0:04

To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible

0:07

than to be alive without breathing. Martin

0:09

Luther King Jr. Hey,

0:12

we're Erin and Jennifer Smith, your hosts of the Marriage

0:14

After God podcast. Today we wanted

0:16

to share with you a review left by BreLyn,

0:19

and the title of this review

0:21

says consistently humble. I've

0:24

listened to these two for many years now,

0:26

and I'm so impressed how unwavering, humble

0:28

and faithful they are. I've tried to listen to other

0:30

marriage podcasts and no one compares in humility

0:32

and gentleness towards one another and others.

0:35

It's so refreshing.

0:36

I love that review. It's

0:38

hard because she's excited that or

0:40

she's praising us for our humility, but

0:43

I want to be like, wow, thank you for liking

0:44

our podcast. I

0:47

think what's hard for me about it is comparing

0:49

us to other marriage podcasts, which we know lots

0:51

of them who are podcasting and we appreciate

0:54

them. And I know that she does too, but

0:56

it feels good to

0:59

be up on her list. So

1:01

thank you, Bre. We appreciate that. If

1:03

you haven't left a review, we want to encourage you to do

1:06

so. We love them. We love reading them.

1:08

We've been starting to read them live on our show.

1:12

And so if you leave a review, you might get yours read out

1:14

loud as well. But these reviews

1:16

help other people find our podcast. These

1:19

reviews are super important. One of the main

1:21

ways Apple

1:23

and all the other places that

1:25

syndicate our podcast decide how

1:28

to show and rank our show.

1:30

They're also super encouraging to us because

1:32

we're just in our room sharing with you

1:34

guys, but we see each other face to face.

1:37

But in a way, when you leave a review, we get

1:39

to see you and

1:40

it makes it more personal. Yeah, we appreciate that.

1:42

So we love them. So if you haven't done that, go leave us a

1:44

star rating in a review. Thank you. Okay,

1:47

we are into part six of our eight

1:49

part series. We are

1:51

getting close to the end here. We hope

1:53

that you guys have been following along

1:55

and have been blessed by this

1:57

series. If you have been, by the

1:59

way.

3:36

prayer

4:00

life together. This book is a compilation

4:03

of 365 unique and powerful prayers

4:06

that cover a range of diverse topics that every

4:08

marriage deals with. You can read

4:10

it alone or ideally you read it

4:12

with your spouse. Also we hope

4:14

that the topics that are brought up in these prayers

4:16

would become a starting point for deeper and

4:18

more intimate conversations with your spouse and

4:21

a desire to seek God on these matters together.

4:23

Visit TheMarriageGift.com today and order

4:26

your copy and give your marriage the greatest gift,

4:28

powerful and meaningful prayer. Visit

4:31

TheMarriageGift.com today. So

4:33

we're in Matthew chapter 6 going through the Lord's

4:35

Prayer and we're in verse 11

4:37

and this part of the prayer

4:40

Jesus says, give us this day our

4:42

daily bread. And you

4:45

know what we this is such a

4:47

simple thing to be asking the Lord for

4:49

right? But I

4:51

just want to make note there's so many people in the

4:53

world that are hungry not just for spiritual things

4:55

but for actual food. Bread

4:58

and food is so important

5:00

to the human life and we

5:03

may not think about this often because especially here

5:05

in the United States we're so blessed we have so

5:07

much at our fingertips all the time. We

5:10

often don't realize what it feels like to even be hungry

5:13

and so in Jesus's day and in many

5:15

parts of the country still to this day hunger

5:17

is a very real thing. And so this

5:19

prayer Jesus is encouraging his disciples,

5:22

encouraging his church, encouraging those who

5:24

love God to ask

5:26

him, say Lord provide for me today, feed

5:29

me today. Not just my like physically

5:31

is what what he's talking about but also we're

5:34

gonna draw out of this the whole spiritual aspect of it. But

5:37

something really interesting about

5:39

food and being humans.

5:41

We can only live as humans for

5:44

about 8 to 21 days without food. Now

5:47

unless of course you're Jesus or Moses where

5:50

miraculously you were able to go 40 days

5:53

without eating then you're probably just

5:56

like me and my wife who we

5:58

need to eat pretty much daily. And

6:00

so just because you might be able to go as

6:02

a human six days, eight days, 21 days without

6:04

eating, as

6:07

some might do fasts. In

6:09

reality, the healthiest

6:11

way we can be, just

6:14

in general, is when we eat daily.

6:15

Because really what we're talking about is thriving.

