May 2002
Prayers of Manipulation Lack Manifestation
By Germaine Copeland
Part Two
Let’s build on last month’s article about self-serving prayers that wives sometimes pray because of unmeet needs, unhealed hurts and unresolved issues. I am extending the principles of effectual prayer to include praying for our children.
Since we are so emotionally connected to our families, praying intercessory prayers for them can become complex and manipulative, delaying, or even preventing, the results that we desire. BUT GOD in His great mercy sent the Holy Spirit to help us pray when we don’t know how or what to pray. It is our assignment to pray for our children and husbands encouraging them to become, and accomplish all that God has foreordained.
When praying for your husband and children:
- Pray objectively, impartially, without prejudice. Pray Scriptural prayers with godly wisdom and understanding bypassing your emotions. God will meet you where you are, and fulfill your needs. The Holy Spirit not only searches out your heart, but also the hearts of your husband and children.
- See your husband and children through the eyes of faith, and hold those images in your heart. Allow the Holy Spirit to paint a word picture of your husband and each individual child. God chose you and your family before the foundation of the world, adopted them as His very own, redeemed them, and forgave their sins according to the riches of His grace. Your husband and children are God’s workmanship.
- Seek God’s will, and pray according to God’s will, and His desires will replace selfish desires. Pray that the name of the Lord will be hallowed in your husband’s life and in the lives of your children, for the will of God to be done on earth in them even as it is in heaven. God understands the spiritual journey He designed for each family member to walk…I know the thoughts and plans that I have for you, says the Lord, thoughts and plans for welfare and peace and not for evil, to give you hope in your final outcome (Jeremiah 29:11).
- Remember you and your husband are joint heirs of the grace of life in order that your prayers may not be hindered and cut off. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace (Ephesians 4:3).
Interceding with God, in accordance with His will, on behalf of your family is one of the greatest gifts you have to offer. First and foremost if your husband is not a Christian pray that God will draw him to repentance with His goodness (Romans 2:4). Don’t try to “help” God but allow Him to do His perfect work in His perfect time. Paul wrote that the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife…(1 Corinthians 7:14).
Your prayers of intercession will influence the works of God in your family (Ezekiel 22:30-31). Your husband will greatly benefit—God will bless him, show him favor in the marketplace and at home, and you and your children will reap the rewards.
Many of the powerful, Scriptural prayers in my Prayers That Avail Much® family series have paved the way for a manifestation of the power of God in my marriage and family relationships. God’s Word will not return to Him void, but will accomplish what it is sent to do!
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household (Acts 16:32). Praying for your husband and children will facilitate changes in you; changes that you have tried to bring about through behavior modification. God is effectually at work in you to bring about transformation from the inside out. It is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. You and your family will be saved!
Prayer
God and Father of my Lord Jesus Christ, I thank you for my husband. Thank you for his faith in Christ and for his love for his family. May he be filled with the knowledge of your will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. You have started a good work in him, and you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. Your kingdom come, your will be done in my husband’s life even as it is in heaven. Thank you for the salvation of my husband and our children. Amen. (Husband, I encourage you to transpose and pray this prayer for your wife and children.)
Germaine Copeland is the author of the best selling book series, Prayers That Avail Much. She has written scriptural prayers for the family. Read your Bible, pray and attend church where you can soak up the love and faith of God. You will receive emotional healing, experience spiritual growth and become more intimately acquainted with your Heavenly Father, and your relationships will grow stronger.