Fasting

I will be Fasting from blogging for the following week. This is something that I am doing with my House Group, from having studied Richard Foster's 'Celebrating Discipline'. I felt it was necessary for me to fast from blogging as I have sometimes allowed it to be consuming. I won't be reading other blogs or managing my own.
I'll let you know how it has gone next week.
If you have any experiences of Fasting that you'd like to share I'd love to read them (but I won't of course until next week)!
Love and blessings in Him.
Liz x

Free from the Past

Lord, I thank you that my husband is free from the past through your son Jesus Christ. Father, I pray that my husband is able to discern whether you are prompting him to recall a memory or whether he is hanging on to past burdens. I pray that if there are any negative memories of things past and which have already been brought to you, that he is able to leave them at the foot of your cross.

2 Corinthians 5:17 (King James Version)

17Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

His friendships

Heavenly Father, please guide my husband to nurture his male friendships. I pray that he is able to discern which friendships are a good influence.
Please help Lord where there are tensions and where forgiveness is needed.
John 13:34-35

Our Priorities

Lord, help us to keep you first and foremost in our thoughts and actions. Help us Lord to balance work, faqmily, friends and activities, without substituting our quiet times with you.


Matthew 6:33
Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

To be well respected

Father Lord, I ask for your protection on my husband's reputation. I pray that respect for him is well earned & that no one should hold false witness against him.
Psalm 64:2-3
Hide me from the secret plots of the wicked, from the rebellion of the workers of iniquity, who sharpen their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows to shoot their arrows - bitter words.

A Man of Integrity

Lord, please help my husband to be strong in his integrity for all aspects of his life. I pray that he will always seek your wisdom and not be changing like the waves.


Proverbs 11:3
The integrity of the upright will guide them, but the perversity of the unfaithful will destroy them.

Hold him when in Trial

Lord, you know the heaviness of the burdens that my husband carries and the strain it is for him to go through. Help him Lord to grow from this time so that he can remember how you are always there with him. 

1 Peter 1:6-7 (New Living Translation)

 ⁶ So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while. ⁷ These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.

Keep him healthy in body and spirit

Heavenly Father, I pray that when my husband is sick or physically suffering he looks to you. Please Lord, in those times give him strength and healing. Let him give praise for your healings.
Amen.

Psalm 107:19-20 (New International Version)

¹⁹ Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble,  and he saved them from their distress. ²⁰ He sent out his word and healed them; he rescued them from the grave.

Make him well

Father God, I thank you that you care for every aspect of our lives. I thank you for the ministry Jesus had in healing people who were unwell.
I thank you Lord for how well my husband is in so many ways, but I do bring to you his sleep. He rarely has a rested sleep and is very often overly tired through the day. Please Lord, bless and make good his times of rest and sleep.
I thank you Lord for how he is taking seriously his dietary health and his fitness, and pray that you protect him from injury.
Amen.

2 Kings 20:5

I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; surely I will heal you.

Decisions

Father, Guide my husband to seek your face in the decisions he has before him. I pray he seeks counsel with those with whom you are pleased and whom he will hear your voice.I pray that he listens to those through whom you are speaking and is not immature or selfish with how he handles his decisions.

Proverbs 1:5 (New International Version)

⁵ let the wise listen and add to their learning, 

   and let the discerning get guidance—

Your Calling

Lord, I pray that my husband seeks your guidance for your calling on his life. I pray that even for the small steps and turns he seeks your face. Help him to keep focused on the task you have set before him, and to patience for things that need to be waited for. I pray that he knows joy in doing your will and that his wants.and ideas are in line with yours.

Ephesians 1: 17-18

The God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory...give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.

Worries

Father, I pray that my husband would feel reassured daily of your promises for freedom from anxiety.(Isaiah 35:4) 

Psalm 34:4 (New International Version)

 ⁴ I sought the LORD, and he answered me; 

   he delivered me from all my fears.

Worries

Father Lord, I pray that you free my husband from the fear of pleasing men. I pray that he looks to you for strength when things are hard. That he has the wisdom to say to those for whom he works for and with if he's finding things hard and that he seeks the counsel of those who have trod the path that he now walks. 

Isaiah 41:10 (New International Version)

¹⁰ So do not fear, for I am with you; 

   do not be dismayed, for I am your God. 

I will strengthen you and help you; 

   I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Worries

Father Lord, I pray that your Holy Spirit will free my husband of all worries and fear that are not of you. 

Psalm 34:7 (New Living Translation)

 ⁷ For the angel of the Lord is a guard;

      he surrounds and defends all who fear him.