6:18

Like as humans, are we actually thriving? Because if

6:20

you're only taking in a few calories a day

6:22

because you're fasting or you think

6:25

you're getting enough, but really you're not, you're like, there's

6:27

a difference between- Your body needs nutrients. Yeah, and there's a

6:30

difference between like, yes, I'm

6:32

eating and yes, I'm getting everything that I actually need.

6:34

Right. And we're

6:36

not talking today about eating

6:38

food, but we're pulling out

6:40

this analogy of our daily bread, not

6:42

just that God takes care of our physical needs,

6:45

but that we actually need our

6:48

spiritual needs met every single day.

6:51

And so that's kind of what we're gonna be drawing

6:53

out today.

6:54

If I'm being honest, just

6:56

because it ends on that word bread,

6:59

I'm gluten-free. So for anyone else that's

7:01

gluten-free. You're like, yeah, bread. Yeah.

7:04

I know we're all a little bit sensitive to this episode. No,

7:07

but I do think about that because what a world when it's become

7:10

in the last decade or so with,

7:13

just everything seems to be marketed

7:16

as gluten-free and-

7:18

You want negatives around bread.

7:20

Yeah. Yeah, it's like we can't just have

7:23

a fresh loaf. Anyways, side

7:25

tangent. But there is something to be

7:27

said about autoimmune disorders and

7:29

inflammation of the body and just how, for some people, they

7:32

don't get to eat bread daily. I just wanted

7:34

to recognize that because I am one of them.

7:35

But the

7:37

awesome thing is we don't need to, this

7:40

episode's not, again, it's not about eating,

7:43

but it's showing that as

7:45

humans, the fact that

7:47

we need physical things every day,

7:49

we need to breathe oxygen. We need water.

7:52

We need food. Our daily

7:54

bread is that daily sustenance, that

7:56

daily nutrients that our body needs to function, that our

7:58

brain needs, that our muscles needed, our-

11:57

You've

12:00

been there, you've been in those modes, and

12:03

when you take a step back from the strife, from the frustration,

12:06

from the why is things seem so off,

12:08

and you say, man, we've done this before,

12:10

I'm like, babe, when's the last time you've been in the Word? Or

12:12

you look at me, Aaron, how's your walk with

12:15

God? I'm like, oh. Yeah, checking in. Yeah.

12:18

And we realize that we

12:20

haven't been fed. We

12:22

haven't been going to the provider, to

12:24

the one who feeds us, the heavenly man of

12:26

the bread from heaven, the Word of God, and

12:29

we're not coming to Him in prayer. That's why Jesus is teaching us

12:31

to pray. Like,

12:33

God, give me my daily bread today.

12:36

Feed me today. Yes,

12:38

feed me my physical. Like I need food. I

12:40

need these things in my life. And

12:42

Jesus even says in another place, He's like, He already knows what you need

12:44

before you ask it, right? So I guess our

12:47

encouragement is this recognizing,

12:49

especially in this prayer, of understanding

12:52

that we need to be running to God regularly

12:55

and daily to get our sustenance

12:57

for Him.

12:58

Yeah. It's kind of like you guys are familiar

13:00

with the Lord's Prayer, and you

13:02

probably even have it memorized to the point where like

13:04

when we say a portion of

13:06

it, you could finish it. So this is

13:09

just our big full stop, like

13:11

right here, after

13:12

we're

13:13

praying and asking the Lord to provide daily

13:16

bread. Like let's just stop and think about what

13:18

that means. That's what today's episode is about.

13:21

I've mentioned briefly in another episode

13:23

about a, it was

13:26

on YouTube and it was a sermon John Piper was sharing

13:28

about the Lord's Prayer. And

13:30

he was talking about how the first three petitions

13:33

in the Lord's Prayer are in relation to who God

13:35

is. So how it would be thy name, thy

13:38

kingdom come, thy will be done. And

13:40

then the second set of petitions

13:42

are about our needs. So give us this daily bread,

13:45

forgive us our debts and deliver us. I

13:47

know I really liked how He categorized

13:50

those and kind of set them apart a little bit. And

13:52

I just wanted to bring it back up because now we're on the second

13:54

half and give us today

13:57

our daily bread as that first petition for

13:59

recognizing our needs and

14:01

who it is that we go to for

14:03

our needs. When you

14:05

shared this the first time with me, first of all,

14:07

I was like, wow, that's awesome. I didn't recognize that.

14:10

But it immediately reminded me of the 10 commandments,

14:13

how the first four commandments are

14:15

our relationship with

14:18

God. And then the last six commandments

14:20

are our relationship with other people. And

14:23

it's interesting how God does that in the spiritual ways.

