Women Living Well is hosting a new series on Reviving Your Marriage on Mondays and I agree whole heartedly with their first challenging of Reviving Your Prayers for Your Husband! We all know that we need to pray. We all know that our husbands need our prayers. We have all prayed for our husbands at one time or another. The point is not that we haven't prayed. The point is that our prayers need to be revived.
One definition for revive is "to take up again." I have prayed for my husband many times (even before he decided that I was the one!), yet I'm sad to say that this is one area of my prayer life that definitely needs some reviving! In the past I have use a 31-days-to-praying-for-your-husband guide. I printed out the cards with verses and prayer requests for each day. I even put them in a cute 4x6 photo holder. The only problem was that when I went to pray I could never find my "useful" tool!
Recently I've taken to using a simple scratch sheet of paper or 3x5 card. I asked my husband what things he wanted me to pray for. He gave me a simple, short list that surprised me because I naturally assumed that I would know everything he would say. I praise God for a husband who willing shares his heart with me, and am glad that I can take these specific requests to God.
Another way of updating my prayer list for my hubby comes from our times of shared prayer. When you pray together the things that are closest to your heart are revealed. I've learned that if something is important enough for my husband to list in our prayer times together then it should be important to me as well.
Because we are on deputation right now, my husband spends a good deal of time on the phone. Every time I see his cell phone sitting on the table, or walk by the room and see him pacing back and forth sharing with a pastor or waiting to leave yet another message on a church answering machine, I am reminded of the great responsibility he shoulders in our family and am compelled to pray for him. However, too often I let daily tasks sweep away that key moment when the Holy Spirit prompts me to pray. It's time to make a change.
As I read in I John this morning I thought of my husband, gone today, substituting for some high school classes. I flipped to the back cover of my Bible for a scratch sheet of paper (bright orange today!) and scribbled out a list of specific requests just for him. Then I paused to pray.
Let's be revived. Let's take it up again. Let's pray. Join the challenge today!
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