0:06

prose be the natural of of the soul

0:09

you should pray because you must pray not because

0:11

the set time preparing has arrived or

0:13

because your heart must cry and to your lord

0:16

transportation

0:16

hey were earning

0:18

jennifer smith your house of the marriage after that podcast

0:21

before we get into part two of this a part

0:23

devotional and prayer we wanted to read a review

0:26

that we have recently received because they love reading

0:28

the reviews our listeners the it

0:32

says life changing i

0:34

have been listening to this podcast on my way to work

0:36

for probably around sixty seven months now i

0:39

started from the beginning and i've missed several

0:41

days of listening so i'm still in the two thousand

0:43

and nineteen episodes incredible

0:46

but i am obsessed my husband started

0:49

listening to it as well on his can you after

0:51

telling him about it and we both love it so

0:53

much we both really felt the poor from

0:55

guide to start immersing ourselves in the word

0:57

and encouraging one another to be in the word and

1:00

this podcast was a huge catalyst for both

1:02

of us doing that wow

1:03

isn't that is so cool thank you so

1:05

much for leaving his review and think we

1:08

did when i think all of you who have left reviews

1:10

because it really does not only touch our hearts

1:12

and encourages but it also i

1:14

just helped other people find

1:16

the park like china part guess even want to listen to it

1:18

so think you if you

1:20

haven't had a chance to to

1:23

leave a review or star rating would you just

1:25

take a moment right now to do that this was

1:27

his are so much and it and like we said it just

1:29

helps the reach of the show thank you

1:32

awesome yeah recently already

1:34

do i want to have been

1:36

going to the reviews and with just sort of you have

1:39

some good ones so when we might be

1:41

sharing the more of an awesome yeah brink

1:43

of so we're in part to have an

1:45

eight week series

1:46

we're just talking about how much you love series will

1:49

like splitting things i've been kind

1:51

of digging into a little bit more overtime yeah

1:54

and so it we have this a

1:57

part series where we're going through i'm

1:59

essentially

3:59

idea of being in constant communion with

4:02

the Lord. And, you

4:04

know, I was just thinking about this lately, we've been doing

4:06

interviews, because our books are books

4:08

coming out, which we're super

4:10

stoked for, you guys, we've been

4:12

getting some really good feedback from and it just really is

4:15

awesome. I'm so excited. But since

4:18

these interviews are done on other people's

4:21

podcasts, there are new audiences, and

4:24

they're, they're new listeners to us. And

4:26

so we've been invited to share

4:28

a little bit of background before we actually get into the

4:31

interview questions. It's more like, yeah,

4:33

we get back, it takes us back like 17 years.

4:36

Oh my goodness. It's been

4:38

so fun. And

4:40

we've been kind of even after the interviews,

4:42

then we go back and we're like, well, we haven't talked

4:45

about that in a while. Or we haven't thought about the

4:47

beginning of our marriage or the beginning

4:49

of this ministry in a long time. And so

4:51

it's been really fun to go back

4:53

there.

4:54

Something that's been really cool as we've been talking

4:56

about our past is it sounds

4:59

like it seems like we've been noticing some similarities in

5:01

our upbringing that we didn't really realize before.

5:04

One specifically with prayer. You

5:06

were bringing up a podcast we just did recently

5:08

that your aunt used to drive

5:11

you around and like if something they saw, if she saw something

5:13

or if she got a text message or if she, if she

5:15

wanted to pray, she'd be like, well,

5:16

back then there weren't text messages. We

5:19

do that now with our kids, but

5:21

she got a phone call. She

5:24

would say, okay, kids, we got to pray. Let's pray for

5:26

this right now. And she would like kind of just pray right in the moment.

5:28

And my mom did the same thing. So when you brought that

5:30

up, I brought up the same story. Like, yeah, my

5:32

mom would always like we drive by an ambulance or

5:35

a car wreck or anything. She'd

5:37

be like, okay, guys, let's pray right now. And we

5:39

were just talking about how prayer

5:42

was kind of just taught to us and exemplified

5:45

to us. And not everyone had that.

5:47

Yeah. Because

5:48

I think the interview was asking us like, where

5:52

did that start with us? And why does it seem like it's been,

5:54

you know, quote, unquote, easy for us, which it hasn't been easy,

5:56

but,

5:57

but there has been this natural flow of

5:59

prayer. in our relationship and I think

6:01

that is because of our background

6:04

and upbringing, which we know not everybody

6:06

has that. And so we just

6:08

found that interesting when we were talking about it.

