I didn’t grow up in a family where intentional prayers for one another were a regular practice. Praying was considered deeply personal rather than public. While both personal and public forms of prayer hold value, the art of praying for others remained an uncharted territory for me. The fear of judgment and the pressure of saying the "right" words in an encouraging manner kept me from praying out loud in front of others. However, as I grew more spiritually mature in my relationship with Jesus, he taught me that powerful prayers stem from the heart, not using eloquent lofty words but with sincerity and filled with scripture! When I got engaged to my now husband, I wanted to take praying for him seriously.

The Bible tells us this:

“Who can find a virtuous and capable wife? She is more precious than rubies. Her husband can trust her, and she will greatly enrich his life. She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life.” (Proverbs 31: 10-12 NLT)

If I’m to be honest with you, I’m still a work in progress in this area. I’m writing this not from a stance of victory but from a position of humility, wanting to walk hand-in-hand with you as we figure out the power of praying for our husbands or future husbands. We can learn to be wives that bring our husbands good, not harm, by submitting to the leading of the Holy Spirit. One of the transformative books that has significantly impacted my perspective is "The Power of a Praying Wife" by Stormie Omartian. In this blog, we’ll delve into ways to pray for our husbands based on insights from her book.

1. Change Happens With You

If you're rubbing your hands together in excitement, saying, "Yes, finally, I found a blog that will teach me how to change my husband," I am sorry, sister, but this will not be that. It’s always easier to see the wrongs, the sins, and the selfishness in someone else while we remain unstained in our own eyes. But if you want to be a victorious wife, it all starts with your own heart. God desires to mold us into the image of his son, and through marriage, the number one avenue he will do that through is your spouse. God sees attitudes in us that don’t align perfectly with his will for our lives. In Stormie’s book, she says it this way, “Something amazing happens to our hearts when we pray for another person. The hardness melts. We become able to get beyond the hurts and forgive. We end up loving the person we are praying for. It’s miraculous!” The hurts inflicted on us by the ones we love may seem impossible to overcome, but as we pray for God’s help to transform our hearts, it will overflow and change our marriages!

Power prayer: Lord, help me to be a good wife. I fully realize that I don’t have what it takes to be one without your help. Take my old emotional habits, automatic responses, and rudeness and replace them with the fruit of the spirit: kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control. I want to have a successful marriage. Help me, Holy Spirit, to make the changes in my life. In Jesus' name, amen.

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2. Praying More Specifically

When the demands of life have us struggling to catch our breath by the end of the day, I know how challenging it can be to find the strength to pray. On those tough days, I've often resorted to three-word prayers like "Help me, Lord," "Make a way, Lord," "Provide for us," "Guide us, Lord," and so on.

Cultivating a consistent prayer life takes effort and self-discipline. The Holy Spirit often nudges my heart to pray, especially when numerous distractions seek to pull me away. Think about the times we spend scrolling through our phones, getting ready in the bathroom, showering, or even driving. These moments can become opportunities to turn our hearts to God and pray for our husbands and marriages.

We can focus on many aspects of our husbands' lives in prayer, including their physical and emotional well-being, purpose, journey to be men of integrity and faith, ability to overcome past challenges, and shaping their future.

In her book, Stormie has sections called “Power tools,” where she has turned scripture into prayers. When we are lost or still learning how to pray, it’s a perfect way to start with her model prayers and let those become your prayers.

For his physical and emotional health:

Lord, I pray for my (enter your husband's name). Make every part of his body function as you designed it to. Heal him from any diseases, injury, or infirmity. Strengthen his body for the tasks ahead of him. I ask the Lord that you will give him the desire to care for his physical body. Teach my husband to take his eyes off his circumstances and to place his trust in you. When life is demanding, may your Holy Spirit free him from negative emotions. We ask this in the name of Jesus.

Scriptures to Pray

Jesus “took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses.” (Matthew 8:17)
I will heal them and reveal to them the abundance of peace and truth. (Jeremiah 33:6)
He who trusts in his own heart is a fool, but whoever walks wisely will be delivered. (Proverbs 28:26)

For his faith:

Lord, I pray that you will give (enter your husband's name) an added measure of faith today. Encourage his ability to believe in you, your word, your ways, and your promise and power. May he seek you, rely upon you, and be led by you. I pray that he will live a faith-filled life that Christ has called us to. We ask this in Jesus' name.

Scriptures to pray:

Let him ask in faith without doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. (James 1:6-8)
If you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, “Move from here to there,” and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. (Matthew 17:20)

Sister, if you've been praying for years without seeing change and are tempted to scoff and walk away, I want to gently remind you that we have the privilege to pray, but only God determines the outcome. Trusting Him without harboring resentment, blaming, or getting angry at him when his timing doesn’t align with ours is a struggle I understand. I, too, grapple with these emotions, especially during days that stretch into months without any answers or relief from God. Every day, I have to pause and remind myself that God is in control, and I can leave all my unknowns and unanswered prayers in His hands and hold on to one thing I know: He is always with me!