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How to Pray for Your Wife: A 31-Day Guide

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"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights . . ." (James 1:17). All too often we take the gift of a godly wife for granted. Mark Weathers refocuses men on the joy of glorifying God by daily loving our wives. In the process, we learn not only how to pray for our wives but also how to rescue their hearts. Are 6 stars available?

"As a husband, I know it is my responsibility to pray for my wife. Often, though, I do not know the words to use, and I end up feeling that my prayers for her could be more effective. From marriage counseling and pastoral experience, I have met many men who share the same concern. The average Christian man does not know how to pray for his wife. Unfortunately, when we do not know how to pray, we end up not praying at all."

Because of this concern, Mark Weathers, co-pastor at Providence Presbyterian Church in Concord, North Carolina, decided to write a book--a 31-day study guide--to help men learn to pray for their wives. How To Pray For Your Wife follows through the well-known words of the thirty-first chapter of Proverbs, providing 31 brief meditations and prayer suggestions.

Weathers considers this book an "interactive prayer journal." Each day's entry features three things: the author's translation of the original Hebrew words; his explanation pointing out significant details about the text and how they point to Christ and the covenant; and supplication--starting points for your own prayers. There are blank spaces provided for husbands to write their own thoughts and prayers. The book also features a short study guide designed to help pastors and teachers in their teachings on marriage.

On the whole I found the meditations and prayers quite helpful. I opted not to make this into a 31-day read, but may well do that in the future. The meditations are nearly always grounded in Scripture and the prayers were often very helpful in pinpointing exactly what it is I should pray for on my wife's behalf. The book was beneficial to me even though I did not read it in the way it was intended. Though there were a couple of small missteps where the author quotes Brother Lawrence or Henri Nouwen rather than focusing on Scripture, the majority of the text is focused on the Bible.

Leslie, who writes reviews for Discerning Reader says rightly that "All Christian husbands and wives will enjoy and benefit from How to Pray for Your Wife. Encouraging and thought provoking, it will deepen a husband's prayers for his wife. The study guide included at the end may prove helpful to pastors who frequently counsel couples. Young men desiring excellent wives may also profit from this book." I would gladly recommend this book to any husband who desires to pray for his wife more earnestly and more effectively.

Guys, if you are married, you need to get this book. If you are single and would like to pray for your future wife now - you need to get this book. Mark Weathers has spent a lot of time looking at Proverbs 31 and using it to learn how to pray for his own wife, and this book is the fruit of his work in both studying the Bible and learning in marriage. His book is practical, grace-centered, and helpful. For each day of the prayer guide, he explains a theme from the verse to help men understand their wives better and learn to pray for them better. Then, for each day there is a list of suggested prayers based on the passage, space to journal about what you read, and then a section for recording answered prayers. The back of the book has a study guide with further questions and discussions on three themes: Sacrifice & Submission; Security & Significance and Physical & Spiritual. As far as I know there is nothing else like this on the market and it fills an important need for Christian husbands.

Here's a great sample of one of the explanation and prayers in this book (from Day 5 "Rewards"), based on Prov. 31:12 "She shows him good, not evil, all the days of her life"

"When loving and respecting are done in God's strength, the marriage becomes a beautiful cyclical dance: The husband shows his wife love by cherishing and protecting her, and the wife gives honor and respect to her husband. When one partner happens to give in to sin and `misses a step,' the other partner does not retaliate but keeps the dance moving forward."
Suggested Prayer
1. Lord, give me the grace to love my wife always and to provide her with the security she needs.
2. Help me to be a deserving husband my wife can easily respect, and help my wife to show goodness and grace to me even when I don't deserve it. (p. 40).


Husbands, you are called to lead your wives spiritually. If we are honest, most of us have no idea how to do that. One of the best ways to learn how to do this is to pray for her - specifically, biblically and daily. This book is a tool that will help you do just that. Get it today! And wives, if you are reading this, grab one for your husband!

This is a wonderful, step-by-step journey which teaches men how to love their wives. It starts by explaining what women need and how they understand the world differently than men. Each day covers a new topic that focuses on what she needs, what he needs and how you can pray for God to bless your wife. This is especially amazing for men who have difficult wives or couples considering separation. It's an eye-opener.

Written by married Presbyterian co-pastor and missionary Mark A. Weathers, How To Pray For Your Wife: A 31-Day Guide is an interactive prayer journal, designed to be consumable if the user wishes to write in it, offering daily entries specifically to pray for one's wife, or wife-to-be if one is single. Each day extols a different virtue to respect and encourage in one's better half through faith in God, from Trust and Creativity to Multitasking, Hospitality, and Grace. A simple yet highly effective focus tool for personal devotion.

The premise of the book is very simple. It looks at various statements made about a godly woman in Proverbs 31 and after discussing them, turns them into ways you can pray for your wife. The verses are broken up so that there are 31 different entries. Each entry is only 2 - 3 pages and includes a spot for you to jot down specific prayers for your wife related to the topic and record how God has answered your prayers. I have already been blessed by it in seeing new but wholly Biblical ways to pray for my wife. The second part of the book includes some helpful thoughts on effective marriage but it's only a small fraction of the total content.

Most of the Christian men I know want to be more systematic about praying for their wives but have trouble figuring out how. This book does just that. It also has greatly helped me appreciate Proverbs 31 in a way I hadn't before. This is not a chapter only women should be meditating on! It's helped me to guide my wife and my daughters into the kind of women our Lord wants them to be.

It is a book I will keep in my office to remember to pray for my wife (the bright red cover will help with that!)

Probably no passage of Scripture is more widely used in the training of wives than Proverbs 31. However, in How To Pray For Your Wife: A 31-Day Guide, author Mark A. Weathers turns the tables and uses the passage to instruct men on how properly to appreciate a godly wife. Weathers, who is pastor of Providence Presbyterian Church in Concord, North Carolina, has a personal agenda for wanting men to be sensitive to this subject: he has three sons and no daughters!

The 31 entries are all keyed to specific topics related to the Proverbs 31 woman, such as "Trust," "Creativity," and "Devotion." Weathers shows the uniqueness of women. He says that what men call "nagging" is actually a woman's gift for seeing that a household hums the way it should. And he calls a woman's penchant for searching endlessly for the perfect pair of shoes, her ability to be a better bargain hunter than her husband. In these and many other ways, he instructs men on why God wired women the way He did and why husbands should be glad about it.

Each daily reading is followed by tips on how to pray regarding the topic of the day, such as how to ask God to relieve stress in a woman's life, or how to ask God to enable a wife to continue to be a good role model to her children. This material is followed by space for the reader to make entries to keep an on-going record of how the Lord is responding to his specific prayers. Space is also provided for the husband to make notes about how his own wife is a blessing to him and how he can show more appreciation for her.

From time to time the book goes a little far afield. For example, Weathers suggests at one point that some of the Proverbs might have been written by Bathsheba (uh...no, pastor), and he uses some military metaphors to describe the strength of women (a bit over the top), but, generally speaking, the book works well as a one month devotional. For men who might desire to mentor newlywed husbands, there are study guides in the back, as well as Sunday school lessons and sermon suggestions.

As someone married 35 years, I found these lessons to be good reminders of how precious a godly wife can be and how we men need to show our gratitude for the blessing godly wives are to us. - Dr. Dennis E. Hensley, [...]