Category: Devotion for Women

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Devotion for Women ZZ

Goals and Plans

‘So I said to myself, “I will get up and roam the city, searching in all its streets and squares. I will search for the one I love.” So I searched everywhere but did not find him.’ Song of Songs 3:2(NLT)

Developing and maintaining an intimate marriage requires a consistent investment of time and emotional energy. Our marriage relationship dramatically improved when we began what we called our weekly “marriage staff meetings.” We didn’t leave the meetings to chance, instead making this time together a priority. Consistency was important, but the emotional benefit of prioritizing each other encouraged our closeness. As I heard my husband turn down engagements with friends so that we could keep our marriage staff meetings, my heart was incredibly blessed. When Kevin saw that I didn’t even take my cell phone into our staff meetings, he felt loved and reassured that I had concern for him and our marriage relationship. Here are some topics you might want to talk about: 

• Coordinate calendars: discuss kids’ schedules, church attendance, and community events. 

• Family goals: discuss financial savings, vacation ideas, and landscaping plans. 

• Parenting plans: discuss discipline issues and spiritual training. 

• Affirm one another: share appreciation and approval.

PRAY: LISTEN TO JESUS 

I love to see the plans you make, especially as you include me. It brings me joy to give you the desires of your heart and make your plans succeed. It’s a part of my divine nature to bring good things to your life. So seek me out, include me in your plans, because I long to meet your needs. Harmony is precious to me, beloved. I love seeing my people make decisions in unity. 

* Jesus, I know you have good things planned for us and I’m grateful. You’ve been faithful to give us ________. Grant us wisdom now as we make plans to ________. 

* Lord, I pray that my husband and I would come together in harmony around these goals: ________. 

LIVE: DO THE BIBLE (Song of Solomon 3:2)

* God, I want to seek your counsel about this goal: ________. Help me to know the best way and best time to seek my husband’s input about our plans for ________.

* God, in the same way, I pray that my husband would hear from you about ________. Show my husband and I the plans you have for us. We want to hear what you have to say about ________. Bring us to unity, Lord. We want to please you with the harmony and unity of our marriage. 

TAKE ACTION 

• Ask your husband to discuss plans for a special date night. Meet your goal for increased closeness. 

• Ask your husband’s input about the specific character traits that need to be emphasized as you train each of your children. Discuss plans for parenting your children in these ways. 

• Write down your response to this statement: “If all my dreams for the future could come true, here’s what our life, marriage, and family would look like: _________.” Ask your husband to do the same, and then talk through both responses.

from Praying For My Husband

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Devotion for Women ZZ

Celebrate Your Differences

‘For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.’ Ephesians 2:10(NLT)

Over the years, Heath and I have wasted a lot of time and a lot of words arguing about whose thoughts and ideas are better. We’ve had arguments including things as, “There’s no gas in the car,” “The dishes don’t go in the dishwasher that way,” and “Why didn’t you call and let me know they were coming over?” Our list of marital issues can sometimes seem endless, but even though we’ve been slow learners, we’ve found a better way. We begin with the principle that neither of us has thoughts, ideas, and plans that are best. The famed missionary George Mueller prayed this way: “Father, I have my thoughts about this issue, but I want your thoughts. I don’t want to have my own will about the matter—I want your will.” In our marriage, we strive to have God’s thoughts about any issue, not just our own. As Heath and I prayerfully approach the Lord in this way, He brings us together and causes His ways to prevail. As we’ve learned to approach the disagreements of our marriage in this way, we’ve not only enjoyed more harmony but we’ve also come to appreciate one another’s perspectives.  I would not have come to fully appreciate his strengths had we not spent time together seeking God’s thoughts, ideas, and plans.

PRAY: LISTEN TO JESUS 

Humble yourself, and I will lift you up. I love it when you acknowledge your dependence on me. I can’t wait to come to your aid. I am ready to teach you my ways and lead you in how to celebrate the differences between you and your spouse. Your humility is what moves me to action. I keep my distance from the proud. So talk freely about how you need me and how you are depending on me.

* Jesus, please show me your ways and your thoughts. Especially when I’m tempted to think that my ways are best, reveal your perspective. I need to specifically hear you concerning ________. 

* Lord, I pray for my husband and our marriage. We are depending on you to help us navigate our differences. We especially need your help concerning ________.

LIVE: DO THE BIBLE (Ephesians 2:10)

* God, I want to see my husband as your masterpiece. Show me the traits about him that make you particularly proud of your creation. Show me, Lord. I am celebrating these unique characteristics about my husband: ________. 

* God, in the same way, I pray for my husband. Help him to see me as a different but still a unique creation of God. Bring unity in our relationship, particularly in how we ________.

TAKE ACTION 

• Write down the improvements or changes that you could make that would help your marriage communication, especially in regard to the ways you are different from your husband. 