14:25

Like first, recognizing God, second,

14:28

recognizing us.

14:28

Yeah, that's good. So if

14:31

you wanted to search that again, it's John Piper on

14:33

YouTube. And I think the title has

14:35

to do with how it would be by name.

14:38

Okay. Yeah. So,

14:40

okay. So back to today's topic, we are focusing

14:42

on more so the spiritual

14:45

aspect of daily bread. So

14:47

it's kind of got the physical out of the way. Now we're going to jump into

14:49

the spiritual.

14:50

Yeah. So let's read in John chapter

14:52

six, verse 35. Jesus says this about himself.

14:55

He says, I am the bread of life. Whoever

14:57

comes to me shall not hunger and whoever

15:00

believes in me shall never thirst. And

15:03

so, and in John one, Jesus

15:05

is called the word. And so

15:07

he's the bread, he's the word. And

15:10

he says that whoever comes to me shall

15:12

not hunger. And it also

15:15

think of that woman at the well, when

15:17

he goes to her and he says, if you would ask, I would give you water

15:20

that you would never thirst again. You

15:22

know, going to this, we have this daily habit

15:24

pursuit of getting water, daily pursuit of getting bread,

15:26

things for our physical body. And

15:29

Jesus is saying, I am

15:31

the fulfillment and the sustenance for

15:33

your spirit. I will fulfill

15:36

you and feed you and give you everything you

15:38

need forever. But

15:41

he says, come to me. And that's what we're

15:43

talking about in this idea of prayer, especially

15:45

in our marriage, where when

15:47

like we were just talking about the strife that comes when

15:50

we aren't feeding

15:52

ourselves and we're not coming to the feeder, coming

15:54

to the one who is the bread, the one who

15:58

takes away our thirst and takes away our hunger. and

16:00

sustains us. How immediately there's

16:03

a breakdown in relationships, there's a

16:05

breakdown in trust and in love and in unity.

16:09

But that is where we need to be. We need to be running

16:11

to God in prayer and saying, okay, Lord, I

16:14

need you. That's what he means when he says, come to me. Like,

16:17

how do we come to God? Yeah. In

16:19

prayer, in his word. You

16:22

know, he says, I'm the bread of life, I'm the

16:25

water, and he's the word. So

16:27

I just wanted to connect all those things together.

16:29

When you brought up the woman at the well, I

16:32

remember when we were watching the chosen series, that

16:35

part made me weep so hard when

16:37

you could just see, because

16:39

it's one thing when you were reading the scriptures, but then

16:41

seeing, like what it being played

16:43

out and just how immediately the

16:45

fill up is of her understanding

16:48

who Jesus was and that he was

16:50

her substance. Like, that was such

16:52

a beautiful picture and her running away

16:55

ready to go to town. Do

16:58

you remember

16:58

that? It's much

17:00

more dramatic when you see it dramatized.

17:03

I mean, that's what I do, but the power of

17:06

that recognition of, oh my gosh, you

17:08

are the one. And

17:10

we need to be recognizing that daily. And again,

17:13

I mentioned that we kind of go through seasons

17:15

where we forget. It's

17:18

hard to forget in the flesh, because our flesh, there's these

17:20

triggers in our flesh, like your stomach

17:23

grumbles. Yeah. You

17:25

get irritable. You're like, man, I'm hungry.

17:28

I'm craving food. I need protein.

17:31

I need carbs. I need

17:33

all these things. And so your body's triggering

17:35

it.

17:35

What are some of those spiritual triggers that

17:38

maybe we're not recognizing?

17:40

Well, I think one of them is when

17:42

there's strife. And you're like,

17:44

why am I irritable? I think that's a, like

17:46

we get irritable when we're hungry. When we're irritable,

17:48

when we're talking about walking in the spirit and

17:51

what the fruits of the spirit is, love is

17:53

patient and kind. When we are, when

17:56

we're not seeing that fruit, it's

17:59

probably because we don't have it.

19:44

bodies

20:00

to thrive and individually needing

20:02

to consume God's word and be in prayer

20:04

so that we can spiritually thrive. Imagine

20:07

what our marriage needs daily in order

20:09

to thrive. Oh man. I

20:12

know there's probably a handful of answers

20:14

that we could all chime in and say

20:17

that are important, which are, and they're good.

20:20

They true basic needs like communication,

20:22

like you need to be able to communicate in marriage. Um,

20:24

you need to love each other. You need sexual intimacy.

