Let's Do It Again...

My friend, Lori, and her husband Judd Wilhite pastor a church in Las Vegas, NV.  Central Christian Church is a great congregation of people and the Lord is doing so much through them in the Las Vegas area. Brad had a chance to visit the church and see the team in action.  I, on the other hand, keep up with the happenings of their church and life via Lori's blog.  She began Leading and Loving it as  resource and encouragement for other women who partner with their husband's in ministry.  Her blog, in and of itself, has expanded past a resource to connect women and has turned into its own ministry.  Now, Lori and several other pastor's wives from all over the US contribute to http://leadingandlovingit.com.  They host virtual round table discussions and many other oh-so-cool things.

I highly, highly encourage you to check it out.  There is always something great there! Plus, they are just real wives and moms who have a heart sold out to Jesus.  I Love It!

Lori emailed me several weeks ago asking about posting the Take Your Man to Jesus prayers on her blog. I felt honored that she asked.  If you don't know what I am talking about, in January 2009 I shared a prompting that the Lord had placed on my heart.  God called me to pray intensely for my husband for ten full days.  I was surprised at the response from women who wanted to join me in the journey. So for sake of ease, I posted a ten day prayer map that gave clarity and focus to the prayer time. I shared as the Lord prompted.  After all was said and done, I had received emails from numerous women who asked to share the prayer map with prayer groups, Bible studies, friends and coworkers.   I was never looking for a response or for any credit, but I was thankful that the Lord used them in people's lives. What blessed me most was seeing so many women love their husbands enough to sacrifice time and thought in order to see them rise up to be men of integrity.  God heard my prayers during that time.  I know he was faithful to hear so many others as well.  

Lori is posting the Take Your Man to Jesus prayers on her blog for several days.  Because I love my husband even more than I did eighteen months ago and because I count it an honor and joy to be his biggest prayer warrior, I am going to join in with her.  Won't you join us?  Check it out here!

Future. TYMTJ-Day 10

We shall finish up by looking forward. 

Press into praying for your man's future; everything God has in store after this very minute. So many things that will happen for you and your man will be far greater than you can currently conjure up. We serve a God that does not have his hands tied. He is mighty!

Our focus:

Protect him.

Bless his health.

Guard his mind.

Hold fast to his heart.

Go before him.

Be his counselor, his confidante, his help and his refuge.

Surround him with people who will speak life into him.

Be his shield and his firm foundation. 

Light his way and give him hope. 

_______________________________

Thank you, friends,  for joining my on this journey; we made it! Way to be a faithful mate. You have also helped hold me accountable to doing what God called me to do. I can almost guarantee that I would have weaseled my way out early, if not for you. Gracias!

I have had calls and emails from people wanting to start the journey late or print and keep the posts as references. This was never my goal, but for anyone who would like them, I have put an easily accessible links on the right side. Happy Monday!

 

Jesus Time. TYMTJ-Day 9

Anyone still trucking with me? When you say pray for ten days, it seems a small feat. Yet, when you put ten days of hard-core praying to the test, it doesn't seem so small does it? I am confident that our dudes will reap from our diligent, loving efforts. 

On the first Sunday of our journey, we prayed for our man's worship. Now, here we are back to Sunday and I just cannot get away from the fact that this is a day in which most of us take our worship public. So let us focus on his Jesus time today. 

Spending time with the Lord. A statement, a question, a request....

Whether or not you know that your husband spends daily, quality time with the Lord or not, let's seek this for him.  Now, don't you start judging your man. What does your time with the Lord look like? Yeah. That's what I thought. 

I kid, I kid.

As we go through our day today, let us really just press into this topic for our man. Pray for your future husband, that God would do these things in his heart this very day and that God would develop discipline in him now, rather than later. May we all step closer to the Lord as we take this cry of our heart to Him. 

Our focus:

Draw him into an intimate time of worship.

Call him away to a quiet place.

Drown out life. 

Speak with clarity.

Reveal yourself.

Love him.

Give life to your Word.

Pour out revelation.

Grant him accountability in his journey of following Christ.

Shape him into a man of integrity, character and self-discipline. 

The Past. TYMTJ-Day8

Long before you knew your man and even early on in your relationship, there were many events and much life that took place. Just as our past has much responsibility for determining who we are on this day, so does our mans. 

Let's pray for our guys life, before today. We want life before today to be an encouragement for his present and his future. Though we cannot change the past, we can learn from it, grow through it and become mature because of it. When our man may not think to pray for his past, let us take that responsibility on ourselves. As we pray for his past, let us ask Jesus to reconcile it. May we also thank the Lord for developing him into the man he is today.

