>I found this prayer tucked away in my journal. I can’t remember who shared it with me, but I used to pray it over my husband daily. I believe now that I have rediscovered it I will begin to pray it over him again. Maybe you would like to pray it over your husband or your future husband or fellas take it and adapt it your wife or future wife and pray it over her. It is never to soon or too late to pray for our spouse. When you read “my husband” replace it with your husband’s name (or wife’s once adapted).

“Father, I pray today, in the name of Jesus, that my husband will not walk in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stand in the way of sinners, nor sit in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law does he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in it season; its leaf also shall not whither; and whatsoever he does shall prosper (Psalm1:1-3).

Thank You that You have raise him up together with You, and made him to sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus; he is Your workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which You have before ordained that he should walk in them (Ephesians 2:6,10)

I bow my knees unto the Father of my Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that You would grant my husband, according to the riches of Your glory, to be strengthened with might by Your Spirit in His inner man; that Christ may swell in his heart by faith; that he will be rooted and grounded in love, and may be able to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height, and to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, that he might be filled with all the fullness of God. Now unto Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us (Ephesians 3:13-21).

I pray that no corrupt communication proceed out of his mouth, but that which is good to use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. (Ephesians 4:29).

Father, I will to submit myself unto my own husband, as unto the Lord. And I thank You that my husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. I desire that my husband love me even as Christ loved the church, and gave Himself for it. I will to reverence and respect my husband in the fear of God (Ephesians 5:22-33)

We are heirs together of the grace of life and our prayers will not be hindered, we pray. We will be of one mind, having compassion one of another, loving and courteous, not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing, but on the contrary blessing, knowing that we are called to this, that we should inherit a blessing (1 Peter 3:7-9).

I desire that my husband might be filled with the knowledge of your will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that he will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, pleasing Him in all respects, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to Your glorious power, unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness. You have made him fit to be a partaker of the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of Light and have delivered him from the power of darkness and have transferred him into the kingdom of Your Son in whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins (Colossians 1:9-14).

I plead the blood of Jesus over my husband. I claim the full armor of Jesus around him. May he stand firm with the belt of truth buckled around his waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and may his feet be fitted with the gospel of peace. In addition to all this may he take up the shield of faith with which he can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. May he take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God and may he pray in the Spirit at all times, in all occasions, with all kinds of prayers and petitions. With this in mind may he also be alert and always keep praying for all the saints (Ephesians 6:14-18).

I ask these things, believing in Your Word.
In Christ’s name,
Amen”  

>March 2, 2002

“for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say.” Luke 12:12
“I said, ‘I will watch my ways and keep my tongue from sin, I will put a muzzle on my mouth as long as the wicked are in my presence.” Psalm 39:1

Father, help me to deal with conflict the way your son Jesus Christ would. Help me to control my tongue and my anger. Help me to forget and forgive. Help me to admit when I am wrong. Help me to know when to stand firm firm and when to compromise.
In Jesus name,
Amen


March 4, 2002

Father, I just want to praise You and thank You for Your mercy and grace! I thank You for Your faithfulness. I pray that I will remain just as faithful to You! The devil tried all day today to make me lose my temper and lose my peace but Your Holy Spirit remained strong in me and the devil did not succeed. I thank You for my peace and praise You for my strength because I know that all I am is of You and from You!
In Jesus name,
Amen

Now I do not recall what prompted either on of these journal entries in March 2002. It is apparent that my tongue and temper had gotten the best of me. It could have been a fight with my husband. It could have been a telemarketer. It could have been some stranger cutting me off in the parking lot of Wal-Mart. I don’t remember, but it was enough for me to write it down. It was enough to convict me and have me searching out the Scriptures for help in case it happened again. It was apparently a strategy of the enemy that worked quit well because it only took two days before I had an opportunity to trust in the Scripture references I had written down.

What I gather from this journal look-back is that God was faithful. His Word was faithful. When I trusted in Him and pulled out my Sword of Truth I was victorious. This day I had success. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if when we won a victory it was the last battle on that particular subject we would have to fight. Unfortunately it just doesn’t work that way. It leans more in the direction that the more battles you win the harder the next attack comes. The enemy of our souls just does not give up that easily. How I praise God that greater is He who is within me than he who is in the world.

The thing is we never know who is watching us. We are at all times affecting someone- in our home, in our families, in our neighborhood, in our communities. The wicked are around us, the lost are around us, the saved are around us, fallen ones are around us, angels of mercy are around us.

We never know when what comes out of our mouth will be used against us or used to blaspheme the name of our God among the lost. We never know when our words will hurt or how they will affect someone we didn’t even know was listening. We never know when our tempermant can be used to turn someone away from our testimony of the grace of our God.

However, at the same time we can know how a sincere apology will be used for us. We may never know when seeking God’s forgiveness and the forgiveness of the ones we have wounded with our tongue and temperment will be used by God to demonstrate His grace, but it will be. I cannot even begin to share all the times I have had to apologize for harsh words to my husband. Nor can I even begin to share all the times I have had to sit down with my children and tell them I am sorry for my harsh words and tone. I can’t even begin to tell of the times I have had to call and apologize to a clerk at a store for allowing something out of their control to frustrate me.

I can recall one specific incident that happened at the photo booth at Wal-Mart, probably around the time of these journal entries mentioned. I don’t remember why I was upset, but something had happened and for whatever reason the store policy would not fix what I felt was their mistake. Any way I do remember being very rude to this poor clerk who was really just trying to do her job. I felt justified in my anger and rude words and tone… until about the parking lot. Then I spent the drive home explaining to God how I was justified in my attitude… yeh, that didn’t work out to well.

So I walk in the door of our home and head to the phone book and search out the Wal-Mart photo section phone number and call the photo booth and proceed to apologize to this woman. I had to confess to her that I was a Christian and I had not been a very good example of my Christ.

The funny thing is that I think she was probably more affected by my call of confession and apology than she would have been had I been perfectly behaved in front of her the first time. Not that I in anyway recommend this course and order of action, it’s just that all things work together for good for those who love God and are the called according to His purpose and what the enemy intended for evil God will use for good if we will just trust and obey.