Monday, February 28, 2011

Prayer for my Husband, Day 20: Purpose

 16 I couldn’t stop thanking God for you—every time I prayed, I’d think of you and give thanks.17 But I do more than thank. I ask—ask the God of our Master, Jesus Christ, the God of glory—to make you intelligent and discerning in knowing him personally,18 your eyes focused and clear, so that you can see exactly what it is he is calling you to do, grasp the immensity of this glorious way of life he has for his followers.
Ephesians 1:16-18 The Message

May the eyes of Kenn's heart be opened so that he will hold on to the hope of Your calling. Remind him daily who he is in You. Remind him daily the You are the pioneer and the protector of our faith (Heb. 12:22). Remind him that You are faithful to carry out the good work that You began in him (Phil. 1:6), no matter the way he may feel at times. I am believing with him that You will turn our ALL of our pain into purpose!
Amen

Friday, February 25, 2011

Prayer for my Husband Day 19: Choices

Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse
Philippians 4:8

Lord, Fill my husband with the fear of the Lord and give him wisdom for every decision he makes. Help him make Godly choices and seek Godly counsel. Help him to think on the things that are true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling and gracious. Help him to think the best and not the worst in all things. Give him Your sight to see the beautiful in people and circumstances. I thank You for the heart of praise that You have given him.
In Jesus Name,
Amen

Prayer for my Husband, Day 18: Health

7 Don’t assume that you know it all.
Run to God! Run from evil!
8 Your body will glow with health,
your very bones will vibrate with life!
Proverbs 3:7-8 The Message

Lord, make every part of my husband's body function according to Your design. Continually strengthen his body and give him good rest. Help him to always run to You and always run from evil. Heal him from the inside out! Heal his body, heart, mind and Spirit. Let every bone in his body vibrate with LIFE!!
Thank You for Your promises in Your wonderful Word!
Amen

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Prayer for my Husband, Day17: Protection

1 I lift up my eyes to the mountains—where does my help come from? 2 My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. 3 He will not let your foot slip—he who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. 5 The Lord watches over you—the Lord is your shade at your right hand; 6 the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. 7 The Lord will keep you from all harm—he will watch over your life; 8 the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.
Psalm 121:1-8

Lord, protect my husband. His comings and his goings. Keep him safe from physical harm. Protect his walk and keep him on the path that You have for him so that his feet do not slip. Protect his mind from the lies and attacks of the enemy. Help him to protect the promises that You have given him hold them in his Spirit. Protect his heart from being hardened or scarred by things that have hurt him. Protect him from future attacks of the enemy. Protect him as he protects our family. Thank you for giving him to me as my protector and provider here on earth. 
Amen 

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Prayer for my Husband, Day 16: Trials

Let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
Hebrews 4:16

Lord, make my Kenn strong in his trials. Give him the kind of strength that can only come from You. Help him, even in the midst of trials to come boldly to Your throne of grace to find mercy and grace. Keep Your arms about him in times of trial, and Your hedge of protection around him. Use the trials that he faces in this life to prepare and mold him for Your glory!
Forgive me for the times of trial that I have caused him. Help me to be a source of renewal and healing and help for him.
Amen

Monday, February 21, 2011

Prayer for my Husband, Day 15: Integrity

Whoever walks in integrity walks securely,
but whoever takes crooked paths will be found out.
Proverbs 10:9

Lord, make my husband a man of Integrity, enable to stand for what is right in all things. Give him strength to not waiver from the pressure of this world.
Show him Your way and Your desire in every circumstance in his life.
Amen

Prayer for my Husband, Day 14: Relationships

You use steel to sharpen steel,
and one friend sharpens another.
Proverbs 27:17

Lord, Grant my husband good, Godly male friends with whom he can share his heart. May they be trustworthy men who speak truth into his life. Give him a heart to trust and desire those types of friendships. Heal the places that have been hurt and broken in past relationships of this type. Send men into his life that will encourage and edify him. Send him 'David & Jonathan' relationships. (1 Samuel 18:1-3) Someone who will be his number one advocate and friend. Send him men who will show him love the way he needs to be shown love, and help him to love others in the same fashion. Thank You for allowing me to be his best friend. Thank You for his heart.
Amen


Thursday, February 17, 2011

Remaining Love

Opening the door
Stepping out into it
Out in the darkness
Blinded with selfishness and sin
Still you remain

Dirty and bitter
Beaten and bruised
Turning my back
Putting you last
Still you remain

Confusion
Hate
Pride
Lies
Still You remain

Broken hearted cries
Guilt-ridden sobs
Remorseful tears
Too ashamed to turn to you
You still don't go
Still You remain

Knees buckling
Heart racing
Life breaking
Arms reaching
Still You remain

Catching
Holding
Forgiving
Loving
Still You love me. Still You want me. Still You believe in me. Still You remain
You will always remain
No greater love have I ever felt than Your unfailing, unfaltering, unrelenting
REMAINING LOVE.

