Take Your Man to Jesus

So for the past ten days, I went on a prayer journey with a few close friends. It's called "Take Your Man to Jesus" and its basically just ten days of intentional prayer for your husband/boyfriend. It gives you a different topic to pray over everyday. I went into this prayer journey thinking that it would be such a blessing to Matt, and I think it has been, but I think it has been even more of a blessing to me.


I've learned so much the past ten days about how I can be a better wife and better support Matt. I also learned how little I actually pray. But I think the most important lesson I learned is that God listens. Sounds simple right? You are probably all thinking, "Gee Court, glad you finally figured that out." I realized though, through my surprise as I watched God work through my prayers, how usually when I pray, I don't really expect God to do anything.


 The first day we prayer for our husbands as leaders. First of all, it was really good for me to sit and think about all the different ways Matt is a leader, and think about how much pressure that has to be. Then, when Matt got home from band practice that night, he couldn't stop smiling and talking about how well it went. I thought, "Okay God, you helped Matt be a good leader at practice today. That's cool thanks." Then the next day we prayed for their worship. One of the things we specifically prayed for was that God would give them a sense of freedom in their worship. That night at Elevate, as Matt was leading, his guitar came unplugged from the speaker. He ended up at the end of the service just putting the guitar down and just singing and leading us in worship without an instrument. He couldn't stop going on about how freeing it was and how he felt like it really grew him in his worship. These kind of things happened all week. On the day that I prayed for him as a father(which was particularly hard for me with my opposition to us having children anytime soon), Matt showed me a list he wrote of things he wants to do with his future children that just blessed my heart. On the day I prayed for his family, Matt's Mom sent me a message on facebook about how she was so happy I was a part of the family and how she couldn't have picked a better mate for her son. And like I said, these are just a few examples of how God truly listened and answered to my prayers last week!


Honestly, sometimes I'm not even sure if God is actually hearing my prayers, much less praying expecting him to respond. But this week, He has really shown me that HE HEARS US, and not only does he hear us, but HE RESPONDS!


What if we truly prayed expectantly in other areas. After taking this prayer journey, I really feel that we are called to be a people of prayer, women of prayer. The Bible frequently talks about prayer! We are told that we don't receive because we don't ask! Or when we do ask, we do so with wrong motives! I have really seen that played out in my life this week. I was praying out of pure motives to truly bless Matt and help him become the man God has called him to be, as well as helping me become the wife God has called me to be, and God showed me that when you truly pray, he will hold up his end of the deal.


So now, I challenge you, not to a ten day challenge, but to make prayer a regular thing in your life. And not to just say a quick prayer or go through a list of requests, but pray with pure motives and pray expectantly. You can start out by just making sure you have 5 minutes of uninterupted prayer a day, that's what I am doing. I know it sounds simple, but sit down and try it and see how hard it actually is, which is so sad. Add 5 minutes every week. Have prayer dates with God where you and him sit down with a cup of coffee and just talk. You'll be amazed at how it changes your life, and when it does, shoot me an email and let me hear how God is blessing you :-)