Chapter 3: A Man and Prayer

from Pat Morley

Volume 223
March 26, 2007

NOTE: This is part of a series of excerpts from my new book, A Man’s Guide to the Spiritual Disciplines. We’ve also created a web site location at www.maninthemirror.org/spiritualdisciplines where you can obtain numerous additional audio, video, and print resources on the Spiritual Disciplines.

This week let’s do a second excerpt on prayer.

Suggestions for Pursuing the Discipline of Prayer

3. Pray regularly with your wife (if married) or an accountability partner.
If married, try praying with your wife every day. Although marriage and prayer statistics are hotly debated, Dr. Tom Elliff, chairman of the Southern Baptist Council on the Family, notes how prayer coupled with regular church attendance and counseling benefits a marriage: “What we have discovered, however, is this: born-again Christian couples who marry . . . in the church after having received premarital counseling . . . and attend church regularly and pray daily together, that the divorce rate is approximately 1 divorce out of nearly 39,000.”

Whatever the statistical significance, praying with your wife symbolizes a depth of relationship with God and each other. Shaun, from Bozeman, Montana, asked his men’s group, “How many of you pray with your wives?” Only one of the eight men answered, yes. For the next year they held each other accountable. As one of the men said, “It’s pretty hard to be upset with your wife or to be arguing and still come before God with a clean heart. It forces us to communicate and humble ourselves before each other before we do something as intimate as praying together. It just permeates through the rest of your family, and day.”

3 Suggestions for How to Use This Article

• Ask your wife if you can take two or three minutes each day, maybe before work, for (a) praising and thanking God, (b) intervention, and (c) intercession.
• If you are single or want more prayer with another person, meet with a man to pray. A number of men I know have prayer partners. Some meet at set times; others call each other when specific needs come up. A married man should never have a woman other than his wife as a prayer partner. A single man should never have a married woman as a prayer partner.
• Ask your married small group members, “How many of you pray regularly with your wives, and why or why not?” After discussion, if praying with wives seems good to these men, challenge each other to act and hold each other accountable for a season of time by regularly asking, “Are you praying with your wife?”

For the glory of Christ and no other reason,

Pat Morley, Ph.D.

P.S. You can order this book through Man in the Mirror by going to www.maninthemirror.org/spiritualdisciplines.