6:13

Do you desire to pray more for your spouse? Do

6:15

you desire to pray more with your spouse? We understand

6:18

that you may not know where to start, or maybe you feel

6:20

uncomfortable praying, or maybe you don't know what

6:22

to pray, or maybe you simply want to add something

6:25

more to your current prayer life. This

6:27

is why we wrote The Marriage Gift, 365 Prayers for Our Marriage.

6:30

We desire that it would be used as a daily reminder

6:32

and catalyst for you and your spouse to

6:35

grow a dynamic and consistent prayer life together.

6:38

This book is a compilation of 365 unique

6:41

and powerful prayers that cover a range

6:43

of diverse topics that every marriage deals with. You

6:46

can read it alone, or ideally, you

6:48

read it with your spouse.

6:50

Also, we hope that the topics that are brought up

6:52

in these prayers would become a starting point for

6:54

deeper and more intimate conversations with your

6:56

spouse and a desire to seek God on these

6:59

matters together. Visit TheMarriageGift.com

7:01

today and order your copy and give

7:03

your marriage the greatest gift, powerful

7:05

and meaningful prayer.

7:07

Visit TheMarriageGift.com today.

7:09

Goes back to this idea of having a posture

7:12

of and heart of prayer to always

7:14

be ready to pray and to never

7:16

cease praying. And also

7:18

that it could be something that is taught,

7:20

and it doesn't mean it doesn't need to be something you

7:22

saw as a child, but you could actually start it now,

7:25

especially for your own kids. That was another thing

7:27

that was brought up is that we're now trying

7:29

to teach that to our kids and show them that

7:32

example so that it's not something that feels

7:34

daunting for them in the future.

7:35

Yeah. Another thing that came to my

7:38

mind when I was thinking about Pray Without

7:40

Ceasing is I

7:43

went to an event where Sarah Haggerty

7:45

was there and she was sharing about her

7:47

book. I can't remember if it was for Unseen or Every

7:50

Bitter Thing is Sweet,

7:52

but she was sharing this

7:55

motherhood moment of, you know, when you

7:58

just have to get away and you get in the pain. answering,

8:00

you throw your apron over your head and you're just praying.

8:02

Like she was saying like, my kids know that when

8:04

the apron's over my head, I'm

8:07

communing with God. So we were alone. Yeah.

8:09

She goes, it's only a couple of minutes, but I have

8:11

to do it. And so that was another example

8:14

of a prayer without ceasing

8:16

that I thought was funny when I was thinking about this. But

8:18

really, it's like, okay, when

8:21

should we pray? Should we pray when we're walking around the house? Should

8:23

we pray when we're driving, going to the

8:25

gym?

8:25

Anywhere. Can I add to the prayer without ceasing?

8:28

The prayer without ceasing from 1 Thessalonians

8:32

5 also, I mean, it is the answer, but it also doesn't

8:34

really answer because everyone's still asked like,

8:36

okay, like I can't pray

8:39

without ceasing. Everybody knows. Right?

8:42

We have heard this. So the prayer without ceasing

8:46

is what you said. It's a constant community

8:48

of God words.

8:50

Your first

8:53

response to something, to anything

8:55

is like, Lord, what's going on? Yeah.

8:57

Which is important to have that.

8:59

I imagine when the

9:01

disciples were walking with Jesus, which

9:03

is awesome because we're going to be talking about Jesus

9:05

teaching the disciples when they were walking with him.

9:08

That was a constant prayer

9:11

without ceasing where they were with Jesus.

9:13

Like Jesus says, follow me. Lucky.

9:17

They only had it for him for three and

9:19

a half years, three years or so.

9:22

We have him living in us. So

9:24

this idea of

9:26

praying without ceasing is like, as

9:29

John would say, actually, I don't think

9:31

it's in John, I messed that up, but when

9:34

it says, keep in step with the spirit,

9:38

you're close with God. You're ready

9:40

to say, hey, am I going the right direction?

9:42

And so I think it's like you said,

9:44

more of a posture of like, how are

9:47

we near the Lord in our,

9:49

with our hearts and with our attitudes and with our minds?

9:52

Okay. So, so the answer

9:54

is of course we should be praying without ceasing

9:56

and we should be praying all the time, but today

9:59

we want to dive in.

