The Power of a Praying Wife Devotional (44 page)

L
ORD
, I pray for my husband to have a cheerful heart that is like a medicine for him. Fill him with Your joy until it overflows and evaporates all heaviness. Cause joy to rise up from within him like an endless well connected to the flow of Your Spirit. Fill him afresh with Your Holy Spirit each day, and don’t let anything keep good cheer and lightheartedness from swelling up in him. I pray the same for me. Fill me with Your good cheer as well, so that it sweeps away any dark clouds of heaviness. Where I have felt sad in reaction to my husband’s heavy heart, I pray You would strengthen me to rise above that.

Give my husband and me Your joy so that it will be healing for each of us and for our marriage. Only You can do that. And only our love of You can stir it up within us. Show each of us whenever we think negative thoughts or have anticipation in our heart that expects something bad to happen. Break any habits of my husband’s heart that are negative, so that his response to every situation is a positive expectation of the good things You are doing in his life and in our lives together.

In Jesus’ name I pray.

84

Do not deprive one another except
with consent for a time,
that you may give yourselves to fasting
and prayer; and come together again
so that Satan does not tempt you because
of your lack of self-control.

1 C
ORINTHIANS
7:5

A
HUSBAND AND WIFE
’
S
sexual relationship is a vital part of any marriage, and yet it is often neglected, not talked about, not agreed upon with regard to specifics, and too often not prayed about. We must remember that God created marital intimacy and designed it, and He said it was good. It is up to us to keep it that way. As a couple, you and your husband must be in agreement about the details. If it is not a mutual agreement, one or the other will be frustrated or dissatisfied. And it must be a priority for both of you so that proper effort is put into seeing that this area of the marriage is not put low on a list of “things to do.” And this can easily happen in the busyness, stress, and exhaustion of our days and weeks.

Pray that you and your husband will keep the physical and emotional fires alive in your marriage. Ask God to help you both communicate your needs to each other. This is not something to leave to chance, or to ignore and see what happens. Many marriages have been destroyed over this issue.

If a husband or wife is being neglected in this area, then there is no agreement. Even though sexual needs may change as the years go by, there should be communication about that too. Deprivation is a problem, and one person should not have to suffer that. Intimacy is an important part of life. Prayer and communication are the answers to working this out to the satisfaction of both of you. And it is far easier to pray in advance than it is to pray after there is a problem.

My Prayer to God

L
ORD
, I pray You would bless our sexual relationship so that it will be fulfilling for each of us. Help us to have a workable understanding about it so that we always agree on the frequency and manner of how it progresses. Enable us to have open communication so that we understand each other’s needs. Teach us to be sensitive to each other so that our needs are met in a good and reasonable way. Help us both make this part of our relationship a priority so that we make time and an effort for it. Keep us from ever pushing it to the back of our to-do list, ignoring the needs of our spouse. Help us to make this important part of our lives satisfying to each other.

Where our desires are in opposition, I pray You would help us to be understanding and able to come to an agreement. If I have closed off in this area, help me to open up to him again the way I should. Where he has closed off, help him to warm to me again so that our physical expression of love is natural and easy, the way You made it to be. Keep us from withholding ourselves from each other for any reason. I know from Your Word that this is against what You want for us. Take away all negativity in our hearts with regard to giving ourselves to each other, and free us to be open and desiring of each other in every way.

In Jesus’ name I pray.

85

Whenever you stand praying,
if you have anything against anyone,
forgive him, that your Father in heaven
may also forgive you your trespasses.

M
ARK
11:25

W
HILE FORGIVING YOUR HUSBAND
is crucial in order for your marriage to succeed, it is also extremely important for you to forgive all others as well. That’s because
any
unforgiveness in your heart will form a roadblock to the pathway of answered prayer you so desire. Jesus said if you start to pray and have
anything
against another person, you must forgive that person so God can forgive you.

When we have unconfessed sin, God will not listen to our prayers. “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear” (Psalm 66:18). That’s because unforgiveness is one of the greatest sins, and God will not tolerate it in us. Jesus gave His life for us so that we can be totally forgiven of our past sins and not have to bear the consequences of them. But the sins we commit now
do
have consequences, and until we confess and repent of them, He will hold off on listening to our prayers. It’s not that He
can’t
hear them; it’s that He
won’t
hear them until we clear away whatever is putting up a barrier from
our
side. We cannot afford to have God not listening to our prayers. We need His answers. In order for God to hear your prayers for your marriage, you
must
forgive
everyone
of
anything
you have against them.

Not only is unforgiveness unacceptable to God, it is usually unattractive to other people as well. They see it in you, even if they don’t recognize what it is. Your husband sees it in you too. You may not have any unforgiveness toward him, but he will notice the unforgiveness you have toward others even if he doesn’t know that’s what he is observing. Unforgiveness is way too heavy a burden to carry. Give it to the Lord and let Him have it all.

My Prayer to God