HARVEST HOUSE PUBLISHERS
EUGENE, OREGON
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Cover design by Bryce Williamson
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PRAYERS FOR VICTORY IN YOUR MARRIAGE
Copyright 2017 by Tony Evans
Published by Harvest House Publishers
Eugene, Oregon 97402
www.harvesthousepublishers.com
ISBN 978-0-7369-6991-8 (pbk.)
ISBN 978-0-7369-6992-5 (eBook)
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CONTENTS
Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 C ORINTHIANS 15:57
I f you are a believer and you are married, youre in a battle whether you realize it or not. The battle is for your unity to be destroyed, your love to be diminished, and ultimately your marriage to fail. Marriage is a foundational covenant created by God through which He manifests His presence and power in a unique way. Strong marriages lead to strong families. Strong families raise up a strong next generation. Satan would like nothing more than to do what he did in the Garden of Eden, tearing apart the family unit by inciting blame and undermining trust and respect. We all know what this led tothe removal of Adam and Eve from the garden and later the murder of one of their children by a sibling.
To say that spiritual warfare happens in the home is an understatement. The home, and particularly marriage, is a hotbed of Satans tactics and techniques. Whoever owns the family owns the future. You can see why the devil would like to bring destruction to marriage.
The apostle Paul warned us about this ongoing spiritual conflict in several of his epistles, but perhaps most importantly in his letter to the believers in Ephesus, where he also spells out our strategy for winning the battle. That strategy has to do with the armor we wear as we enter into warfare with the enemy of our souls.
Put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lords people (Ephesians 6:13-18 NIV ).
In my foundational book Victory in Spiritual Warfare , I wrote extensively on how were to engage the enemy with our armor in place. Now, in this second book of the Prayers for Victory series, Im offering a collection of powerful prayers that address some of the major issues we face in our marriages. In addition, there are prayers for favor and requests for God to bless your home.
For each topic, youll find prayers based on each piece of our armor. Pray these prayers word for word, paraphrase them, or use them as a starting point for crafting your own prayers. The main thing is that you pray. My goal is that these prayers will act as a starting place for you each day and that when the prayer Ive written ends, you will go on praying in your own words about your situation.
The quotes before the prayers in this book are adapted from some of my previous books and used by permission:
Destiny (Harvest House Publishers, 2013)
Free at Last (Moody Publishers, 2005)
Kingdom Man (Focus on the Family, 2015)
Kingdom Marriage (Focus on the Family, 2016)
Life Essentials (Moody Publishers, 2007)
Marriage Matters (Moody Publishers, 2014)
A Moment for Your Soul (Harvest House Publishers, 2012)
The Power of Gods Names (Harvest House Publishers, 2014)
Raising Kingdom Kids (Focus on the Family, 2016)
Victory in Spiritual Warfare (Harvest House Publishers, 2011)
Watch Your Mouth (Harvest House Publishers, 2016)
Remember as you pray that you do not pray as a beggar, but as a warrior for the King of kings. If you need help discovering what I mean by that and how critical it is that you claim your legal rights when you pray, listen to my sermon Claiming Your Legal Rights at go.tonyevans.org/prayer. You have power over your enemy when you pray. You probably have more power than you realize. Your task is to walk in your God-given authority so you are enabled to live out a strong and influential marriage. And you do that through prayer.
God created marriage with a purpose in minda mission. A kingdom marriage isnt solely about making you happy or making your spouse happy. A kingdom marriage successfully merges mission with emotion. Too often, couples lose sight of the mission and purpose while focusing on the disappointment of unmet expectations regarding their emotions. Then when happiness fades or the spark fizzles, they think that their marriage is over. Or their disappointment leads to conflict and complaining.
God created Adam and Eve with a purposeto exercise dominion. Dominion means ruling on Gods behalf in history so that history comes underneath Gods authority. Simply put, the mission of marriage is to replicate the image of God in history and to carry out His divinely mandated dominion. Thats why Genesis 1:26 says, Let them rule. I go deeper into the dominion mandate in my teachings on marriage, but for the purpose of your prayers, know that the Lord has brought the two of you together in order to reflect His image on earth in the most holistic manner possiblethrough the union of man and wifein order to advance His authority and rule from heaven on earth.
Happiness is a benefit of a strong marriage but not the goal. The goal is the reflection of God through the advancement of His kingdom on earth. Happiness occurs as an organic outgrowth as we seek this goal. Aligning our mindsets appropriately with the purpose of God can help us pray in connection with Gods will for our lives, our relationships, and our homes.
The Every Day Pieces of Armor
Before we begin, lets take a brief look at each piece of armor. The first three pieces of armor are items we should wear every moment of every day.
The Belt of Truth
Wearing the belt of truth involves realizing that truth is fundamentally God-based knowledgeHis viewpoint on a matter, containing three principles:
