Week of Prayer // Day Three: That Two Become One

The prayer focus for today is on my marriage. If you are following along with the prayer guide, adapt it to fit your relationship needs. If you are married with children, pray for all of them today. If you are not married, pray for your future spouse even if you do not know who they are yet! Or if you are called to remain single, let today be a reflection on your union with God.

Types of Prayer

Consecration

A prayer of consecration is setting yourself aside to do God’s will. It is formally relinquishing control while seeking God’s preference. When you must make a decision about something and pray “Thy will be done”, you are giving God the reins, sanctifying that decision to Him. A good example is when Jesus was praying in Gethsemane before His betrayal: Matthew 26:36-46.

Authority

Praying with the authority of the believer is exercising the authority God gives us over the enemy (Luke 10:19). Many refer to this also as “binding and loosing” (Matthew 16:19). Because of our relationship with God through Christ and the power of His blood shed on the cross, we have the power and right to attack Satan's evil deeds against us in Jesus' name. We must simply verbally rebuke or resist what is brought against us and stand in faith that God will uphold us according to the promises in His Word.

And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
Mark 16:17-18

Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places....

Ephesians 6:11-12

For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.
2 Corinthians 10:3-6

Prayer Guide

Lord, I ask for your daily presence in our marriage. We need You to strengthen and unite us…

Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him.
And a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

Ecclesiastes 4:12

May our marriage be full of sacrificial love and respect…

Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her....

Ephesians 5:22-25

I thank You for a husband who washes me in Your Word…

....that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.

Ephesians 5:26

I thank You that You have a specific purpose for us as a married couple. May Your will be done in our lives...
Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Matthew 6:10 
  
Help my husband and I to maintain openness in communication and intimacy so that we really would become one…

‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’; so then they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.”

Mark 10:7-9

I resist the temptations of the enemy and cast down any stronghold by the power of Jesus' Name. Fill us with Your Spirit to govern our thoughts and words that we would build each other up...
Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.
Ephesians 4:29-32
 
Lord, help us to be obedient to You each day that we may enjoy Your blessings and protection over us…

“Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the Lord your God will set you high above all nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the Lord your God:

 “Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country.

 “Blessed shall be the fruit of your body, the produce of your ground and the increase of your herds, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks.

 “Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.

 “Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.

 “The Lord will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before your face; they shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways.

 “The Lord will command the blessing on you in your storehouses and in all to which you set your hand, and He will bless you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you.

Deuteronomy 28:1-8

 

I usually identify very specific areas of focus when praying for my husband according to what he is facing each day and what the Lord reveals to me. One of my favorite tools for praying for my husband is “ThePower of a Praying Wife” by Stormie Omartian. She uses Scripture based devotions and prayers to target 30 different topics concerning our husbands. I love to turn my cares for my husband over to God while resting in the promises of His Word!