Covered in Prayer: Praying for Your Spouse and Children

Several years before my husband and I starting dating, I heard about praying for your spouse from head to toe at a women’s retreat. I was intrigued by the idea but didn’t give it much though since I was single at the time.  A few months after getting married I was reminded of this idea again and started praying for my husband from head to toe.  It was a little challenging at first, but once I started it has gotten easier.  It goes something like this:

Head – when I think of my husband’s head, I pray for him to be the head of our home, marriage and family and for wisdom as he does so.  I pray that he would keep his mind stayed on Christ and think about Him throughout the day.  I pray for his thoughts to always be pleasing to God.

Eyes – I pray my hubby will keep his focus on Christ. I pray God will open his eyes to opportunities to share the gospel and he will see the needs of not only our family but of others.

Ears – I pray my husband will hear Christ and be attentive to His leading. I also pray for him to be able to discern what is good to listen to and what is not profitable and be able to speak up if needed. I pray he will have ears to hear me and my heart as well as our children as they grow up.

Mouth – I pray his speech will be gentle and kind and yet firm when needed.  I pray he speaks the gospel not only in words but in actions.

Heart – I pray for Christ to be his first love, then for our marriage to be next, followed by our children and then the Church.

Arms/Hands – I pray my husband will be the hands of Christ as he serves others. I pray the work of his hands (at work, at home, etc) will be pleasing to God.

I pray for our physical relationship that we would have that in the right perspective and place in our marriage.

Feet – I pray he would move as the Holy Spirit leads.

I pray for one part each day and am continually adding new things to each category as I think of them.  I think this is a really neat way to pray for a spouse.  It helps me to have specific things to pray about that go beyond “give him a good day at work”; I appreciate that each part of the body reminds me of things related to my husbands relationship with the Lord.  I want the focus of my praying for him to be about who he is in Christ.

Since Peach was born, I have also started praying a similar list for her.  I am being careful to include her physical growth in each category as well since she is growing and developing so quickly.

Jesus’ Pattern for Prayer

I mentioned in a post last week how I have been working on my prayer life.  While I was pregnant with Peach I started attending two moms groups in my area.  I wanted to get established in a group before Peach was born hoping that if I had already made it a part of my routine, it would be easier to go once she came along.  I am loving spending time with other moms!

In one of the groups (FaithMoms) we read the book Too Busy Not to Pray by Bill Hybels.  The book was an easy read and started some great conversations for our group.  One of the things we looked at was patterns of prayer.  Using the Lord’s Prayer as a pattern for how to pray (which is how Christ intended it) is the method I am currently using…and really enjoying.

I have a notebook where I am recording my prayers.  Each time I write a heading for each section (ie. Worship) and then list out the things I am praying for that section. Writing out what my thoughts and prayers are really helps to keep me focused.

WORSHIP  “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.” (Matthew 6:9)

I start by worshiping the One to whom I am praying.  He is our Father which means we have a personal relationship with Him and yet He is the all-powerful God of the universe.  His name is holy, and He is holy.  We should come before Him acknowledging who He is and what He has done for us.

A great place to go for worship is to the Psalms.  I am working my way through the Psalms picking out things that describe His great character.

SURRENDER/SUBMISSION “Your kingdom come, you will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10)

God is omnipotent (all powerful) and His will WILL be accomplished.  By acknowledging this and asking for it, we are surrendering and submitting to His will.

This is the time that I list out things that I have been worrying about.  I write them out and (try to) surrender them and no longer worry about them.  Sometimes it is things out of my control (like when Peach was going to arrive) and other times it is something I need to work on but know I need to stop worrying and submit to God’s will. I also sometimes add things I’d like to see happen in the future (ie. praying for Peach’s salvation or for her future spouse).  I will admit there are things that make this list every single day, things I am working on overcoming and giving to the Lord.