Prayer for my Husband, Day 13: Fatherhood

Fathers, don’t exasperate your children by coming down hard on them. Take them by the hand and lead them in the way of the Master.
Ephesians 6:3 The Message

Abba, thank You for being our Father. Thank You for loving us with the ultimate Fatherly love. Thank You for sacrificing Your own son so that we may become a part of Your family. Today, I pray that You would give Kenn a new revelation of You, as his heavenly Father. Show him, everyday how to love our children like You love us. Like You, may he delight in our children and long to train them in Your ways. With no earthly father as an example, Lord, help him look to You everyday, for guidance and advice on raising our children in fear and admonition of You!
Amen

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Beaten, Bitter or Broken?

We all have a past. We all have hurts and pains and struggles from our pasts that reach out and attempt to cast their strangling shadow over us at every opportunity. Things that threaten to steal from us our joy and our confidence and our hope. While I know, all to well, these feelings, I am also a firm believer in choices. I fully believe that WE have a choice to remain in that place that our past brings us to; OR WE have a choice to press on. Although it's so hard at times to do that, the weight of our sins and our failures seem to be so strong while our bodies and our strength seem so weak. We want to move, but the constant reminders of the things that got us to that place seem to be continually pushing us back down. We feel defeated and BEATEN. Webster's defines beaten like this;

                                                    Beaten:    1. formed or shaped by blows; hammered:
                                                                    2. defeated; vanquished
                                                                   3. overcome by exhaustion

Formed by the blows, Defeated and Overcome....no wonder it's so hard to drag oneself through all of that mess! The things that we go through (life's 'blows') form us, they shape us into who we are. Some things, if deep enough, can change our very nature. Whether it be people or circumstances or even our own sin and failures, once we feel defeat by them, the door is wide open for the host of all the other feelings that the enemy wants us to feel;  Hopeless, lost, abandoned, confused, hurt, OVERCOME. The thing about beaten is that it seems so final. And it can be. If we choose to stay on the path of the beaten, we are saying that we are are finished! That we don't believe we will ever make it back in the fight. We are down for the count. We can't do it. We give up. We don't believe what God says to be faithful and true (ouch).

So, we decide not to be defeated and beaten, we decide to get up and continue the fight. We decide that we CAN do it. That we do believe what God says to be faithful and true. So we take all our junk and trudge forward. On the outside, we are strong and ready. We have doctored up and dressed our outward wounds and press on. But on the inside, the place where no one can see, we aren't doing as well.....We decided to move forward but we just took all the stuff that was piled on our shoulders and stuffed it in our hearts and our spirit. What a dangerous hiding place! Inside, we are still just as bloody and hurt as we have ever been.
That seed that we plant on the inside grows because we nourish it, with our thoughts, with our hidden feelings and eventually it grows into a huge tree of BITTERNESS. Going back to Webster's for the definition of bitter;

                                               Bitter: 1. hard to bear; grievous; distressful
                                                           2. causing pain; piercing; stinging
                                                           3. characterized by intense antagonism or hostility
                                                           4. resentful or cynical

Hard to bear, piercing pain, intense hostility, cynical.....all of these things are fruits from that tree of bitterness. Bitterness can and WILL devour your very life...if you stay on the path of the bitter. It's so easy to find reasons to stay there. You can even justify your reason for staying there. Maybe you have no reason to trust anyone because people have betrayed you. Maybe you have no reason to feel like you should love because you were never shown love. Maybe you feel like you have no right to restoration from bitterness because you've committed acts that you deem unworthy of forgiveness....so you plant that seed of bitterness. You don't feel beaten anymore because you have pulled it all together on the outside, but on the inside you are still suffering. When we realize that we CAN choose to uproot that tree, not chop it down because the root would still remain. When we are ready to uproot, all those fruits from that tree are still there, but they aren't growing anymore more because their source of life has been removed, what remains is a gaping hole that can be filled with only one thing. This is when we are ready to choose the path we should have been traveling all along....the path of the BROKEN...



