Mar 08
Today’s Truth
“For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds” (2 Corinthians 10:3-4 NIV).
Friend to Friend
Allan was a tough man. Raised by a single mom with five siblings, he learned how to scrape his way through life and climb to the top of humanity’s heap through sheer determination and grit. He married at nineteen, had his first son at twenty, then a baby girl at twenty-five. Over the next two decades, he advanced from driving a delivery truck at a lumber yard to becoming part owner of a building supply company.
Allan drank heavily, fought with his wife verbally and physically, and terrorized his children emotionally. He gambled, dabbled in pornography, and had questionable relationships laced with a host of unsavory vices.
But when his teenage daughter gave her life to Jesus and began praying for her family, God grabbed the chisel of grace and began chipping away at Allan’s proud heart of stone. One day he told her, “I’ll go to church with you from time to time, but I could never become a Christian. I’ve done too many horrible things in my life. God could never forgive me. I could never be good enough.”
His daughter explained that no one could ever be good enough. If we could, then Jesus wouldn’t have had to die on the cross to pay for our sins. But Allan couldn’t wrap his mind around that kind of grace.
When Allan was forty-six years old, his life took several hairpin troublesome turns. Because of a business deal gone terribly wrong, he was sued for breach of contract and breaking a no-compete clause with a former employer.
Allan teetered on the brink of a nervous breakdown. From man’s perspective, it appeared he was on the verge of losing it all. From God’s perspective, Allan was right where he needed to be.
One day, in a surge of panic, Allan drove from North Carolina to Pennsylvania to try and find his wife at a meeting she was attending. When he couldn’t find her, he stopped by a church and asked for prayer. The church receptionist drew Allan a map on a piece of scrap paper and sent him to find a pastor out in the woods building his new church.
Allan followed the map and found a man with a hammer in his hand and Jesus in his heart. He poured out his heart and told the pastor everything he had ever done in his raucous life. Then the man put his arm around Allan and said, “Now, let me tell you what I’ve done.”
The way Allan later explained what happened that day was this: “That man had done everything I had done. I knew that if God could forgive him and he could be a pastor, then He could forgive me too.”
Allan accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior that day in the woods of Pennsylvania and became one of the sweetest men I’ve ever known.
Allan was my dad.
From my earliest years as a Christian, I experienced the power of prayer to change a man’s life—to strengthen a man’s resolve, to protect a man’s heart, and to mature a man’s faith. My first-hand encounter with God’s faithfulness to hear our pleas for the men in our lives began with my father and continues with my husband and son.
As a wife, you have the power to open the floodgates of heaven through prayer on your husband’s behalf.
As a mother, you have the privilege to stand in the gap to bring God’s will to earth as it is in heaven on your child’s behalf.
As a friend, you have the position to intercede for and link arms with someone you love on their behalf.
Through prayer, God’s power and provision flow into the lives of His people.
In my book, Praying for Your Husband from Head to Toe, I show wives how to cover their husbands in Scriptural prayer from top to bottom. However, you can use this pattern of prayer to pray for anyone.
Today, let’s pray for the midsection. I’m going to leave the word “husband” in the prayer, but you can substitute it for whoever is on your heart today.
Dear Lord, I pray for ________________.
Shoulders – No matter what my husband goes through today, assure him that nothing is too hard for You. Empower him to cut the cords of worry with the saber of praise and to place his burdens on Your able shoulders. Genesis 18:14; Deuteronomy 31:8; Psalm 9:10.
Heart – Place a hedge of protection around his heart to keep corruption out and purity in. Proverbs 4:23; Proverbs 17:20; Proverbs 17:22.
Back – Protect him in the physical and spiritual realms. Keep him from the devil’s schemes that would attempt to trap him or trip him up. Thank you that no weapon formed against him will stand. John 10:10; 2 Corinthians 2:11; Ephesians 6:10-18.
Arms – Help my husband be strong and courageous in Your mighty power. Bolster his courage when he is afraid and reassure him when he doubts. Deuteronomy 31:6; Joshua 1:9; Isaiah 30:15.
Hands – Bless the work of my husband’s hands. Reward his efforts and bring him success. Deuteronomy 33;11; Deuteronomy 28:12-13.
In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Now It’s Your Turn
What is your most pressing prayer for your marriage or the man in your life today?
Leave a comment with your prayer request and then pray for the woman’s name above yours. You don’t need to share a lot of details. God’s got them all!
More From the Girlfriends
Do you want to learn more about how to pray scripturally and powerfully for your husband? Praying for Your Husband from Head to Toe: A Daily Guide to Scriptural Prayer will show you how!
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© 2023 by Sharon Jaynes. All rights reserved.
Pray for my husband as he is going through some medical problems. Pray that I can be stronger for him, and help me to be more compassionate and understanding of his problem.
