Praying Powerfully Is Praying Scripturally

Hey, Matt here.

Just letting you know ahead of time; this letter is rich with revelation and good things. When you have 10 or 15 minutes, I encourage you to read all the way through and let God minister to your spirit what He’s given us for this week. And at the end of the letter, there are some great Scriptural prayers I’d like you to get in your spirit. This letter is very significant, and if you’ll read it with fresh spiritual ears, God’s Word will change your mind and change your life!

We recently spent time with a lady around our age who asked if we could meet with her and help on some things. So, we invited her over for dinner, and her situation was one we've seen time and time again in married couples. There were many issues she came seeking wisdom from the Lord about, but one of the big challenges in her heart was how her husband is NOT on the same page spiritually. He looks to her as the spiritual leader. He looks to her to pray and hear from God, he looks to her to use her faith for the challenges they face, and he looks to her to raise their kids to know God…basically, she’s the spiritual “head” of the house and he doesn’t do anything to contribute to the spiritual growth of the family. All the responsibility has fallen on her. Currently, the husband is happy doing nothing to lead spiritually, let alone further his own spiritual growth, while the wife feels like she has to do it all.

This is a common issue in Christian marriages. And Ladies, if you are not in this position, then I encourage you to remember to be thankful for your husband. If you have a husband who loves God more than anything, and he is pursuing God’s plan for your lives the best he knows, that’s the foundation of everything! Rejoice in that and continually stir yourself up to be thankful. Right now, he may not be living in Christ-like perfection, but neither are you, and there is a good chance his heart is tender and humble before the Lord. And that condition is where you want his heart to stay, but your actions can definitely contribute to it being calloused over.

Speaking as a husband on behalf of husbands who genuinely love God, I know that we are like putty in the hands of the Lord. If God can just be left alone to mold us into the men of God we’re destined to be, our wives will love us more and more, trust us more and more, and depend on us more and more as God helps us to become just like Jesus.

In this woman’s case, she had reached a point where she had no confidence to pray for her husband, her marriage, or the plan of God for their lives. Because of the longevity of her circumstances, she was not convinced praying would help. Frustration had settled in and even though she had prayed many times before, she had not seen results.

Here’s a tip: If spouses are praying for each other because "he/she needs it badly," and you mix your praying with frustration, anger, resentment, or discouragement, your prayers will not have any significant effect on each other’s lives.

What is frustration? Google’s definition describes frustration as “the feeling of being upset or annoyed, especially because of inability to change or achieve something.” I’ve seen many frustrated spouses, including Jess and myself. Frustration comes as a result of knowing what needs to be changed or done but you yourself are unable to do anything about it. You get frustrated because you can’t fix it. But there is Someone Who can. Yielding to frustration takes you out of believing in the One Who CAN bring change. It disables you from trusting in God and it reveals a lack of the patience and endurance that is required to keep you standing in faith until you experience victory. If you remain in frustration, you will never see the victory.

Frustration is NOT faith. In other words, you cannot believe God for something and be frustrated at the same time. Before you can effectively pray, you must get rid of the frustration. The Bible tells us to cast our care onto the One Who cares for us. The One Who cares for us gives our soul REST. Then, you are clear to get into faith; you are clear to exercise your faith. When we are truly in faith, our soul is at rest and all toil and striving should cease, too!

Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden and overburdened, and I will cause you to rest. [I will ease and relieve and refresh your souls.] Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am gentle (meek) and humble (lowly) in heart, and you will find rest (relief and ease and refreshment and recreation and blessed quiet) for your souls. (Matt. 11:28-29, AMPC)

…casting all your cares [all your anxieties, all your worries, and all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares about you [with deepest affection, and watches over you very carefully]. (1 Pet. 5:7, AMP)

You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You. (Isaiah 26:3, NKJV)

FOR WE WHO HAVE BELIEVED DO ENTER THAT REST… (Heb. 4:3, NKJV)

Faith in God through prayer really does work, and if you desire something in your husband to be more like Jesus…PRAY! Pray according to Scripture out of a pure heart of humility and love for him and for God and watch him blossom into the man of God you’ve dreamed of.

If you pray for your husband out of a heart full of love and humility because you believe in him, or at least believe in the Jesus in him, and believe that He’s working in your husband “to will and to do of His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13), your prayers will be 100% effective.

Therefore, confess your sins to one another [your false steps, your offenses], and pray for one another, that you may be healed and restored. The heartfelt and persistent prayer of a righteous man (believer) is able to accomplish much [when put into action and made effective by God--it is dynamic and can have tremendous power]. (James 5:16, AMP)

Like this verse says, when you are praying for your spouse, you are making the power of God available to them! When you pray in line with Scripture for your spouse, you are putting the pressure on God’s Word—and NOT on your spouse to perform for you. And God’s Word can handle it! Exercising faith principles and putting into practice our faith in God and His Word is what I mean by applying the pressure. Put the pressure on what God said, not on what your husband said he would do but then he doesn’t. Put the pressure on the promises of God, not what your husband promised but you haven’t seen yet. What’s more, Scriptural kind of praying doesn’t bind someone to the will of the one who’s praying—that’s akin to witchcraft.

