Cindy and I just finished a 3-day prayer conference called “An Appeal To Heaven.” Much of the time was centered on revival in America. But there were also a number of applications we saw relating to the revival God wants to bring to marriages as well. That is why we are making this Marriage Appeal to Heaven.
Feeling inspired to do so, Cindy and I want to pray for you and your marriage. We hope it will inspire you to pray, not just for your marriage, but also for marriages around the world. May we be partners in our appeal to Heaven!
Steve’s Marriage Appeal for Your Marriage
Father, I pray for spouses all over the world. First, I thank you for those who have remained faithful to their marriage partner, and to their covenant. We know that if we honor our covenant with You, we will win the battles for our marriage. Lord, you know the temptations we fight against; the traps the enemy of our faith lays out to ensnare us in sin. These traps are set to turn our backs on the promises we made. Please hold us in Your hand and multiply your power in our lives.
Jesus, we (husbands) also ask for you to teach us how to love our wives. We acknowledge that there is no better way than to do it the way You’ve outlined in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8. We are told to be patient and kind, to not envy or boast, or become proud or easily angered. As godly husbands, help us to not keep a record of wrongs or delight in evil. The goal is to rejoice in truth, always protect, always trust, always hope and always persevere. Please empower us as husbands to remember to do these things, and follow through so we bless our wives, rather than hurt them.
Our Assignment
Heavenly Father, it is our assignment to help our wives to be more like Jesus. We confess that at times we’ve fallen down on this job. Sometimes we’ve even driven them in opposite directions. Please forgive us. We need your Holy Spirit to help us to reflect the love of Christ in all we do. The Bible tells us that the way to help our wife the most is by ‘super loving’ her (Ephesians 5:25-27).
So, help us start anew our commitment to “Be Christ” to her so that together we will act, think and be more like Jesus every day we live. Thank You for your forgiveness and your help to change.
Cindy’s Marriage Appeal for Your Marriage:
Heavenly Father, We appeal to Heaven on behalf of every spouse reading this Insight. We pray in agreement, asking for You to minister to the needs of our marriages. With Your Holy Spirit as our “Wonderful Counselor” please bring us closer together in marital partnership. Help us to be “imitators of God” in the way we live with our spouse.
We are told to “live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us.” We ask for Your help in this. Empower us to do this “as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (as told in Ephesians 5:1-2). Where there is “unwholesome talk” we pray You will help us not to contribute. Remind us to speak “only what is helpful for building” our spouses up “according to their needs.” Show us ways to sow seeds of peace, where there is contention. “As far as it depends” upon us, please guide us so we do “live at peace” to the best of our ability.
Break Down Barriers
Where there is emotional distance, break down the walls. Show us ways to build communication bridges. Help us also to build homes that are “rooted and established in love.” Where there are “fruitless deeds of darkness” growing, help us to be strong enough to “have nothing to do with them.” “Expose them” and bring them out into the Light, so we may deal with them. Help us to “live —not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.”
As Your “chosen people” we pray for Your power to do what is right. Show us ways to clothe ourselves “with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.” Help us to “bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances” we “may have against one another.”
And as wives, help us to live in ways, as Jesus would have us, so that if any of our husbands “do not believe the word, they may be won over without words” by our behavior “when they see the purity and reverence” of our lives. May we reveal and reflect the love of Christ in the ways we approach our husbands, through the power of Your Holy Spirit …Amen.
In Our Marriage Appeal to Heaven, Together:
We pray “that Your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that You may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ —to the glory and praise of God.” (Philippians 1:9-11)
“To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of His calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by His power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Thessalonians 1:11-12)
Steve and Cindy Wright
— ADDITIONALLY —
To help you further, we give a lot of personal stories, humor, and more practical tips in our book, 7 ESSENTIALS to Grow Your Marriage. We hope you will pick up a copy for yourself. (It’s available both electronically and in print form.) Plus, it can make a great gift for someone else. It gives you the opportunity to help them grow their marriage. And who doesn’t need that? Just click on the linked title or the picture below:
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