11:59

like, Oh, I have to have to do this thing

12:02

because God desires it. And

12:04

or my parents desire it, or my husband desires

12:06

it, or my wife desires it. People say they're very

12:08

sick. Exactly. Like you're, you're, you're the,

12:11

the emphasis on secret is not saying like the only

12:13

place to praise and see your cause Jesus didn't do that. He

12:15

prayed all the time. And they never, he didn't always

12:17

just go into a closet, but there was definitely times he says

12:20

he went away and he didn't

12:22

have anyone around him. He went off into the wilderness. He went

12:24

off into the mountain. He went off to the, you know, alone

12:28

and sometimes for days. Just to be

12:30

with God, just to be with his father. And

12:33

so I think that the main emphasis

12:36

that I see in this when he says secret,

12:39

you know, and then he also, he emphasizes he's like, where

12:42

God who sees in secret will reward

12:44

you like it shows like, like God

12:47

also sees those quiet alone

12:49

places with us. And I

12:51

just, I thought that was really beautiful, that something that emphasizes

12:53

that our prayer life is truly

12:56

to hear from God is

12:58

truly to be with God.

13:00

And nothing else. That's

13:02

really

13:03

good. Um, and in order

13:05

to answer this question, when should I pray in light

13:07

of this, this teaching of

13:09

go to your room and shut the door? We

13:12

really need to think about this as, you know, moms

13:14

and dads and husbands and wives and consider

13:17

like, if, if we're going to pursue

13:19

this, this way, we, we

13:21

do need to be intentional because it means

13:24

as moms, we need to get up early before

13:26

the kids, um, or find time,

13:29

you know, after they go to bed. So some place where

13:31

you're not going to be distracted, save the fathers

13:34

and husbands, you've got to get up early before

13:36

work. You got to stay up late. You got

13:38

to find some time in the middle of the day when

13:40

the kids are, um, actively

13:43

doing something where, you know, you can pull away and

13:45

have that time where they're not going to open

13:47

the door. They're not going to, um, they're

13:49

not going to fight you and distract you, fight you

13:52

for your time or distract you.

13:54

You know, a funny note on this. I

13:56

just thought about this. Um, the bath.

13:59

bathroom

14:01

is a good place for that. You

14:03

could kind of couple yourself with...

14:06

And the reason I'm laughing about this is because it's actually something

14:09

that I

14:11

thought about with this idea of Jesus going

14:13

away to be alone. And that's weird to be like, Jesus didn't

14:15

go to the bathroom. Like, well, he is a man. He had to.

14:18

But there was often he went away to be alone. And I

14:21

was thinking like, that's probably when he went to the bathroom.

14:23

I know you think that's funny. And I've

14:25

thought about this before.

14:26

And of course, I think that's funny, babe. Okay,

14:30

but I don't want our listeners to be like,

14:32

how could he say that? Okay.

14:33

Well, the reason I'd say this is because one time I was

14:35

praying, not in the bathroom, but I was

14:37

just saying, God, there's like, every once in a while,

14:39

there's thoughts I have of like, hey, there's something

14:42

that I'd never noticed mentioned in the Bible before. God, why

14:44

is it not in the Bible? And one of them was

14:46

like, I don't feel like I've ever heard someone go to

14:48

the bathroom. And then I got one of the stories

14:51

in the book of, I think it's Judges, where

14:53

there's a king and one of

14:55

the judges goes in and kills the king. And

14:58

then he leaves and sneaks out the window and

15:00

the door's locked. And so the soldiers think he's just relieving

15:02

himself. And I was like, oh, that you answered my prayer, Lord.

15:06

That was a really funny story. Okay. Cool story,

15:08

I should say.

15:09

Identical if you keep going on about it.

15:11

That was funny.

15:13

I don't want our listeners to

15:16

hear this as their recommendation

15:18

or as the thing we want

15:21

to leave them with today.

15:22

From like really serious to like light,

15:24

but that is one place.

15:26

Hold on. Let

15:27

me finish my sentence. This

15:29

is my thought on this because I have had the

15:31

thought too, but going

15:34

to God, he is holy. Like

15:36

he is holy and sacred.

15:40

And I just feel like we should be

15:44

in a state or posture physically

15:46

that maintains

15:49

that holiness.

