Febrary,
2001
"Love
For Eternity"
This month,
I have asked a L.O.V.E. Club member to write our Love Lesson for
us. Lylah Ledner is a speaker, writer, teacher and pastor's wife.
She is also a friend whom I greatly admire and respect. As a lover
of truth, she is passionate about women discovering their power
of influence as they become principled women of purpose. Lylah
is President of Women in Touch Ministries, Inc. Women in Touch
ministries can be viewed by going to our "Links" Section
or by clicking on http://www.womenintouch.net
I know you will be blessed and encouraged by this wonderful teaching
from Lylah.
L.O.V.E., Patty
February is
known as the month of love, and one of the greatest gifts of love
that we have to give to another person is to pray for them. How
much love does it take to come before the Father's throne of mercy
with a heart full of love and care and lift up the needs of a
loved one before that throne? It takes a lot of love. It's what
I call love for eternity.
As wives,
prayer is one of the greatest gifts of love that we can give our
husbands. It's not a free gift. It's costly. It costs our time
and effort to step into the battlefield of prayer on behalf of
our life-long mate. It's a gift that requires tenacity, courage
and diligence. Given, it keeps on giving with some of the benefits
that are eternal.
Prayer that
comes from the feminine soul of a wife for her man is precious
to God. I believe that often God just waits to move on our behalf,
in our marriages, until we do begin to pray. It's true that it's
prayer that changes things. What is it that you desire to have
changed in your marriage? What about the way you and your hubby
communicate? Does that need help? Then, pray first. What about
how you and hubby work through conflicts? Does that nee help?
Then, pray first. Do you long for a greater sense of intimacy
in your marriage? Then, pray first. Are you struggling with "shaming"
your husband and emasculating him? Then, pray first. Does your
husband lead and initiate and do you follow? If not, then pray
first. Are you getting my point?
Marriage was
God's idea. And since it was His idea, it's a good idea to talk
to Him about it. As a pastor's wife, I see that women don't usually
talk to God first about their marriage, their hurts, their struggles,
their fears or their disappointments. I see that women usually
talk to others first. Another thing that disappointed and hurt
wives do is to take matters into their own hands. This is called
"control." When wives control, I believe that God takes
His hands off…and waits. God waits until a woman gets tired
of "doing marriage" her way and decides to do it His
way by coming to Him in prayer.
When we pray
for our husbands, God answers. Those answers may not be exactly
what we want to hear, but He does faithfully answer. I remember
a time that I was praying for Michael and a struggle that we were
having. I kept praying about Michael's part in this situation
and all of a sudden as I was walking and talking to God, the Holy
Spirit put His tender finger right in an area of my feminine soul
and exposed a Spirit of Fear. It was so clear that in this situation,
the issue was me and not my husband. Glory!
My love gift
prayer times for my husband are spent outside as I walk. In May
of 1999, I heard a pastor's wife say that she prayed two hours
a day for her husband. I thought….hmm….I could do one.
So, because I can get easily distracted, I wrote out prayers on
index cards and with that, I began to walk and pray my cards out
loud. Well, the results were wonderful. I then took the cards
and put them into a little booklet that my darling husband titled:
Power Prayers for Your Mighty Man. As history has it, the booklet
went to print and since July of 1999, over 3000 copies have been
sold or distributed, Women in Touch Ministries, Inc. has been
birthed and several other booklets written. It's amazing what
happens when one woman obeys what God is putting on her heart
to do.
Not only the
ministry stuff which has ignited, but my number one priority ministry
to my husband has been so enriched because of my willingness to
love through prayer. Our love has grown, our communication skills
have improved, we work through conflicts quicker and my husband
is a happy man. He's happy, because his vision is clear, he has
become pro-active and his heart safely trusts in his wife who
absolutely adores him. Now, what more could you ask for.
So, as you
think about what gift to give your husband for this Valentines,
won't you consider giving the greatest gift of all? Prayer…the
greatest gift a woman could give is the greatest gift of love
to her man.
Love, Lylah
____________________________
If you would like a copy of Power Prayers for Your Mighty Man
it can be ordered by contacting Women in Touch Ministries and
Lylah at LylahL@aol.com or
by going to her web site at http://www.womenintouch.net
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