Andrea and I came across a great devotion that caused us to look at prayer much differently. Surely you’re familiar with the ACTS prayer Guide. A - Acknowledge, C - Confess, T - Thanksgiving, S - Supplication. A very well used and applied pray model.
The devotion was called, "Pray Effectively", and it they acronym is PRAY.
P=Praise. Start by praising God: telling him who he is to you and thanking Him for your spouse along with their abilities and talents that make them special. Nothing is too big or small.
R=Repent. Next, move into a short time of repentance: admitting to God your faults and taking time to listen for what He has to say back. Would it be crazy to repent for our thoughts, feelings and actions that were unloving towards our spouse.
A=Ask. Prayer requests are what most people think of when they envision prayer. Center your prayer request on your spouse and asking God to bless them. "Jesus commands you to ask, but when you ask, make sure your request will GLORIFY God, that it is CONSISTENT WITH HIS WORD, and that it BRINGS YOU JOY".
Y=Yield. The final step is to yield to God: stopping and quieting your heart to hear from God. Remember yielding continues long after our prayer time has concluded. If we are to truely glorify God we must continually yield to putting our desires above His will. God’s will is that we would
The takeaway from our devotion is that we should seek to glorify God in prayer and one way to do that is to love our spouses, esteem them above and beyond their faults and appreciate them despite being disappointed. Try making this a focus area of your prayer life. 1 Peter 3:1-8.
Great insight!