15:50

Okay. Well,

15:53

it could happen there, but you're saying on this,

15:55

what we're talking about is the more intentional of like going

15:57

to a place where you can be alone. and

16:00

quiet and pray. Not necessarily

16:02

while you're going to the bathroom.

16:03

I would not recommend praying like

16:05

this and being intentional because you're not being intentional.

16:08

You're just doing it on a whim like you would be walking through the kitchen

16:10

or going to the gym.

16:11

So you chalk that up to more of the

16:13

without ceasing the regular throughout the

16:15

day praying?

16:16

Yes. Okay. But even then, I would

16:18

suggest not doing that because the

16:21

Lord is set apart.

16:23

You don't pray while you're on the bathroom sometimes?

16:26

Like I said, I've had this thought. This is not

16:28

something I was thinking about

16:29

and this is not in the notes. I know. It came up just now. It's not in the notes.

16:31

I

16:31

have actually had the thought to

16:33

pray about something in the bathroom and I

16:36

stop myself because I think there's no way

16:38

I'm... It's

16:41

like going to your friend's house

16:43

with no pants on. You're like, that's... Really?

16:46

Do you not feel like that? Well,

16:47

he's there anyway. He sees the secret. I

16:51

can see you had comfortable. We'll move on from the bathroom

16:54

talk. The idea

16:56

though, from what we're everything we're saying, because that

16:58

was a lighthearted thing. I was just bringing up the thought I had, but

17:02

is that this shutting the door is an

17:04

intentional space. Like you were

17:06

saying, it's a private space. It's an alone

17:09

space. It's not just the

17:11

ordinary throughout the day, the quick prayers,

17:13

the quick questions, but it's an actual...

17:15

Like we talked about Jesus going away for

17:17

sometimes several days to be with God. Yeah.

17:20

I think when we do this intentionally,

17:23

our hearts and our minds can really tune in

17:25

to not just the experience of opening

17:28

up your heart to the Lord, which is so important to

17:31

be able to offer what's in there and be raw and vulnerable

17:33

with him, but it's also just spending

17:35

time in his presence and

17:38

listening to how he's going to respond

17:40

to you, whether it's through his word or

17:42

just in that space of the

17:46

still and the quiet. Kind of like in that

17:48

Psalm 23, where he says he

17:51

leads us beside quiet

17:52

still waters. Yeah. That's

17:54

really good. And then there's

17:56

another word that I think is really important

17:58

in this idea of... going into a closet

18:02

or into a private spaces is

18:04

the distraction. The distraction

18:06

free.

18:08

So don't take your phone.

18:09

Yeah. It won't. And nowadays,

18:12

especially, we're constantly distracted. I feel like

18:15

lately I've been trying to get back into a rhythm

18:17

with, you know, reading in the mornings and I get

18:19

up and I grab my Bible and I'm like, immediately

18:21

there's distractions. So we're

18:24

distracted by everything. And

18:26

so, but that just means that you need to get up

18:28

earlier, right? It's true. So finding

18:31

ways of getting rid of those distractions. It's

18:34

funny because 2000 years ago when this was written,

18:36

when Jesus said this, it was needed

18:39

back then. And it's literally still needed today.

18:41

This idea of we need to find a way to get away

18:43

from distractions. And

18:45

we have more of them today than

18:47

they did 2000 years ago.

18:49

Yeah. And, and I

18:52

had just mentioned about opening up your hearts

18:54

and sharing vulnerability with the Lord. And I also just want

18:56

to note on that. Like it takes time to get

18:58

there. It takes time to be in a place where

19:01

you're not distracted about

19:03

all the to-do lists and the things that you got on

19:06

your agenda that day. But it takes

19:09

time to also have the courage

19:12

to find the words to offer up, you

19:14

know, and we've talked about this before. Like why do

19:16

we need to offer up or share with God within

19:18

our hearts when he already knows? Well, there's something

19:20

really special about God

19:23

knowing something and you also being

19:25

willing to let him know

19:27

you in that way. And so

19:29

it shows that we have a relationship with them that

19:31

we desire to share.

19:32

But those things take time. Just like in a conversation

19:35

with your spouse, you don't just jump

19:37

into it on the fly. If it's something serious, you

19:39

set aside that time. You make, you make a space

19:41

for it because you know the first 30 to 45 minutes

19:44

is just nothingness

19:46

until you actually have the courage to

19:48

share. And I'm not putting a time on

19:51

this. I'm just saying, it takes time

19:53

to find the right words that

19:55

you want to say to the Lord.

