Unequally yoked

[Amorus]

Still praying for you Sister 

[danielleenbody]

Sorry, I have been moving all week and staying with my in-laws. Thank you for your prayers. During the move, I haven't had as much time to spend reading the bible and praying and it definitely makes difference, expecially during this stressful time. My husband and I have been on completely different levels - fighting allot. Your prayers are definitely appreciated.

thanks,

[airIam2worship]

Danielle, I am still praying for you sister, and your husband too.

[danielleenbody]

Thank you so much for your prayers.

[Kathy]

Sister,
I was looking at your thread and it has been a while since I posted to you. I just wanted to tell you that if you can get your hands on a copy of the book The Power of a Praying Wife, you will find this to be an excellent guide. The first you have to do before praying for your husband is to pray for yourself. You have to ask God to forgive you for anything that you have against your husband. Well, here I will post excerpts from the book and some prayers that are in the book. We are getting ready to have a study on this in our church. We are going to start it out praying for our husbands and then use the tools to pray for the men in our church. God help our city if we can get the women praying like they should be and the men on fire like they should be. The women should be the prayer warriors for the church and the men should be the leaders. And as I pointed out to one man(since he brought it up), the women in our church have the men beat in being involved in things. Prayer, working, going to retreats and attending special events. He agreed with me and said it was a shame. The Pastor's wife has agreed and she has the same feelings as I and another lady in the church. Praying women and men that are on fire for God.  This is what the other lady in my church has come up with for the first lesson. By the way, any man that is saved and has been filled with the Holy Ghost is a spiritually leader of me in church. This is my opinion and something God seems to be dealing with me about. OK OK enough with this and get on with the excepts. Here they come:

The Power of a Praying Wife

Chapter 1

The hard part about being a praying wife, other than the sacrifice of time, is maintaining a pure heart.  It must be clean before God in order for you to see good results.  That’s why praying for a husband must begin with praying for his wife.  If you have resentment, anger, unforgiveness, or an ungodly attitude, even if there’s good reason for it, you’ll have a difficult time seeing answers to your prayers.  It’s impossible to truly give yourself in prayer for your husband without first examining your own heart.  You can’t go to God and expect answers to prayer if you harbor unforgiveness, bitterness, or resentment. You can not pray a wife’s favorite three-word prayer without knowing in the deepest recesses of your soul that you must first pray God’s favorite three-word prayer: “Change me, Lord.”
   This whole requirement is especially hard when you feel your husband has sinned against you with unkindness, lack of respect, indifference, irresponsibility, infidelity, abandonment, cruelty, or abuse.  But God considers the sins of unforgiveness, anger, hatred, self-pity, lovelessness, and revenge to be just as bad as any others.
   Prayer is the ultimate love language. Talking to God about your husband is an act of love. Prayer gives rise to love; love begets more prayer, which in turn gives rise to more love.


I DON’T EVEN LIKE HIM-HOW CAN I PRAY FOR HIM

   The first thing to do is to be completely honest with God. “Lord, nothing in me wants to pray for this man.  I confess my anger, hurt, unforgiveness, disappointment, resentment, and hardness of heart toward him.  Forgive me and create in me a clean heart and right spirit before you.  Give me a new, positive, joyful, loving, forgiving attitude toward him.  Where he has erred, reveal it to him and convict his heart about it.  Lead him through the paths of repentance and deliverance.  Help me not to hold myself apart from him emotionally, mentally, or physically because of unforgiveness. Where either of us needs to ask forgiveness of the other, help us to do so.  If there is something I’m not seeing that is adding to this problem, reveal it to me and help me to understand it.  Remove any wedge of confusion that has created misunderstanding or miscommunication.  Where there is behavior that needs to change in either of us, I pray You would enable that change to happen.  As much as I want to hang on to my anger toward him because I feel it is justified, I want to do what You want.  I release all those feelings to You.  Give me a renewed sense of love for him and words to heal this situation.”


