I'm feelin' a short post coming on. Like straight to the point and done. Three minutes of reading.
Are you a wife? If you're not a wife, are you a friend of someone? Is there someone that you really care about - a parent, a child, a sibling, a friend? Have you ever uttered the words...."I'm praying for you!" "I'll pray for you....." etc only to realize that it never actually happened?
I think Facebook must be the absolute top place where it is way way way too easy to type those words out and never follow through.
This week, I delved into a prayer exercise that really made an impact on me. As a wife, I feel compelled to pray for my husband. I want to. I believe that my prayers somehow carry a weight in the heavenlies on his behalf like no one else's, because we are one. I go through seasons of being more consistent with it and less consistent with it. But recently, my heart has been stirring to refresh my efforts and I wanted to create a new prayer list for him.
This time, I didn't ask him if there was anything he wanted me to be praying about for him. Instead, I got out my new journal......oh my. It's my very favorite journal EVER. It feels so so so good in my hands and it calls my pen out of the drawer and into my hand to get writing.
Instead of thinking through what I should be praying over him, I prayed through what I should be praying over him. It doesn't have to be weird. It can be a very simple question of the Lord, "Father, show me what to pray for Him. What is on your heart for Him? Holy Spirit show me." Then give it a little time and start writing.
Whoa. What started coming through my pen as I started scribbling the list of things to pray over him was crazy. They were things that I wouldn't have come up with on my own - I can tell you that. They were things that were not coming from my heart, or frankly, my agenda for him. They were from his Father's heart....and sister, I can tell you - it's more powerful to pray what the Lord is saying over him than what I want said over him.
So, if your instant thought is doubt over whether or not God will say anything or that you will hear anything or that you will hear the right thing....put it aside. The risk in this exercise is unbelievably low! No one has to know! And more than likely, what will come to you is positive stuff so if it's more you than God then no worries - at least you're praying good over your husband!
My next step is to find Scriptures to go with each thing that came to me to pray for him and then I like to post my list on the inside of one of my cabinet doors so I see it and am frequently reminded of it. Please. I'm no prayer superstar. But this is something that really helps me grab onto my commitment to pray!
Oh man, this can be applied to any prayer focus, can't it? It's not a method for wives only, ha! It's just a great practice to ask the Lord to help us pray and it's one I want to get better and better at. The other day I shared with Z one of the things God put on my heart to pray for him. You should have seen his eyes....he felt so loved. Give this a try! Would love to know if it turns out to be as cool for you as it was for me!
HAPPY WEEKENDING Y'ALL!
Love,
Abi
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