Devotional: Power of a Praying Wife (Finances)

This week for our study,The Power of a Praying Wife , we talked about His Finances. The study is broken up into various subjects our husbands need prayer for. This week our discussion was extremely deep and encouraging. One of the main subjects of praying for our husband's finances was for God to help strengthen them in their responsibility to provide for the family. Our husbands have a huge responsibility to work and take care of the family, this could become stressful for them. Our prayer for our husbands could be that God will give them purpose while they work and take care of our needs. We read the scripture in Luke 13 where Jesus tells us that God knows our needs, the birds of the air don't worry for food and the lilies of the field don't worry for clothing and God takes care of them. We are worth much more to the Lord! It's amazing when you think about it, everyone around the world has the same basic needs, clothing, food, shelter, these are things that God knows we need, we have to trust that He will provide. The problem arises when we actually convince ourselves the levels of how much is an actual "need." Do we need the large house and expensive cars and clothing or do we convince ourselves to give less so we can have these things? Something to think about.

In the topic of finances, we also spoke of giving to the poor. This was an eye opener for me, a lot of times we have more than we need, if we are eating and sleeping, and have some clothes on our backs, we're more than taken care of. There was a story in Luke 12 where someone asked Jesus to tell his brother to share the inheritance with him, and Jesus said life is not about possessions. He told a parable of a man that had crops that were abundant, so much so that he had no where to store them. He built bigger store rooms so that he would have more than enough, and years later could eat, drink, and be merry. And God called him a fool and said this day your soul is required of you. He spent his whole life storing up everything so that he could use them later, and when the "later" came, he couldn't enjoy it because of death.

This really struck home for me. In our American society it is SO easy to get caught up on preparing for the future and storing, and storing until we never have enough to give. We were convicted about this. Jesus gave to thousands and didn't even have anywhere to lay his head (Matthew 8:20).

1 

Blessed is the one who considers the poor![a]
    In the day of trouble the Lord delivers him;
 the Lord protects him and keeps him alive;
    he is called blessed in the land;
    you do not give him up to the will of his enemies.

The Lord sustains him on his sickbed;
    in his illness you restore him to full health.

-Psalm 41:1-3 

This verse speaks of taking care of the poor, giving, and being promised that God would take care of us in our days of trouble. Do we trust God to take care of us, or do we always find ways to not give? Or find reasons why the poor don't "deserve" to be given to. We must TRUST God. My prayer is that we will become better givers, trust God, and know that our life is not tied up in what we have, because it is fading. But also that we can encourage our husbands to not trust in finances, they physically work, but God is the one that blesses us. I am so thankful for my husband's sacrifice and hope that I can be there to support him, encourage him, and be encouraged to serve God in our finances. Be encouraged!

-Nicole


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