Are You Awake?

Can I ask you a question?

Do you pray for your husband?

This post is going to be kind of a continuation of my post on modesty.  Let me bring another idea to you:

Do you pray for your husband's purity?

Yes, he's married.  Yes, he's in a monogamous relationship.  Yes, he does come home to you every night after work.......but to me, that's not all there is to purity.

If the Bible says that if you have hatred in your heart, then you're a murderer...and if you have lust in your heart, then you're an adulterer.....yikes.

Please forgive me in advance for stepping on your toes or offending you.

There are so many pitfalls for a man out there, ladies.  Are you aware, based on my post about modesty, and based on all of the women out there who don't care how much skin is showing or who sees whatall they own, are you aware of how many "stones" are strewn in your husband's path??

Your husband IS married to you and he may be faithful to you, but that's only half of purity. Can I suggest focused ways that you can pray for your husband, to endow him with power and strength in the area of keeping his mind and eyes pure?

Okay. Thanks.

Purity is not setting any thing in front of your eyes that may cause you to stumble into lust or coveting.  Purity is being vigilant to avert your eyes from looking at things that you know would dishonor your mate and alienate you from the Lord. Purity is being transformed by the renewing of your mind. Purity is asking the Lord to KEEP your mind and eyes pure. Purity is a choice.  Purity takes maintenance.  Purity takes being willing to be accountable to your mate, and to someone, or a small group of people, who you know you can trust with your life.

Because purity IS your life.  It's a lifestyle.  For you AND for your husband.

You can ask your husband about this.  I ask my husband about this, all the time.  He has made himself willing to be accountable, when he's online and when he's out and about.  I do ask him regularly how he's holding up in this area, because it's a tough world out there for Godly men.

My husband made the decision years ago to become a member of Covenant Eyes.  This is an online protection service that will block sites from your computer, and also blocks ads and pop-ups.  It keeps a record of where people have been on your computer, and it sends you a report, weekly or monthly.  You can choose two people to which these reports will be sent.  My husband chose me and another friend.  I believe that the cost is VERY minimal. 

Also, I pray for my husband.  Daily.  Sometimes hourly.  I pray very specifically.  I pray for the Lord to keep his heart focused.  I pray that God would blind his eyes to the temptations that are out there.  I ask God to keep his eyes AND his mind pure.  I pray that God would keep his family at the forefront of his mind.  I also ask God to bear him up on angels' wings, lest he dash his foot against a "stone".  I believe that this has greatly strengthened my husband.  He has told me time and again that he appreciates it so much. 

Sometimes, randomly, I'll call him up during the day, just to ask how he's doing and if I can bring him something, or if he needs to talk.  I ask him if he has a specific thing he wants me to pray about.  He really loves this. 

When I pray for my husband it shows that I am vigilant and I'm doing my duty in my marriage, to pray for and lift up my husband. 

Let me tell you something: out of all the marriages we know, all of our friends and relatives, ours is one of the ONLY marriages that has survived.  Seriously.  That is a VERY sobering thought.  And it hits home for me.  It is a wake-up call that I can't rest on my laurels and just sit back and relax my vigilance with my marriage!

I pray for my husband's purity because I know how easy it is for him to cross that line.  I know so many husbands who weren't pure and who aren't, and it has destroyed their marriages.  This is very scary for me. 

You have heard that it was said that marriage is 50-50....well, let me propose a revolutionary idea to you: make your marriage 100-100.

And let me tell you that it doesn't matter if you and your husband are struggling in your marriage.  You step up and make this commitment, and I promise your marriage will revive.  Not overnight.  Not even right away.  But you make the commitment to pray for your husband anyway.

Yes, there are other things you can do daily to raise or keep your husband's interest.  Do you know what your husband likes? Do you know what's on his wish list? Are there practical things you can be doing that you aren't doing? I know there are things I myself can do, and I want to! If you don't know any of that about your husband, I suggest, for the safety and salvation of your marriage, that you take your husband out for a meal and pick his brain!

I mean it.  Ladies, we HAVE to save our marriages! We HAVE to have strong marriages!

Praying for your husband is one VERY important way you can strengthen your marriage.

Strengthening our marriages is not something that is a static thing.  What I mean is, strong marriages are not like a buoy that, no matter the weather or the condition of the water, that buoy is going to float with no problem at all.  Strong marriages take maintenance.  They take discernment.  It takes God's strength in you to do this thing.

I apologize if I have given you the impression that my marriage is perfect and I'm Mrs. Goody-Good.  Oh no.  That's definitely NOT true! My marriage has had its struggles.  The first 12 years of my marriage were horrible.  Because of ME! I wanted to be the boss and I wanted to wear the pants in the family. I thought that since that ring was on his finger, that's all it took. I went to sleep, basically. I got my book and sat on the couch and read my books all day, every day. Yikes!

Let me tell you about two things that saved my marriage and changed my mind: A book fell into my hands years ago, I can't remember how, but it was straight from the Lord.  It's called Created to be His Help Meet.  Now, I will say right now that I don't endorse everything that Michael and Debi Pearl stand for.  Actually, I don't like Michael Pearl at all.....but this book was just what I needed just when I needed it! A slap in the face.  A dousing with ice-cold water.  I saved it so I can refer to it every now and then.

Surrendering my "agenda" to the Lord was another turning point in my marriage.

If you hear anything in this post, hear this: PRAY for your man.  Take possession of him! Act like it!

Do you have any other ideas that we can use to strengthen our men? Leave me a comment with your idea!