Our focus:

Seek forgiveness for yourself if there are any areas in his past that you have yet to forgive or have developed bitter roots. 

Ask that he would have full forgiveness of himself for who he used to be.

Allow his past to be used to encourage him in his future.

May he learn from past triumphs, successes, failures, and sins.

Would he be able to use each part of who he is as a testimony to Christ and his faithfulness. 

Pray that his past is not where his thoughts dwell.

Give him eyes to see that you are doing a new thing. 

Reveal yourself faithful in the past, giving the promise of being faithful in the present and the hope of being faithful in the future.

His family. TYMTJ-Day 7

I am a little behind in posting this. I got so caught up in the game last night and my girl-time with Sarah that I neglected to pre-post. 

Onto day seven...

I really think it would be meaningful to spend one day focused on your husband's family. If you are married, this is now your family as well, but these are the people that knew him and loved him long before you did. 

I realize that families can be a very 'sticky' situation in some cases. I ask you to put opinions, disagreements and past hurts aside today. No matter the family circumstance, the Lord used family blessings and trials in your man's life to develop him into the guy you are so crazy about. As easy or difficult as it may be, spend today focused on your man's family, taking them before the Lord. 

Our focus: 

Thank Jesus for a family that brought such a wonderful man into the world.

Pray for mended family relationships (if needed).

Petition that Jesus would make himself real and known to his family; call each person out by name. 

Ask for protection to surround his family members. 

Pray for the health of family.

Give wisdom to family members.

Pray that your husband would be quick to honor his family. 

Seek out wisdom so that both you, and your man may know and agree on what family legacies to pass along and what God desires to break and rebuild in your family. 

Friendship. TYMTJ-Day 6

We have completed half of our ten-day, focused prayer time for you man. I just want to encourage you to stay strong in your commitment. I am great at starting tasks, but stink at finishing strong. I do not want this to happen to me, nor you. Really commit to disciplining yourself over the next few days to finish strong in your prayer journey. 

Friendship. A word my man knows so, so well. I am ashamed to admit, but I am not always gun hoe when Brad wants to spend time with friends. I have been known to feel that they are competing for my quality time. I rarely take the time to acknowledge how beneficial Brad's quality friend-time can be, nor do I give thanks for the great friends that my husband has. Maybe some of you are on the opposite end of the spectrum, you desire for your husband to develop more friendships. If so, spend today requesting this from the Lord.  

If your husband has many friends or few, let us be thankful for all of the men in his life whom he can be 'real' around. Be thankful if he returns home refreshed and a better husband and father after being around his friends. 

Our focus:

Give him wisdom in choosing men worthy of honest friendship. 

Thank Jesus for the friends that he has been given.

Be specific, thank Jesus for each friend that comes to mind. Call them out by name. 

Ask that he would be vulnerable with his friends.

Pray that the vulnerability would grow to true accountability.

Develop him into an authentic, giving, approachable friend. 

Increase integrity in friendships, making him worthy of great friends, in return.

Maybe he should get a guys night soon, away from the stresses of a job, the demands of a family, the requests of a wife and the expectations of those he leads. Just a thought...

Daddy. TYMTJ-Day 5

If your man is already a daddy, this is a prayer that is probably constantly on your heart. I know that it is for me. If you do not yet have children, this is the perfect time to start praying for them, by praying for their daddy.

I love my husband ten-fold after watching him become a daddy. Amen?

Our Focus:

Teach him to train his children up in godliness.

May his time with his children be increased.

Grant him wisdom, patience and endless love.

Grow his children up to always bring joy to their daddy.

Prepare him to use 'life' as a teacher for his children.

Inspire him through his offspring.

May he always see the wonders of the Lord in his children.

Husband. TYMTJ-Day 4

God has been doing some good things in my heart as I've put much time and focus on the spiritual well-being of my husband. Anyone else?

Today, let's focus on our husbands as just that, a husband. If you are not yet married, pray for your guy as he steps into the role of husband.  For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church. Your husband, my husband, is the leader. Already. It's settled. You don't have to negotiate it or loose sleep over it, they are the head of the home. Christ appointed them to that role. 

In thinking about praying for this role,  it was hard for me to stripe this roll from the other rolls he fulfills. Yet, it is the one role that is solely created for me. Funny, isn't it?

Our focus:

Encourage him in his leadership of me, his wife. 

Continue to develop him into a man that always makes marriage a priority

Give him a deep love for me, his spouse.

Give him new revelation into your heart for marriage.

Guard his eyes from Satan's attempts to steal his affection from me. 

May he be a model of submission as he submits to the Lord.

Give him wisdom in leadership.

