The Power of a Praying Wife Devotional (20 page)

In every meeting he has, I pray You would be in charge so he will hear Your voice over all others. Enable him to make the right decisions with regard to his work. Only You, Lord, know what is ahead at this time in our lives and in our world. Teach him to pursue the right things at the right time. Enable him to hear Your voice saying, “This is the way, walk in it” (Isaiah 30:21). I pray he will find great fulfillment, satisfaction, and success in his work, along with the confidence of knowing he is doing what You have called him to do. May his gifts always make room for him and bring him before great men (Proverbs 18:16).

In Jesus’ name I pray.

36

Owe no one anything except
to love one another,
for he who loves another
has fulfilled the law.

R
OMANS
13:8

L
IVING UNDER A MOUNTAIN
of debt will suffocate any marriage—especially if one person did not want the debt and didn’t accumulate it but is the one working to pay it off. This is a setup for disaster. Debt is overwhelming, and it has been the ruin of countless marriages. Every effort must be made to eliminate debt before it crushes you, because it is a burden your shoulders were not meant to carry.

Becoming debt free must be a priority in both of your lives until you actually are free. From that point,
staying
debt free is your constant goal. Having a mortgage and a car loan are fine when you know you can easily make the payments for both. And putting a vacation or certain purchases on a credit card for convenience works when you know you can pay them off right away. But carrying debt month after month, one finance charge after another, is no way to live.

Ask God to give you and your husband the wisdom to manage your finances well. If you need professional help, there are a number of good Christian financial advisors and excellent books to read on the subject. Most of all, pray that you and your husband will be in agreement about how your finances are handled. Agree to pay off all bills every month. Agree to save a certain amount. Agree to not make major purchases until you know you have the finances to pay for them. Careless spending is one of the biggest deal breakers in a marriage. Ask God to help you avoid that or enable you to get out of debt if it has already happened. One of the consequences for backbreaking debt is that it will break the back of your marriage too.

My Prayer to God

L
ORD
, I pray You will help my husband and me to pay off all our debts. Give us wisdom about our finances so that we don’t spend more than we make and never incur more debt than we have the money to cover. Give us the discipline to save for the future—especially future situations that are unforeseen. Teach us how to handle our money, always remembering that everything we have comes from You (1 Corinthians 4:7). Where we could benefit from a Christian financial counselor, show us whom to go to or whose book to read on the subject. Most of all, I pray You would help us to face all financial matters openly and together, always remembering that we are on the same team.

Enable us to pay off all credit cards and only use them wisely so our money is not wasted on finance charges. Help us to live within our means and not strive for a lifestyle above what we can afford or sustain. Enable us to be strong and not spend money on what we don’t need, but rather spend money only as we are directed by Your Holy Spirit. Teach us to give to You the way You want us to so that we never limit the blessings You have for us. I submit our finances to You and ask that You be in charge of them and all our decisions and expenses. Give us the desire to follow You and not the desires of our flesh.

In Jesus’ name I pray.

37

Let the husband render to his wife
the affection due her,
and likewise also the wife to her husband.

1 C
ORINTHIANS
7:3

F
OR MANY PEOPLE
who were not raised with open affection, showing it can be difficult. It’s not that they don’t feel affectionate. In fact, often they have very deep feelings of love and affection for their spouse, but they find it difficult to show it in ways that may be meaningful. But showing affection is not just about doing what we
feel comfortable
doing; it is a matter of
obeying God.

If your husband is not as affectionate as you would like him to be, ask God to do a miracle of healing in his heart. If he was not shown affection as a child, God can heal that. It’s easier for him to be affectionate to his wife when he is free of hurts from the past and he feels good in his skin. This is not a false confidence that pumps him up in a superficial way. It is genuinely feeling good about who God made him to be, and sensing the love and affection of God so much that it overflows to his wife automatically.

If you are the one who tends to be less affectionate than your husband would like, ask God to help you with that. Pray that you will be healed of all wounds of the past where you were not shown the proper affection by the people who were supposed to care for you. Ask God to show you what you can do for your husband that would make him feel loved. It’s hard to do something you haven’t learned naturally. But this is what God requires of you, so it has to be something you have the capability of giving and He can enable you to do. If you are willing, God will help you do it.

My Prayer to God

L
ORD
, I pray You would help me show the affection that my husband needs and that You want me to extend to him. I don’t want to be selfish in that regard, nor do I want to be ignoring any of Your requirements. Teach me ways to show affection that would be a blessing to him. The ways I would like my husband to show affection to me are in the affirming words he speaks to me, in the considerate things he does, and in a gentle touch. Help me to show affection to him in those ways too. I pray that affection would flow out of me so that it doesn’t feel forced or contrived. Take away any self-consciousness I have about that and make it a natural outpouring of kindness, the source of which is Your Spirit in me.