The Power of a Praying Wife Devotional (9 page)

L
ORD
, help me to speak to my husband about what I know I need to confess to him. Give me the words to say. Open his heart to receive what I need to tell him with a good and godly attitude. If it is something I know I did wrong, help me to not do it again. Give me the wisdom and discernment I need to avoid that in the future. Where it is something I did that I feel was
not
wrong, but I know he will not be happy about it, help us to talk calmly and peacefully about this issue. Enable us to come to an agreement regarding what should be done in the future.

Give my husband and me compassionate attitudes that don’t resort to anger. Help us to talk peacefully and come to a mutual understanding so that we always exhibit respect for each other. Teach us to believe for the best in each other. When I have to confess something that is hard for him to hear, reign in both of our hearts so that our words glorify You. Where there are things that should be confessed to each other but have been hidden because of not wanting to stir up anything negative, I pray You would help us to get these things out in the open honestly. Your Word says that confessing our trespasses—both to You and to each other—can be a prelude to healing, not only of body and soul but also of our relationship and marriage. Enable us to freely confess and freely pray for each other so that we may find the healing we need.

In Jesus’ name I pray.

14

Let every man be swift to hear,
slow to speak, slow to wrath;
for the wrath of man does not produce
the righteousness of God.

J
AMES
1:19-20

O
FTEN WE WIVES
are tuned in to things our husbands are not. There are times when you see the truth about a situation and your husband doesn’t, and you know he needs to hear your input. For example, if you see your husband about to go over a cliff by making a wrong decision, you must absolutely say something to him. If there are words you need to speak to your husband with regard to what he is doing or not doing,
pray first.
Ask God to open his ears to hear, his mind to understand, and his heart to receive what you have to say.

There is a type of man who refuses to listen to anything his wife says simply because she is a woman and he is convinced he knows better. Sometimes it hurts his ego to think she could be right and he might be wrong. Most men, however, have a healthy self-image and know it doesn’t minimize them to receive input from their wife. In fact, they welcome it.

When Sarah realized something was happening in her family that wasn’t right, she knew she had to speak. When she told Abraham about it, what she said was something Abraham did not want to hear. He rejected the idea at first, but then God told him, “Do not let it be displeasing in your sight…whatever Sarah has said to you, listen to her voice…” (see Genesis 21:9-12). Don’t you love that? God told Abraham to listen to his wife because she was right. Pray that God will help your husband see when you are right as well. Ask God to open your husband’s heart to hear from Him, even as you are speaking.

My Prayer to God

L
ORD
, I pray You will show me the truth about what I need to see regarding my husband. Help me to know if whatever I am sensing in my soul about him or his situation is really a revelation from You. If I am wrong, show me what is right. If I am right about this, prepare my husband’s heart to receive what I have to say to him. Open his ears to hear the truth and keep him from being resistant or defensive. Help me to speak to him with the patience, kindness, humility, and self-control that come from walking with You and being filled with Your Spirit.

Sarah knew what was right, yet when she told Abraham about it he wasn’t in agreement with her. But You spoke to him, and he heard Your voice and saw the truth. I pray that whenever I must speak to my husband about a situation I am seeing in my spirit, You will speak the truth to him that he needs to hear. I am not concerned about whether he thinks I am right, but more concerned that he understands Your will for his life and our lives together, and that he does the right thing. Help my husband to be swift to hear Your voice, and slow to say no before he has even heard the matter through. Prepare his heart now and give me the words I need to say. If I should not say anything at all, show me that too.

In Jesus’ name I pray.

15

He who answers a matter before he hears it,
it is folly and shame to him.

P
ROVERBS
18:13

H
AVE YOU EVER EXPRESSED
a concern or thought to your husband but didn’t feel he really heard you? Does he sometimes not give as much weight to what you are saying as you think the matter deserves? Have there been times when you tried to talk to your husband, but you felt as if he answered or commented too quickly without waiting to really hear you out?

Being able to talk things through is an important issue, but it is impossible to do that effectively without each person taking time to really hear what the other one has to say.

If your husband is a talker and not a listener, you may feel that he doesn’t
want
to listen to you or doesn’t value what you have to say. And if
you
are a talker and not a listener, he may feel the same way about you. Whoever it is that constantly wants to rush through a conversation in order to get on to “more important” things is doing damage to the relationship.

Talking things out is a huge building block in a marriage. When that seldom happens, gaping holes are left in the relationship, and you end up building on a shaky foundation. Ask God to help you and your husband talk things out in a friendly and noncombative manner. Ask for a spirit of clarity, patience, peace, and love to reign between you. Pray that God will give you ears to hear each other every day. Ask Him to help you both talk about important things until they are resolved so they are not just left on the back burner to turn into a blazing and destructive fire later on.

My Prayer to God