When a Christian Husband Prays

A Christian husband prays, and especially for his wife. Circumstances, of course, should guide our prayers to an extent, but we also need to have some things we continually ask God to do for her — things that stand true in any season. Here are ten to consider.

1. God, be her God — Be her all-satisfying treasure and all. Make her jealous for your exclusive supremacy in all her affections (Ps. 73:24–25).

2. Increase her faith — Give her a rock-solid confidence that your incomparable power is always wielded only for her absolute good in Christ (Rom. 8:28–30).

3. Intensify her joy — Fill her with a joy in you that abandons all to the riches of your grace in Jesus and that says firmly, clearly, and gladly, “I’ll go anywhere and do anything if you are there” (Ex. 33:14–15).

4. Soften her heart — Keep her from cynicism, and make her tender to your presence in the most complicated details and the multitude of needs you’ve called her to meet (Heb. 13:5).

5. Make her cherish your church — Build relationships into her life that challenge and encourage her to walk in step with the truth of the gospel and cause her to love corporate gatherings, the Lord’s Table, and the everyday life of the body (Mark 3:33–35).

6. Give her wisdom — Make her see dimensions of reality that I would overlook and accompany her vision with a gentle, quiet spirit that feels safe and celebrated (1 Pet. 3:4).

7. Sustain her health — Uphold the health of her body, and keep us from taking it for granted—all health is by blood-bought grace (Ps. 139:14).

8. Multiply her influence — Encourage and deepen the impact she has on our children. Give her sweet glimpses of it. Pour her out in love for our neighbors, and spark in her creative ways to engage them for Jesus’s sake (John 12:24).

9. Make her hear your voice — Inspire her to read the Bible and accept it as it really is, your word—your very word to her where she lives, full of grace, power, and everything she needs pertaining to life and godliness (2 Pet. 1:3).

10. Overcome her with Jesus — Impress on her soul that she is united to him, that she is a new creature in him, that she is your daughter in him—no longer in Adam and dead in sin, but now in Christ and alive to you forever (Rom. 6:11).