Dear Heavenly Father, I pray today for my husbands heart. Please soften it for him and drain his pain and anger. I pray he will feel Your love in his heart so he will be able to be at peace and love once again. In Jesus Name, AMEN Psalm 51:10-12
Pray for my son Austin
Dear Lord,
I thank you for a husband that acknowledges you as Lord and Savior and who is a good man that loves his child. I ask you to help him truly know that same lavish love of a parent for his children. I ask you to soften his heart toward my family, open his eyes to blessing of extended family involvement and love. Give him guidance in Your will and his works and how to be a truly invested father equipping our child for the world ahead of her. In your name I pray.
Husband’s work. Husband’s guidance.
Dear Lord,
Heal my husband’s heart from loss. I pray that he would remember to cast his care and anxiety on You.
In Jesus Name,
Amen
Dear Lord,
Praying for Peace!
Praying for guidance!
Praying for strength!
Praying for my husbands anger. Praying he comes back to God! Praying he will stop drinking and doing drugs!
Praying for healing!
Praying for my children!
In Jesus Name, Amen!
Dear Lord
Please heal my husband from head to toe. Please take away anger, envy of others and so much more. While growing up he was bought with material things and not love. And he has carried this his entire life. It affects him in so many ways. I pray he can let go of this and let Jesus live in him it doesn’t just affect him but his entire family.
I’m Jesus name
Amen
Please join me in praying for my 19 year old son Tristan. I pray that God would draw him to his word and that the word of Hod would penetrate his heart and mind. I thank God he is ordaining his steps and step by step fuffilling his plan for Tristan’s life.
Lord father,
I pray for my husband as he deals with health issues and doubts about his direction as he is unemployed. I pray you would give him courage and assurance of your love for him and love patience as he waits for you.
Please pray for my husband who is in extreme pain from Rheuma Arthritis. Ease his pain as he continues to walk with you.
Dear Lord,
Please help my my husband to have clarity when it comes to how to help his mother through her health and financial issues. Open doors and protect him from being deceived. Help him to give up control of some of the tasks he is so determined to do himself and accept help from others (at work, around the house and with the care of his mother). Show him that you, God are his savior and friend. Thank you for guiding his path. In Jesus name, AMEN.
Father in heaven, I pray that you would lead my husband to the very best job for his skills, gifting, and talents. Guide him with your wisdom into Your will for his next job. Keep his heart from discouragement during this time of unemployment. I pray he would continue to trust in You to provide for and protect us during this time. I pray he would not grow weary, but find his strength in you.
In Jesus Name,
Amen
I pray that God will put an edge of protection around my husband that alcohol and gambling will stay away from his life. Also that he will meet godly friends. Amen
Heavenly Father
I pray for peoples troubled hubbies who impact us! Clear their issues away. We commute with these when we go to interviews and even end up working for some of these! Guide their decisions and heal and change these hearts.
Thank you North Carolina sisters for timely notes
Dear Lord, I have 2 men in my life right now who need help. My son is 35 and has severe anxiety that’s becoming in the way of his life and our life. It’s breaking my heart and he is feeling Terrible that he’s done this to me and my husband. It feels like the scariest nightmare ever. We are praying… m
However, my husband who is a great dad/husband is not a follower of Jesus and that bothers me. I pray he turns to Jesus I constantly try but he hasn’t listened yet.
Dear Lord thank you for answering Robin’s prayers 🙏🏽 and holding her in Your care. Amen 💞
Dear Lord I pray for my husband healing and Deliverance from PTSD from Vietnam War and the late onset self-medicating increase alcohol consumption. He is wonderful ❤️ minister of the Gospel,Yours servant Lord. Thank You sovereign Lord Amen 🙏🏽
Dear Lord,
I am praying for healing for my husband. I ask that you fill him with the Holy Spirit and renew his faith in you. Touch his body and heal the many challenges that he is facing. Touch his mind Heavenly Father that he will cast his eyes on you and not the materialistic things in his world. Remind him that you are a forgiving God and that he is truly blessed in spite of his many health challenges. Remind him that we must forgive others in order to be forgiven. Thank you Father for your love, mercy and grace. Give me the strength to endure as I continue to be his caregiver and his wife. These things I ask and pray in your Holy Name. Amen
Dear Jesus, I pray for my husband today, for the healing of the wounds in his heart and mind. I know that you have told us in your word that we have the mind of Christ and I speak that over my husband today. Replace every lie of the enemy that dwells in his mind with the truth of Your Word, and pierce through the armor of his heart with your love that knows no bounds. May He experience how deep and wide and long and high your love for him is. In Jesus name, amen!
I pray that my husband would turn his heart back to his first love, God and allow His will to rule in his life. That he not be fashioned by other opinions or opportunities. That he choose to find his true identity in Christ love for him.
