader. The husband leads, but he has to submit himself to God, and he is accountable to God. You are accountable to God too, but your husband is accountable to God for the decisions he makes that concern
you.
I know submission is very hard for a wife to accept when her husband has made some decisions that impact her in a negative way. But arguing over this, beyond making your opinion and feelings known, will only further impact the situation negatively. Better to ask God to redeem what has happened and help you to trust Him in the process.

My Prayer to God

L
ORD
, help me to understand what my rightful place of authority is in our marriage. I see from Your Word that You made a husband and wife to be one, yet You have set boundaries where the husband must lead and the wife must submit. Sometimes I find it hard to submit to a bad or wrong decision—especially when it drastically affects me and our family. I pray that when I have these kinds of concerns, You would help me to make them known to my husband without being overbearing or out of order.

Teach us both to have a conversation without an argument. Help me to choose my words carefully when my thoughts need to be expressed. Give my husband ears to hear You advising him and a heart that listens when I share my thoughts. Show me how to be rightly submissive while still taking the authority You have given me in prayer. If my husband makes a bad decision against my expressed wishes, help me to forgive him and, above all, trust
You
to protect me. I know that he answers to You concerning the way he leads our family. Help us to work together as one and not as opposing factions.

In Jesus’ name I pray.

35

Do you see a man who excels in his work?
He will stand before kings;
he will not stand before unknown men.

P
ROVERBS
22:29

H
OW MANY TIMES
have we seen a man whose wife is working to support him while he pursues a dream of his own making that God is not blessing? And the result is an unbearable strain on her and the marriage. Or how many men are frustrated in their work and are irritable because of it? Every man needs to know he is doing the right work. Even if it is only a temporary job that will lead to the ultimate work God has called him to do, he needs the confidence of knowing he is following the leading of the Holy Spirit and moving in the will of God. This is why you must pray about the work your husband does.

First of all, pray that your husband understands the gifts God has put in him. Pray that he hears from God about what he is supposed to be doing with those gifts. Pray also that he will understand what his calling is, so that his gifts never take priority over his calling. Part of who he is called to be is your husband, and his gifts should never take priority over that.

Whatever your husband’s situation is now—whether he is out of work, has the greatest job, or is somewhere in between—pray that he is moving in the will of God. If he is not in the right place, or he has a job that is not pleasing to the Lord, ask God to reveal that to you both. If he is doing work that is not God’s will, ask the Lord to take him out of it and move him into what he was created to do. If he is in a job he dislikes and it is depleting him, ask God to help him either find peace and purpose in it or move him into something better. Pray that once your husband knows the leading of the Lord, he will follow it.

My Prayer to God

L
ORD
, I pray You would enable my husband to hear Your voice speaking to him regarding his work. Lead him to do what You want him to do. Reveal to him the gifts You have put in him so that he is not pursuing something You will not bless. If he is where he’s supposed to be, enable him to find favor with the people for whom he works. If a change needs to be made, I pray You would show him what to do and when to do it. Teach him to seek to know Your perfect will.