Active Prayers for your Husband: Part 5

Its just a couple days till 2013! One way I have been preparing for the newness of the year is by cleaning. It was a little early to take down our tree, but I accidentally killed it (turns out a Christmas tree needs water every day.) So Shane and I dragged the forest out of our home and I have been busy picking pine needles out of my carpet and couch cushions. Never been much of a cleaner, but the sense of newness hanging in the air drives me to pick up a scrub brush. (Not to mention, my brother-in-law and his perfectly lovely girlfriend are coming to visit, and I’m sure they’d like to sit on a couch that didn’t resemble a porcupine.)

Cleaning is also a great reminder to pray. Read on for the final installment of 5 Active Prayers for your Husband:

Intercession while cleaning your house:

This active prayer is more personal than directly related to your husband. I have this idea that a proper husband desires a clean and orderly home, with dinner on the table and pie in the oven. While this is not the reality for most women, home-making is an art that is often lost in the busyness of today. I had this great expectation that I would be a master home-maker by our 1st year anniversary….

That failed.

But I did learn a valuable lesson. My husband does not desire a warm and welcoming house and much as he longs for a warm and welcoming wife. He said to me once, “Becky, you are my home.” I realized that all the time I spent stressing about vacuums and windex, getting the enchiladas just right, and designing and decorating the home was coming from a good heart, but a misplaced direction.

Because if I burnt the enchiladas or left the vacuum out when my husband got home, I felt worthless. My self-esteem crashed and I spent the night pouting about my failure as a home-maker. What my husband truly desires was a wife who had a clean heart, not a clean house. He wants to come home to a warm embrace, not always a warm plate. I resolved to praying for my husband while cooking or cleaning, focusing God’s work within me, not just my work within the home.

I pray for humility and warmth to welcome my husband with the heart of a Godly woman. I ask God to prepare my heart, my mind, and my body to be available to minister to my husband in the few evening hours I get to spend with him in the work week.

Preparing our home, and my heart, through prayer makes my husbands home-coming so much more pleasant for the both of us.

Try praying this for yourself, and your husband: “Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation And sustain me with a willing spirit.” (Psalms 51:10-12)

Well, there you have it, 5 ways to actively (and hopefully with less distraction) pray for your husband. I hope that it renews your intimacy with the Lord and in your marriage.