Our Prayer Book

You know the phrase. You’ve said it often. “Prayer changes things.”  

And aren’t you glad that’s true! Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada, and sometimes the “thing” prayer changes – sometimes it’s you, isn’t it? I will never forget the early 80s, not long after the honeymoon was over for my new husband Ken and me. A couple of months into our marriage revealed that my new husband preferred to spend Monday nights in front of the TV with chips, salsa and the NFL rather than to be “my hands” to write out my Kay Arthur Precept Bible study. Horrors, I thought. My husband is not a “man of the Word!” What have I done? Have I done the wrong thing marrying him?  

Oh boy, I was itching to change my new husband, but all my nagging and scolding only made it worse. Feeling much like a martyr, I flipped through God’s Word for help, and I stumbled across Philippians 2:3-4 where it says – now get this: “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.”  

“Oh my goodness, that’s me,” I thought to myself. “I’ve been wanting Ken to change for selfish reasons so that he would meet my expectations. And to be honest, I don’t consider him ‘better than myself;’ I feel like I’m the one who’s in the right. I feel like I’ve got it spiritually together, not him.”

Boy was I convicted. That verse in Philippians catapulted me into a major prayer-advance for my husband. So during all those Monday nights while Ken was in front of the TV with Al Michaels and Dan Dierdorf, I would head to the bedroom to spend that time praying for him. And you will never believe what happened. The most amazing thing happened when Super Bowl Sunday finally arrived – I had become a huge football fan. Here I was expecting my prayers to change my husband, but God ended up changing me. I have to say, though, years later, it is so clear that Christ sits on the throne of my husband’s heart. I think I’ve told you before, he’s memorized the entire Sermon on the Mount, and I did not put him up to it. Really I didn’t! What’s more, over the years Ken has become a true man of prayer. Even when we’re driving over to have dinner with friends, on the way he’ll usually say to me, “Joni, how about we pray about our time together tonight with this couple.” Wow. Obviously God is still using those intercessions I offered up more than two and a half decades ago, and Ken and I are still feeling the repercussions of those prayers. 

I thank the Lord for that little verse in Philippians chapter 2 which convicted me so many years ago. And it just goes to show that the Bible is our prayer book, and we would be amiss to neglect its riches. God’s Word is a treasure of ideas to use in constructing our prayers for others. It’s the key to finding God’s will for others when we pray. I mean, great themes in there abound – God’s wisdom, his faithfulness, his sovereignty, his love and mercy – all of which can beautify our praises and adorn our intercessions, embroider our petitions and give weight to every supplication. 

Most of all, using the Word of God in prayer – much like I did with Philippians chapter 2 for my husband – using God’s Word in prayer is about as close as we can get to the Living Word himself, the Lord Jesus. If we’re going to pray in his name, it makes sense to speak his language, his words. So if you are unsettled in your marriage – or maybe a friendship, or a relationship with a co-worker at your job – if something is bothering you about that person God’s got you partnered with, may I challenge you today to start praying for him or her? Like Philippians chapter 2 says, it is a way of looking out for that person’s interest before your own. And who knows? Change may come sooner than you think – and it might happen right in your own heart.

Previously aired on 12/24/09 as “Prayer Changes Things.” 

© Joni and Friends