20:27

Okay. Well, like we know that these things are important. But

20:30

let's remember that God designed marriage. So

20:32

one of the most important and basic necessities

20:35

is submitting our marriage relationship to

20:37

the one who designed and purposed it.

20:39

It's going to him

20:42

together to

20:43

read his word and to pray. Yeah. Like

20:46

that is

20:47

hugely important.

20:49

There's something interesting cause we're, we've been talking about prayer

20:52

in this eight part series and

20:54

that's, that's our main focus. But something

20:58

I think a lot of believers forget

21:01

to do when reading the word is

21:03

pray. This is something

21:05

whenever I'm prepping a message for Sunday

21:07

morning, I start, I literally

21:09

start and I close my eyes and I say, Lord, what

21:12

is it you have for our church today? What

21:15

does it you have for me today? What is your word

21:18

trying to teach us today?

21:19

Which just to acknowledge that when

21:22

I say submit to the Lord,

21:24

like that's you submitting your heart to the Lord

21:26

before you go and share a sermon,

21:29

because you could probably come up with the knowledge that you

21:31

have of something.

21:32

I could make something out of it. Yeah.

21:33

For sure. But

21:35

instead you're submitting to what the Lord wants

21:37

to share through you in that moment.

21:40

That's what I meant with

21:40

his word specifically. And also

21:42

there's, there's so

21:44

many people that don't believe in Jesus, that don't believe in God

21:47

that read the Bible and know the Bible really

21:49

well. But we,

21:51

we as believers have a special connection

21:53

to the author himself. It's as if, and I saw someone

21:56

post this once, when a believer reads the Bible,

21:58

you get to have. the author

22:00

of the Bible reading it with you. And

22:03

so you get to sit there and say,

22:05

Lord, what are you saying here to me?

22:07

What are you saying to your church? What am I supposed to understand here?

22:09

How am I supposed to be changed by this? And

22:12

we can ask God to reveal those things to us. And

22:14

his Holy Spirit does. His Holy Spirit teaches

22:16

us all things in his word and brings to remembrance

22:19

all things in his word. And that's the one of

22:21

the jobs of the Holy Spirit is to teach us. He's

22:24

the helper, the counselor. And so when

22:26

we when we're reading his word, and we kind of forget

22:28

about him, and we're just trying to like pull out

22:31

of this well, without a bucket,

22:33

without a rope, and we're like, how do we get, you

22:35

know, what the truth is here? How are we getting getting what

22:38

he's saying to me here? And

22:40

so prayer should

22:42

be synonymous with reading the Word of God. When

22:45

we go to the bread of life, like

22:47

Jesus says, give us this day, our daily bread, we're going to Jesus

22:50

and we open the Word and we say, Lord, give

22:52

me the bread of life out of this. Show

22:55

me what you're saying to me. And

22:58

the same in marriage that we are

23:00

pursuing God for our spouse

23:03

and saying, Lord, would you feed my

23:05

wife today? What she needs?

23:08

Would you show me what she needs?

23:10

And so when I'm in the Word of God, God

23:12

revealed to me how I can encourage my wife from this. What

23:15

do you have for me to draw out to

23:17

give to her? Right?

23:19

That's good. And when you

23:21

guys, okay, so this is obviously

23:23

based off of our experience of praying together

23:26

in marriage, but when you go to the Lord together

23:28

in prayer and you're submitting to him

23:30

your relationship and you're pursuing his will,

23:34

you're showing him that you trust, you

23:36

trust him first and foremost. Yeah.

23:38

Right. You wouldn't be going to him if you don't trust him, which

23:41

is getting built up as you continually practice

23:44

prayer. But you're also showing

23:47

your own heart and mind, but also your spouse's

23:50

that your reliance is in the Lord. Reliance

23:53

to give you understanding, reliance

23:55

to give you that physical daily

23:58

basic necessities of life. and

24:00

to help you thrive. And that's

24:02

a powerful thing because there's

24:04

a lot of circumstances in life that a marriage

24:07

will come up against. Every single

24:09

day there's a new thing. It could be

24:11

something, it could be something

24:13

small and simple to something excruciating

24:16

and painful. But my point

24:18

is that we're all going to experience

24:21

hardships and things that we are forced to walk

24:23

through. And when we

24:25

can submit those things to the Lord

24:28

and say, maybe our prayer is just, we

24:30

don't even know how to handle this right

24:32

now. You're showing your reliance on

24:34

the one who can lead you through it, who

24:36

can be your stamina and strength

24:39

through it. Reveal it to you the truth. Reveal it to you

24:41

the truth, or give you wisdom and insight on how

24:43

to navigate through

24:46

it together. And

24:48

you're looking to Him for it together.

