Praying for Husbands

Today I am going to list some verses that were printed on a card about praying for our husbands (if you are a wife). I received the card at the Marriage Seminar we attended yesterday at our church. It was excellent and I will do a post about some of the "secrets that make a marriage sizzle" that we learned from our pastor and his wife.
These verses help us to lift up our husbands through prayer:

1. Joshua 1: 7 = strength to lead
2. John 10: 14 = time to know his family
3. I Timothy 3: 4= passion to manage his home
4. Mathhew 6: 19-21= wise steward of finances and possessions
5. James 1: 19= to be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger
6. Psalm 41, John 17: 15, 2 Thessalonians 3: 3= protection physically, mentally, spiritually
7. Deuteronomy 6= desire to teach and model a godly lifestyle for his children
8. I Corinthians 14: 33; Proverbs 11: 2= give him peace in circumstances and integrity in decisions he must face today
9. Hebrews 12: 1-2= that he would stay faithful to Christ to the end
10. Ephesians 4: 24-25; Hebrews 10: 24= that he would develop strong relationships with other godly men

Ephesians 4: 24-25: "...put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body."

This last one is very important for me and really is a prayer that I have been praying for my husband for a number of years now. We were at a different church, back as newlyweds in the early 1990's. A new family joined our chuch and we became instant friends. The 4 of us had so much in common. The wife was also in the special ed field and the husband and mine were really into music ministry and reaching out to teens. We were so close we even went on a camping vacation together. They had 2 children (preteens) and we had none at the time. Their youngest ended up being our very first babysitter. We were very close and enjoyed a wonderful friendship. Then they left the church as the Lord called them out for several reasons....some of the very reasons that we ended up leaving in 2005. But....this was 1997 and so from that point on, my husband didn't really have a close friend at the church. He had tons of aquaintances and was involved in so many ministries. But the friendships we did have never really allowed us to "go deep". It is hard to explain because we both did have good friendships. But the real relating, the intimacy, was lacking. Maybe part of it was our fault. Not sure, but now that we are in a new place where intimacy/deep friendships are occuring and are being modeled by leadership, it is very different. And we have learned that much of it has to do with the leadership in the church. Back to the story: we had lost dear friends; although we kept in touch, we ended up drifting apart. We still don't really know why other than "that's life" sometimes. (they also ended up moving about 40 min east of us so getting together was harder and harder and once our 2nd one was born...well...you know how it goes!)
Anyways, my point is that this prayer for godly men to be in my husband's life was answered last year after being in our new church for a little over a year! He has one godly friend, particularly, who really gets the covenant relationship thing! It is a real answer to my prayers. If you are struggling with this issue of wanting deep friendships for your husband, to help him grow spiritually and to just have fun with on "guys nite out" or whatever, then meditate on this verse. Pray for men to come in to your husband's life who can establish a true covenant friendship. It is a blessing and a way we can aid our husbands: prayer! So important for our marriages!