The Job. TYMTJ-Day 3

To start off this work week right, let's pray for our dude's job. Whatever it is that he does to 'bring home the bacon,' let's ask that Jesus meet him there today.

We all know our husband's jobs well, so spend some time today personalizing your prayer in the way your husband needs them most. Try to take yourself out of the prayers. Don't pray for what you would be pleased to see happen, but rather things that would bring growth to your dude.

Our focus:

May his workplace be/become a place where he has freedom show his creativity and use his gifts.

That he would gain encouragement, specifically today, from his co-workers.

That he would be effective.

A thankful heart for a job that provides.

Give clarity to any callings that the Lord may be placing in his heart. 

Professional growth.

Take a few extra moments to thank Jesus for giving your husband a job. For those of you who have the joy of staying at home with your kids make sure you have your heart right. Rather than comparing your life to the lives of others or wishing you had more to "show" for your life or sulking in the career you used to have, give thanks for a man who works so hard so that you can be a full-time mommy. 

Let us all make a noticeable effort today to show our gratitude for our husbands when he enters the doors of his home at five or six or seven o'clock in the evening.

One of the most applicable pieces of advice I have ever heard is this:

When your husband comes home from a long day at work, you and all of your children should go to the door to greet him, showing him how thankful you are that he has come home to you. A man who comes home with no one to greet him, feels as though no one notices his presence. If his presence is not noticed, he will start to pull away. Make a conscious effort to greet your husband today. And have your children or pets or make believe friends do the same thing. It will make him feel loved. That is our goal!

 

Worship. TYMTJ-Day2

It seemed only fitting that on the first Sunday of our focused prayer time, that we pray for our man's worship. 

Worship, as you know, is a matter of the heart. So, let's begin by praying for his heart. I know what it feels like to have a heavy or burdened or uneasy heart. Don't you? Let's come together against this for our guys. 

 

Our focus:

Take the burdens from the heart of my husband.

Replace them with freedom.

In that freedom, begin to teach my husband what it truly means to worship You in spirit and in truth.

Come and meet my husband where he is. 

Allow him to find rest in his home and in his current circumstances.

Begin to lay new words and encouragement on the heart of my husband.

Develop him into a man who is capable of being in a constant spirit of worship. 

Leadership. Take Your Man to Jesus (TYMTJ)-Day 1

disclaimer: Before I begin, I want to let you know that I will, most often, be referring to  that special man in your life as "husband." If the guy you are praying for is not your husband, please still participate and know that when I say husband I actually mean: husband, fiance, boyfriend or future husband. One of my favorite things is the journal of prayers I kept for my future husband, long before I knew who he would be. What a sweet time.

Also, though my husband is in the ministry, I know most husbands are not full time pastors. Not only that, but I am sure many women are married to men who are not Christ followers. Rather than comparing your husband to any other man, use this as a time to focus on all that God HAS given to you through your spouse. Pray for him intently and intensely.

Let's begin by praying for our husbands as leaders. 

All of our men are leaders in one way or another and most of them lead in multiple areas. They are all the leaders in our relationships and homes. Many of them lead multiple people in their place of work. And whether you realize it or not, many of your husband's friends look to your husband as a leader in their friendship. For those of you who have been in leadership roles yourselves, you know the burden and pressure that can come from such roles. Recognize that your husband is a leader to many people, even in situations that you may be unaware of. Let's ask the Lord to bless them in this role, to teach them through leadership and to use them to influence others. 

Our focus:

Increase his wisdom in making decisions for those he leads.

God would give him confidence as a leader.

Call him to step out in his role and calling. 

Give him influence in the lives of others.

That he would view his leadership as a way to lead as the Lord has lead him. 

Teach him through leading others. 

A teachable spirit. 

Use the next twenty-four hours to focus on your husband's roles in leadership. Take him before the Lord, specifically as a leader.

Take Your Man to Jesus

Praying for my husband....

It is one of the biggest callings and blessing the Lord has bestowed upon me as a wife. 

Yet, I fail. 

I am so thankful for my husband, I want only the best for him and I know the Lord has brought me into his life to enrich it, not to deplete life from him.

Tonight, the Lord put this little call on my heart to spend ten days intensely focused on praying for my husband. 

Does anyone want to join me?

If so, leave a comment and let me know you are on board.

What I will do is give one topic for prayer per day, for the next ten days, directing us in how to pray specifically for our husbands. 

This isn't a Love Dare or a lengthy challenge, just a way that one gal can encourage another gal in praying for her husband or boyfriend or fiance or special someone. And in return, you will be giving me accountability in what the Lord has laid on my heart. I want my hubby to have a great start to 2009. 

I will put up the first short prayer direction sometime tomorrow for those who want to participate.