19:58

And so being in that moment also.

19:59

in his presence to

20:01

receive from him, to go to him to

20:04

say, okay,

20:07

Lord, I am seeking

20:10

from you because I need you. Like

20:13

for consolation to him to console us.

20:15

That's peace. Yeah.

20:17

And it's something our culture

20:20

definitely doesn't support.

20:23

It's a constant, like

20:25

we gotta go. We gotta go, we gotta move forward.

20:28

That hustle culture, like you

20:30

gotta fill every single time with something productive

20:33

in the life you have.

20:34

I feel like it's that physically, but it's also that emotionally.

20:37

Like our culture tends to say, you

20:40

don't fill it. Like, just

20:43

keep going.

20:43

Yeah, I can see that. I mean, we do that

20:45

to ourselves too. Like, oh, I

20:47

should be happy right now. Instead of like,

20:50

wait, why am I not experiencing this sadness?

20:53

Why am I not, like with

20:55

friends and family, like when

20:57

we, what the Bible says,

20:59

like rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who

21:01

weep. That's like, that's a very intimate thing. It's like, be in

21:04

that moment with them. Cause

21:06

that's what God wants with us. He wants to be in that moment with us. He

21:08

is in the moment with us. He's in the season of

21:10

life that's hard. He's in the, and

21:13

that's how he's able to take

21:15

everything and work them together for good, for those who

21:18

love him are called according to his purpose.

21:20

And think about like the intimacy

21:22

with God that we're missing out on when we don't slow

21:24

down enough to go to our room and shut the door.

21:27

Oh, I feel it. There's

21:29

days I go by and I'm like, man, I'm

21:32

not

21:32

like listening to God. I'm not near God. I

21:35

could feel it. Like not that God left, but just

21:37

cause I've been so distracted and

21:39

I like find myself saying, okay, Lord, I'm

21:42

where have I been? Not where have you been? Where

21:44

have I been? You know?

21:46

When we were reading this verse and talking about the

21:48

direction we wanted to share about it, we

21:52

kind of saw a portion of it in two different

21:54

ways that I want to share about because I think they're both interesting,

21:56

but mine's a little bit briefer.

21:58

So I'll go first.

21:59

I read the part about go

22:02

to your room and shut the door. I

22:03

thought as an opportunity

22:06

for your spouse to come with you because that's

22:08

also their sacred space. Like that's their

22:10

bedroom and they'll

22:12

share the room. You share it. If you're not sharing

22:14

a room, that's something you guys should be probably discussing and

22:16

figuring out. Yeah,

22:18

I just thought as like, like they have

22:20

that invitation to come in and

22:22

to share it with you. And we want

22:24

to be an encouragement to you guys listening today

22:27

that praying together with

22:29

your spouse and that intimacy

22:31

with the Lord is such a cool and extraordinary

22:33

experience. If you guys haven't

22:35

been praying together, like we want to encourage you to be

22:37

doing that because there's things just like

22:40

how I mentioned about revealing your heart

22:42

and offering that up to the Lord when

22:44

you intimacy of that, that closeness.

22:46

When

22:46

you do that out loud in front of your spouse,

22:49

they get a glimpse into your relationship

22:51

with the Lord, the things that you're sharing with

22:53

them. And it also reveals and

22:56

makes yourself known to them and

22:58

then they can pray for you in those

23:00

things and the concerns or the praises

23:02

or whatever it is that you're sharing

23:05

with the Lord. And I just know from

23:07

experience, Aaron, with you that that

23:09

has been a really powerful

23:11

and good part of our relationship. And

23:14

so when I saw this

23:18

verse about shutting the door and I don't

23:20

know, I just felt compelled to share that.

23:22

You

23:23

interpret it in a way of in marriage, because again,

23:25

we're taking the teaching that Jesus gives to his disciples

23:28

and we're trying to draw from it for our

23:30

marriages. You're saying they're

23:32

the only one. They're the only one in your room and pray for it

23:34

with your husband.

23:35

Well, yeah. And they're the only other ones that have that same

23:37

access. Yeah. And so I

23:39

thought it was worth it to note.