Dear God, I pray for my husband’s heart to be opened up and to know you as I know you. Although he believes in you, he’s not saved. I pray for you to save him and defeat the strong hold of that the enemy has over and tells him lies about our marriage. I pray for restoration and healing of our marriage, and to keep our family together. He feels he cannot go on that there’s too much water under the bridge and has started divorce process. Lord, I ask you to open up his heart to loving me and recommitting to our marriage again. It has been close to 30 years. During this trial I have endured this past year, it has brought me so much closer to you, and I have learned things that I’ve never learned or knew before, although growing up in the Catholic Church. I never even read the Bible, or knew that Satan was real, and his lies and strong holds can cause chaos and devastation. Thank you Lord for saving me and bringing me back into your fold.
I know and believe you can do the same for my husband, and I believe that you already save my marriage, and that I have to walk through the process. Give me the strength and wisdom to do it. Help me when my faith and trust gets double minded, and the enemy attacks in Jesus is glorious name I pray. Amen!
Also, Lord, I lift Aimee H above up to you her husband as well. May you restore her marriage and relationship with her husband and break the strong holds the enemy has over him. In Jesus name I pray. Amen!
Please pray for my son Sam. He is struggling emotionally and spiritually.
Dear Lord,
Please draw my son near to You and not believe the enemy’s lies. Remind him how much I love him and miss him. Bring him back in communication with me. I am waiting with open arms.
In Jesus Name, Amen
My son Grant. He has fallen so far.
Father, show Grant your way. Help him make his way back to you. He knows you. In Jesus’ name, Amen
Pray for my husband who lost his dad one year ago today to COVID. This has been very emotional and trying on him as he slips into a depression and a state of uncontrollable weeping over his dad’s death still a year later. I’m thankful he has reached out for professional counseling. I pray that his heart will be comforted knowing he’ll one day see his dad again and what a glorious day that will be. Thank you Lord for that unbundant blessing of hope!
Father Lord, I pray for you to help heal my marriage, and restore my husband’s wounded soul, and break the strong hold. Satan has around his heart. He feels he cannot go on being married, and there’s too much water under the bridge through this trial I have learned so much about you and I’ve drawn so much closer to you. Thank you for that. I know I have been saved, but pray that you will save my husband and open his heart to you and to recommitting to our marriage so our family can stay together. In Jesus name I pray.
My prayer for my husband is about his job. He is so unhappy doing what he is doing and feels so weighed down by work and it’s taking a toll on our family. I am also praying for your son Grant, Gail, that Jesus our Good Shepherd will bring Grant back to Him.
Prayers for all the men in our family. Lord, continue to watch over them with your wisdom and care. Grant them health and healing. Thank You, Jesus
Dear lord today I pray for my husband soften his heart that he may want to attend service with me. Help him to see how much it is needed that he attends church and what an impact it can leave in our children’s lives. Also pray for my only son he is a young man in my life as well these teen years are a struggle for me one: to let go and let him become a man and two: seeing him fail when he makes the wrong choices
There are several men in my life who are in need of an emotional and spiritual healing. Father, in Your word,You said that You are the God who heals. I pray that You would heal all of the hurts and wounds that are affecting the men in my life. Fill the empty spaces, draw them closer to You. Allow them to feel Your Fatherly Love, Grace and Mercy. Free them of anything that is keeping them captive and bound. In Your Word, You said who the Son sets free is free indeed. I speak freedom over their lives. I pray that they would be the mighty men of valor that You have called them to be. Order their steps and allow Your perfect will to be manifested in the earth on their behalf. I touch and agree with Marlea that all the men in our families would be healthy, healed and walk in Godly wisdom. In Jesus’ name! Amen!
Prayer for Sue’s husband and mine too
Please pray with me for the relationship that I am in now with a man who is the answer to all my prayers except he doesn’t have the same spiritual connection with God like I do. The one thing I prayed about when asking God to bring me my husband was I needed him to love God as much as I do. Although he knows God…he doesn’t have a personal relationship with Him and therefore we are not equally yoke at this point. This man wants to marry me, however, I have not accepted his proposals because we are not on the same spiritual journey. He is a good man and I know God can touch his heart so please pray with me that this is the man has for me and that he will want to develop a personal relationship with God that is strong so I can trust and allow him to lead in the marriage and put God first.
Thank you!
Thank you, Sharon. This was helpful. I just told God last night, “Lord, I’m done praying for them.” God used this Scripture, your devotional, and 1 Cor. 13:7 (love endures) to sit me down and rethink what I said.
Teresa, can I tell you something? You are worth ALL that you have asked God for. I’m sure your man is great, but if you’ve asked God to lead you to a man after Gods own heart…why are you still there?
The enemy also brings people into our lives to mimick what we might think is an answered prayer.
Take a step back & remember who your Father in heaven is.
When I got divorced and after many many many mistakes with men, I fell to my knees and asked God to change what I was looking for. I felt God telling me to not look for outward standards (because I sure had them!), but He told me to look for HEART standards and to not accept anything less!
I pray that God’s guidance and discernment will guide you through this season.
((Love & Hugs))
Thank you for praising our Abba Father for the changes He will bring to my sweet daughter’s body and soul. She is suffering intense flare ups from Crohn’s Disease. It is debilitating but my Hope is in Jesus healing hands.
Thank You