The power of Confession and Prayer: Why I Forgave and Trust My Wife!
Truly Faithful
Many people who have read my wife's story about her issue with lust and me praying her though have asked and wondered HOW was I able to forgive her and then trust her after she was thinking of committing adultery! Today I'm going to FINALLY address your questions and thoughts as now it's time to. But just know, there is POWER in Confession and Prayer!
Flashback to my wife coming to me about her thinking and lusting after another man…can I be honest? I WAS PISSED! Here I was being Truly Faithful to her and my wife had been THINKING of having sex with another man? You can call me whatever you want to call me but in my mind, I wanted to leave her, find the guy and do some damage. This man who had met me before and showed great respect towards me in my face, was flirting with my wife, disrespecting me, disrespecting my God and my covenant with my wife behind my back and I was supposed to be ok with it? OH NO! As soon as my wife was to be done with her confession, I already had it made up in my mind what I was going to do. I was going to tell her she could have him and that it was OVER! Then I was going to find the guy and just let him have what I was storing for him. The more my wife talked, the angrier I got! Though I was listening to her, my mind was multi-tasking on what I was going to say to her and thinking of acts of revenge against him. I was hurt yes, but I was ANGRY MORE!
But something happened! Something that made ALL THOUGHTS of revenge STOP and really pay more attention to my wife! My wife said to me, "If you don't pray for me, I am going to fall away"! That was a CRY FOR HELP! A cry for help that I could NOT ignore! THE HOLY SPIRIT IN ME caused me to stop thinking of my hurt and instead think of what my wife was saying. She was basically saying that if I did not pray for her, she was going to give into her flesh. She was saying that if I responded in anger and put her out or leave her, that she was going to run into his arms for comfort and be in sin. At least that's what I GOT from her telling me that. Not only that, the HOLY SPIRIT was showing me that my wife indeed was going to fall away because she was weak, suffering, struggling and that her COVERING, which is ME, needed to COVER HER IN PRAYER RIGHT THEN! It was at that very moment I looked deeper at my wife and saw that she was more than just my wife, but she was ALSO my sister in Christ who I was joint heirs of Christ with. She was also the daughter of the Most High King and she was CRYING OUT FOR HELP! How could I act out in anger and pain and not PRAY FOR AND LOVE HER THROUGH? Is that not what Christ did for me on the cross IN THE MIDDLE of being persecuted? (Luke 23:34)
So as SOON as she said that, I IMMEDIATELY DIED TO MY FLESH RIGHT THEN, grabbed my wife, hugged her and PRAYED FOR HER! Her very soul was at stake. I had to look past me and even pass her and look at her SOUL BEING IN DANGER of being lost to SIN! SIN was NOT going to have power over my wife if there was anything I could do about it. You may say we are all responsible for our own actions and you are right because we are. But I am ALSO responsible for my brother and sister in the Lord when they come to me and ASK ME TO PRAY FOR THEM, especially MY WIFE!
You hear my wife and I harp on James 5:16 all the time and that is because it was that scripture that helped us through this trying time in our marriage! There is power in confession but ONLY when you confess to those who will encourage, minister, correct and PRAY for you!
How could I trust her again? Here is how: I trusted in God's power over my prayers and I believed God would answer them! (1Peter 3:7). I was standing on God's word that says, "And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins" (Mark 11:25). I would need forgiveness too! Maybe not in the same way my wife needed forgiveness, but I would eventually need forgiveness from God about something! So I had to pray and forgive my wife DURING PRAYER! I am quick to say when things are hard, but to be honest, when I allowed the Holy Spirit to lead me at that moment, it was easy to pray for and forgive my wife because I could feel HIS power working on the inside of me AS I DENIED MY FLESH to respond in ANGER! What many of you may not know is that I ALSO prayed for MYSELF during this prayer. I asked God to heal my heart and help me to forgive and trust my wife! I also CONFESSED that I was hurt which caused my wife to cry even harder! We were BOTH in tears because there had been a small breach in our marriage, BUT GOD! And yes sex afterwards was the most intense sex we ever had at that time. And that was because we understood that SEX in marriage is an act of worship. And it was like after confessing, after forgiving, after praying, we came together as ONE in an act of worship to GOD, to seal the deal that there would be NO ADULTERY PERIOD in our marriage but also that NOTHING and NO ONE could put our marriage asunder, not even US!
Now you can understand more of what we wrote on the posts "He Takes Care of Home" and "Run Like Joseph"! We do NOT have time for foolishness in our walk nor our marriage because satan is playing for keeps. This is why we draw near to God as much as possible and allow GOD to KEEP US in our minds, our hearts, our spirits and our actual bodies!
So whatever it is you are struggling with, no matter how deep of a secret it is, find someone you trust in the body of Christ and confess your struggles to them so they can pray for you. Confess and expose yourself so that satan can no longer hinder you and use your sin against you! There is Power in Confession because when you confess to the right person in the body of Christ who will PRAY FOR YOU, their prayers will avail much! I'm a living witness of the power of confessing your sins and prayer! There is power in confession because WITH prayer, the results can be AWESOME! And I praise God for AWESOME RESULTS in my MARRIAGE!
James 5:16
(KJV), "Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much".
(AMP), "Confess to one another therefore your faults (your slips, your false steps, your offenses, your sins) and pray [also] for one another, that you may be healed and restored [to a spiritual tone of mind and heart]. The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working]".
(DRB), "Confess therefore your sins one to another: and pray one for another, that you may be saved. For the continual prayer of a just man availeth much".
(ISV), "Therefore, make it your habit to confess your sins to one another and to pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective".
