10 Areas To Pray Over Your Husband
I started reading “The Power Of A Praying Wife” by Stormie Omartian for the second time this summer. I love this book. I know I need to read it at least once a year to keep reminding me of what I need to pray over my husband about. Stormie points out that a mother’s prayers for her son are important but his wife’s prayers are even more important! She reminds us in her book that praying for our husbands isn’t about what we want to see changed in them but about what God wants to do and see in their lives. And if there are things that really do need to be changed in our husband’s lives that God is the only one who can do it and not us. It’s not until I read this book last year that I realized I was not praying enough for Mike. There are so many areas of his life that I could be praying over and I wasn’t! Part of learning to pray for our husbands is also learning to pray for ourselves and how to be better partners.
Stormie details 30 areas (yes, thirty!!! Who knew?? ) of our husbands lives that we should be praying about. And they are all important. Depending on your marriage some areas may need more prayer than others. I have picked the top ten that I find the most important for Top Ten Tuesday.
1. His work.
My husband works hard and long hours. He’s Engineering Manager for a biotech company. It’s a stressful job. He’s responsible for a lot of deadlines and budgets. His work drains him mentally and physically sometimes. He is one of those guys who takes his work seriously and gives %110. Many times I feel like his employers take advantage of him because he is such a hard, honest employee and willing to go above and beyond his job description most of the time. I pray that God will give him wisdom, peace and energy throughout the day. And that his employers will appreciate his work and compensate him accordingly.
2. His Purpose.
Similar to praying for his work, if my husband does not feel fulfilled in his life’s work he will not be happy. So I pray that God will show Mike his purpose in life. Mike has a huge heart for ministry and is talented in teaching and descipleship as well so if he is not involved in church ministry in some way he doesn’t feel like he’s truly doing all he should be doing for the Lord. Stormie writes:
” You can always tell when a man is not living in the purpose for which God has created him. You sense his unrest. You get a feeling something is not quite right, even if you can’t put your finger on it.”
“…a wife can’t put pressure on her husband to be something but she can pray for him to become it.”
” Whatever God has called your husband to be or do, He has also called you o support it and be a part of it, if in no other way that to pray, encourage, and help in whatever way possible.”
I don’t want to be a hindrance to God’s purpose for Mike. I want to be an encourager and a blessing.
3. His Health.
Because Mike is in a high stress, long hours job he doesn’t have a lot of time to take good care of himself. I have worried about how stress and poor eating can affect his health negatively. He doesn’t exercise consistently ( pot calling the kettle black on my part???) and wasn’t eating healthfully most days. He’s a BIG guy. 6′7 and 370 pounds. BIG. He (we) have struggled with our weight since we’ve been married. He’s a uber picky eater by nature and vegetables and fruit I(or any healthy food for that matter) have not really been on his menu for most of his adult life. I can attest to the power of prayer by the fact that in the past year Mike’s tastes for healthy food have changed considerably! I started making Mike’s lunches so that has forced him to eat healthier. He has started taking salad’s to work ( something his family NEVER thought would happen!) and he started eating an apple at breakfast every morning.
Stormie writes:
“Your husband’s health is not something to take for granted, no matter what his age or condition. Pray for him to learn to take proper care of himself, and if he becomes ill, pray for him to be healed.”
“It seems to me that God is interested in healing, and he didn’t put a time limit on it; only a faith limit. ( Matthew 9:22)”
My prayer for Mike is that he would learn to take better care of himself and also to listen to the signals his body is giving him to take it easy or to go to the doctor when needed. (You know how “tough” men can be!!)
4. His Protection.
As I mentioned above, Mike’s job keeps him working long hours. He works an hour away. He has to commute to and from work in horrible weather during the winter. He also has to commute when tired and sleepy. Many a times he has nodded off while driving and that scares me to death! I’ve prayed often for Mike’s safety while driving to and from work. Your husband may be in a line of work (construction, military, police officer, firefighter etc) that puts him in harms way. Praying for the Lord to put his hedge of protection around him is something you need to do daily.
Stormie writes:
” Our husbands are on the battlefield every day. There are dangers everywhere. Only God knows what traps the enemy has laid to bring accidents, disease, evil, violence and destruction into our lives….. That’s why prayer for your husband’s protection needs to be frequent and ongoing. You never know when it might be needed in the battlefield. And if something happens, you’ll have the comfort of knowing you’ve invited God’s presence and power into the middle of it.”
Not only do we need to pray for physical protection but also for mental and spiritual as well.
