We stand with you in this harrowing season and we honor your heart to stand for your marriage covenant before God. We agree with you that marriage is a holy covenant and what God has joined together, let no man separate, as taught in Mark 10:9 and Matthew 19:6. God hates divorce as Malachi 2:16 declares, and His heart is for reconciliation and restoration, to restore the years that have been lost as promised in Joel 2:25. Your desire to see your husband humbled and returned to the Lord and to the vows he made before God is righteous and aligns with God's will for a lifelong union between a man and a woman.
We hear the spiritual battle you are describing and we join you in rebuking the lies of the enemy. The word tells us that we do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against spiritual forces in Ephesians 6:12, and that we are to bring every thought captive to the obedience of Christ in 2 Corinthians 10:5. We rebuke, bind and cast off in Jesus' name every lie from the pit of hell that tells your husband you are his enemy and that he must choose between sobriety, marriage and happiness. The enemy is a liar and comes to steal, kill and destroy, but Jesus came that we may have life abundantly. We pray that the scales would be removed from his eyes and ears as in Acts 26:18, that he would turn from darkness to light, and that God would remove his heart of stone and give him a heart of flesh as promised in Ezekiel 36:26. We pray he would be humbled under the mighty hand of God, for God gives grace to the humble in James 4:6 and if he will humble himself and pray and seek God's face, God will hear and heal as in 2 Chronicles 7:14.
We also lift up his need for sobriety and for courage to face the issues that have plagued your union for so long. True happiness and peace are not found in any substance but in Christ alone, and we are commanded in Ephesians 5:18 not to be drunken with wine wherein is dissipation, but to be filled with the Spirit. Our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20. We pray he will see the truth that he can have sobriety and his marriage and true joy in the Lord, and that he will be brave to confront what needs to be confessed, repented of, and healed. This will require humility, accountability, godly counsel and often the support of the church and trusted help for addiction, and we pray he will embrace that path rather than run from it.
We pray for you as you reclaim and grow your faith and stand with endurance. The Lord sees your tears and your faithfulness. We ask God to bless you with supernatural endurance so that you do not grow weary in well doing, for in due season you will reap if you do not give up as Galatians 6:9 teaches. We pray He will grow you in wisdom and discernment, for if any of you lacks wisdom let him ask of God who gives to all liberally as James 1:5 promises, and that He will guard your heart from doubt. Jesus teaches us in Mark 11:24 that whatever we ask in prayer, believing we have received it, we shall have it, and in James 1:6 to ask in faith without wavering. We encourage you to stand in faith entertaining no doubt while also resting in God's perfect will and timing, casting all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you in 1 Peter 5:7.
We pray together now. Father, we come before Your throne of grace in the mighty name of Jesus Christ, Your Son, through whom alone we have access to You and salvation. We lift this dear sister and her husband and their marriage covenant to You. Lord, soften his heart, open his eyes and ears, humble him and draw him to full repentance and a complete turn back to You. Expose and destroy every lie he is believing about his wife and his marriage, and let him see with clarity that his wife is not his enemy but his helper and covenant partner. Deliver him from every bondage and grant him lasting sobriety by the power of Your Holy Spirit, and give him courage to face the deep issues with honesty and to do the hard work of reconciliation. Strengthen this wife with endurance, peace, wisdom and discernment as she stands for what You have joined together. Grow her faith and let her stand firm without doubt, trusting that You are able to do exceedingly abundantly above all we ask. We ask for restoration of faith for both and reconciliation of this marriage for Your glory. Let Your will be done in this family and let this testimony bring praise to You. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