SHUT UP AND PRAY

   There is a time to speak and a time not to speak, and happy is the man whose wife can discern between the two.  Anyone who has been married for any length of time realizes that there are thing better left unsaid.  A wife has the ability to hurt her husband more deeply than anyone else can, and he can do the same to her.
   Our goal must not be to get our husbands to do what we want, but rather release them to God so He can get them to do what He wants.
   The Bible says, “Do not be rash with your mouth, and let not your heart utter anything hastily before God. For God is in heaven and you on earth; therefore let your words be few.” (Ecclesiastes 5:2)
   Communicate your thoughts, but once he has heard them, don’t continue to press him until it becomes a point of contention and strife.

BELIEVER OR NOT

   The Bible says a wife can win over her husband without saying anything, because what he observes in his wife speaks more loudly than what she tells him.  “They, without a word, may be won by the conduct of their wives.” (1 Peter 3:1, 2)

[Kathy]

CREATING A HOME

   Even if you are the only one working and your husband stays home to keep house and tend the kids, you will still be expected to see that the heart of your home is a peaceful sanctuary-a source of contentment, acceptance, rejuvenation, nurturing, rest and love for your family.  On top of this you will also be expected to be sexually appealing, a good cook, a great mother, and physically, emotionally, and spiritually fit.  It’s overwhelming to most women, but the good news is that you don’t have to do it all on your own.  You can seek God’s help. 
   Ask the Lord to show you how to make your home a safe haven that builds up your family-a place where creativity flows and communication is on going.  Ask God to help you keep the house clean, the laundry done, the kitchen in order, the pantry and refrigerator full, and the beds made.  These are basic things a man may not compliment his wife on every day (or ever), but he will notice if they are not done.
   Part of making a house a home is allowing your husband to be the head so you can be the heart.  If your husband is to be the head of the home, you must allow him that headship.  If you are to be the heart of the home, you still must take the steps necessary to do so, even if you are a major contributor to the financial support.

WITH ALL DUE RESPECT

   It’s interesting that God requires the husband to love his wife, but the wife is required to have respect for her husband.  “Let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.” (Ephesians 5:33) We not only bring defeat into our marriages and our husbands when we don’t have respect for them, but it shuts the door to a new life in us as well.
   Unless a wife wants to loose her position as queen of her husband’s heart, and hurt her family and friends besides, she mustn’t humiliate her husband no matter how much she thinks he deserves it.  The price is too high. “Lord, I confess I do not esteem my husband the way Your Word says to.  There is a wall in my heart that I know was erected as a protection against being hurt.  But I am ready to let it come down so that my heart can heal.  I confess the times I have shown lack of respect for him.  I confess my disrespectful attitude and words as sin against You.  Show me how to dismantle this barrier over my emotions that keeps me from having the unconditional love You want me to have.  Tear down the wall of hardness around my heart and show me how to respect my husband the way You want me to.  Give me Your heart for him, Lord, and help me to see him the way You see him.”

[Kathy]

