Category: Devotion for Women

‘But God is my helper. The Lord keeps me alive!’ Psalms 54:4(NLT)

‘And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. ‘ John 14:16(NLT)

‘But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.’ John 14:26(NLT)

‘But in fact, it is best for you that I go away, because if I don’t, the Advocate won’t come. If I do go away, then I will send him to you. ‘ John 16:7(NLT)

‘So we can say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper, so I will have no fear. What can mere people do to me?”’ Hebrews 13:6(NLT)

‘The greatest among you must be a servant. ‘ Matthew 23:11(NLT)

‘Then the Spirit came upon Amasai, the leader of the Thirty, and he said, “We are yours, David! We are on your side, son of Jesse. Peace and prosperity be with you, and success to all who help you, for your God is the one who helps you.” So David let them join him, and he made them officers over his troops.’ 1 Chronicles 12:18(NLT)

Whenever someone hears the word helper today, wouldn’t you agree that it often brings up negative emotions, perhaps even with a touch of a despising attitude. Who looks up to, respects, or wants to be a helper? 

When I began studying what the Bible teaches about marriage, I studied every verse on the topic, including the key Hebrew and Greek words behind our English translations. Helper is obviously one of the key marriage words, so I traced the original Hebrew word behind helper in every verse in the Old Testament and other related texts . What I learned radically changed my attitudes about the helper from a negative to a shining positive. Let me explain. 

Your overall attitude about being the “helper” while your husband is the primary “provider” controls your attitude and therefore your actions. If you despise a role, then you certainly won’t put much effort into fulfilling it, nor gain much joy from it, because you won’t think very highly about it.

So, who does the Bible refer to as “helper” and is seen more than anyone else as the one who helps? 

The answer is God Himself. 

Over and over again you find God helping others, coming to their rescue, providing what they need, protecting them. Now think about that for a moment. To help is to be like God! How about that paradigm shift, from despising the concept of helper to embracing it as godly? 

In the Old Testament, God the Father is directly involved in helping and serving many different people. David stated it this way in Psalm 54:4: “Behold, God is my helper” (nkjv). 

In the Gospels, God the Son is always serving (another word related to helping) other people. In fact, Jesus said that He was sent by the Father to serve others and to sacrifice Himself for our sins—giving His life to help others with their sin problem. Jesus referred to Himself as a “Helper” in John 14:16: “And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever” (nkjv).

In the New Testament epistles, the Holy Spirit is given to us to be our Helper in John 14:26: “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you” (nkjv). Also in John 16:7: “Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you” (nkjv).

And one of the most straightforward revelations about how we are to think about the role of helper is in Hebrews 13:6: “So we may boldly say: ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?’” (nkjv).

Examining all these passages caused me to totally reevaluate my attitudes toward the concept of “helper.” I realized that to be like God, I must be a servant and help others. Jesus even stated that the greatest among us will be servants of all (Matthew 23:11). 

Will you then change your mind and heart about your God-given role in marriage and embrace the nobility and God-like nature of serving as your husband’s helper? Always keep in mind that you don’t help your husband because he deserves it, but because it’s the Lord’s will for you! 

Open your heart right now, and if you need to, ask the Lord to forgive your past misunderstanding and lack of wholeheartedhelping of your husband. Embrace fully the Lord’s call on your life with your Mantle shining brightly!

Become even more godly than you are at this moment, because you chose to run toward the role of helper as God runs toward you to help you succeed. 

There is one last passage of the Bible that surprisingly reveals how God helps people help others from the life of King David in 1 Chronicles 12:18:

Then the Spirit came upon Amasai, chief of the captains, and he said: 

“We are yours, O David; 

We are on your side, O son of Jesse! 

Peace, peace to you, 

And peace to your helpers!

For your God helps you.” 

So David received them, and made them captains of the troop (nkjv).”

When you rejoice and thank God for your godly role, then heaven will rejoice and your husband won’t know what hit him! He will be amazed as his life becomes maximized at a greater level and you will witness the overflow of this joy in your home. 

Pray regularly for your husband. You are the most influential person in his life. Use that influence for good. 

from The Power Of The Wife’s Prayer Mantle

‘But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted! ‘ John 15:7(NLT)

With God’s clear purpose of “helping her husband to fulfill his God-given destiny with excellence” in mind, just think how heaven appreciates the wife who continually seeks to achieve that purpose! God’s formula couldn’t be any clearer, could it? God gave you to your husband as a gift to assist him in achieving the goals He has for him. 

Wives are God’s human partner to help mature and maximize their husband. 

Now you know why God’s ears are particularly open to the wife who prays for her husband! When a wife who “seeks to do her husband good” comes to the throne of the Almighty and asks for something to better help her husband, what do you think God’s likely answer will be? She’s fulfilling her calling in the very process while praying for God’s help. She wants help to help. And God will grant that request. 

