What are some new habits to develop this year? We don’t like talking about resolutions, because that’s what typically happens when gyms lose 90% of new members by the middle of February each year.
What’s a new habit you can develop for your marriage this year? Not a fad, not something campy that you see others doing, but a habit you can get into for the benefit of your spouse and marriage.
Pray for your spouse. Not just a ‘keep my family/spouse safe while I’m at work/home’ prayer. Not a ‘please don’t kill these crazy kids while I’m gone’ prayer. What about a prayer of blessing? Yes, praying over your spouse in person can be awkward if you haven’t developed it yet. Although that’s ironic, considering we get vulnerable in the marriage bed and yet praying in front of our spouse feels uneasy.
For the next 21 days, pray blessings over each other every day…in person. Ask the Lord to reveal Himself to him/her in a unique way. Speak life over him/her. Speak nothing selfish, but encourage your spouse in the Lord. 1st Thessalonians 5 speaks of this.
“Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you ARE NOT in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. For YOU ARE all children of LIGHT, children of the DAY. We ARE NOT of the night or of the darkness. So then let us NOT sleep, as others do but let us KEEP AWAKE and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. But since WE BELONG TO THE DAY, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God HAS NOT destined us for wrath, BUT to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are AWAKE or ASLEEP we might live with him. Therefore ENCOURAGE ONE ANOTHER and BUILD ONE ANOTHER UP, just as you are doing.“ (Emphasis ours)
Encourage each other daily. Build each other up daily. Pray those blessings over each other for the next 21 days. We pray that you see God moving and we have faith you will.