The Power of a Praying Wife by Stormie OMartian

               

The main point of this book is that prayer is powerful. What is prayer? Prayer is talking to God from your heart-being honest, open, and humble in your own words you speak to Him. Prayer is not something formal, it's casual. It's sharing your heart with God. One of the many amazing things about God is that He always delights to hear us talk to Him.
Stormie says in the beginning of her book that prayer is “relying on God’s power to transform you, your husband, your circumstances, and your marriage.” The greatest thing I can do as a wife is pray for myself and my husband. Stormie clearly lays out a plan for praying for 30 specific areas (first one being you the wife) to pray for.  When I first saw the book, I thought wow there are so many areas I can pray for my husband that I never thought about. Thankfully, I have been enlightened!

Stormie sets about to pray for one specific area per chapter, but first starts out each chapter by talking about a personal story or example or words of wisdom from the Bible that God has shown her about that area.

Here’s a list of specific areas Stormie addresses:

1.       His Wife

2.       His Work

3.       His Finances

4.       His Sexuality

5.       His Affection

6.       His Temptations

7.       His Mind

8.       His Fears

9.       His Purpose

10.    His Choices

11.    His Health

12.    His Protection

13.    His Trials

14.    His Integrity

15.    His Reputation

16.    His Priorities

17.    His Relationships

18.    His Fatherhood

19.    His Past

20.    His Attitude

21.    His Marriage

22.    His Emotions

23.    His Walk

24.    His Talk

25.    His Repentance

26.    His Deliverance

27.    His Obedience

28.    His Self-Image

29.    His Faith

30.    His Future

I personally wanted to continue to pray for these areas for my husband, so I typed them out and made it into a bookmark in my Bible. So, when I would spend my time with God reading and praying, I would see the list and continue to go through it praying one each day.

Also, I didn’t feel I had to word my prayers exactly as Stormie did verbatim when praying for my husband, but I’m thankful she offers that in her book as a launching pad for my own prayers. It’s not about saying a specific prayer over and over again exactly the same way. It’s about having a right heart about what I’m praying for and trusting God to move in those areas.

A wise word someone shared with me going along with this is, “Don’t pray for others what you cannot pray for yourself!” i.e. Deliver them from pride…I must be willing to pray that for myself.

Stormie is very encouraging when she says, “There is a time to speak and a time not to speak, and happy is the man whose wife can discern between the two.” Sometimes it’s better to be quiet and pray about it!
Happy Praying!