• Look for an opportunity to defer to your husband. Say something like, “We’re really different in this area and yet I want to give to you by ________.” 

from Praying For My Husband

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Devotion for Women ZZ

Closer to Him

‘Are any of you suffering hardships? You should pray. Are any of you happy? You should sing praises. ‘ James 5:13(NLT)

My parents had an awful marriage. My father was weak and distant, and my mother was too controlling. I mistakenly felt it was my calling to keep my own marriage from suffering the same fate. At first, my comments to my husband were helpful, but slowly he became withdrawn. Through the help of our mentors, we learned that we were locked into a cycle of hurting one another in one of the most painful ways possible: in ways that each of us had been hurt before. When I criticized my husband, it was magnified by the pain of criticism he had endured as a child. As my husband withdrew from me, it touched the pain of my dad’s distance from me in my growing-up years. After participating in a couples’ intensive retreat, my husband and I came to see each other’s pain, and we were able to offer each other words of compassion. We learned to pray together and seek the Lord for His comfort. We experienced the joy of bringing our burdens to God and then trusting Him to make changes in our marriage.

PRAY: LISTEN TO JESUS

I long to have quiet moments of conversation with you and your husband. I love when you are still and free of distractions, because those are the times when you can truly feel my love. I especially enjoy seeing you pray together as a couple. When the three of us come together in prayer, miraculous things can happen. Remember, I am the God of love. So it’s in these quiet moments of time with me that I can be your unlimited source of sacrificial love. 

* Jesus, I ask that you quiet my mind and spirit. Help me to focus on you. In my relationship with my husband, I am depending upon you to ________. Since you are the God of love, I am counting on you to ________.

* Lord, I pray for my husband. Would you draw him closely to yourself? Since you are the God of love, I ask that you empower him to ________.

LIVE: DO THE BIBLE (James 5:13)

* God, I come to you now about the hardships I/we are enduring. I need to know that you care about ________. Please reassure me of your love. I need you to intervene in this situation empower me with your love because ________. 

* God, in the same way, I pray for my husband. He needs to know that you care about ________. Please reassure him of your love. He needs you to intervene in this situation and empower him with your love because _______. 

TAKE ACTION 

• Invite your husband to talk with you about any spiritual goals each of you may have (more times of prayer together, Bible study, devotionals, church attendance). Implement one of these ideas this week. • Invite your husband to lead out in prayer. Spend several minutes discussing the most pressing needs and hardships of your life together and then pray. 

from Praying For My Husband

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Devotion for Women ZZ

A Wife’s Greatest Influence – Day 4

‘But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!’ Galatians 5:22-23(NLT)

To pray for your husband on your own, without even letting him know what it is about – to ask God to shape his heart, character and to keep him from temptation – this is a most powerful type of praying. Instead of nagging, ask God to do the very thing that He wants—to transform your husband more and more to be like Jesus in his character and conduct. Because this is exactly the will of God for your husband; when you pray like this, you know you are right in heaven’s bulls-eye. 

Read Galatians 5:22-23 and ask God to develop the each of the fruits of the Spirit in your husband’s personal life: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (nkjv).

Find the one character quality you know your husband wishes was true of him, and make that your primary prayer focus. Do you see how dramatically different this way of thinking and praying really is? Instead of praying for the one quality you wish your husband had, turn your focus to your husband; he’s the one you are called to help. And he undoubtedly wants help in an area that probably isn’t your number one! Put his wishes first and God will take notice of your unselfish request, and take care of you as well.

One of the most freeing things that can happen in your life as a wife can occur when you learn to release your husband into the hands of Jesus and then ask Him directly to take care of him and change him. Let go of the internal push to “make” your husband better and instead appeal to the only One who can transform anyone. Such amazing peace, power and influence you will have, and do have, as a wife. Use it. You will be blessed as you do. 

from A Wife’s Greatest Influence

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Devotion for Women ZZ

A Wife’s Greatest Influence – Day 3

‘And we are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him. And since we know he hears us when we make our requests, we also know that he will give us what we ask for.’ 1 John 5:14-15(NLT)

Maybe you sense your husband struggles with pornography. Maybe the new young secretary seems to have some extra affection for your husband. Maybe he gets so discouraged that he has been stopping at the grocery store on the way home to pick up something to drown his distress in too many drinks, or too much food.

Maybe he’s starting to lose his hair and his previously perfectly toned body now sags and he’s feeling like a has-been and overdoses every night on football, baseball, or basketball TV marathons. Maybe he’s facing real problems with one of your children and can’t seem to find the answer. 

All these problems are prevalent in our society today, aren’t they? 

No matter who your husband is, he faces many of these temptations, like every other man. Appeal to God to protect your husband from the temptations he’s most vulnerable to and ask God to fill him with extra comfort. 

