Are you and your Christian spouse battling with each other in oppositional ways? Here’s some great advice from a Lifeway.com article titled, “When You Don’t Have a Prayer.”
I don’t know the name of the author, but there’s no doubt, God inspired him. It concerns uniting together in petitioning prayer.
May you apply it to your married life:
Petitioning Prayer Rather Than Anger
“Try bombing your battles with petitioning prayer instead of anger. It brings amazingly effective peace talks to the conflict. But don’t just pray for your imperfect spouse before or after the battle. Pray with him or her during the battle.
“…Just imagine the scene:
“’Lord Jesus, we’ve gathered together now to pray so we don’t hurt each other. We’re both fighting mad right now and need your help. I pray now for my wife, whom I love dearly. Give her the grace to forgive me, the patience to put up with me, and the wisdom to understand me.
“’Help me to deal with my anger and misunderstanding of her needs and feelings.
“’Unite our hearts and speak peace to our storm right now. You have joined us as one; help us know what to do.’
“It may seem awkward at first but remember, a spiritual battle is fought in prayer [See: Ephesians 6:10-18]. I dare you to try this.”
And I do too. I dare you to try this because I know petitioning prayer works. My husband Steve and I found that out a number of years ago. While we don’t always bomb our battles by praying with and for each other as soon as we should, however, when we do it definitely softens and opens our hearts to doing things God’s ways, rather than our own.
It’s pretty difficult to stay hardheaded and hard-hearted as you pray together. God has a way of getting through to us, despite ourselves.
Petitioning Prayer
As you are pleading with God in petitioning prayer:
“Invite the Holy Spirit to fully guide you. Rather than just following your own agenda for each day, pray for the Holy Spirit to renew your mind so you can approach situations with the wisdom of God’s guidance. Also ask the Holy Spirit to help you develop character traits that will make you a better person and spouse: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” (Whitney Hopler)
Here are some good scriptures to pray through for yourself and your spouse. God’s word comes alive in our lives, as we apply it. Pray, apply God’s Word to your life. And then pray that God impresses this upon your spouse, as well.
“Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable —if anything is excellent or praiseworthy —think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me —put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.” (Philippians 4:5-9)
And He will be. If you need more pointers in this area of your marriage, please visit the Spiritual Matters topic of our web site. May you find God’s guidance there!
Cindy Wright of Marriage Missions International wrote this blog.
— ADDITIONALLY, Concerning Petitioning Prayer —
To help you as you are calling out to God in petitioning prayer, here is a prayer guideline to help you:
• SCRIPTURE PRAYERS FOR YOUR MARRIAGE
Filed under: Spiritual Matters
I couldn’t agree more with this author about *bombing battles with prayer*. My husband and I battled sex addiction in our marriage. We prayed together morning and night throughout the whole ordeal and recovery process. We now both feel that prayer was the glue that held us together!! Thanks for sharing!
God recently opened a door to conversation with a dear friend, whom I still love. Our first meeting together went great; the second not so much. I prayed during the entire time together with him this week and could feel the difference it made. I stayed calm and I was able to listen to him much better than I sometimes have in the past.
I really feel there’s a spiritual battle for his thoughts and emotions, particularly regarding me. I’ve been looking into reasons why prayers are hindered and one commentary I just read said that broken relationships can hinder prayers. I am going to be praying fervently for God to break the strongholds that seem to bind his thinking regarding me.