MY THOUGHTS on Stormie OMartian's "The Power of a Praying Wife"
Chapter 25: HIS REPENTANCE
 
Unfortunately, the world has become a place where pride thrives.  People feel they are "owed" everything, and instant gratification seems as necessary as water, shelter & food.  With this "serve me" attitude, it's not surprising that pride is such a huge issue in the hearts of people, as blaming others has replaced a good ol' fashioned apology.

Everyone makes mistakes.  That's not the issue.  But there is an epidemic in the world today of people who can't admit they did something wrong.  -Stormie OMartian (p.173)

Whether your husband is a Christ follower or not, his repentance is vital to his walk with God and who he is as a man. 

According to God's way of doing things, there are three steps to changing our behavior.  First there is CONFESSION, which is ADMITTING what we did.  Next there is REPENTANCE, which is BEING SORRY about what we did.  Then there is ASKING FORGIVENESS, which is BEING CLEANSED AND RELEASED from what we did.  The inability or resistance to do any fo these three steps is rood in pride.  A man who can't humble himself to admit he's wrong before God and before man will have problems in his life that never go away.  -Stormie OMartian (p.174)

A man who either says he's sorry over and over and over again or never admits that he's wrong needs a repentant heart.  As a wife, you must fervently pray for your husband's heart.  While it's not okay for your husband to be prideful or view himself as blameless, you must not wave his sin in his face.  As I've shared before, IT'S NEVER OKAY TO WANT TO BE RIGHT MORE THAN WE WANT TO DO RIGHT.  Pray for your husband to seek true repentance... the kind that turns a man around to walk in a different direction (p.173).

True repentance means having so much remorse over what you've done that you don't do it again.  Only God can cause us to see our sin for what it is, and feel about it the same way He does.  - Stormie OMartian (p.174)

Read what I underlined again... ONLY GOD CAN CAUSE US TO SEE OUR SIN FOR WHAT IT IS.  What a relief that you no longer have that burden to bear huh?  I mean, you have been completely released from TELLING your husband what he's doing that is wrong!  (tee hee...)  You see, it won't make any difference.  It's miserable to live with a prideful man, but you must remember:  YOU CANNOT CHANGE YOUR HUSBAND'S HEART.  YOU CANNOT MAKE HIM SORRY.  YOU CANNOT CHANGE HIS FEELINGS.  ONLY GOD CAN... so pray for Him to do just that!

Dear Heavenly Father,  I pray that You would convict my husband of any pride that's in his heart.  Lord, make him see it as You do so he can deal with it and get it out of his life.  I don't want it to destroy him Lord, so please give him Your eyes to see any issues that he needs to deal with.  I pray for him to be a man to quickly apologize for his faults, and never repeat the same ones again.  Lord, help me to pray for him and not become angry or feel the need to be right.  Help me to not become prideful either, but encourage my husband through prayer.  May he find time each day to reflect on his actions, thoughts and words of the day, and repent if there is anything that needs to be forgiven.  Give him a heart of humility Lord so he will receive all You have for him.  In Jesus' name, Amen.

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It's not too late to join us for the month of June as we pray for our husbands!  You can check out more about it by clicking the following link: S.H.M.I.L.Y. for 30 days of prayer...  Please share a link to your blog post if you've made one on this chapter!