DAILY BREAD & OTHER NEEDS “Give us this day our daily bread” (Matthew 6:11)

I divide this next section into two groups.  First is daily bread.  I ask myself – what do I need today?  This is a great exercise in seeing Matthew 6:23 come to life: “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself.  Sufficient for the day is it’s own trouble.” I was reminded during one of our assembly meetings on Sunday that God gives us His grace as we need it and not before.  God gives us what we need to get through the day. It is rather refreshing to see that each day there really is not much I need.  I often include things like strength and rest (especially with the new baby) and for peace in our home. If I know something is going on in the life of friends or family on a particular day, I will include that here as well.

Then I move onto other needs. I use this section to pray for friends and family members or other long term needs that I am not worrying about (see Submission/Surrender above). Some needs will be in this section on some days but in the surrender section on another day depending on my attitude.

CONFESSION “and forgive us our debts” (Matthew 6:12)

This is definitely the most challenging part for me and probably would be for anyone. When I started doing this I committed to being honest with myself about where I am failing. And sometimes it is tougher to write it down than to think about it.  I guess part of it is fear that someone will read my notebook and see what I struggle with.  I do think it is good for me to record it though – if for no other reason than having something to look back and to see how God has worked.  I certainly don’t make an exhaustive list everyday but I do try to think through the previous day and ask God to show me how I was sinning and what I can work on.  And there are things that go on the list over and over.

WORSHIP/PRAISE For thine is the kingdom and the power and glory forever and ever.

Although this last phrase is not with the prayer in Matthew (or Luke), it is added to the prayer traditionally.  I use it as a reminder to go back to that heart of worship and also to praise the Lord. I look back at previous prayers to see what God has answered as well as regularly praise Him for my husband and little girl.

This pattern of prayer has been really helpful in keeping me focused and disciplined in my prayers. As I was writing this post I realized there are a few other phrases in Matthew that I have not made a part of my prayer.  I think I might have to add those in.

What about you?  What have you found helpful in your own life for prayer?

I Have a Voice

Yesterday I wrote about my attitude towards my to do list.  I am having a good attitude about it today, however, it’s really hard!  Peach is eating about every 2.5-3.5 hours, usually 3 hours on the nose. I am nursing her so it takes around 45-60 minutes for the whole process (waking, changing, feeding, burping, changing again).  Then Peach is usually awake for another 30 minutes.  I love this time!  She is so happy (who wouldn’t be with a full belly?) and content.  We do a variety of things – reading, singing, looking out the window, a walk around the neighborhood, etc.  Then she goes down for a nap again.  I am pumping any extra milk to use when I need to be away from Peach – appointments, date night, etc. This usually takes 30 minutes.  And finally I’m left with approx. one hour to do what I need to do.  As I type it is 5:00PM and I’m just getting to my devotions for the day…something I try to do as I start my day.  All that just to say, I realized my time table today.  At first it depressed me a little, but then I decided to use the information I’ve gained to my advantage.  I’m not sure how yet, but somehow this realization will help.

Now for the real post…

I have been working on my prayer life after reading the book Too Busy Not to Pray by Bill Hybels with the moms group I joined (I am loving FaithMoms!!).  One of the things in the book that really stood out to me is using the Lord’s Prayer as a pattern for praying.  If you look at the pattern Jesus gave the disciples it looks like this: Worship, Surrender/Submission, Daily Bread, Other Needs, Confession and Worship.  I’m working on a post that looks into this a little bit more so stay tuned for that.

The Psalms are my go to place for the Worship section.  Today I started looking at Psalm 19 and got no farther than the first verse. “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims His handiwork” Psalm 19:1 (ESV).  I thought about how awesome it is that creation actually reveals God’s character and glorifies the Creator simply by being what He created.

I was reminded of Romans 1:20 “For His invisible attributes, namely His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.”  Again, creation reveals His character!

How much more should I (we) declare God’s glory?  God has given humans the ability to speak and an even greater ability to sing His praises. And just as creation declares His glory by being as He created, we too should be what He created us to be. Created in His image to bring Him glory.

I should declare His glory in greater ways than creation for…I have a voice!