Many Christians, because they’ve been religiously brainwashed instead of New Testament taught—and because they do not practice communing with God—or don’t know what the Bible says, end up praying witchcraft-like prayers. And what does this ungodly kind of praying sound like?

“God, whatever you’ve got to do to make my ol’ billy goat of a husband get up off the couch, just do it, Lord!” I’ve even heard people pray, “God, even if you’ve got to send them to the hospital to get their attention, I ask You to do it, God!” Now, that’s TERRIBLE! But do you get the spirit behind this kind of praying? It’s a forceful, frustrated kind of praying meant to arrest someone against their will to force them to do something. That’s not Godly. That’s devilish.

Instead, the Scriptural kind of praying opens doors for the will of God to be accessed. While before, the will of God may have been unknown, out of sight and out of mind, and inaccessible, these open doors are extensions of God’s Grace. These faith-filled, Scriptural prayers are open opportunity for the recipient to walk through and experience the lifechanging goodness and mercy of God. They’re opportunities to experience the wonder-working power of God!

There was a time in my and Jess’ marriage when her faithful praying for me helped get me through a difficult time. The enemy was working overtime—trying to discourage me—in order to keep me out of the ministry and away from following God’s plan for my life. In that season, I didn’t always know she was praying for me, but as we made it through hardship after hardship, she would tell me about how she had been praying and going to battle for me, to HELP me! She would remind me of how much she believed in me—even when I didn’t look like a man of God— and she loved me and genuinely saw me for who God called me to be instead of what I looked like at the present time.

In the middle of my battle, what I didn’t need—and what your spouse doesn’t need—was a critical eye. The enemy was already doing that. What I DIDN’T need was harassment—the enemy and the circumstances were already doing that! Even good, positive encouragement only went so far. I needed something stronger; something power packed!

What I needed was the fervent, effective prayer of a righteous (wo)man! And the power that was made available to me through her Scriptural praying in faith lifted me up.

I received Grace—ability to overcome—because my loving wife stood in the gap for me and interceded on my behalf. When I needed to see “it,” she believed with me. When my arms felt weak, she held them up. When I didn’t see how I could ever be what God called me to be, she saw it! Because she prayed for me in love and in faith, GOD gave her a vision of who I am in Christ. She held onto THAT image of victory and prayed unshakingly because of the God-given revelation she had of who God called me to be. And do you know that God brought us ALL THE WAY through?! Hallelujah! Yes, He did!

This month marks 19 years of marriage for us, and we are thanking God for how far He has brought us. However, had you seen our marriage just a couple years in, you may not have thought we were going to make it. Now, Jess and I are not the same people we were then, thank God; but I still find respite and encouragement from her prayers for me today.

Jess admits that this time in our marriage that I’m sharing about was a very tough time for her, and she was tempted over and again to give up on me, to let me be, and just walk away. BUT, she didn’t. She didn’t give up on me, she didn’t leave me to handle my challenges alone, she didn’t walk away—instead, she had FAITH in God! Though, many days, she didn’t do it right. At times she felt extremely frustrated, but in spite of tears and feelings of helplessness and hopelessness, she looked to the Lord. She would go on long walks and find secluded places at the park to pray so I wouldn’t hear her. What did she pray?

She prayed SCRIPTURE.

You see, God has already wonderfully provided SCRIPTURAL PRAYERS for the Body of Christ and they’re sure-fire ways of getting an answer from God. They’re already anointed, they’re already the will of God (because they’re His Word), and the Bible tells us that when we pray according to His will, God hears us! And if we know that He hears us, we KNOW we HAVE what we are asking Him for (1 Jn. 5:14-15).

But if we just throw up any ol’ prayer to God, praying out of our emotions, praying out of frustration and desperation, praying anything and everything that comes to mind without regard to what the Bible says, or how the Bible instructs us to pray, how can we expect God to answer those prayers? But yet “buku” amounts of Christians are living in a state of frustration because they think they know what prayer is, they think they’re praying rightly and correctly, but they’re never seeing the fruit of their prayers.

(For example, WHO are you praying to? What did Jesus teach?

And in that day ye shall ask Me nothing. Verily, verily I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in My name, He will give it to you. (John 16:23 KJV) According to Jesus, we’re supposed to pray TO THE FATHER in the NAME OF JESUS. But even today, I still hear people praying all the time and addressing “God” or “Father,” which is good, but they never come to Him in the Name of Jesus, or ever make their requests in the Name of Jesus. Now, that’s not being dogmatic, that’s solid, New Testament doctrine! The power, authority, and privilege are in HIS NAME!)

But Jess prayed God’s WORD over my life, and she took authority—as a wife can and should—over the enemy in the mighty Name of Jesus. Notice, she took authority over the enemy and not over me. Was she perfect in this? No, there were many times the pressure of the situation got the best of her, and she would lose it. She would tell you that she would often buckle and give in to the temptation to put pressure on me and question me, and in a nagging way, pull on me and drain me. But to her credit, when problems like this are staring you in the face day in and day out, it can weigh on you, no doubt.

