Power of a Praying Wife - Chapter 4

His Mind

I used to attribute my husband's mind struggles to his musical genius. You know the artistic temperament - bright and brilliant on one hand, dark and moody on the other. When we would get down, the words in his mind told him he was going to fail, be worth nothing, that he was incapable of doing what he needed to do. It had basis in reality because he had those kinds of thoughts even in the midst of his mos productive and successful work. I didn't realize for a long time that the mind battles he endured did not have to be written off as "just the way he is". Nor did he have to fight them alone. If he and I were one, then an assault on his mind was an assault on me as well. I could stand with him in the battle by declaring "This is not God speaking into my husband's life, it's the voice of the enemy. I am not going to stand by and watch deadly games being played with his mind and our lives."

I decided to try my own experiment and "stand against the wiles of the devil" on his behalf (Eph 6:11) After all, the Bible talks about "praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints" (Eph 6:18

Surely "all the saints" is a category, even if it's not a description, which includes my husband. As I persevered in prayer for him over the next few months, I was amazed as the results. Not only did he become better able to control the thoughts in his mind, but eventually I could even see the onslaught coming and attack it in prayer before it gained a foothold. The more he saw my prayers answered, the more he realized where the lies were coming from and the less willing he was to believe them. 

As I have travelled the country with my speaking engagements and talked with woman from all walks of life, I have been amazed to see how universal this problem is. In fact, it didn't seem to matter what temperaments or backgrounds their husbands had, they experienced the same kind of lines in their mind. I finally realized that all men have an enemy who wants to undermine what God desires to do in their lives. Woman have that same enemy, but men seem to be more vulnerable to his attacks in certain areas. Even the strongest man can get exhausted, overwhelmed, burdened, desperate or caught up in things that keep him away from the presence of God. He doesn't always see the traps of an enemy who wants him to believe that what he faces is insurmountable. His mind fills with words like, hopeless, no good, failure etc. 

a Wife can pray that her husband will discern the lies and hear instead words like hope, prosperity, possibility, success and new beginnings AND know that they are from God.

The two most powerful weapons against the attack lies upon your husband's mind are the Word of God and praise. The Word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is discerner of the through and intents of the heart. By speaking God's Word, you can reveal wrong thinking and it will lose its power. If your husband won't do it for himself, you can speak the Word of God over him, either in his presence or alone in prayer. I've done that for my husband countless times and he will attest to the power of it. I remind him that God has not given him a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of sound mind. I tell him I'm praying for him to lay claim to that sound mind at all times.

Praise is also a powerful tool because God's presence comes to dwell in our midst when we workshop Him. In His presence we find healing and transformation for our lives. "Although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were they thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened" Rom 1:21

You don't want futile thoughts to darken your husband's heart. Speak praise to God for your husband's sound mind, and he will be able to think more clearly about what he will and will not allow into it.

Depression, bitterness, anger, fear, rejection, hopelessness, loneliness, rebellion, temptation and many diseases all begin in the mind. These things can control your life unless you take control of your mind first. That's why God instructs us not to accept as truth everything we think. "I have stretched out My hands all day long to be rebellious people. who walk in a way that is not good, according to their own thoughts" Isa 65:2

He wants us to share His thoughts. "We (who believe) have the mind of Christ" (1 Cor 2:16)

Let's pray for our husbands to receive the mind of Christ and bring every thought captive under God's control. Who doesn't need that!

The Prayer:

Lord, I pray Your protection on my husband's mind. Shield him from the lies of the enemy. Help him to clearly discern between Your voice and any other, and show him how to take every though captive as You have instructed us to do. May he thirst for Your Word and hunger for Your truth so that he can recognise wrong thinking. Give him strength to resist lying thoughts. Remind him that he has the mind of Christ. Where the enemy's lies have already invaded his thoughts, I push them back by inviting power of the Holy Spirit to cleanse his mind. Lord, You have given me authority over all the power of the enemy (Luke 10:19) By that authority given to me in Jesus Christ, I command all lying spirits away from my husband's mind. I proclaim that God has given my husband a sound mind. He will not entertain confusion, but live in clarity. He will not be tormented with impure, evil, negative or sinful thoughts but be transformed by renewing of his mind that he may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. (Rom 12:2)

Enable him to "be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might" (Eph 6:10) Help him to be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication, with prayer let his requests be made known to You and may Your peace, which surpasses all understanding, guard his heart and mind through Christ Jesus (Phill 4:6;7) and finally, whatever things are true, noble, just, pure, lovely, having virtue, or anything praise worthy, let him think on these things. (Phill 4:8)

Power Tools:

"With the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. Rom 7:25"

"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength. Mark 12:30"

(By the Book :The Power of a Praying Wife by Stormie Omartian)