Pray for your wife or husband

“Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was barren. The Lord answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant” (Genesis 25:21 NIV).

One of the greatest expectations of most married couples in Africa and other parts of the world is that they will have children. That expectation puts a lot of pressure on some married couples who are unable to have children early enough to meet their own expectations and those of the extended family members. Sadly, in some cases, the marriages end up in separation or divorce.

Isaac was the promised child of Abraham’s through whom God built and blessed the great nation of Israel. When Isaac was forty years old, he married Rebekah. It took twenty years after their marriage for them to have children - twin boys named Esau and Jacob. Jacob obtained his father’s blessings, and his twelve sons eventually formed the twelve tribes of Israel (see Genesis 17:21; and Genesis 25:19-34).

Isaac was a man of faith. His faith in God must have been strengthened by his own family history. His father Abraham and his mother Sarah were 100 and 90 years old, respectively, when he was born. That was twenty five years after God had promised Abraham that he would be the father of a great nation (see Genesis 12:1-3; Genesis 17:17; and Genesis 21:5).

Isaac did not sit idly by expecting God to honor his promise. Nor did he blame Rebekah or her family members or anyone else for causing the barrenness. He also did not consider it as his wife’s problem to be handled entirely by her. In fact, Isaac could have reasonably played the blame game because he did not choose Rebekah as his wife. His father Abraham and Abraham’s chief servant arranged and chose Rebekah for him under the guiding hands of God (see Genesis chapter 24).

However, rather than blame anyone or leave it solely to the wife to handle, Isaac put his faith into action - he prayed for his wife, and God answered him with twin boys. If we spend half the time praying as we do blaming our spouses and others, complaining, or gossiping about our marriage problems, the results could be positive for us.

The Bible tells us that “The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective” (James 5:16 NIV). James continues by saying that Elijah was a man just like us, but he prayed to God that it should not rain for three and a half years and the rain stopped during that period. Pursue righteousness by the grace of God, but pray just as you are; do not wait till you are as righteous as Elijah.

Pray for your wife the way Isaac did. Maybe, those prayers are actually for you without knowing. In the olden days, there was no clear way of knowing that in some cases a couple’s inability to have children was caused by the man. We now know better. Today, because of advancement in medical science, we know that when a couple cannot have children, it is not always that the woman is barren. It could also be that the man is sterile or otherwise incapable of fathering children.

Therefore, a husband’s prayer meant for his wife who is thought to be barren may actually be for the husband himself. And God, in His mercy, may still hear and answer our misdirected prayers. As the Apostle Paul points out, “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express” (Romans 8:26 NIV).

Child-bearing is only one of the challenging issues married couples face. Some of the other life challenges married couples face are love for each other, food, clothing, shelter, work, finances, health, education, and raising children in the love and knowledge of God. Pray for your wife or husband in all aspects of human life. Pray also for your children and extended family.

How long have you prayed and waited on God for something very dear to you? Remember that prayerful Isaac, the promised, covenant child, waited for twenty years after marriage before he and Rebekah had their first and only children – twin boys. His father Abraham waited for twenty five years to have him after God had promised that Abraham would be the father of many nations. Do you think that God forgot about their needs to have children all those years? Not at all. My prayer today is that God should give spouses the zeal to pray with and for each other, and the patience to wait for answers according to His will.

Dr. Daniel Gyebi, Attorney-at-Law, Texas, U.S.A., and Founder, PrayerHouse Ministry, Kumasi, Ghana.

PrayerHouse Ministry is dedicated to providing a quiet facility for Christians to pray individually by themselves without any intermediary priest, pastor or any other person. This is a free service. No money is demanded or accepted. One facility is located at Kyerekrom / Fumesua, near Building and Road Research Institute Offices, one mile off the Kumasi-Accra Road and next to a house called Grace Castle. If you are interested, please contact Agnes at 054-7498653. Another is located at Kantinkyiren, at the junction of Kantinkyiren and Konkori, off the Kumasi-Obuasi Road, branching left at Trede junction. Contact Kwadwo at 0246989413 / 0557627875.