Tag: marriage

Day 15

Pray for Foundational Faith

Our faith and our core doctrines really matter when it comes to durability of marriage. Marrying someone who is a hypocrite or being a hypocrite ourselves is quite dangerous as what is shown outside and what is actually seen in the house are not the same. One pastor said, our real testimony comes from the
mouth of our spouse. Even if the whole world blames us but the husband says, “you are the most patient woman I can ever find”, that shows that the foundation of the wife’s faith and core doctrines are right. Because those who have a bad testimony at home will twist the word according to their sinful nature(2 Peter 3:14-18) and also chose preachers according to their itchy ears. There are many who attend churches that teach the right doctrines, even though they hear it, in personal life they follow wrong doctrines and lead a deceptive life. Additionally a spouse who is a hypocrite will never gain the credibility from the life partner. Many families have been torn apart due to doctrinal mismatches. I know a family where the father-in-law is a Calvinist (Calvin was not so Calvinistic, people twisted the sovereignty of God to suit their short comings). It is so funny that he used to say that he treats his son-in-law so rudely and accuses him falsely because God did not give him the grace to be patient right from his young age. His says his short tempered nature and malicious talks are his personality. Since God did not change him in his young age, he is unable to change it in his 80’s. This made the son-in-law a victim to verbal abuse and hardships in his marriage. If the doctrinal compromise of the father-in-law who is a 3rd person in the marriage relationship can cause serious damage to that marriage how much more will the morally compromised foundations of the spouse affect the marriage. If you are already stuck with such a person prayer with faith, wisdom and good testimony can only change things.

Let’s pray!

For You

• Lord! I pray that I don’t become a hypocrite and deceive myself for my selfish motives.I can never hide my heart from you who knows the deepest part of my heart. May my faith be a living faith that results in good works, wisdom and fruit of spirit.
  (James 2:17)
• Lord! Keep me and my family members away from false doctrines and false teachings. I pray that we get rooted in the word as a family so that we discern false teachings and stay strong in our faith.
  (2 Tim. 4:3, 4)
• Lord! Help me to read, meditate, memorize and listen to the word of God. May I invest time and effort into this fervently. May I seek the word of God with all my heart.
  (Joshua 1:8)
• Lord! Teach me to discern the need of spiritual warfare where I bend my knees in prayer and defeat Satan’s lies with the word of God. May I discern the work of Satan and resist him. May I be aware of Satan’s tricks and pray against it.
  (2 Corinthians 2:11)
• Lord! Teach me to apply the word of God in my life. It is very hard to apply the word in life especially when the husband is not doing it. Teach me to stay strong in applying the word of God even if I’m not supported by my husband. I pray that through my testimony and polite discussions may I inspire my husband to live according to the word of God.
  (James 1:22)

For your Husband

• Lord! May my husband provide for the family and take care(physical, financial, passion, emotional and spiritual) of the family through hardships and hard work. For it is written “if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever”.
  (1 Timothy 5:8)
• Lord! May my husband read, meditate and apply the word of God in his life so that he understands the depth of the word he received from you. Remove all the hypocrisy that has come in due to false teaching, poor testimony of believer parents and personal lack of faith.(Matthew 16:6)
• Lord! I pray that he takes the responsibility to be the spiritual leader of the family in taking a lead in family prayer, good testimony at home and doing everything after hearing from the Lord.
  (Ephesians 5:23)
• Lord! I pray that he keeps growing in the word of God so that he is ready in season and out of season. I pray that he diligently seeks to hear from you each day. May he derive his confidence from your spoken word and written word and be strong in his faith. Remove all the unbelief and self reliance. I also pray that he doesn’t become lethargic in taking care of family placing all the responsibility on God. May my husband obey you and do what he is supposed to do and leave what is under your control.
  (Matthew 28:20)
• Lord! I pray that my husband understands the priority of doing the work of God. May he not neglect the work of God due to other priorities.May he not neglect the personal growth in the word and prayer and do ministry. May he not lead a bad testimony at home and go outside and do ministry. I pray that you teach him the consequences of hypocrisy.
  (Matthew 23:3)

Amen!