Share this with as MANY as you can! Thank you ALL! :-)
Many people who have read my wife's story about her issue with lust and me praying her though have asked and wondered HOW was I able to forgive her and then trust her after she was thinking of committing adultery! Today I'm going to FINALLY address your questions and thoughts as now it's time to. But just know, there is POWER in Confession and Prayer!
Flashback to my wife coming to me about her thinking and lusting after another man…can I be honest? I WAS PISSED! Here I was being Truly Faithful to her and my wife had been THINKING of having sex with another man? You can call me whatever you want to call me but in my mind, I wanted to leave her, find the guy and do some damage. This man who had met me before and showed great respect towards me in my face, was flirting with my wife, disrespecting me, disrespecting my God and my covenant with my wife behind my back and I was supposed to be ok with it? OH NO! As soon as my wife was to be done with her confession, I already had it made up in my mind what I was going to do. I was going to tell her she could have him and that it was OVER! Then I was going to find the guy and just let him have what I was storing for him. The more my wife talked, the angrier I got! Though I was listening to her, my mind was multi-tasking on what I was going to say to her and thinking of acts of revenge against him. I was hurt yes, but I was ANGRY MORE!
But something happened! Something that made ALL THOUGHTS of revenge STOP and really pay more attention to my wife! My wife said to me, "If you don't pray for me, I am going to fall away"! That was a CRY FOR HELP! A cry for help that I could NOT ignore! THE HOLY SPIRIT IN ME caused me to stop thinking of my hurt and instead think of what my wife was saying. She was basically saying that if I did not pray for her, she was going to give into her flesh. She was saying that if I responded in anger and put her out or leave her, that she was going to run into his arms for comfort and be in sin. At least that's what I GOT from her telling me that. Not only that, the HOLY SPIRIT was showing me that my wife indeed was going to fall away because she was weak, suffering, struggling and that her COVERING, which is ME, needed to COVER HER IN PRAYER RIGHT THEN! It was at that very moment I looked deeper at my wife and saw that she was more than just my wife, but she was ALSO my sister in Christ who I was joint heirs of Christ with. She was also the daughter of the Most High King and she was CRYING OUT FOR HELP! How could I act out in anger and pain and not PRAY FOR AND LOVE HER THROUGH? Is that not what Christ did for me on the cross IN THE MIDDLE of being persecuted? (Luke 23:34)
So as SOON as she said that, I IMMEDIATELY DIED TO MY FLESH RIGHT THEN, grabbed my wife, hugged her and PRAYED FOR HER! Her very soul was at stake. I had to look past me and even pass her and look at her SOUL BEING IN DANGER of being lost to SIN! SIN was NOT going to have power over my wife if there was anything I could do about it. You may say we are all responsible for our own actions and you are right because we are. But I am ALSO responsible for my brother and sister in the Lord when they come to me and ASK ME TO PRAY FOR THEM, especially MY WIFE!
You hear my wife and I harp on James 5:16 all the time and that is because it was that scripture that helped us through this trying time in our marriage! There is power in confession but ONLY when you confess to those who will encourage, minister, correct and PRAY for you!
How could I trust her again? Here is how: I trusted in God's power over my prayers and I believed God would answer them! (1Peter 3:7). I was standing on God's word that says, "And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins" (Mark 11:25). I would need forgiveness too! Maybe not in the same way my wife needed forgiveness, but I would eventually need forgiveness from God about something! So I had to pray and forgive my wife DURING PRAYER! I am quick to say when things are hard, but to be honest, when I allowed the Holy Spirit to lead me at that moment, it was easy to pray for and forgive my wife because I could feel HIS power working on the inside of me AS I DENIED MY FLESH to respond in ANGER! What many of you may not know is that I ALSO prayed for MYSELF during this prayer. I asked God to heal my heart and help me to forgive and trust my wife! I also CONFESSED that I was hurt which caused my wife to cry even harder! We were BOTH in tears because there had been a small breach in our marriage, BUT GOD! And yes sex afterwards was the most intense sex we ever had at that time. And that was because we understood that SEX in marriage is an act of worship. And it was like after confessing, after forgiving, after praying, we came together as ONE in an act of worship to GOD, to seal the deal that there would be NO ADULTERY PERIOD in our marriage but also that NOTHING and NO ONE could put our marriage asunder, not even US!
Now you can understand more of what we wrote on the posts "He Takes Care of Home" and "Run Like Joseph"! We do NOT have time for foolishness in our walk nor our marriage because satan is playing for keeps. This is why we draw near to God as much as possible and allow GOD to KEEP US in our minds, our hearts, our spirits and our actual bodies!
So whatever it is you are struggling with, no matter how deep of a secret it is, find someone you trust in the body of Christ and confess your struggles to them so they can pray for you. Confess and expose yourself so that satan can no longer hinder you and use your sin against you! There is Power in Confession because when you confess to the right person in the body of Christ who will PRAY FOR YOU, their prayers will avail much! I'm a living witness of the power of confessing your sins and prayer! There is power in confession because WITH prayer, the results can be AWESOME! And I praise God for AWESOME RESULTS in my MARRIAGE!
James 5:16
(KJV), "Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much".
(AMP), "Confess to one another therefore your faults (your slips, your false steps, your offenses, your sins) and pray [also] for one another, that you may be healed and restored [to a spiritual tone of mind and heart]. The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working]".
(DRB), "Confess therefore your sins one to another: and pray one for another, that you may be saved. For the continual prayer of a just man availeth much".
(ISV), "Therefore, make it your habit to confess your sins to one another and to pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective".
Share this with as MANY as you can! Thank you ALL! :-)
Post a Comment