When you reflect on the various ways the wife can support her husband from Proverbs 31, three primary methods surface: 

1. Her consistent actions of doing “good” all the days of his life. 
2. Her supportive attitudes and encouragement so that “her husband safely trusts her.”
3. Her prayerful appeals to God on his behalf “so he will have no lack of gain.” 

Of everything that the Wife’s Mantle carries, the power of your prayers goes beyond normal actions and attitudes. Why? Because your prayers appeal to God to supernaturally intervene in your husband’s life. Your prayers are far more powerful than any action you may take or attitude you may demonstrate. 

The wives who understand that God is more than willing to intervene in their husband’s life due to their prayers inevitably see amazing results. Why? Because when your motives align with the role of helper that God established, then God is not only pleased, but He begins to put things into action in your husband’s life that achieves both your and His will. And over time, your husband will likely become more and more the man of your dreams.

from The Power Of The Wife’s Prayer Mantle

‘Her husband can trust her, and she will greatly enrich his life. She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life.’ Proverbs 31:11-12(NLT)

‘Her husband is well known at the city gates, where he sits with the other civic leaders.’ Proverbs 31:23(NLT)

“Doing him good” (from yesterday’s Scripture passage) describes the intentional positive actions of the wife on the behalf of her husband. “Not doing evil” describes the intentional lack of negative action of the wife toward her husband, regardless of his selfishness. 

Do you find any exceptions to either actions in these verses or anywhere else in the 1,189 chapters and 31,173 verses in the Bible, like “if he deserves it” or “when he obeys God”? 

You already know the answer. Not one exception. Never. Truly loving (for the husband to the wife) and helping (for the wife to the husband) is absolutely and always unconditional. 

So, what’s the result in the life of the husband whose wife fulfills the biblical role of helper in marriage? I’ll never forget the day when I unexpectedly heard the answer to that question. During a weekend marriage retreat where Darlene and I were speaking, a woman came up to me at the break and said, “Do you want to know the result of being a godly helper? Look right in the middle of Proverbs 31 and read verse 23 and you’ll find God’s answer! It’s the climax: When a wife fulfills her role as the husband’s helper, then the husband becomes respected and even famous!” 

She smiled and then waited patiently for me to find it in my Bible. 

As you can imagine, I couldn’t wait to read verse 23, because I had no idea what she was referring to until I read the verse out loud: 

Her husband is known in the gates, when he sits among the elders of the land (nkjv). 

She continued excitedly, “The most honored position in the Old Testament was to be invited to sit among the elders at the central city gate to dispense wisdom and direction for those who dwelled within that city. When a married woman truly embraces her God-given role within marriage,” she said, “her man is going to be become far more than he ever could by himself. He’ll become respected in the community for his character and what he has achieved in life.” 

She once again smiled, and as she walked away said, “My man sits at the city gates because of my help. He couldn’t help but become an elder in the land with me as his helper!” 

So, how do I know what kind of husband I am? Just spend some time with my glorious wife. How does Darlene know what kind of wife she is? Just spend some time with her husband—and hopefully look for the nearby gates. 

So, what’s else is in the power of the Wife’s Prayer Mantle? Let’s open the city gates and find out.

from The Power Of The Wife’s Prayer Mantle

‘Her children stand and bless her. Her husband praises her: “There are many virtuous and capable women in the world, but you surpass them all!”’ Proverbs 31:28-29(NLT)

‘Her husband can trust her, and she will greatly enrich his life. She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life.’ Proverbs 31:11-12(NLT)

You are the only helper God supernaturally and sovereignly assigned to the good of your husband.

Only you. 

No other human in the universe but you.

God reveals across the pages of the Holy Writ how He established universal roles, responsibilities, and rules governing everyone’s marriage. God also sovereignly bestowed an indescribable power for the wife so she can excel as her husband’s helper beyond the ordinary. Why? Because God delegated to you the power necessary to maximize the life of your husband beyond his and your imagination. 

The Wife’s Prayer Mantle is the powerful tool that enables you to unlock everything and anything so that you can overcome as a wife, secretly bringing your husband along with you in the process. What and who your husband becomes and achieves is massively related to the degree to which you have helped him. And wives who flourish in their role will inevitably hear this type of statement from their husband and children from Proverbs 31:28-29: “Her children rise up and call her blessed;her husband also, and he praises her:‘Many daughters have done well,but you excel them all’” (nkjv ).

God holds both husbands and wives accountable to obey Him in their marital roles, regardless of the behavior or response of their spouse. Since these directives are unconditional, then “helping” is not to be earned by good behavior, and “helping” cannot be forfeited by inappropriate behavior. 

The Bible states this principle of the wife always seeking the benefit of her husband in Proverbs 31:11-12: 

The heart of her husband safely trusts her; so he will have no lack of gain. She does him good and not evil all the days of her life (nkjv). 

Let’s look more at this in tomorrow’s reading. 

from The Power Of The Wife’s Prayer Mantle