24:50

And I think that that is something that has really

24:52

proved to be a grounding

24:56

and important thing in our marriage.

24:57

And it also,

24:59

you're talking about this reliance on God. And

25:02

it also brings to mind this idea that so

25:04

often, as we were just talking about, we

25:08

have our disposition naturally

25:10

is we can do this on our own. I'm

25:13

gonna go figure out how to get my food.

25:15

I'm gonna figure out how to feed myself. I'm gonna,

25:18

we self-rely.

25:20

We assume that responsibility.

25:22

And then often we

25:25

only go to God when our self-reliance runs out.

25:28

Rather than humility

25:30

of recognizing that without

25:32

God, without Jesus,

25:36

we aren't getting fed at all. Yeah. He's

25:39

the one that provided the grain

25:42

and the water and the seeds and

25:44

the earth and all the things that

25:46

produce actual real food, but

25:49

also all the things that produce real spiritual fruit.

25:51

Yes. We need God

25:54

always 100% for everything we need. But

25:58

we forget that. We self-relate. Like,

26:00

oh, I'm going to do everything

26:02

in my own power until I can't, and then I'm going to go to

26:04

God and say, okay, how can you help me?

26:07

Which carrying around that kind of weight

26:09

is really, really challenging and hard. Do

26:11

you feel like, Aaron, when we pray and

26:14

reveal our reliance on God for certain things

26:16

that that pressure is relieved? Like

26:19

there's this relief in you that... Immediately.

26:20

Yeah. There's

26:22

something incredibly freeing about humiliation, being

26:25

humble before God. Saying,

26:28

I can't do this. I have no idea what I'm doing.

26:30

Which that's another thing. I talked about

26:34

you get to experience that reliance on the

26:36

Lord, but when you're praying together in

26:38

marriage, you also get to know and experience

26:40

that humility.

26:42

When you hear your spouse praying to the Lord and

26:44

you hear them be humble beforehand, like that's

26:47

an experience. And that goes a long way

26:49

in your relationship because it adds to

26:51

that trust of, I know you. I

26:54

know that you're a humble person and I can say that with confidence

26:56

because I've seen you before your

26:59

creator, submitting

27:01

that relationship. So submitting

27:03

everything before him.

27:05

Which this is the question we're trying

27:07

to answer today. Can

27:09

we live

27:11

without prayer?

27:13

And I think the answer is like, yeah, I

27:15

think we can experience

27:17

life without prayer and many do. It's

27:20

why we're doing this episode, this

27:22

series is to explain

27:26

and to remind us as believers that sure,

27:28

we may be able to live without prayer. But

27:30

your

27:30

quality of life. Can we thrive

27:32

without

27:33

prayer? Can

27:35

we grow without prayer? Can we

27:37

sustain without prayer? And

27:41

the answer is no. We need

27:43

the bread of life. We need

27:46

God to feed us our daily bread.

27:50

We need it as believers. So

27:52

sure, we can live a long life on

27:54

this earth, in this body, without

27:56

prayer. But we are not going to thrive

27:59

as believers. We're not going to be close

28:01

to God. We're not going to know Him without

28:03

going to Him.

28:04

If you believe and confess that Jesus is

28:06

Lord, that He died for your sins and

28:08

rose again, that makes you a Christian.

28:11

And you have to understand that there is a privilege

28:14

and an opportunity and access

28:16

to walk with God. And

28:18

prayer is that way that we commune with Him.

28:21

So choosing not to pray would

28:23

be to choose to have a relationship

28:26

with someone and never talk to them. Is

28:28

that even a relationship at all? No. So...

28:32

Yeah, I said I

28:32

love you that one time when we got married. That

28:35

was the last time we talked. No,

28:38

that daily moment by moment communication

28:41

of recognizing who God is. As we've

28:43

been walking through this Lord's Prayer, Jesus

28:46

teaching us of this understanding that He's our Father,

28:48

understanding that He's holy, understanding

28:51

what His will is, understanding

28:55

that He provides for us. Like we're

28:57

getting into this phase of how

28:59

He takes care of us as our Father.

29:02

There's another scripture that talks about how

29:05

fathers take care of their children. Like

29:08

if a child goes to a father and asks for a cup of water, he doesn't

29:10

give him a serpent or ask for a bread and give him a rock.