Mental well-being

Lord, help to make my husband's mind clear of angst and pure in thought. I pray that he seeks your face in all areas of his life. 

Romans 8:6 (Contemporary English Version)

⁶If our minds are ruled by our desires, we will die. But if our minds are ruled by the Spirit, we will have life and peace.

Protect his thoughts

Heavenly Father, I pray that you protect my husbands thoughts and mental well being. I pray that he knows his worth and that he feels your encouragement. 

2 Corinthians 10:3-5 (New International Version)

³ For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. ⁴ The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. ⁵ We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

Temptation

Loving Father Lord, I ask that you protect and strengthen my husband against temptation. Where he feels weak, I pray he looks to you.

1 Corinthians 10:13 (New International Version)

¹³ No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.

Our Affection

Father Lord, thank you that we can express our love to each other in gentle and kind ways. Help us Lord to embrace its goodness and kindness. Help us to be in the same place mentally when either giving affection or receiving. Thank you Lord for my husband, and the man you have made him.

Ephesians 5:28-29 (Contemporary English Version)

²⁸In the same way, a husband should love his wife as much as he loves himself. A husband who loves his wife shows that he loves himself. ²⁹None of us hate our own bodies. We provide for them and take good care of them, just as Christ does for the church.

Desire each other and no one else

Lord I thank you that we can pray about our relationship to you and thank you that care about all the areas of our lives. I ask for your blessing and protection on this very private area of our relationship. 

1 Corinthians 6:13 (New Living Translation)

¹³ You say, “Food was made for the stomach, and the stomach for food.” (This is true, though someday God will do away with both of them.) But you can’t say that our bodies were made for sexual immorality. They were made for the Lord, and the Lord cares about our bodies.

Praying through change

Currently, at my church, our pastor is preaching about key principles from the Richard Foster book 'Celebration of Discipline'. I have this book but have not yet read it. Unfortunately this is the case with many of the books on my bookcase.

So to follow the guidance of Foster and my pastor I am going to devote myself to a more persistent prayer life, with the additional guidance of Stormie Omartian from 'The Power of a Praying Wife'. Stormie has also written a useful book of prayers for the 'Praying Wife' (kindly lent by my good friend Jenny) and it is the scripture used that I will follow for my daily reflections.

Friday 5th November 2010

Day 10 - Lord, bless my husband's sexuality. Purify us from all of the things that you have not planned for our good. 

Thursday 4th November 2010

Day 9 - Abba Father, I pray for your wisdom to rest on my husband and I regarding our finances. Help us to be realistic, honest and as generous as we can be. And as J.John would say, help us to remember that 'God owns all the doughnuts!' 

Wednesday 3rd November 2010

Day 8 - Father God, help us to be good stewards of our finances and all the things you provide for us.

Tuesday 2nd November 2010

Day 7 - Lord, please bless my husband in his work, and help me to support him with it. 

Psalm 90:17 (New International Version © 2010)

  May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us;
   establish the work of our hands for us—
   yes, establish the work of our hands.

Monday 1st November 2010

Day 6 - Father God, bless and guide my husband in all his studies and duties. Give him wisdom where he needs to make decisions, knowledge and understanding for his coursework and guidance for how to lead.

Proverbs 22:29 (The Message)

Observe people who are good at their work— 

 skilled workers are always in demand and admired;

 they don't take a backseat to anyone.

Sunday 31st October 2010

Day 5 - Father Lord, I ask for your love and blessing on the commitment my husband and I have. Renew us so that we can fully appreciate each other with respect, passion and compassion. 

Matthew 7:7-8 (New International Version)

Ask, Seek, Knock

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

Saturday 30th October 2010

Day 4 - Father God, please help to make my husband and I a team, working with and for each other, for the better of our relationship and family.

Galatians 6:9 (New International Version)

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

Friday 29th October 2010

Day 3 - Lord work in me and my husband, create in us the changes that we need to be the people you have made us to be. 

Ephesians 4:32 (New International Version)

Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

Thursday 28th October 2010

Day 2 - Lord help me to be the best I can be for my husband and family

Proverbs 24:3-4 (New Living Translation)

 A house is built by wisdom and becomes strong through good sense. Through knowledge its rooms are filled with all sorts of precious riches and valuables.

Wednesday 27th October 2010

Day 1 - Lord make me the wife of Proverbs 31!

I am thankful for how God has helped me through this last year. I look to Him with thanks and asking. I ask to be the wife that he has called me to be, and pray for those with whom I have difficulties. 

Mark 11:24-25 (New International Version)

Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins."