Praying for Him: His Battlefield

Over the next 30 weeks, which I started with an intro on May 1st, I will be doing a weekly series where I talk about my journey through Stormie Omartian's Power of  a Praying Wife. I felt led to pray for my husband, wanted to incorporate the book, but knew that doing a 30 day challenge was next to impossible. (Let's face it: life with a baby just-turned-Toddler changes and there are still nights with many wake up calls due to teething or illness. I'd already tried once and failed.)  So this series was born as a way to share, encourage, and hold me accountable to the commitment I made. I'll keep a list of links just below this on each post so you can easily access them all. Enjoy!

Week 1: Intro     Week 2: Starting with Me     Week 3: His Identity     Week 4: His Treasure

Week 5: His Sexuality   Week 6: His Hugs, Kisses, and "I love you"s  Week 7: His Achilles Heel

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Ahh, the mind. It is such a fragile place, but I don't think we often think of it as such. Especially when it comes to men, I think an image has been portrayed that we are strong minded. That whatever it is, we can do it ourselves, we have the will power, the strength of mind.

Yet, really, we all struggle. I don't think it really matters who it is, they battle some sort of lie that the Enemy has slyly planted in their mind. A lie that they may believe to their core or struggle to battle it off with truth on a daily basis, but no matter where they are in the battle, it is there, and it is real.

I found this week being of utmost importance because I have seen firsthand the way lies can bring my husband to his knees. I have seen how it can keep him from seeing the truth about himself and the strength he has in Christ. And as Stormie rightly points out, I have seen the toll it ends up taking on me, even though the battle didn't start in my mind.

Why? Because when you marry, you become one with the man you marry. And as such, the battle raging in his mind is ultimately an assault against me and the life God wishes to lead us in. I love what she says at the beginning of this chapter: "If he and I were one, then an assault on his mind was an assault on me as well. I could stand with him in the battle by declaring, 'This is not God speaking into my husband's life, it's the voice of the enemy. I'm not going to stand by and watch deadly games being played with his mind and our lives (p. 81).'"

Her mentioning of standing with him in the battle reminds me of Ecclesiastes 4:12, "And if one can overpower him who is alone, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart." A reminder that when we pray, we are inviting God into this battle, and oh, how sweet the victory will be in the end!

I was also stretched in my thinking of how to pray for this battle raging war within my husband's mind. Often, I only think of going to God and stating the obvious. But Stormie challenged me again in this. She states that the most powerful weapons against this attack are scripture and praise. When I first read that, I immediately thought she was talking about praising my husband, but truly what she meant was praising God for giving my husband a sound mind. Worshiping God.

I think that truly applies to many areas of our life. I also think it is choosing to believe God wants for us what He has said in scripture and praising Him for it, even if it is at it's weakest in the moment you're praying for it. What He has promised, He will come through on; we must choose to walk in His ways so that He can bless us with those promises. I believe a sound mind is one of those promises, because He wants us to grow in His likeness and to serve only Him as God in our lives. If we don't have a sound mind, how can He be center of all that we have?

This journey is truly helping me to see the importance of praying for my husband, daily, hourly, any moment that I can take captive to whisper in the quiet of my soul to God. Any moment that I am given where I am not engaging in conversation with someone else.

And Ben loves that I'm doing this. I tried to start a habit of asking Ben once a week how I could pray for him in the coming week. New habits are hard to form, thus, I haven't done the best job of remembering every week. But I'm not so sure I will always have to remember; Ben came to me this past Sunday, began talking, but at the end asked, "So would you pray for peace for me for x, y, and z this week?" That was a first, but I'm certain not the last.

May I encourage you, even if you feel like you aren't a prayer warrior, ask God to give you a heart to pray for your husband. To stand in the gap with him and for him. It will likely change him more and more into God's likeness, but it will change you, growing you more into a woman of God than ever before. It may seem slow (I know that I have had moments where I feel at a loss over this journey. I have had moments that I've wondered if it's even worth it.), but I firmly believe that is a lie of the Enemy who is wishing you off the journey of talking with God consistently.

Don't lose heart! Remember Jesus' words from John 16:33, "These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world." We serve a great and powerful God who has already overcome all that we think we can't handle. Next week fits with this perfectly, in my opinion, as it is focusing on praying for your husband's fears. Likely, facing our own fears will find it's way in there, too.

Fear cannot reign if God is to be victorious and King.