The Power of a Praying Wife Devotional (49 page)

L
ORD
, I pray You would help my husband and me to stand strong in all we know of You, in all we read in Your Word, and in all You have taught us. Help us to stand firm in faith, love, peace, and purpose. Keep us standing on solid rock in good times and in bad. Thank You that Your promise to those of us who live Your way is that we will come successfully through difficult times (Proverbs 12:13). Thank You for Your Word that says because we are Your children, when we go through storms in our lives we will be able to stand firm while others fall (Proverbs 10:25).

Teach us to stand in Your truth at all times so that we won’t drift away (Hebrews 2:1). We want to stand in awe of only You and Your Word, and not of the world and its enticements (Psalm 119:161). Help us to be unified, knowing that a house divided against itself cannot stand (Mark 3:25). Enable us to not get carried away by fear and doubt when hard things happen in our lives or in the world around us. Help us both to “count it all joy” when we go through trials, knowing You will perfect us in them as we depend on Your enabling power. We choose to find our strength in You in order to stand strong today and every day.

In Jesus’ name I pray.

94

Cease from anger, and forsake wrath;
do not fret—it only causes harm.

P
SALM
37:8

E
VERYONE BECOMES ANGRY
about something sometimes, but you are not allowed to give anger permanent residence in your heart. That’s because anger will burn a hole in your soul that will fill up with bitterness and unforgiveness, and it will seep through your personality until you become not only toxic to yourself but also to others around you. Anger festers in each one of us like an infected sore that quickly progresses to something far more serious every day it is allowed to remain unattended. In fact, God doesn’t want us to even entertain it overnight. “Be angry, and do not sin: do not let the sun go down on your wrath” (Ephesians 4:26). That means we must not take it to bed with us, because it is doing more damage than we realize every moment we give it a place within us. You can
get
angry, but you must not
stay
angry. We are foolish to let anger stay in our heart (Ecclesiastes 7:9).

If you have unresolved anger, ask God to help you refuse its rule in your soul. Even if you feel your anger is justified, pray to be rid of it. If you are angry at your husband, remember that your ultimate battle is not with him. Even if he has done something thoughtless or hurtful, he is still not your enemy. It is hard to remember that when you are in the midst of a difficult situation.

Even if your anger is directed at others, you must get rid of it because it will show up in your face and in your personality, and it will negatively affect your marriage. When you are slow to anger, you are wise like the Lord (Psalm 103:8). Ask God to make you wise enough to “forsake all wrath” and avoid the harm it causes.

My Prayer to God

L
ORD,
I pray You would take away all anger in me. No matter what reason I have for being angry, I know You don’t want me to keep it in my heart. I pray You would help me to lay it down before You and let it go. Your Word says not to let the sun go down on my wrath. I absolutely do not want any wrath to fester in me and grow into an infected wound. I confess any long-term anger as sin, and I release it into Your hands. I know You are greater than the situation that is disturbing to me, so I ask You to help me trust You completely in this. I believe You will protect me in it so that I don’t have to fight this battle.

Change my heart from anger to peace, from wrath to release. Work in this situation and make it right. I know that an angry person is not good to be around, and I don’t want to be that kind of person (Proverbs 22:24). Plant Your love, peace, and joy in my heart to flourish there instead. Your Word says we should not rush to be angry because “anger rests in the bosom of fools” (Ecclesiastes 7:9). Help me to be wise and not foolish, and be slow to anger just as You are (Psalm 103:8). I know that anger is a work of the flesh, so I pray You will enable me to walk in the Spirit in all I do (Romans 8:4).

In Jesus’ name I pray.

95

You have heard that it was said to those of
old, “You shall not commit adultery.”
But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to
lust for her has already committed adultery with her
in his heart. If your right eye
causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it
from you; for it is more profitable
for you that one of your members perish,
than for your whole body to be cast into hell.

M
ATTHEW
5:27-29

A
SPIRIT OF SEXUAL LUST
is so pervasive in our culture that we don’t have to go searching for it; it comes to us. A man is wired to be susceptible because it enters through his eyes and the immodesty he sees. His mind can be invaded as he watches TV and films, by what he sees on the Internet, and even certain window displays in some stores. It is his responsibility to reject all that out of his mind. If a woman approaches him at work to flirt, he must remember who he is and turn away from her. That’s why he needs your support in prayer.

Even if your husband never
intends
to entertain the idea of acting on sexual temptation, the thought in his mind can cause sin to enter his heart. It has to be stopped at the thought level. Your prayers can help him be strong enough to resist it. A threat
from
hell, like sexual temptation, can put him
through
hell if he doesn’t get away from it immediately. Pray that all sexual temptation will be taken away from him and that this ploy of the enemy will not succeed.

Even if you don’t think your husband would ever allow temptation to get the best of him, pray anyway. Most husbands will not tell their wives what they are experiencing along those lines. The struggle is real and you cannot ignore it. Pray for God to protect him and give him the strength he needs to stand in opposition to it.

My Prayer to God