23:41

And the way I kind of saw

23:43

it, which I would agree with you, I would say we could

23:45

look at it as one of the principles is I

23:47

go and pray with your spouse in

23:50

the privacy of your room and that

23:52

intimacy. But the way I took

23:55

it is looking

23:57

at the importance sometimes of our

23:59

prayer.

24:00

being private only. Meaning,

24:04

specifically when it comes to praying for your spouse, or

24:08

anyone really, but when it, because there's

24:10

so many things that happen between you and your spouse.

24:12

There could be this conflict, there's struggles, there's

24:15

transformation that you desire to see in them.

24:18

But

24:19

sometimes, instead

24:21

of just going straight and in the flesh

24:24

trying to deal with that thing with your spouse, right

24:26

away, just like, Hey, let's go

24:29

talk. I'm gonna, we need to talk about this. I need to bring up this thing.

24:31

This is bothering me. Here's this thing that you need to change. Here's

24:33

this thing that I hate about you. Here's this, whatever

24:35

it is, stopping first

24:38

and saying, okay, I'm gonna go bring

24:40

this thing to the Lord first. I'm

24:43

not even gonna bring it up yet. It's bothering me. It's

24:45

in my heart. I'm frustrated. I feel Benin is

24:47

coming and going straight to the Lord

24:49

first

24:50

in secret,

24:52

where God who hears in secret roards.

24:54

And so, and I've done this many

24:57

times with with you, Jennifer, and I know you've done it

24:59

with me. But there's something that's

25:01

going on. I see something that's bothering me.

25:03

There's something that has happened. Maybe

25:06

you said something to me a certain way. I'm like, like,

25:08

why does she do that? Or, you know, whatever it is. And

25:11

before just saying something to you, just

25:14

kind of addressing it out loud in the in the flesh

25:16

is what I would call it. Like, just trying to get

25:18

you to repent right away or get you to change

25:21

right away or get you to whatever it is. I'm on

25:23

my heart's desiring. I just

25:25

start praying about it.

25:26

Lord,

25:27

why did she do that? What what's going on? How

25:30

do you want me to walk in this situation? I'm angry, God.

25:34

And I go to him with those things. And

25:37

I don't know if everyone's that's

25:40

listening, believe me or not, but there's been

25:42

so many times that I've done

25:44

that. And that has been much

25:46

more fruitful in

25:48

that situation than me just going head on

25:50

and trying to deal with it in my flesh with

25:53

you, where I see you actually,

25:56

like something changes, like you come to me later

25:58

on, and you're like, Hey, yesterday, I'm so sorry,

26:01

I was really irritable and I shouldn't have done that. And I'm like,

26:04

Oh, thank you. Or like, babe, I was literally just

26:06

praying about this. And that's

26:09

happened a bunch of times. How many times you hear me say like,

26:11

babe, I was just praying about that.

26:12

Yeah, it's happened several times. I think the

26:14

other thing that can happen when we're doing that is

26:17

when you're praying about something that's frustrating

26:19

you and the Lord actually convicts your own

26:21

heart and you never have to bring it up because it was

26:24

something in you that had to change.

26:25

That's the second answer to this is when

26:28

I, so

26:29

in stopping and going to God first,

26:32

more times than that, He's

26:35

addressing my heart. He's like, why are

26:37

you angry? Why is that by the Jew? What

26:39

did she do? Like, and he actually convicts

26:42

me of my wrong thinking, my wrong hearing,

26:45

my wrong receiving, my

26:47

wrong interpretation of what's going

26:49

on.

26:50

Or simply like, Hey,

26:52

give her grace. She loves

26:54

you and she didn't mean that. And something I

26:56

don't need to like fight for. I don't need to

26:58

like re rehash. It's something

27:00

that I can overlook. Cause like the Bible says love covers

27:03

a multitude of sins. So there's

27:06

so many times I go into God first, resolves

27:09

the situation in my own heart. And

27:12

then often there's also been times that he resolves

27:14

it between us and in you. And

27:16

so I just wanted to bring encouragement to our

27:18

listeners that that secret

27:20

place is it's the, it's

27:22

twofold. You're in your bedroom and your

27:25

closet is one where you go with

27:27

your spouse. And it's also one

27:29

where you go for your spouse. Yeah. And

27:31

you can do it in private and you can like

27:34

we start off in the beginning of this episode talking

27:36

about why are we going to God

27:38

in prayer if it's not just

27:41

to receive from God. And

27:44

so going in that place for our spouse and saying,

27:46

well, I need to receive from you in this situation,

27:48

either wisdom or transformation or

27:51

help.