PRAYER

Lord, help me to be a good wife.  I fully realize that I don’t have what it takes to be one without Your help.  Take my selfishness, impatience, and irritability and turn them into kindness, long-suffering, and the willingness to bear all things. Take my old emotional habits, mindsets, automatic reactions, rude assumptions, and self-protective stance, and make me patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle and self-controlled.  Take the hardness of my heart and break down the walls with Your battering ram of revelation.  Give me a new heart and work in my Your love, peace, and joy (Galatians 5:22, 23).  I am not able to rise above who I am at this moment.  Only you can transform me.
   Show me where there is sin in my heart, especially with regard to my husband.  I confess the times I’ve been unloving, critical, angry, resentful, disrespectful, or unforgiving toward him.  Help me to put aside any hurt, anger, or disappointment I feel and forgive him the way You do-totally and completely, no looking back.  Make me a tool of reconciliation, peace, and healing in this marriage.  Enable us to communicate well and rescue us from the threshold of separation where the realities of divorce begin. 
   Make me my husband’s helpmate, companion, champion, friend, and support.  Help me create a peaceful, restful, safe place for him to come home to.  Teach me how to take care of myself and stay attractive to him.   Grow me into a creative and confident woman who is rich in mind, soul, and spirit.  Make me the kind of woman he can be proud to say is his wife.
   I lay all my expectations at Your cross. I release my husband from the burden of fulfilling me in areas where I should be looking to You.  Help me to accept him the way he is and not try to change him.  I realize that in some ways he may never change, but at the same time, I release him to change in ways I never thought me could.  I leave any changing that needs to be done in Your hands, fully accepting that neither of us is perfect and never will be.  Only You, Lord, are perfect and I look to you to perfect us.
   Teach me how to pray for my husband and make my prayers a true language of love.  Where love had died, create new love between us.  Show me what unconditional love really is and how to communicate it in a way he can clearly perceive.  Bring unity between us so that we can be in agreement about everything (Amos 3:3).  May the God of patience and comfort grant us to be like-minded toward one another, according to Christ Jesus (Romans 15:5).  Make us a team, not pursuing separate, competitive, or independent lives, but working together, over looking each other’s faults and weaknesses for the greater good of the marriage.  Help us to pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another (Romans 14:9). May we be “perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment” (1 Corinthians 1:10).
   I pray that our commitment to You and to one another will grow stronger and more passionate everyday.  Enable him to be the head of the home as You make him to be, and show me how to support and respect him as he rises to that place of leadership.  Help me to understand his dreams and see things from his perspective. Reveal to me what he wants and needs and show me potential problems before they arise.  Breathe Your life into this marriage.
   Make me a new person, Lord. Give me a fresh perspective, a positive outlook, and a renewed relationship with the man You’ve given me.  Help me see him with new eyes, new appreciation, new love, new compassion, and new acceptance. Give my husband a new wife, and let it be me.
   
   

Excerpts and prayer from “ THE POWER OF A PRAYING WIFE’  by Stormie Omartian

[airIam2worship]

PRAYER

Lord, help me to be a good wife.  I fully realize that I don’t have what it takes to be one without Your help.  Take my selfishness, impatience, and irritability and turn them into kindness, long-suffering, and the willingness to bear all things. Take my old emotional habits, mindsets, automatic reactions, rude assumptions, and self-protective stance, and make me patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle and self-controlled.  Take the hardness of my heart and break down the walls with Your battering ram of revelation.  Give me a new heart and work in my Your love, peace, and joy (Galatians 5:22, 23).  I am not able to rise above who I am at this moment.  Only you can transform me.
   Show me where there is sin in my heart, especially with regard to my husband.  I confess the times I’ve been unloving, critical, angry, resentful, disrespectful, or unforgiving toward him.  Help me to put aside any hurt, anger, or disappointment I feel and forgive him the way You do-totally and completely, no looking back.  Make me a tool of reconciliation, peace, and healing in this marriage.  Enable us to communicate well and rescue us from the threshold of separation where the realities of divorce begin. 
   Make me my husband’s helpmate, companion, champion, friend, and support.  Help me create a peaceful, restful, safe place for him to come home to.  Teach me how to take care of myself and stay attractive to him.   Grow me into a creative and confident woman who is rich in mind, soul, and spirit.  Make me the kind of woman he can be proud to say is his wife.
   I lay all my expectations at Your cross. I release my husband from the burden of fulfilling me in areas where I should be looking to You.  Help me to accept him the way he is and not try to change him.  I realize that in some ways he may never change, but at the same time, I release him to change in ways I never thought me could.  I leave any changing that needs to be done in Your hands, fully accepting that neither of us is perfect and never will be.  Only You, Lord, are perfect and I look to you to perfect us.
   Teach me how to pray for my husband and make my prayers a true language of love.  Where love had died, create new love between us.  Show me what unconditional love really is and how to communicate it in a way he can clearly perceive.  Bring unity between us so that we can be in agreement about everything (Amos 3:3).  May the God of patience and comfort grant us to be like-minded toward one another, according to Christ Jesus (Romans 15:5).  Make us a team, not pursuing separate, competitive, or independent lives, but working together, over looking each other’s faults and weaknesses for the greater good of the marriage.  Help us to pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another (Romans 14:9). May we be “perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment” (1 Corinthians 1:10).
   I pray that our commitment to You and to one another will grow stronger and more passionate everyday.  Enable him to be the head of the home as You make him to be, and show me how to support and respect him as he rises to that place of leadership.  Help me to understand his dreams and see things from his perspective. Reveal to me what he wants and needs and show me potential problems before they arise.  Breathe Your life into this marriage.
   Make me a new person, Lord. Give me a fresh perspective, a positive outlook, and a renewed relationship with the man You’ve given me.  Help me see him with new eyes, new appreciation, new love, new compassion, and new acceptance. Give my husband a new wife, and let it be me.
   
