Power of a Praying Wife - Chapter 1

So this is my first blog and I must admit, I am rather excited about it. The purpose of this blog will be to share devotionals with you as I read them but also to try and get us, as woman, to a place where God wants us to be.

a Few months ago, I started reading a book that, if I had the money, I would buy one for each and every single woman I know. I heard some of my friends talk about this book and decided to buy it. Being the impulsive buyer that I am, I had no purpose for it really at the time, I just wanted it. 

As I read through it and shared some of it, I quickly realised how I have helped others by sharing the stories in the book and to encourage them that whatever they are going through, that there is always hope. I hope to bring the same to you. 

I consider my marriage to be in the centre of where I think God had planned for us two, but I  also know that you learn things everyday and by keeping God in the centre of your marriage, keeps it where it should be, but that doesn't mean it is easy to keep it that way always. 

As you read this, some things you might find you will relate to, and others you might not right now, but I hope you can take something away from all the posts to follow.

In our busy lives we get caught up with things that consume us and sometimes we face the challenge of loosing what God has planned for us, not just as a wife but as a woman that walks with God. If its not work pushing us into different directions, it is society that pressures us to be the perfect woman, multi-tasking, being a mother, a wife and the strong woman that overcomes everything...but this is not always who we are and it sure does not come easy. So with this, I am sharing with you some 'alone'time to just focus on you and where you are at the moment.

This book is such a powerful tool to assist us with our daily challenges and it gives us that extra 'With God by my side, I can do anything' push.

Please don't think this is only for wives or parents. I am not yet a parent myself but I pray that everyday, as you read this, you will take something out of this for you and remember what your purpose in this life is.

The book is called "The Power of a Praying Wife, Parent and Woman - by Stormie Omartian." It is divided into three sections which I will kick off the first section, The Power of a Praying Wife. Please don't look away if you are not married or don't have someone special in your life. We all have someone that you rely on, or that you need to be a pillar for. Apply this either to your current relationship/marriage or to any of your future relationships where you see fit or can relate to.

Because the first chapter of this book is rather long, I thought I would start with the "Power Tools" and then also the Prayer  in chapter one.

His Wife

" Who can find a virtuous wife? For her worth is far above rubies. The heart of her husband safely trusts her; so he will have no lack of gain. She does him good and not evil all the days of her life. Proverbs 31: 10-12"

Stormie says in her book that the aim of this is not to gain any kind of control over your husband, and this must be very clear. It is quite the opposite. It is laying down all claim to power in and of yourself, and relying on GOD's power to transform you, your husband, your circumstances and your marriage. This "power" is not given to wield like a weapon in order to beat back an unruly beast. It's a gentle tool of restoration appropriated through the prayers of a wife who longs to DO right more than to BE right, and to GIVE  in life more than to GET EVEN. It's a way to invite God's power into your husbands life for his greatest blessings, which is ultimately yours too."

"Something amazing happens to our hearts when we pray for another person. the hardness melts. We become able to get beyond the hurts and forgive - Stormie Omartian" 

POWER TOOLS:

"Whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them. Whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive them, that Your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. Mark 11:24. 25"

"Be kind to one another, tender-hearted  forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you. Ephesians 4:32"

"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and it will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and he show seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Matthew 7:7,8"

The Prayer

"Lord as we begin this journey, to pray for our husbands, our children, ourselves and all around us, we ask that you teach us how to love unconditionally as You love us, I pray that You will bless each set of eyes and ears that sees or hears this. I pray that You will lead this forum and that only good can be taken from this and only Your plans shall be revealed to us. 

Lord, help me to be a good wife. I fully realise that I don't have what it takes to be one without Your help.

Take my selfishness, impatience and irritability and turn them into kindness, long suffering and the willingness to bear all things. Take my old emotional habits, mindsets, automatic reactions, rude assumptions and self protective stance and make me patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle and self controlled. 

Take the hardness of my heart and break down the walls with Your battering ram of revelation. Give me a new heart and work in me Your love, peace and joy. 

(Galatians 5:22,23) I am not able to rise above who I am at this moment. Only you can transform me.

Show me where there is sin in my heart, especially with regard to my husband. I confess the times I have been unloving, critical, angry, resentful, disrespectful and unforgiving toward him. Help me put aside any hurt, anger or disappointment I feel and forgive him the way you do - totally and completely, no looking back.

Make me a tool of reconciliation, peace and healing in this marriage. Enable us to communicate well and rescue us from the threshold of separation where the realities of divorce begin.

Make me my husband's helpmate, companion, champion, friend and support. Help me to create a peaceful, restful, safe place for him to come home to. Teach me how to take care of myself and stay attractive to him. Grow me into a creative and confident woman who is rich in mind, soul and spirit. 

Make me the kind of woman he can be proud to say is his wife.

I lay all my expectations at your cross. I release my husband from the burden of fulfilling me in areas where I should be looking to You, Lord. Help me to accept him the way he is and not try to change him. I realise that in some ways he may never change, but at the same time, I release him to change in ways I never thought he could. I leave any changing that needs to be done in Your hands, fully accepting that neither of us is perfect and never will be. Only you Lord are perfect and I look to you to perfect us.

Teach me how to pray for my husband and make my prayers a true language of love. Where love has died, create new love between us. Show me what unconditional love really is and how to communicate it in a way he can clearly perceive. Bring unity between us so that we can be in agreement about everything. (Amos 3:3) May God grant us to be patient and comforting to be like minded toward one another, according to Christ Jesus. (Romans 15:5) Make us a team not pursuing separate, competitive or independent lives, but working together, overlooking each others faults and weaknesses for the greater good of thee marriage. 

Help us to pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another (Romans 14 to 19)

May we be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgement

(1 Corinthians 1:10)

I pray that our commitment to you and to one another will grow stronger and more passionate every day. Enable him to be the head of thee home as you made him to be and show me how to support and respect him as he rises to that place. Help me to understand his dreams and see things from his perspective. Reveal to me what he wants and needs and show me potential problems before they arise. Breath your life into this marriage. Make me a new person, Lord. Give me a fresh perspective a positive outlook and a renewed relationship with the man you have given me. Help me see him with new eyes new appreciation new love new compassion and new acceptance.

In Christ Jesus name, Amen"

(From the book, The Power of a Praying Wife, By Stormie Omartian)

Yours in Prayer,

Chantelle