Positive Words Heal Husband

Will God intervene to save a husband and wife in marriage?

"I presented her with one regal red rose." (PD)

In my prayer, Jesus stood to his feet and took me by his left hand. We walked from the darkened living room with the curtains drawn, through the hallway, and to each of the three bedrooms. Everywhere, we found piles of boxes waiting to be packed. 

"Look at what Satan has done to your house!" 

Jesus said in each room.

HE: Through the Holy Spirit, I understood what Jesus intended as he led me through the house. I am the husband and head of the family. He wanted me to stop the messy packing, to unpack the boxes, set up the household, and prepare for my family's return through a firm attitude of hope. He wanted me to take the exact opposite direction from that of defeat. By grace, I now understood that a woman wants to return to a place of strength, not weakness.

I knew it was now my task 

to reclaim my household.

The next day I became very curious about my unusual experience with Jesus when he told me, "I am giving you a new heart. I am giving you My Heart." I wanted to see if this was supported in scripture. I was absolutely astonished at what I found in Ezekiel 11:19 and 36! I had never seen these verses before.  

“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws” (Ezk 36:26-27, NIV).

My Pastor Phil had an idea. He made an appointment for me with two lovely young women of faith. I'll call them Marsha and Sandy. They were young wives whose husbands were sentenced to life in prison. For two hours, I sat with them on the living room carpet of their apartment and learned about faith and God's healing love.

They vowed a commitment to remain faithful to their husbands and to believe they would someday live free with them again. I remember the main point they taught me. 
 

“Words have power!

“Never speak a negative word to your wife if you want to see her again. If she speaks 'divorce,' don't even speak that word back to her. You must remain absolutely positive in your faith and in your words if you want God to heal your marriage.”

This is a strong key for partners suffering a marriage crisis.

HE: I was a humbled but eager man when I met my wife returning through the airport gate with our children. As we walked from the plane, I presented her with one regal red rose.

Together my wife and I determined we shouldn't stay in the city. I agreed to give up the current graduate studies and to return home. We packed the house together and drove back East. Together, we participated in Christian counseling. God even opened an impossible financial blessing, and we purchased a country home.  

SHE: “Any Christian couple in a Christian Church should have help in the pastor,” said my wife. “I know there can be different women in the church praying for me, even as I pray for them. I expect the Holy Spirit to use the normal channels of the Christian life in a healthy church to bring answers, so these kinds of crises will not happen.” 

 

HE: The point is God loves his people so much that he intervenes in our lives and heals us for each other. We looked to his face and passed through the rocks together and came out on the other side. God is the necessary first partner to the couple in any marriage.

“A threefold cord is not quickly broken” 
(Eccl. 4:12, NKJ).

Bill Hunt

What do you need from God?

In our House of Prayer, we will join and pray for you, no matter what your faith is.

Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Is he for you? 

These offers are listed here to benefit you. Healing Marriage.

   

Pray With Your Little Children

Our little family prayed together. The young children received the gift of the Holy Spirit. Our family lived simply by faith, receiving God's care in a modern world.

Monica Prayed for her Pony, Valentine. (Photo by Bill Hunt c. 2011.)

Our family with four little ones gathered to pray in the evening. In cold weather, we burned logs in the brick fireplace. The kids gathered to sit around the living room on the furniture or down on the braided rug holding their Bibles. We'd open by singing beautiful spiritual songs together. Then, each child selected a scripture and read to the others.

After, we prayed spontaneously one by one. Monica (age 8) often blessed her pony, Valentine. Brian (7) and Emily (6) prayed for the other animals on our family farm and for our friends. Even little Joanna (3) prayed cute lines of heartfelt requests. Mommy and Daddy would follow with prayer and finish with a Blessing, laying hands on each child.

“May our Heavenly Father bless you in the wonder

and power of his love and give you a peaceful sleep

in the Name of Jesus. Amen.”

"Daddy, can you teach me 

to pray in tongues?"

One evening, little Brian, age 7, in his pajamas jumped up in the living room and came to my chair.

"You don't learn how to pray in tongues," I answered him. "God gives it to you as a gift. But I can ask for you to receive the Holy Spirit. Close your eyes and raise your hands."

Mary, washing dishes in the kitchen, heard the innocence of her son's question. She wiped her hands on a towel and leaned in the doorway to watch. My wife has a gift of expectant faith! I gently laid my hands on Brian and prayed for the gift of the Holy Spirit. Immediately, out of his mouth, Brian prayed in the gift of tongues.

"It was so beautiful," said Mary, "such a testimony to God's faithfulness to the prayer and faith of a little child."

“Me too, Daddy!” Monica came over.

She too, received the gift of the Holy Spirit. The genuine gift of tongues is really the Holy Spirit praying within you. In your own spirit, he impresses you with what he is saying. It's so clearly seen in innocent children.

"That's when you gave me my Bible for Christmas," said Mary. "And I started reading through it from beginning to end. I began studying, assimilating, and memorizing scriptures." Mary's Bible has since worn a little ragged. I don't think she'll ever let it go.