29:13

Like He gives good gifts. So does our Father in

29:15

heaven. We can

29:17

trust and know that when we ask

29:19

God to feed us, He is going to

29:21

feed us every time.

29:24

So what do Christians

29:26

miss out on if they're not praying every day? What

29:29

are those not thriving Christians experiencing?

29:32

Well, there's a distance

29:34

they feel. They feel distant. And

29:37

that's just true. And

29:39

if you're listening to this, just raise your hand right

29:41

now. When you're not praying and trying

29:43

close to God, do you feel close or distant?

29:45

Yeah, and with distance

29:47

comes loneliness and with

29:49

distance comes doubt

29:52

because you're unsure.

29:53

You're unsure of who

29:56

God is, what He's capable of.

29:58

Is He mad at me? Do you believe love me or not?

30:01

All these questions.

30:02

Yeah, for sure.

30:05

Yeah, you miss out on being reminded that you're

30:07

forgiven and loved. I feel like I kind of

30:09

struggle with that in times that I've

30:11

experienced drought, so to speak, or

30:14

me being distant from God. I

30:16

start to wonder in that place of insecurity,

30:19

am I even truly forgiven?

30:21

I think

30:22

just speaking about this whole idea of doubt

30:25

and like doubting our forgiveness and

30:27

our love, the good love of God. We

30:31

have several enemies in this world. We

30:34

have the devil. We have

30:36

that evil spirit that speaks

30:39

lies. I

30:40

would consider our own flesh enemy. Our own

30:42

flesh. It gets in the way.

30:44

And so when we fill those

30:47

doubts, what we're doing is we're believing the lies

30:49

rather than the truth.

30:53

I'm not loved. I've messed

30:55

up too much. God can't forgive

30:57

me. I can't just go to Him now.

30:59

I've got to fix myself first. All of these things are

31:01

the devil or flesh or

31:04

voices from the past that have told us that

31:07

those things, when God

31:09

tells us a very different story in His Word, come

31:12

to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden,

31:14

I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon

31:16

you for it is light. My

31:18

burden is easy.

31:19

So when we're not consuming God's

31:22

Word and praying daily, we're missing

31:24

out on the truth and we're consuming

31:26

life.

31:27

We're becoming susceptible to the lies early

31:29

on. And then eventually, yeah, start believing them.

31:32

I think another thing we miss out on when we don't pray, when

31:35

we don't come to God is being

31:37

able to petition God for our marriages. Like

31:40

ask for help. Yeah, we're

31:42

not living up our marriages. We're kind of

31:44

leaving that to the wayside because

31:46

there's plenty of things that we need wisdom on

31:49

or even miracles or transformation.

31:51

And we're not going to God and saying, God, I need help in this area. Sometimes

31:54

help me become that man, help her become that woman.

31:56

Yeah, totally. And you said the word

31:58

miracles and I think. Sometimes it's just a matter

32:00

of seeing the miracle. When you pray, your

32:03

eyes are open to what

32:05

God's already doing and moving in. We've

32:08

talked about this in the past, like you praying for me

32:10

and then me changing

32:13

in areas without us ever having a conversation about

32:15

it. Okay, but you got to see that miracle

32:17

take place in me, that the Lord is moving

32:19

in me. And had

32:21

you not been praying for that thing, do you think your eyes would

32:23

have seen it as clearly?

32:25

Probably not. Probably didn't

32:27

recognize it. The thing that happens when we're praying

32:29

to God that we're in tune to His Spirit, we're

32:31

in tune to His will and how He's moving.

32:34

I think that that's powerful. I think that's beautiful

32:37

to be able to recognize clearly where the miracles

32:39

are because I think miracles happen without us seeing them, without

32:41

us recognizing what they are. But

32:43

I think that when we're praying for them and we're seeking

32:46

them and we're trusting in the one who

32:48

does them, we see

32:50

with spiritual eyes. We're more

32:52

able to

32:53

recognize them when they happen, when

32:55

God's moving. Rather than, again,

32:57

being self-centered and we're totally

32:59

missing all the things that God's doing.

33:01

Yeah. The last thing we just want

33:03

to mention is that when you're not praying, you're

33:05

missing out on being obedient to God, which pleases

33:08

Him. He commands us to pray.

33:11

In Philippians 4, 6 it says, do not be anxious

33:13

about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication

33:15

with thanksgiving. Let your request be made

33:18

known to God. He wants you

33:20

to make them known to Him.

33:21

Which is exactly why we've been doing this series

33:23

because our heart is that marriages are praying,

33:26

that they are going to God with

33:28

everything, in and everything, with thanksgiving.