5. His Trials.
Stormie says it best:
“Everyone goes through hard times. It’s nothing to be ashamed of. Sometimes our prayers help us avoid them. Sometimes not……A wife’s prayers for her husband during these times may not change some of the things he must go through. After all, if we never suffered anything, what kind of shallow, compassionless, impatient people would we be? But prayer can help him maintain a positive outlook of gratitude, hope, patience, and peace in the midst of it, and keep him from reaping the penalty of a wrong response.” (italics mine)
6. His Integrity.
I’m not bragging when I say that Mike is a man of Integrity. It’s just a fact! He is one of the most noble, honest people I know. When I pray for his integrity I don’t pray for him to have it, I pray for him to keep it.
Stormie writes:
“Integrity is not what you appear {italics hers} to be when all eyes are on you. It’s who you are when no one is looking. It’s a level of morality below which you never fall, no matter what’s happening around you. It’s a high standard of honesty, truthfulness, decency and honor that is never breached. {italics mine}It’s doing for others the way you would want them to do for you.”
” A man of integrity says something and means it.”
” A man of integrity “swears to his own hurt and does not change” (Psalm 15.4) He will keep his word even if it costs him something to do so.”
” Your prayers can help shield him from anything that causes him doubt and waver, and gie him strength to do what’s right- even when no one’s looking”.
In a world where it’s so easy to take the easy way out, let’s pray for our husbands to be men of noble character.
7. His Relationships.
Does your husband have a wonderful, steadfast, godly friend? Mike has had some that have come and gone in his seasons of life. Good friends are truly hard to find unless the Lord is in the search. My prayer right now is that he will find a wonderful, loyal and godly friend for this season of his life. We all know how much our husband’s friends can influence them. We need to pray for godly couples to come into our lives and be a wonderful source of encouragement and friendship to both of us.
Stormie writes:
“Being good friends with godly people who love the Lord, doesn’t just happen by chance. We must pray that such people will come into our lives. And then when we find them, we should continue to cover the relationship in prayer.”
” Pray also for your husband to have godly male friends. And when he finds them, give time to be with them without criticism. Those friends will refine him. “ As iron sharpens iron,s o a man sharpens the countenance of his friend” (Proverbs 27:17)”
I also pray that Mike will continue to have a good relationship with my family and his.
8. His Fatherhood.
Mike is a great father and great provider. One of my duties as a wife is to pray continually that God will give us both wisdom to parent our daughters. But we all know that fathers play a huge role in our children’s lives. A role that sometimes is underrated and underestimated. A father’s relationship to his children is unique and special. I pray that Mike will continue to have a close relationship with our children throughout his life.
Stormie writes:
Men don’t always realize how important they are to their children. They sometimes fell they are only there to provide materially for them. But the importance of a father’s influence can never be underestimated. How he relates to his children will shape their lives for bad or for good. It will change his life forever ,too. For if he fails as a father, he will always carry that sense of failure with him. If he succeeds, there will be no greater measure of his success in life.”
9. His Marriage.
We must pray for our husband’s marriage… to us! I think our marriage is something that many women automatically pray for since it’s something so close to our hearts. Or maybe your marriage is so great you don’t feel the need to. Cover your marriage in prayer. It’s the best thing you can for both of you!
Stormie writes:
“Praying about all aspects of marriage keeps the concept of divorce from gaining any hold. So we mustn’t neglect the major issues, even if we think they don’t apply to us.” {italics mine}
” Pray that your marriage is a place where two agree so God will be in the midst of it (Matthew 18:19,20)”
” Don’t take your marriage for granted, no matter how great it is……Pray for your marriage to be protected from any person or situation that could destroy it……Pray that God will make your marriage a source of joy, and life to both of you, and not a drudgery, a thorn, a dread, an irritation, or a temporary condition.”
10. His Obedience.
The Lord speaks to us as a couple and also individually as a husband and as a wife.We each have our struggles and issues we are working on, with the Lord’s help. We do our best to keep each other accountable. Sometimes the Lord gives extra insight about a path the other is headed down.
Stormie writes:
If you clearly observe your husband walking down a wrong path, should you say something? If so, how much should you say and when is the right time to say it? The best way I’ve found to proceed is to take it to God first and weigh it on His scales……You can encourage him to do what’s right and pray for him to do what’s right, but ultimately it’s God’s voice that will have the greater impact.”
” A man who does what God asks, builds his house on a rock. When the rain, floods, and wind come and beat on the house, it won’t fall (Matthew 7:24-27). You don’t want to witness the downfall of your house because of your husband’s disobedience in any area. While it’s not your place to be either his mother or the gestapo, it is your job to pray, and speak after you’ve gotten your orders from God.”
I highly recommend reading this book if you haven’t. Not only have I learned to pray for my husband but I’ve learned more about myself and how important MY prayers are. It touches so many different areas of prayer there’s no way your husband could NOT be covered in God’s protection and blessings when you pray over these things.
For a not- as- dragged- out Top Ten Tuesday head over to Oh Amanda!