   

Excerpts and prayer from “ THE POWER OF A PRAYING WIFE’  by Stormie Omartian

Amen Sister I have that book too, in the begining of the book the is a chapter titled;
The Power: following are some excerpts from that chapter;

The power of a praying wife is not a means of gaining control over your husband. So don't get your hopes up! In fact it is quite the opposite. It's the power to laying down all claim to power in and of yourself, and relying on God's power to transform you, your husband, your circumstances, and your marriage. The power is not given to wield like a weapon in order to beat back an unruly beast. It's a gentle tool of restoration appropriated thru the prayers of a wife who loongs to do what is right more than to be right, and to give life more than to get even. It's a way to invite God's power into your husband's life for his greatest blessing, which is ultimately yours, too.


Power of a praying wife by Stormie Omartian.

Reading this book reminds me often, that I cannot change my husband, only God can do that, however if I cast all my fears, concrens, anger, resentment, hurt, disappointment, and unforgiveness to God, He will work with me for my greatest benefit and blessing only thru God is that peace, joy and blessing available.
This is a book that I refer to almost on a daily basis, the enemy is always roving about seeking to divide and conquer. Because women are more fragile emotionally, even tought more women than men are spiritually inclined to running to God to help them when our husband's disappoint or hurt us, Stormie has also written a book tittled:
The Power of a Prayig Husband.
Wives to need prayer, I bought that book for my husband, and when he askes me what he can do for me I always hand him the book, and ask him to pray for me.

[danielleenbody]

Thank you so much for the response, Kathy. I actually have that book and LOVE IT. I have almost all Stormie's prayer books - but that one and the "The Power of a Praying Parent" are my favorite. It has helped us allot. My husband at first was against everything having to do with religion and raising our kids that way....but prayer is powerful. That book taught me so much about what God wants and what God wanted from me. Keep me posted on your church....


Thanks again for the time and effort

[danielleenbody]

I may sound a little paranoid...but hearing all this stuff that's going on in Israel and the obvious (Our worlds morals and standards going down the drain) makes me fear the end of the world "Revalations" being with a non-believer. The Bible says to stay with him and not leave him - which I am not- and I am trying to win him over through prayer - but I fear when the "mark of the beast" and the chips under the skin - what do I do then - if he has not yet come to know Christ. I have accepted him to be a non-believer but I kept help but be paranoid with all that's going on?

[Soldier4Christ]

Sister no matter what may happen the Lord tells us to have faith in Him, do not fear.

Mat 10:28  And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

There is nothing that can happen to us if we stay strong in our Lord and Saviour except the shedding of this earthly body.

[danielleenbody]

thank you.

[ljtreewalker]

show me in the king james ver. where awoaman ever spoke in touges?

[nChrist]

show me in the king james ver. where awoaman ever spoke in touges?

Hello Ljtreewalker,

I see this is your first post, so WELCOME!

I have no idea what speaking in tongues has to do with this discussion, but maybe someone else does. I would also be curious if you're talking about the real and recognizable foreign languages that the Bible mentions or something else. I know many women who speak several languages, many in my own family. They are missionaries and must learn the language of the people they plan to work with before they can become very effective. The Apostle Paul knew many languages, so he was able to minister to people of many lands using their own language. However, I'll guess this isn't what you're talking about, but this is what the Apostle Paul and others were talking about.