The Power of a Praying Wife Devotional (36 page)

L
ORD
, I come before You and ask that You would cleanse my attitude. “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10). I confess as sin any attitude I have that is not glorifying to You. Specifically I confess all thoughts about my husband that are not right in Your sight. Take every negative thought and critical attitude from me and help me to stand strong in what is true and good. I don’t ever want to grieve Your Spirit or put up a wall of separation from You because of an attitude I am entertaining that is indicative of “an evil conscience.”

Where my attitude has been hurtful to my husband, help me to confess it to him in a way that is redemptive and healing. I don’t want to continue on in a manner that weakens our relationship. Enable us both to have a clean heart and positive mind toward each other. Help us to forgive each other quickly and let go of grievances and anything we perceive to be offenses. Restore to us “the joy of Your salvation” and uphold us “by Your generous Spirit” (Psalm 51:12). Enable us “to stir up love and good works” toward each other.

In Jesus’ name I pray.

68

Give, and it will be given to you:
good measure, pressed down,
shaken together, and running over
will be put into your bosom.

For with the same measure that you use,
it will be measured back to you.

L
UKE
6:38

I
T IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT
for you to pray about the way your husband handles finances. Ask God to keep him ethical, honest, and upright in his relationship with money. And pray he will not neglect one of the most important aspects of financial blessings, and that is giving to God. The Lord makes His thoughts on giving very clear in His Word, saying, “‘Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and try Me now in this,’ says the L
ORD
of hosts, ‘If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, so that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground, nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field,’ says the L
ORD
of hosts” (Malachi 3:10-11).

This is such an important promise. If we give to Him as He requires, He will not only pour out abundance upon us but also protect us from what could rob us of what we already have. Yet this is often hard for people to do. They have to get beyond feeling that they are giving money to a pastor, or a church, or perhaps a group of people they are not sure they trust. They have to think of it as giving to God.

If it is hard for either you or your husband to give to God, perhaps it is because you were raised with little, and it can be frightening to think about what could happen if you don’t have enough. If that is the case, ask God to help you trust that He won’t leave you in jeopardy. Ask Him to enable you and your husband to fearlessly obey Him in this area of your life. When you are generous toward God with all you have, God is generous toward you with all that
He
has.

My Prayer to God

L
ORD
, I pray You would help my husband understand how to handle finances the way You have instructed in Your Word. Keep him always ethical, upright, and responsible to pay anyone to whom he owes money. Teach him to give the way You want him to—generously and without hesitation—to You and to others. Help us to tithe and give offerings to you and money to the poor. Take away any fear in either of us that says if we give to You we won’t have enough for us. Help us to remember that everything we have comes from You. Thank You that when we give what You require, You will take care of all our needs.

Help us to completely trust You in every way, and especially with money. Enable my husband to always make sound financial decisions and be willing to give to You as a part of that. Help us both to be in unity about this. Teach him to find the perfect balance between overspending and being stingy. Give him the wisdom and insight to handle money sensibly. Help us to always give in a way that pleases You. Thank You for opening the windows of heaven and pouring out Your blessings upon us.

In Jesus’ name I pray.

69

He said to them, “Take heed and
beware of covetousness,
for one’s life does not consist in the
abundance of the things he possesses.”

L
UKE
12:15

W
E ALL NEED TO SIMPLIFY
our lives in some way, because it seems that everything in this world draws us away from “the simplicity that is in Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:3). That verse is talking about not being deceived by the enemy and corrupted away from the simplicity of the gospel of Jesus. But there is a simplicity of living when we walk with the Lord that gives us a better quality of life. If there is too much input from outside influences that intrude upon our lives, and we are not deliberately mindful of it, it can quickly become overwhelming.

One of the good things about going through a financial crunch is that you learn where you must cut back and discover what you can live without. It forces you to sell things you don’t need—or that you do need, but God helps you to live without. God wants you to find the balance between poverty and working yourself to death for material possessions (Proverbs 23:4). He can enable you to slow that runaway train of your life down and get it on the right track.

Ask God to help you and your husband become free of slavery to things and activities that take up too much of your time without adding anything of value to your life. Ask Him to show you what you can eliminate from your lives in the way of time-stealers so that you will have more time for the most important things—family and God. It is amazing how learning to live more simply takes the stress off of a marriage. You have more time to breathe, less pressure to work beyond what is good, more hours to collect your thoughts, and more time to spend with the Lord and each other.

My Prayer to God