                                            Broken:  1. weakened in strength, spirit
                                                           2. tamed, trained, or reduced to submission
                                                           3. not functioning properly; out of working order

When we are broken we are weakened, in strength and in spirit....not functioning properly and my favorite; reduced to submission. When we are broken, we are at a place where all we have left is to submit. We've tried everything we know to do in and of ourselves and have come up with pieces that are just falling apart. Brokenness may be the 'right' place to be, but that doesn't make it any less painful. In Scripture we hear the Lord say to Jeremiah;

2 "Go down to the potter's house, and there I will give you my message."3 So I went down to the potter's house, and I saw him working at the wheel.4 But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.5 Then the word of the Lord came to me.6 He said, "Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?" declares the Lord. "Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel.
Jer. 18:2-6

Are you 'marred clay' in His hands?
I am reading a book by Jim Daly called 'Stronger: Trading Brokenness for Unbreakable Strength' and his book is what inspired me to write this. He has a chapter in it entitled the same as this blog title. In his book, he says it like this;


"I see a great distinction between beaten, bitter and broken. When we're beaten, we are in a sense limp and useless. We're like clay that dissolves at a touch. The potter can't do anything with us because we don't hold our shape.
But when we are bitter , we're like a single piece of clay that's grown hard and inflexible. We're equally useless to the potter because we aren't malleable. The shape we're in doesn't do any good to anyone and the potter can't mold us into a new and better form.
Being broken, however, is a different story. We may be shattered into pieces, but there is strength in those pieces. When we invite the potter to combine his skills with our strength, little though it may be, He molds us into a new, more useful, and more lasting form - one even stronger than before." 
-Jim Daly 'Stronger'

Brokenness isn't a comfortable place. Getting there takes a lot of courage and strength. Staying there takes even more. But I believe that is exactly where God wants us. He wants us in a place where all we have is Him. A place where we are willing to give it all to Him. All the broken pieces. All the bandaging. All the weights of guilt. All of our emotions. All of our plans. A place where we lay it all out and truly say, "Here. This is all I have, and it's broken. I've messed it up. I feel like I've ruined it. But I'm giving it to You. I will trust You to do what You will. I know that I can't. I've tried. I don't feel like I'm worthy, but You tell me different. I know I can't do it by myself.  But I believe that You can. I'm giving it ALL to You." He is there, behind that potter's wheel just waiting on us to become that piece of clay that He can work with. I see Him with His foot on the pedal, just waiting....anxious to get to work on His masterpiece. Excited to show the world what He's been waiting to create. Isn't He amazing? 

In the hands of the Potter, 
Misty

Prayer for my Husband, Day 12: Past

5 He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" Then he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true."
Revelation 21:5

Lord, thank you for making all things new! Thank You for restoration and renewal in my husband's life and in our life together. Please help Kenn, today, put off former conduct and ways of thinking that may not be pleasing to You. Help him to be renewed in his mind. Enlarge his understanding that You do truly make ALL things new. Give him complete and constant restoration and victory over his past and anythings from his past that may threaten to bind him. Thank You so much for Your unwavering love for him and Your faithfulness to the covenant You have made with him! Thank You for being OUR Jehovah Rapha!
In Your Faithful, Healing Name,
Amen

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Snuggle Buggle


My Snuggle Buggle, bestest little friend, my little girl,
Big and beautiful, your brown eyes always shine
every time I look into them, I thank God that you are mine.
Brought into this world a shining light,
your smile makes even my weariest days seem so bright.
Sassy and sweet, compassionate and fun
you have your whole life ahead of you, you've only begun.
I want to hold you in my arms and never let you go
but the day that I will have to do just that will come all too soon, I know
I wish I could protect you from all of life's moments that will cause you pain
I wish I knew I would never have to see you suffer a heartache or go through things I can't explain
But, no matter how tight I hold on, I know those days will come too
So, I just have to trust God and know that He is there and loves you even more than I do.
While we are trusting and waiting and growing, my Roo
there is just one thing Mommy needs you to do
Will you, please, hold on to me as I hold you tight?
Some days Mommy needs your sweet hugs to make everything right.
No matter what this crazy life brings, on all the good and bad days
You will still be my Snuggle Buggle, forever and always!
I love you, Baby Girl!