27:51

Prayer is an experience

27:53

that keeps your heart tender no matter what

27:56

it keeps it tender because you have to go in humility

27:58

before the Lord in it. It's a

28:01

way that he gets

28:03

to spend time with us and in that

28:06

sacred moment, he's actively

28:08

molding and shaping us if we let

28:10

him.

28:11

If we are only taking

28:13

a minute or two on the go, which again is a

28:16

good thing, are we really getting

28:18

to the root of the matters in

28:20

our hearts?

28:20

Yeah, are we still long enough to be

28:22

seen and also here?

28:24

Yeah. Or

28:26

are we convincing ourselves that we are

28:29

praying regularly, even though it's on the

28:31

go and kind of avoiding

28:34

all that heart stuff? Like these

28:36

are good things to be thinking about. So we've

28:38

already talked about like the motivation of prayer, why we

28:40

go to prayer. And now we want to ask

28:42

the question, like, are we really finding

28:44

the time to do it?

28:46

Finding the time to doing and letting God sit

28:48

with us in that heart space

28:51

and reveal things to him and

28:54

have him reveal things to us.

28:56

Yeah,

28:57

it's convicting for me, for sure. And

29:00

that's something that actually we want to get another

29:02

encouragement is just because we're teaching these

29:04

things and we've written a book on prayer doesn't mean we've

29:07

figured all this out. It's actually, we're

29:09

constantly trying to be reminded and encouraged in

29:12

our own life of the things

29:14

that God desires from us and in the relationship

29:16

we have with him. So we haven't

29:18

figured all this out,

29:19

but we're working on it.

29:21

And I would say to add to that, when you say working

29:24

it out, it's more of making

29:26

sure that our flesh isn't getting in the way and

29:28

keeping us from that distraction,

29:31

but actually doing the things that the Lord has already taught.

29:35

Today God wants you to know that he wants

29:37

to hear from you in an intentional and deep

29:39

way. He wants you to offer your heart to

29:41

him. He wants you to sit still before him

29:43

and receive from him. Today

29:46

we want to encourage you to build a habit of

29:48

escaping the day's distractions, the constant

29:50

requirement on you to be and to do and

29:53

to sit before the Lord in quiet and secret.

29:56

Let your preoccupied heart offer up to God

29:58

your praises, your concerns, and your prayers. your gratitude

30:00

and your needs and just be with Him.

30:05

So, at the end of all of our episodes,

30:07

we usually pray. We end with a prayer. But

30:09

with this eight part series, the

30:12

prayer that we're going to be praying

30:15

is actually from our book, The Marriage Gift. And

30:17

so this is prayer 113, and

30:20

it's called Praying for Each Other.

30:23

Dear Lord, what a beautiful and intimate

30:25

gift you have given to us in prayer. We

30:28

praise you for the way you make yourself available to

30:30

us. Thank you for the privilege and

30:33

opportunity to come before you right now. Today

30:35

we pray for our marriage. We invite you

30:37

to motivate us to regularly share what is in

30:39

our hearts, how we feel, needs

30:42

we have, and what we're struggling with, so

30:44

that we know how

30:46

best to pray for each other. We

30:48

also ask you for the gift of understanding each

30:50

other in a profound way. Let

30:52

us come to you in confidence and ask only what

30:55

is in your will.

30:56

Lord, will you bolster our faith and give

30:58

us the courage to initiate prayer together. Make

31:01

us brave to pray for each other without being concerned with

31:03

messing up our words or not praying perfectly. Please

31:07

inspire our hearts with what to say so that our prayers

31:09

uplift and comfort each other. Give

31:13

us a deep desire and strong will to pray for one

31:15

another daily. Bless our marriage

31:17

with unity as we commit to praying for each other. In Jesus' name we pray.

31:19

Amen. So

31:23

we just want to encourage you all to pick up a copy of our newest book, The

31:25

Marriage Gift, 365 Prayers for Our Marriage.

31:29

And the subtitle is A Daily Devotional Journey to

31:31

Inspire, Encourage, and Transform Us and Our Prayer

31:33

Life. So if you want to pick up a copy today,

31:36

just go to themarriagegift.com. Themarriagegift.com,

31:39

one word.

32:30

Light of conduct –