Focus not on attacking him but on protecting him. Comfort him so that his inner strength will increase and he will have the courage to say no when tempted. 

Can you think of three challenging problems that you know your husband is currently struggling with? Pray about these things. You don’t have to tell him, “I want to pray for you about this.” Just be one with your husband and care enough to find out either in conversation or through your discernment what challenges he is dealing with. 

from A Wife’s Greatest Influence

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Devotion for Women ZZ

A Wife’s Greatest Influence – Day 2

‘So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.’ Genesis 1:27(NLT)

Whenever a wife awakens to the will of God as revealed in His Word regarding her role as the helper to her husband, she begins asking very different questions than before. Instead of “Why isn’t he…,” she now muses, “How can I maximize my positive impact on my husband so that God will be pleased by my assistance?” 

Keep in mind that the Bible is clear that the primary difference between the husband and wife is found in their distinctive roles. Man and woman, husband and wife—God created both equally in His own image as seen in Genesis 1:27: “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them” (nkjv). 

Second, God gave the identical responsibilities to the man as husband and woman as wife in Genesis 1:28: “Then God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth’” (nkjv). 

What is critical to remember, then, is husband and wife are equally made in the image and likeness of God and were equally delegated the dominion over the earth. The distinctive roles are God’s sovereign decision—the wife is to help the husband in fulfilling God’s dreams for himself and also God’s dreams for her. When pursued jointly whether through a mutual encouragement, prayer or support – goals are achieved more efficiently. 

Never underestimate the power of prayer in achieving your goals as a couple. Make an effort to spend personal time with the Lord praying for your spouse. But also seek to set aside time as a couple to pray for each other’s goals, discuss steps in obtaining them, and look to the Lord’s direction. As you begin to work together as a team, you will discover a powerful kinship develop that goes deeper than love. It is rooted in joint-ownership of each other’s most treasured hopes and desires. 

from A Wife’s Greatest Influence

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Devotion for Women ZZ

A Wife’s Greatest Influence – Day 1

‘Fight the good fight for the true faith. Hold tightly to the eternal life to which God has called you, which you have declared so well before many witnesses. ‘ 1 Timothy 6:12(NLT)

‘But you, O Lord , are a shield around me; you are my glory, the one who holds my head high.’ Psalms 3:3(NLT)

‘For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith. ‘ 1 John 5:4(NLT)

‘I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”’ John 16:33(NLT)

As a wife, you have been uniquely positioned to influence not only your marriage, your family, your home but also the legacies your family members leave behind. It is easy to get distracted from this overarching purpose, especially when the issues of daily life present themselves. After all, life comes packaged with struggles, failures, sins, betrayals, hurts, wounds, disappointments, and crushing defeats. 

Yet your marriage provides the opportunity to discover the grace of endurance but also to model that grace to all of those around you, leading your home into a season of joy. 

If you think you’ll be able to avoid experiencing difficulties in your marriage, you are naive and your life will be filled with disappointment, discouragement, and despair. Why? Because your expectations are not realistic in this fallen world. All of us struggle with our selfish sin-nature that must be brought into submission to the Holy Spirit, the Scriptures, and our spouse. 

Our response to the challenges life brings is always more important than the actual event. As Jesus and others in the Bible said so many times , the point of life is to “overcome” that which is difficult and painful. 

Each of those difficult moments or seasons is simply an obstacle that God permitted in your life so you can learn the deeper secrets of how to overcome and enjoy surpassing victories. They are actually gifts that feel like disasters but are heaven’s hidden stepping-stones to becoming more like Christ, who overcame everything thrown against Him. Indeed, said He, “I have [even] overcome the world” (John 16:33 nkjv). 

When you model the grace of overcoming, you demonstrate that hope to all those around you. You leave a lasting imprint on the lives within your circle of impact. As a wife, you are empowered to lift the hearts and minds of all those with whom you come into contact. And the starting point is always prayer. 

from A Wife’s Greatest Influence

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Devotion for Women ZZ

Praying Over Your Husband’s Head – Day 3

‘In the same way, you husbands must give honor to your wives. Treat your wife with understanding as you live together. She may be weaker than you are, but she is your equal partner in God’s gift of new life. Treat her as you should so your prayers will not be hindered.’ 1 Peter 3:7(NLT)

Taking the time to reflect on your personal prayer focus regarding your husband’s life can give you insight into how you can better use this tool for the good of your family. Spend a moment reflecting on the following thought-provoking questions. Then, use the guided prayer as a catalyst for praying for your husband right now.

