Thursday, October 22, 2009

Marriage Prayer-Thirty Days of Prayer-Day 23

We are on day 23 of our 30 day prayer journey. It is hard to believe that I haven't posted since day 15 ; nevertheless, prayers have continued to go up from 5am-6am daily.
Today we emphasized marriages in our prayers. Of course we started with our own marriage and prayed for our spouses specifically. I would recommend that every husband read the book "The Power of a Praying Husband" by Stormie Omartian. I first read this book back in 2002 and carried it around as a companion to my Bible for three months. I don't read many life changing books, outside of the bible, but for me this was one of them. The author gave me tools how to pray specifically for my wife in areas I would of never thought of. Today we prayed for our wives emotions, motherhood, moods, relationships, priorities, and various other details that we often overlook.
This prayer journey that we have been on has spilled over into my marriage. I have to admit that our prayer life together was lacking. We would come together over needs that may arise, but that is it. For the last three weeks, thanks to some good advice from some marriage mentors we have in our life, we have been able to sit knee to knee, hand in hand, eye to eye and pray for and with each other. It is so amazing how this act knits our hearts to each other and to God simultaneously.
Our marriages need the protection of prayer. There are too many things pulling at us these days to go without praying. A man has to pray to keep his heart pure from sexual temptation, to temper his critical spirit, to find proper value for his wife (I Peter 3:7), and to love his wife like Jesus loves His church (Eph 5:25). A woman has to pray to keep her affections towards her husband, to control angry and hurtful words, to find proper respect for her husband (Eph 5:33), and to submit to Him as unto the Lord (Eph 5:22). All of our hearts get hard at times, bitterness settles in, and hurts can alter our feelings. Prayer is like an antidote for a snake bite, when the remedy of prayer is applied it finds the poison and neutralizes it.
We must fight for times to pray for our spouses. Praying together as a couple and praying individually for each other. My advice if you struggle in this area, like I have, is pray this simple prayer "Lord teach me how to pray for my wife. You know her better than I do, fill my mouth with words and my heart with thoughts that can intimately acquaint me with her ways" (A wife can pray in a similar manner). Also, read good books on the subject and seek counsel from a mature man or woman of God.
God as I end this blog post I want to pray for all my married family, blog readers, Facebook friends, and twitter friends. Father, cause spouses to open their hearts towards one another and towards you. Help them to see the value in each other and may they have mutual love and respect for each other. Lord, help them to overcome the temptations and lures in our world that draw their affections away from each other. Help that man that is trapped in porn and intimate fantasies outside his marriage to get help and be delivered. Help that woman that has a better relationship with her children, coworkers, and girlfriends than her husband to turn her attention to her spouse. Father, marriage is being mocked at today in our society, I ask you to raise up a generation of men and women that honour their marriage vows and will persevere to stay together through all the obstacles of life.
In Jesus name Amen.

Additional resources for your marriage:
Eye to Eye Marriage -Facebook page (become a fan) & Website & Twitter
Living Well-Website
Family Life-Website
Focus on the Family-Website
The great marriage Experience-Website
Marriage Today-Website

We are taking prayer request from all of our friends, family, acquaintances, and strangers so email me at jhill1972@gmail.com

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