Over this season, we would see victory here and there, so there was a mix of good times and rest with bad times of toil and struggle. But in all of this, Jess never gave up on me. She never stopped praying and believing God for me. And it didn’t take the next 17 years for me to get victory, either. Her prayers and trust in God for me helped to undergird me and lift me up to a place of victory. She learned not to be moved by what I was doing or by what I wasn’t doing. She learned to put the pressure on the Word of God, and NOT on me, by praying Scriptural, faith-filled prayers. Yes, it took some time, but she’ll tell you it was worth it.

Ladies, your husbands are worth it. The plan of God is worth it. God has a beautiful plan for your husband’s life and your lives together, and you can help him get there. But let’s make sure and get this straight. The wife is not the savior of her husband. Neither is the husband the savior of the wife. JESUS is the Savior of us all, and if Jesus uses you to help your husband, consider it an honor and don’t get lifted up in pride, lest the same kinds of challenges your husband went through come on you. Remember that, like the Holy Spirit, you are his HELPER. You are one flesh, one body with your husband. If he’s going through something, so are you! It’s not him vs. you. You’re in this together! So, don’t struggle against your husband when he’s going through something, HELP him overcome and enjoy the victories of God together.

As long as wives keep pressuring us husbands to be a better man, to change, to "grow up," etc., we’re going to disappoint you. Our righteousness is as filthy rags, and we can do nothing in and of our own selves. Many husbands try, and they might last for a season, but if God didn’t create the change in our hearts first, husbands almost always fall short again and again, and become discouraged or harden themselves in pride. Have you ever seen a husband who was hard against his wife? This would be a big reason why. Or how about discouraged in their relationship and marriage? This would be a big reason why.

But if through your passionate and strong believing in faith you will put the pressure on Jesus instead of your husband, God will be free to work inside of him that which is well-pleasing in God’s sight, and that which is to will and to do of all God’s good pleasure.

Now the God of peace…Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. (Hebrews 13:20-21, KJV)

For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. (Philemon 2:13, KJV)

Don’t be moved by the passing of time. Cast all your care over on the Lord and leave it there. If a believer continually casts the same care over on the Lord, it’s likely they never did it in the first place; or they keep taking the care back, casting it back on Jesus, taking it back, and casting it back on Him over and over and over again. That’s the same as not believing at all, and like we said before, it leads to frustration. Cast your care for your husband over on the Lord once and for all, because HE CARES FOR YOU (1 Pet. 5:7).

A humble husband covets prayer for himself because He knows without God, he can do nothing. So, from a husband’s point of view and speaking for your husband, here are some Scriptural prayer PRO tips I’m recommending you pray for us. And you can thank the lady who came over for help because it’s stirred this topic inside of me. Ha!

So, let’s say you notice that your husband, or for that matter, any of your loved ones, are weak in their spirit and they haven’t spent much time, if at all, in their Bibles. From a heart full of love and humility (also considering yourself) you could pray something like this:

According to this Scripture: Philippians 2:13

For it is God which works in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. (KJV)

For it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. (NASB95)

What to Pray:

“Father, in Jesus’ Name, I ask you to work in ____________ (call your husband’s name) to will (to be willing) and to do (to be a doer of the Word) for Your good pleasure.”

*But you can also pray this prayer more simply but still specific: “Father, I ask You in Jesus’ Name to work in Matt to be willing to and to spend quality time reading His Bible.”

Whatever part of the Word we should be a doer of, that’s God’s “good pleasure.” Fill in the blank with whatever your husband needs when you pray. Then, you cast the care of it over on the Lord and you leave the care on Jesus. If you take it back, then your husband will take extra-long to do the things He needs to do and it will seem like I am getting further and further away from doing what I should. Here are some other scriptures you can pray over your husband…

Another example:

According to this Scripture: Hebrews 13:20-21, NASB95

Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, [even] Jesus our Lord, equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom [be] the glory forever and ever. Amen.

What to Pray:

“Father, I ask You in the Name of Jesus to equip ____________ (call your husband’s name) in every good thing to do Your will and to work in him that which is pleasing in Your sight through Jesus Christ.” The King James Version says “well-pleasing.” I like that better.

Another example:

According to this Scripture: Colossians 4:12, KJV

Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, salutes you, always laboring fervently for you in prayers, that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.

What to Pray:

“Father, I ask You in the Name of Jesus to cause ____________ (call your husband’s name) to stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.”

When you pray SCRIPTURE, you are praying the most effectively that anyone can pray. When you pray specific Scripture verses, it supersedes “general” praying, and there’s no difference between you or any well-known anointed man or woman of God before the throne of God.

HALLELUJAH! Praying God's Word is the highest anyone can pray! And you ALWAYS get your prayers answered that way because you always know you're praying according to His will.

There are many more Scripture verses to pray. If you're hungry for more, we can share our list of Scriptural prayers with you. Just email us at connect@kim.faith. The more you pray according to specific scriptures, the more in line with the Word you begin to pray in other areas of your life, too, and the more results you’ll begin to see.

We are living testimonies that the Word of God and FAITH in God works!

We love you,

Matt and Jess