Rainey Barbara - Two Hearts Praying as One

Whether you are newlyweds or have been married for many years, the discipline of praying together will strengthen your union in tremendous ways. In Two Hearts Praying as One, Dennis and Barbara Rainey share practical, biblical insights on increasing your intimacy with God and with each other by consistently joining hearts before the Lord.

J OSH D. M C D OWELL

TWO HEARTS PRAYING AS ONE
published by Multnomah Publishers, Inc.
2002 by Dennis and Barbara Rainey

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from:
New American Standard Bible 1960, 1977, 1995
by the Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

Other Scripture quotations are from:
The Holy Bible, King James Version ( KJV )
The Holy Bible, New King James Version ( NKJV )
1984 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Multnomah is a trademark of Multnomah Publishers, Inc.,
and is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
The colophon is a trademark of Multnomah Publishers, Inc.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwisewithout prior written permission.

For information:
MULTNOMAH PUBLISHERS, INC . POST OFFICE BOX 1720
SISTERS, OREGON 97759

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Rainey, Dennis, 1948
Two hearts praying as one / Dennis & Barbara Rainey.
p. cm.
eISBN: 978-0-307-56462-7
1. Spouses--Religious life. 2. Prayer--Christianity. I. Rainey, Barbara. II. Title.
BV4596 .M3 R36 2003
248.3208655--dc21

2002151012

v3.1

Dedicated to Carl and Sara Jo Wilson,
who mentored us in the discipline of praying as a
couple through just one brief conversation.
Thank you for running the race to win and for
sharing your advice and the testimony of
your fifty-plus years of marriage!

O ur admiration and appreciation go out to the hundreds of couples who have shared with us the ecstasy and agony of remaining faithful in daily prayer as a couple. Your stories, whether told here or not, have enriched this devotional.

A special thank-you goes to Doug Martin, Travis Runion, and Heather Kremers, who coordinated the prayer survey through FamilyLife.com.

As always, Denniss administrative team at FamilyLifeJanet Logan, Cherry Tolleson, and John Majorshelped keep the ship steady and provided support.

Our competent leader and team player at FamilyLife, COO Clark Hollingsworth, has our heartfelt gratitude for keeping the ship on course while Dennis devoted time to writing.

And all of us want to thank the leaders and staff at Multnomah Publishers who have graced us with their talents and service: Don Jacobson, Doug Gabbert, Jim Lund, Bill Jensen, David Webb, andin particularour editor, Renee DeLoriea.

I n this age when overpromising and underdelivering are commonplace, there is one promise that we absolutely know will deliver: Praying together as a couple will enrich, enhance, and fortify your life, marriage, and family.

Praying together may be the single most important spiritual discipline you and your spouse will ever share. Heres why:

Are you lacking intimacy in your marriage? Praying together will take you to new levels of intimacy far beyond what you thought possible.

Is there conflict in your marriage? Praying together will defuse, disarm, resolve, and prevent disagreements.

Do you want more transparency in your marriage? Praying together is certain to open your hearts to one another.

Do you feel distant from God? Heres a scriptural promise to grab onto and apply: Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know (Jeremiah 33:3).

Are you fearful? Disappointed? Discouraged? Worried? Angry? Hopeless? Praying together will calm the storms in your heart, marriage, and family.

Are you struggling against sin? Praying as a couple exposes sin so God can work.

Are you near divorce? Praying as a couple restores unity of heart, mind, and purpose.

If you want your marriage to go the distance and your family to be all that God intended, pray together as a couple every day.

Is praying together the be-all and end-allthe only thing that couples must do to be successful? No. But it is the first step toward experiencing the blessings of having God at the center of your marriage.

Ruth Bell Graham once wrote, I seriously doubt if there would be many divorces among Christians if they took time to kneel in prayer once a day and each prayed for the other.

Without the wisdom of a mentor we met years ago, we might never have discovered the power of prayer in our marriage.

When Barbara and I married, my boss, Carl Wilson, was a mature, successful Christian leader. Since Carl had been married for more than twenty-five years and was obviously a satisfied husband and father, I thought I should tap into his wisdom on marriage. Not long after Barbara and I returned from our honeymoon, I asked Carl, What is the very best piece of advice you could give me as Barbara and I start our marriage together?

Carl didnt even hesitate. Oh, thats easy, Denny, he said. Pray every day with Barbara. Ive prayed every day with my Sara Jo for more than twenty-five years. Nothing has built up our marriage more than our prayer time together.

The answer seemed simplisticthe kind of response that makes you want to say, Thats nice, but isnt there something else? Yet the years have shown that Carls advice was profound and priceless.

We have followed that wisdom for more than thirty years. In fact, we might not be Mr. and Mrs. Rainey today if it werent for the humbling guidance and provision that have come as God has interacted with us and responded to our prayers.

Committing our lives to the lordship of Jesus Christ and praying together almost every day since 1972 has brought a peace to our marriage and home. Because of our deep desire for couples to experience the richness of love and life that comes through praying together regularly, we have developed these thirty devotional entries. Why thirty? Studies have shown that it takes just thirty days to forge a new habit. So our goal is to help you develop a good habit that will benefit all aspects of your lifeincluding enhancing, and possibly saving, your marriage.

Praying together throughout your marriage will test your resolve, your perseverance, your humility, and even your courage. And as you pray together, keep in mind that you will meet spiritual opposition. Satan knows the spiritual power available to a couple united in prayer. He will oppose your efforts to come together as a prayer team.

So if for any reason you dont pray together for a few days or longer, dont give up. We understand how humbling it is to begin again after you have stopped praying somewhere along the way. However, we encourage you to look forward to the days ahead when you will pray together instead of looking back at the days when you didnt.