  • Who has your husband become in his character because you have prayed for him?  
  • What meaningful achievements has your husband enjoyed in because you prayed for him?  
  • What is one decision your husband has made that you feel is out of God’s will? Ask God to intervene to change his mind.
  • What areas would you like to see your husband improve in your marriage and his leadership at home, and commit to praying for those this week.

Gracious Lord, Your Word says first and foremost that if my husband is not treating me with honor and grace, both of our prayers will be hindered. I desire for our prayers to be heard and answered, Lord, so please give him a heart to treat me according to how You want him to do so (1 Peter 3:7). 

Help me to cultivate an atmosphere in our home where he trusts me and desires to treat me with kindness and grace. I also ask that You give quick answers to my husband’s prayers so that he will see the effectiveness of using this spiritual tool in his life and in our home. Let these answers build upon each other so that his prayer muscles will be strengthened and he will look to prayer as a regular part of living life successfully. 

Give me wisdom to know when to speak and when to allow You to correct my husband’s thinking. I pray that You will move swiftly when I seek Your intervention in his choices as a way of affirming and building my own confidence in Your intervening Hand. Thank You for hearing my prayers for him and for responding. In Christ’s name, Amen.

from Praying Over Your Husband’s Head

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Devotion for Women ZZ

Praying Over Your Husband’s Head – Day 2

‘Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. ‘ Philippians 4:6(NLT)

Are you unsure of how to best pray for your husband? Do you struggle to find the courage and words to take you to higher level of influence in your marriage?

Prayer is one of the most beautiful tools you can use for the direction of your home, but trying to know his heart and pray with intention can feel overwhelming. You can’t understand his every spiritual need for direction and guidance—but God knows.

That’s why God has placed you as a powerful force of prayer for your husband’s life. Move from uncertainty to assurance as you devote yourself daily to conversation with the Lord who created, knows, and fiercely loves your husband.

Here is a guided prayer to move you in this direction:

Heavenly Father, I ask that You will enable us as a couple to refrain from drawing conclusions, making assumptions or reacting emotionally when we have not yet sought to clarify the cause of our conflict through seeking to understand both the truth of the actions and the intentions behind the actions. 

Help my husband to live in such a way – making right choices throughout his work life, home life and social life – so that the enemy does not have a stronghold from which to attack our family. 

Surround him with Your breastplate of righteousness to protect his honor and heart. And when conflict does arise, let peace both dominate and preserve the sanctity of our relationship and intimacy of our communication and love of the truth. If my husband has made a decision outside of your will, I ask that You will intervene to change his direction before he moves us too far forward the wrong way. Give my husband wisdom to discern your leading and help me to refrain from criticizing him. In Christ’s name, Amen.

from Praying Over Your Husband’s Head

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Devotion for Women ZZ

Praying Over Your Husband’s Head – Day 1

‘You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. ‘ John 14:13(NLT)

I’ll (Bruce) never forget learning firsthand the amazing power of my wife’s prayers for me in the early days of our marriage. Back then, I misunderstood how to be the “head’ of our marriage with grace and kindness. A major decision had to be made and although Darlene did her best to share her wisdom and change my mind, I didn’t have ears to hear. 

After she saw I had my mind made up, she accepted the decision although she strongly disagreed. About a week later, I learned some new information that radically changed my mind. Over dinner I shared the fact that I had been wrong and had changed my mind. 

She smiled but didn’t say a word. I asked her why she was smiling.  She reluctantly revealed the reason. “Well, I knew your decision wasn’t the right one and was going to negatively affect us and our family but you just couldn’t see it.  I felt you would suffer in the future too.  So, I stopped arguing and just went over your head.” 

“Over my head?” I asked, kind of in shock.  She sensitively said, “Well, I couldn’t help you, so I went over your head directly to God and asked Him to change your mind for me.”  I shook my head in unbelief, threw my head back and laughed and laughed, and said, “Wow, what a great idea!  Thanks for doing that because I was definitely heading in the wrong direction and my decision would have been disastrous!” 

Then it hit me. “So…how many times have you gone over my head?”  

She smiled as only a wife can do and replied, “I’ll never tell! It’s something God seems to enjoy saying “yes” and I’m thrilled that He does!” 

“No kidding” I mumbled, feeling rather helpless….

In our conversations over the years, we have talked about this powerful prayer option available to all married women. One day she said rather openly, “I had to learn that sometimes God didn’t answer my prayer with a “yes” but wanted you to learn from your mistakes the hard way.  I came to realize that His answer was always the best one in the long-term for you and me. Sometimes, though, I had to suffer from your mistakes which was God’s plan for me as well.”  My goodness, did I ever marry a jewel. 

You, my friend, are also a jewel. A jewel who holds the power to influence your husband in ways beyond what you may have ever even realized. Yes, you have God’s ear. And His heart. Discover how much He cares as you learn to take everything to Him in prayer.

from Praying Over Your Husband’s Head