The Power of a Praying Wife Devotional (32 page)

L
ORD
, I pray You would take all anger away from my husband. His angry displays can only cause harm to himself, to me, to our children, and to others around him. Teach him Your ways and enable him to understand that nothing good ever comes from venting anger on others—especially his wife or children. Enable him to see what strife it causes in our marriage and our family (Proverbs 29:22). Give him the wisdom to recognize that anger is in the heart of fools (Ecclesiastes 7:9). Take away any angry spirit, for I know that frequent anger directed at a spouse is a fruit of the flesh and it never pleases You (Romans 8:6-8). It only causes trouble for his own soul (Proverbs 11:17).

Fill him with Your love and take away any need to gratify his own flesh by giving free reign to wrath. Strengthen him to control it and to give no place to it in his mind. I pray You will help me avoid words that stir up his anger (Proverbs 15:1). Enable me to do nothing to provoke it. Open his eyes to see this unreasonable character flaw and enable him to make the decision to put away all anger from his life. Thank You, Lord, for helping him refuse to give place to anger.

In Jesus’ name I pray.

60

When your son asks you in time to come,
saying, “What is the meaning of
the testimonies, the statutes, and the
judgments which the Lord our God
has commanded you?” then you shall say
to your son: “We were slaves of
Pharaoh in Egypt, and the Lord brought
us out of Egypt with a mighty hand.”

D
EUTERONOMY
6:20-21

T
IME AND AGAIN
God’s Word instructs us to tell our children about the Lord—who He is and what He has done for us. We must tell them what the Bible says and how it has changed us. We are to share with them what the Lord has specifically done in our lives—how we were once slaves to our own wants, but now God has set us free and brought us out of the snares of the world and into His kingdom.

It is most important that you and your husband be sending the same message about the Lord to your children. That’s why you need to ask God to help you communicate His truth to your children in a way that they can comprehend—whether they are young children, or adults, or somewhere in between. Too often we become busy and assume our children are picking all this up by osmosis. But unless you are specifically instructing them, they may be picking up
other
things by osmosis that you don’t want them to absorb.

Too much of the world can creep into your children’s minds, souls, and spirits every day without your even realizing it. They need that double-barrel message from the two of you to have a double-strong impact. If your husband is not yet a believer, pray that he will at least not object to your teaching your children about the Lord. Even if you have only known the Lord a short time yourself, you already have too much knowledge to not share what you know. Whatever the situation, pray that you and your husband will always send your children the right message.

My Prayer to God

L
ORD,
I pray You would enable my husband and me to be in complete agreement about the way we communicate to our children the truth of who You are and what You have done for us. Help us to speak clearly with them about how You rescued us from the emptiness and futility of life apart from You. Help us to live Your way so they can see it. Enable us to be in unity about what we believe. Where my husband doesn’t believe exactly as I do, I pray You would open his eyes to see the truth. Bring revelation and light to whichever one of us is ignorant about Your ways. I pray there will be no strife or argument between us over this, but that we will work this out together.

Give us both the motivation and desire to talk to our children, no matter what age they are—even if they are grown now—in order to share the goodness of walking with You. I know we don’t have to be Bible scholars in order to share the good news in Your Word, but we do have to take the time to do it. Help us to communicate to our children the love we have for You in a way that draws them toward You. Help us to communicate our love and Your love for
them
in a way that heals and attracts them to Jesus.

In Jesus’ name I pray.

61

Husbands, love your wives, just as
Christ also loved the church and gave
Himself for her…So husbands ought to
love their own wives as their own bodies;
he who loves his wife loves himself.
For no one ever hated his own flesh,
but nourishes and cherishes it, just
as the Lord does the church.

E
PHESIANS
5:25,28-29

I
F YOU HAVE ALWAYS FELT
loved by your husband, thank God for that and pray it will always be that way. However, if you are like many wives who don’t
feel
truly loved by their husband, you can pray for that to change. While you cannot make someone love you if they won’t, you
can
pray for your husband to do God’s will and learn how to show his love in ways that are meaningful to you. Love is a language, and some men don’t speak it well enough. If your husband seems distant, preoccupied, or unaffectionate, God can teach him to be more like
Him,
and He is the absolute king of the love language.

The Bible says a husband is supposed to love his wife as he loves himself. He is also to love his wife the way Jesus loves His believers. Jesus gave His life as the ultimate sacrifice. This seems like an impossibly high standard for a husband to live up to, but one of the ways a husband sacrifices his life for his wife is by openly showing his love for her.

Every woman needs to feel loved by her husband. And you can pray for that, because it is God’s will that every husband love his wife as he loves himself. If love has been covered over in your husband’s heart, pray that God will uncover it and bring it to the light. If love has died between you, ask God to resurrect it. He is an expert at doing that—and He can accomplish it in even the hardest of hearts.

My Prayer to God