Today’s Promise: 

Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. Matthew 7:24,25

Today’s Command:

Rid yourselves, therefore, of all malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander.
Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. 1 Peter 2:1-3

Day 13

Pray for Work

We always split up Work life and Personal Life, but the truth is we have only one thing called “LIFE”. We have been told that it’s about balancing both. When we hear the word balancing I see a picture of me, juggling everything, trying to keep things on the air. What a stress! it’s like being a clown wearing a fake smile outside and crying inside worrying about all the juggling.
If balancing is all about juggling how will we even enjoy life?
It’s about setting limits, where we ought to be sincere at work and sincere to family without becoming lazy or stretchy at work nor become a workaholic and put all the family burden on the spouse. While I still have to work on many aspects of “Enjoying fullness of life”. One thing I learnt is to keep track of time
and become a little faster at work and at home and chuck off some unwanted time stealers.
I started off with a chart that I prepared to check what all am I doing each day and where are the time stealers. It made me clear, on what all am I taking more time. Not to forget that I was not active on social media when I calculated
the time even without social media we have other time stealers too, for example, not setting up time limit to tasks and stretching our way into it is the biggest time stealer. The below are the five main things I decided.
– Learning to say ‘No’ to unwanted tasks or non-feasible deadlines.
– Up-skilling or Learning continuously so that the job is secure.
– Delegating work in office with colleagues and openly sharing concerns.
– Planning household work day before including individual steps to avoid stress.
– Dividing weekend work and spreading it across the whole week so that weekend can be peaceful.
– Having a time for relaxation and peace in the morning when I read Bible and pray.

Let’s pray!

For You

• Lord! I pray for my work, be it house hold work or professional work, may I be planted in the place you want me to be. Guide me towards your will,
  to move towards your will. May I make my work(official/homemaking) related decisions under your guidance. I declare that your grace that is new each morning will strengthen me and you will bless the work of my hands and make it successful!
• Lord! I pray that you help me plan each day well and commit my plans to you. Even if I plan each day may your plans supersede them all. Teach me to be prudent, vigilant and wise in all the plans that I make.
• Lord! I pray that I sharpen my skill each day in whatever my hands find to do. Help me to give excellent results. May I never worry about jealous people nor become jealous of others. I trust in you for all the growth in my career, you are the lifter of my head.
• Lord! My I never wait for someone to push me to do something. I pray that I learn to be a diligent worker and not a lousy worker. May I be self motivated and God-confident in everything my hands find to do.
• Lord! Teach me ways to enjoy what I do, even the things that are boring. Anoint me with wisdom and creativity that is needed for me to think differently and always focus on the solutions.

For your Husband

• Lord! I pray that all the stress that my husband goes through at work and the constant stress that he feels being in a position of bread winner be cast on you. May he take up the responsibility of being the bread winner without being stressed about it. I pray that you will give him the wisdom in making the right decisions in earning and spending the resources.
• Lord! I pronounce success over his work and I pray that he sets a good example to his superiors and sub-ordinates. May he work
  with kindness, humility and excellence. May he never play the blame-game but be a problem solver and a peace maker.
• Lord! I pray that you lift him up in due time and bless him according to your riches and glory. I pray that my husband waits for your will to unfold.
• Lord! I pray that my husband makes his career decisions only after hearing from you. Teach my husband to wait upon you, wait for you and I pray that my husband talks with me about his work burden and painful situation he goes through at work.
• Lord! May the family time be a time that my husband feels relieved from work stress. May the house provide him peace that relieves him from all the worries of work. I pronounce peace within the premises of the house in Jesus’ name.

Amen!

Today’s Promise: 

The LORD will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none.

Deuteronomy 28:12

Today’s Command:

Whose delight is in the law of the Lord and who meditates on his law day and night, that person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither whatever they do prospers.

Psalm 1:2,3