33:31

And just a reminder, shameless

33:33

plug here. If you and your spouse struggle,

33:36

which we know happens a lot in marriages, if you're

33:39

struggling to figure out how to start praying together,

33:42

please grab our book that just

33:44

came out. It's called The Marriage Gift.

33:46

We wrote it for you guys with you in mind

33:49

so that you have something to start with.

33:52

It's just a catalyst for you.

33:53

That was a good plug.

33:54

Okay, so as I was preparing

33:57

notes for this specific episode, I would

34:00

went on GotQuestions, which is

34:02

a site where you can basically just

34:05

ask a question and it gives you biblical answers

34:07

and scriptures regarding

34:09

your question. So

34:12

this is what they had to say about prayer.

34:14

God intends prayer to be the means of obtaining

34:17

His solutions in a number of situations,

34:19

which I like that because it's very practical. I'm very

34:21

practical. I like that it's His

34:23

solutions. Yeah, not our own, right?

34:25

We're pursuing His will. And just

34:28

a couple of things to highlight that

34:30

they bullet pointed for us was

34:32

that we pray in preparation for major

34:34

decisions, which Erin, I

34:36

know in our marriage, like pretty much any

34:38

decisions we've had to make when we go to God in prayer,

34:41

it feels more clarifying.

34:44

We walk away with peace knowing that

34:46

we can confidently choose what

34:50

we've got going on. And maybe that doesn't happen

34:52

in every single situation.

34:53

Sometimes it's that we're not going to do that thing.

34:56

And that's very clear, which we don't feel regret

34:59

over. We're like, Oh, okay. Clearly

35:01

that's not God's will for us right now.

35:03

And any time that we haven't felt

35:06

super clear about a decision, we know and trust

35:08

because we've done it so long that in His

35:10

timing, the Lord will help us navigate

35:12

that one. So the

35:15

example that they gave for this one was in Luke 6,

35:17

12 through 13, Jesus goes away to

35:21

be praying. And when He comes back,

35:24

He calls His disciples and He chooses the 12.

35:26

So it's just showing and reflecting

35:29

that even Jesus before He

35:31

made that decision, even though He knew who it

35:33

was going to be, submitted that before the Lord

35:35

and spent time praying. And I love that.

35:37

He also went away

35:39

in the garden just before He was crucified to

35:42

pray and be prepared

35:44

for that thing He

35:46

was about to do. Yeah. Very hard thing.

35:47

Yeah. And guys, we know in marriage,

35:50

like we are always coming up against

35:53

decisions that we have to make, whether it's in our jobs

35:55

or in our parenting or in schooling

35:58

or everything, literally everything.

35:59

And we have to make

36:01

major and sometimes minor decisions and

36:04

it's good to pray about those things. Another

36:07

one was to gain strength to overcome temptation,

36:10

which again, everybody deals with and everyone needs

36:12

help with. In Matthew 26 41, it

36:14

says, watch and pray that you may not enter into

36:16

temptation. The Spirit indeed is willing,

36:18

but the flesh is weak.

36:20

Which is something we're going to talk about soon in the

36:23

next couple episodes.

36:24

Yeah. And then the last one I just

36:26

wanted to note this again is from GotQuestions.

36:28

They said to obtain the means of strengthening

36:31

others spiritually. So this

36:33

is going back to that whole take your eyes

36:35

off yourself for a moment and remember that others

36:37

need your prayers.

36:38

So like I was bringing up earlier praying

36:40

and

36:41

asking God to reveal to you how

36:43

you could best feed

36:45

your wife, serve your wife, love your wife

36:47

and the wife

36:49

in reverse can do the same. Go to

36:52

God and ask, how can

36:54

I serve my husband right now?

36:55

And the Aaron and I have always

36:57

been big advocates to share with you guys

36:59

the importance of community and fellowship. And

37:03

one of the benefits is that when you're in

37:05

a community and you're, um,

37:08

you're actively pursuing spiritual disciplines

37:10

like prayer, you know, you

37:12

can trust your friends to be praying

37:15

for you. And when you are going

37:17

through hard things, I can't tell you how comforting

37:19

it is to know that you've got other

37:21

spiritual warriors praying on

37:24

your behalf and petitioning to the Lord for

37:26

the thing that it is that you're dealing with. And we all

37:28

need that because we're all part of the same body. Um,

37:31

that was a really good encouragement

37:33

because being prayed for by people

37:35

is

37:36

the best.