Prayer for my Husband, Day 11: Attitude

 5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very naturet God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; 7 rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very naturet of a servant, being made in human likeness.
Philippians 2:5-7

Lord, please fill Kenn with Your love and peace today. Help him to be kind and patient, not selfish or easily provoked. Enable him to endure in all things. (1 Cor. 13:7) Give him a joy that exists deep in his Spirit and a satisfaction and confidence in You. Help me to respond to him in loving and kind ways. Help me to be an encourager and a helpmate to him. Help us to be unified in mind, body and spirit.
Amen

Monday, February 14, 2011

Prayer for my husband, Day 10: Love

16 I ask him to strengthen you by his Spirit—not a brute strength but a glorious inner strength—17 that Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite him in. And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love,18 you’ll be able to take in with all followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights!
Ephesians 3:16-18

Lord, Help Kenn to always be rooted and established in love. Give him revelation of how wide and long and high and deep Your love is. Give him the heart to love others as You have loved him. Let the intentions of his heart and the words of his mouth be drenched in Your love. Show Your love towards him like never before and open his heart that he can receive the fullness of it. Help me to love him as You have called me to. Thank You for giving me Kenn to love!
Amen

Friday, February 11, 2011

Prayer for my husband, Day 9: Emotions

3 and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes,
the oil of joy instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.
Isaiah 61:3

Lord, Anoint my husband with the oil of JOY. Refresh him daily with Your Spirit. Set him free from anger, depression, anxiety, hatred and fear. Give him days filled with Your love and joy. Help him to always be quick to listen and slow to become angry (James 1:19) Thank You so much for the work that You have done in him and the work that I know You will continue to do in him! I praise You for him daily!
Amen

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Prayer for my Husband, Day 8: Walk

1 In light of all this, here’s what I want you to do. While I’m locked up here, a prisoner for the Master, I want you to get out there and walk—better yet, run!—on the road God called you to travel. I don’t want any of you sitting around on your hands. I don’t want anyone strolling off, down some path that goes nowhere.2 And mark that you do this with humility and discipline—not in fits and starts, but steadily, pouring yourselves out for each other in acts of love,3 alert at noticing differences and quick at mending fences.4 You were all called to travel on the same road and in the same direction, so stay together, both outwardly and inwardly.5 You have one Master, one faith, one baptism,6 one God and Father of all, who rules over all, works through all, and is present in all. Everything you are and think and do is permeated with Oneness.7 But that doesn’t mean you should all look and speak and act the same. Out of the generosity of Christ, each of us is given his own gift. (Eph. 4:1-2 The Message)


God, grant Kenn the grace to walk worthy of the calling with which he was called, with all humility and gentleness, bearing others in love. Give him daily assurance that You are faithful to continue the good work that You created in him! (Phil. 1:6) Give him the wisdom to know what steps to take and when to take them. Give him the assurance that You are always on time and that you never fail. Help me to encourage and support him as You have called me to do. (Eph. 5:22) Thank You for Your blessings on our family and thank You for giving us to each other to love and cherish.
Amen

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Prayer for my Husband, Day 7: Speech

Watch the way you talk. Let nothing foul or dirty come out of your mouth. Say only what helps, each word a gift.
Ephesians 4:29 The Message

Please help Kenn to consider the words he speaks. Use him, Lord, to speak goodness and life into the lives of others. Use his words as a gift for those he speaks to. Help him to capture his thoughts before those thoughts turn to words. Help me to do the same. Help me to say the words and show the compassion that he needs. Help me to speak words of life and love into him. Help us to love one another like never before. Help us to see the good things in one another everyday. Thank you for giving me the gift of his presence in my life.
Amen

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Prayer for my Husband, Day 6: Repentance

23 Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting
Psalm 139:23-24

Lord, Thank You today for a Godly husband. Thank You for a husband who leads his family in Your way. I ask that you would cleanse my husband from sin, known and unknown to him. Teach him to be one who is quick to confess when he is wrong. Teach him to be quick to forgive others offenses. Search him and know his heart. Lead him in Your way. Protect and guide him on the path You have chosen for him.
Amen

Monday, February 7, 2011

Prayer for my Husband, Day 5: Deliverance



Lord, today I ask You to bring Kenn to a place where he can discern the work of evil and cry out to You for deliverance. Reveal to him the works of the enemy and his plan of destruction for his life. Give him strength, security and satisfaction in Your name. Set him free from any thoughts, actions, feelings, addictions, curses, hurts or lies that bind him. Give him eyes to see and ears to hear. Protect him from the things that may try to come against him and cause him to be bound. Give him freedom to worship and freedom to be bold and courageous for Your glory! Thank you for such a strong man of faith and devotion to share my life with!
Amen

Friday, February 4, 2011

Prayer for my Husband, Day 4: Obedience

34 Give me insight so I can do what you tell me—
my whole life one long, obedient response.
 
35 Guide me down the road of your commandments;
I love traveling this freeway!
36 Give me a bent for your words of wisdom,
and not for piling up loot.
37 Divert my eyes from toys and trinkets,
invigorate me on the pilgrim way.
38 Affirm your promises to me—
promises made to all who fear you.


