Prayer Can Change a Man’s Heart
Allan was a tough man. Raised by a single mom with five siblings, he learned how to scrape his way through life and climb to the top of humanity’s heap through sheer determination and grit. He married at nineteen, had his first son at twenty, then a baby girl at twenty-five. Over the next two decades he advanced from driving a delivery truck at a lumberyard to becoming part owner of a building supply company.
Allan drank heavily, fought with his wife verbally and physically, and terrorized his children emotionally. He gambled, dabbled in pornography, and had questionable relationships laced with a host of unsavory vices.
But when his teenage daughter gave her life to Jesus and began praying for her family, God grabbed the chisel of grace and began chipping away at Allan’s proud heart of stone. One day he told her, “I’ll go to church with you from time to time, but I could never become a Christian. I’ve done too many horrible things in my life. God could never forgive me. I could never be good enough.”
His daughter explained that no one could ever be good enough. If we could, then Jesus wouldn’t have had to die on the cross to pay for our sins. But Allan couldn’t wrap his mind around that kind of grace.
When Allan was forty-six years old, his life took several hairpin troublesome turns. Because of a business deal gone terribly wrong, he was sued for breach of contract and breaking a no-compete clause with a former employer.
Allan teetered on the brink of a nervous breakdown. From man’s perspective, it appeared he was on the verge of losing it all. From God’s perspective, Allan was right where he needed to be.
One day, in a surge of panic, Allan drove from North Carolina to Pennsylvania to try and find his wife at a meeting she was attending. When he couldn’t find her, he stopped by a church and asked for prayer. The church receptionist drew Allan a map on a piece of scrap paper and sent him to find a pastor out in the woods building his new church.
Allan followed the map and found a man with a hammer in his hand and Jesus in his heart. He poured out his heart and told the pastor everything he had ever done in his raucous life. Then the man put his arm around Allan and said, “Now, let me tell you what I’ve done.”
The way Allan later explained what happened that day was this: “That man had done everything I had done. I knew that if God could forgive him and he could be a pastor, then He could forgive me too.”
Allan accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior that day in the woods of Pennsylvania, and became one of the sweetest men I’ve ever known.
Allan was my dad.
From my earliest years as a Christian, I experienced the power of prayer to change a man’s life—to strengthen a man’s resolve, to protect a man’s heart, and to mature a man’s faith. My first hand encounter with God’s faithfulness to hear our pleas for the men in our lives began with my father and continues with my husband and son.
As a wife, you have the power to open the floodgates of heaven through prayer on your husband’s behalf.
As a mother, you have the privilege to stand in the gap to bring God’s will to earth as it is in heaven on your child’s behalf.
As a friend, you have the position to intercede for and link arms with someone you love on their behalf.
Through prayer, God’s power and provision of God flows into the lives of His people.
In my book, Praying for Your Husband from Head to Toe, I show wives how to cover their husbands in Scriptural prayer from top to bottom. However, you can use this pattern of prayer to pray for anyone.
Today, let’s pray for the mid-section. I’m going to leave the word “husband” in the prayer, but you can substitute it for whoever is on your heart today.
Dear Lord, I pray for ________________.
Shoulders – No matter what my husband goes through today, assure him that nothing is too hard for You. Empower him to cut the cords of worry with the saber of praise and to place his burdens on Your able shoulders. Genesis 18:14; Deuteronomy 31:8; Psalm 9:10.
Heart – Place a hedge of protection around his heart to keep corruption out and purity in. Proverbs 4:23; Proverbs 17:20; Proverbs 17:22.
Back – Protect him in the physical and spiritual realms. Keep him from the devil’s schemes that would attempt to trap him or trip him up. Thank you that no weapon formed against him will stand. John 10:10; 2 Corinthians 2:11; Ephesians 6:10-18.
Arms – Help my husband be strong and courageous in Your mighty power. Bolster his courage when he is afraid and reassure him when he doubts. Deuteronomy 31:6; Joshua 1:9; Isaiah 30:15.
Hands – Bless the work of my husband’s hands. Reward his efforts and bring him success. Deuteronomy 33;11; Deuteronomy 28:12-13. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
What is your most pressing prayer for your marriage or the man in your life today?
Leave a comment with your prayer request and then pray for the woman’s name above yours. You don’t need to share a lot of details. God’s got them all!
Do you want to learn more about how to pray Scripturally and powerfully for your husband? Praying for Your Husband from Head to Toe: A Daily Guide to Scriptural Prayer will show you how!
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©2023 by Sharon Jaynes. All rights reserved.