37:38

Yeah. Uh, Ephesians 6 18 through 19

37:40

says praying at all times in the spirit with all parents

37:42

application to that end, keep alert

37:44

with all perseverance, making supplication for all

37:47

the saints. And also for me that words

37:49

may be given to me and opening my mouth boldly

37:51

to proclaim the mystery of the gospel,

37:54

which continues to happen to this day. You guys,

37:57

we all are light in this world and we have to

37:59

continue proclaiming.

37:59

the gospel for the sake of people who don't know Jesus

38:02

yet.

38:03

We need to be praying for people to be bold

38:05

and to know and have the words

38:08

to be sharing.

38:09

Amen. That can't stop.

38:11

I love that. Yeah. Well, and that, this

38:13

could be our main focus of

38:16

our prayers for our spouse too, that

38:18

our marriages would be in

38:20

such a place where we can, we're an example for Christ.

38:22

We are a ministry for Christ. We are a

38:24

message of the gospel to the world. And

38:27

so praying for your spouse and

38:30

praying for your marriage to be in a place

38:32

that you can do that

38:33

and truly do that

38:36

is the main, main thing. If

38:39

you've

38:39

been struggling in the day to

38:41

day with feeling overwhelmed

38:43

or frustrated over uncertainty

38:46

with life decisions, like we talked about, or wondering

38:49

how you can grow into the person that

38:51

you truly want to be, or even have

38:53

the marriage that you really desire,

38:56

that you're not actively pursuing God

38:58

in these areas through prayer, relying

39:00

on his strength and wisdom for his guidance, you

39:02

will continue to feel weak and alone

39:05

and frustrated and have a lack

39:07

of confidence moving forward. And so

39:09

our hope and encouragement for you guys to hear this

39:12

today and as answering this question,

39:14

can I live without praying? No. If

39:16

you truly desire to thrive individually

39:19

and personally and in your marriage,

39:21

you need to eat bread. You

39:23

got to eat bread. Gluten

39:27

free bread is okay, but we're talking about

39:29

the full bread of Jesus,

39:32

the full bread of going to God in prayer. The

39:34

bread of life. Yeah. We got

39:36

to stop emaciating ourselves. It's

39:39

something that we do. It's something that we do. It's natural

39:41

for us to kind of just go in that flow, but we got to

39:43

stop. We need to recognize when we're starving. Oh

39:45

yeah.

39:46

And not let it get to that point ever again.

39:49

A marriage after God

39:51

has the courage to pray together. A

39:54

couple who believes God and desires his

39:56

will to be done and relies on God for every

39:58

need is a. couple who is willing

40:00

to communicate, commune with him, to

40:03

pray and praise him, to lift up their request

40:05

to him. A marriage after God chases

40:07

boldly after God's purpose and humbly enters into

40:09

the throne of grace and faith. That's

40:12

why we do this podcast, because we

40:15

want your marriage to be a

40:17

marriage after God too. So I hope you're

40:19

encouraged by that.

40:20

Okay, we end every episode with

40:22

a prayer and for this specific series,

40:24

we thought it would be really great to share

40:27

a prayer straight out of the marriage gift. And

40:29

so for today, we are going

40:31

to share with you prayer number 41, and

40:34

it's titled the cry for help. Every

40:36

prayer comes along with it

40:39

a verse to support why we're praying

40:41

this thing. And so the verse for

40:43

today is Psalm 3417.

40:45

When the righteous cry for help, the Lord

40:48

hears and delivers them out of all their troubles.

40:52

Dear Lord, we have continually relied

40:54

on you in our faith and in our marriage. It

40:56

would have been impossible to make it this far without

40:58

you. Thank you for being faithful and reliable.

41:01

We praise you for hearing our prayers and responding.

41:04

Thank you for the gift of prayer, allowing us to bring

41:06

our needs before you. Right now we cry out

41:08

to you and ask you to help us overcome

41:10

the challenges in our relationship. We

41:12

know we will go through difficult times and

41:14

we know our flesh will be tested. Please

41:16

rescue us when the pain threatens to undo

41:19

us. Lord, will you please meet us right

41:21

where

41:21

we are and tell us what next

41:23

step to take to restore our relationship.

41:26

Humble us, revive us. We beg

41:28

you to intercede in our marriage. Lord, deliver

41:30

us from our current troubles. We love

41:33

each other and long for our marriage to be in

41:35

a better place. Fill us with your hope,

41:37

anchor our hearts through the storm and cover

41:39

our minds with your peace. In Jesus' name

41:41

we pray, Amen.