Lord, today, I want to thank you for my husband's obedience to You and Your laws. I thank You for the deep spirit of loyalty that You have placed in him, not only for You, but for me and other people that he holds dear in his life. I pray that You would continually stir in him the desire to lead a life of complete abandon to You. Guide him along the path that You have created for him. Give him a heart that is moved by what moves yours. Show him clearly what you would have him to do/say/be and give him the courage and wisdom to always do that thing. Give him opportunities to prove his obedience and devotion to You. Lord, i believe Your word and every promise in it and I know that it tells us that You desire obedience even greater than sacrifices. ( 1 Samuel 15:22 )
I thank you for allowing me to be his helpmate on this journey of obedience. Help us to be all that we are designed to be for You. In Your name that is above every other name,
Amen

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Prayer for my Husband, Day 3: Self-Image

God created human beings;
he created them godlike,
Reflecting God’s nature.
He created them male and female.
Genesis 1:26 The Message



Lord, I thank You today for creating us in Your image. I thank You for giving us Your nature. I pray that You continually reveal to Kenn that he IS created in your likeness. Help him to see through Your eyes, not only himself, but others as well. Help him to love himself more and to expect great and mighty things from Your creation of himself. Remind him daily that he is the apple of Your eye (Deut 32:10), that You are well pleased with him and that You are working all things for his good (Romans 8:28). He is fearfully & wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14) and for that, I praise You! Help me to be there to remind him on the days that he is unsure and encourage him on the days that he needs affirmation. Thank you for making him for me! In awe of Your amazing creation,
Amen

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Prayer for my Husband, Day 2: Future

I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.
Jeremiah 29:11

Lord, thank You for my husband. Thank You for the promises that You have given him. Thank You for all of the amazing gifts that You have given him. You have given him an incredible ability to teach and the wonderful gift of wisdom. I know that You gave him those for a purpose. Help him to always see that You DO have a plan for his life. Help him to never question if You have abandoned him. Remind him daily that you are good (Ps. 34:8) and that you have a plan for the future that HE hopes for! Never let his own belief in himself overshadow his belief in You and what You have created him to do. Help him to see himself as You see him. Help me to be the helper that he needs. As I lean upon You, Lord, show me the way that you have planned for us. (Proverbs 3:6) Let us not take another step that is out of Your will for our lives and our future. Use him, Lord, to reach the lost and hurting. I know that you have called Him for Your purpose! I expect greatness in his life! 
Amen 

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Prayer for my Husband, Day 1: Faith

 He replied, "Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."
Matt. 17:20


Father, Today, I thank you for my husband. I thank you for his heart. I thank you for his love for me. I thank you for giving him to me, for making me his helpmate. Forgive me, God, for the times that I have failed him and for the times that I have failed You. I want to be the wife and the helper that you have called me to be for Kenn. I pray today that You would increase my husband's FAITH. give him the kind of faith that can move mountains! I pray that You would enlarge his faith in You, in your Word, Your promises and Your power. Give him the ability and the strength to rely on faith! I know that Your word says that those who rely on faith are blessed (Gal. 3:9) and I want him to be blessed beyond measure!! Thank you, Lord, for your hand over him and our covenant with each other and with You. In Your Holy name... 


Celebrating LOVE

So, here we are, at the month that celebrates 1 Corinthians 13. My favorite time of year! I love LOVE!! I wanted to do something very special to celebrate my sweetheart this year. As I was thinking about this, I came across a blog called Inspired To Action. It has a resource section and there I found a Calendar for praying daily for your husband. What better way to celebrate LOVE??

Everyday for the month of Feburary I will be praying a specific, focused prayer for my husband. I will document and post here on my blog so that others can join in praying for their spouses, if they would like to, and so that I can go back and see the prayers that are answered as we journey through this. I am SO excited to see what God is going to do in his life, and in our life as a couple!

My husband is an amazing man of God, who loves me so much! We have an extraordinary relationship that goes beyond anything that words can describe. He is my rock. My best friend. My Prince Charming and my Hero. I couldn't ask for a greater person to share life with! At times we have walked a rocky road, but I am believing in God for a complete restoration and a renewed spirit in our marriage covenant. Complete healing from hurts and pure and unconditional love. I am declaring this to be a new start for us. I am declaring that, with God's help, we will turn all of our pain into PURPOSE! I am believing that God is going to use what we would call 'ashes' and turn it into something beautiful! Love Never Fails!!!!