Life was very simple and very 

blessed on our little farm.

A lovely evangelist named Shirley held evening revivals in the local Assembly of God Church for a time. She brought many townspeople to the Lord with her anointed preaching and melodious spiritual songs. This greatly affected the children's spirituality at exactly the right time in their lives. One by one, each of our four children walked up and gave their lives to Jesus on their own. Shirley's singing ministry blessed us deeply.

As I said, “It was a house of prayer in a place of healing.”

– Bill Hunt

What do you need from God?
In our House of Prayer, we will join and pray for you, no matter what your faith is.

Thank you for blessing our ministry by taking advantage of our markets.

On the subject of Prayer.
     

Family Farm Flourished With Prayer

A family home with children can be a place of prayer and God's manifest care.

   

Joanna, age 3, Prepares for Evening Prayer, by Bill Hunt c. 2011.

 
Our family with four little ones gathered to pray in the evenings. In cold weather, we burned logs in the brick fireplace. The kids gathered to sit around the living room on the furniture or down on the rug with their Bibles. We'd open by singing beautiful spiritual songs together. Each child then picked their own scripture and read it to the others.

After, we prayed spontaneously one by one. Monica, age 8, often prayed for her pony, Valentine. Brian, 7, and Emily, 6, prayed for the other animals and for friends. Even little Joanna, 3, prayed cute lines of heartfelt requests. Mommy and Daddy would follow with prayer and a blessing, laying hands on each child.

“May our Heavenly Father bless you in the wonder

and power of his love and give you a peaceful

sleep in the Name of Jesus. Amen.”

The little white farm house with the green trim was built into the side of a hill as was the small matching barn beside it. Below in the back, across the rippling brook, was the red chicken coup with a dove cot overhead, just down from the pond. Young pine trees filled the remaining acreage rising on a slope toward the horizon.

A wonderful blessing, God provided the seven acre mini-farm at the end of the flowery cliffs of the Boonville Gorge winding north from Delta Lake. The region was beautiful but not known for its employment. We found ourselves living simply by faith in God's country. The Black River Valley winds along between the edge of the Tug Hill Plateau and the Adirondack Mountains in Upstate New York's green farm country. This was the region of my wife Mary's birth and girlhood.

The country farm was perfect for our children.

Our daughter, Monica, cared for her Shetland pony named Valentine. The younger children helped Daddy raise chickens, roosters, doves in the dove cot, and rabbits, dozens and dozens of white rabbits.

Oh yes, there were the Grey Geese. The gander would lower his head and long neck and attack-charge from a distance of twenty feet every visitor that came across the yard to our country farm. But being a sanctified goose, he'd break off the charge at six feet distance and strut away honking his brag, leaving a reluctant bystander behind. Maybe God will provide such a place for us again in heavenly realms. 

 

Life was very simple on our little farm. "God took our television away," Mary recalls. It quit. We had very little money for lack of employment. Jobs were sporadic. We had no medical insurance. It was an incredible period during which God took care of us. I worked low-cost wedding photography and business promotion to feed the family. Fortunately, our mortgage and expense costs were otherwise very low. The country electricity coop charged bills of only ten to sixteen dollars per month.

God's miracle care amazed us!

Bags of groceries suddenly showed up on our front doorsteps when we needed them. It happened over and over again. We never understood how God worked that so faithfully. Time and time again, when we were out of food and out of money, I'd open the front door and find five or six bags of groceries sitting on the front steps!

Mary and I would not tell anyone our need. But there would be the groceries when we needed them. God held his hand directly on our lives. We finally concluded some of those elderly Pentecostal ladies must have had a direct line to God. That is not as far-fetched as it sounds.

Occasionally, Mary was able to substitute teach in the town school, or she'd ride her bike two miles to the music store and give piano lessons. We planted an intensive garden, digging deep into the ground to mix natural fertilizers. With a great yield of vegetables, Mary used a pressure cooker to can. Of course, we raised roosters and rabbits for meat, as well. Our family farm flourished with prayer.

As I said, “It was a house of prayer in a place of healing.” And God was very active.

– Bill Hunt 

What do you need from God? 
In our House of Prayer, we will join and pray for you, no matter what your faith is.

A family home with children can be a place of prayer and God's manifest care. 

 

Sex and Purity in the Beginning

Joseph paid a dear price for his faithfulness to God. First, he was betrayed by his brothers and sold into slavery. Then, betrayed by the sexual seduction of Potipher's wife, he spent fourteen years in prison. Finally, Pharaoh rewarded him with the position of Prime Minister of Egypt, proving God's oversight.

"Joseph Resists Seduction of Potipher's Wife." (Water Color Unknown)

 

Sexual sin is much like a venomous spider catching a fly. The spider builds an attractive web in an opportune place. The unwary fly comes along and almost by accident is caught up. The spider attacks and solidly wraps the fly tying him in an inescapable casing. At his leisure, the spider will eat the fly. Safe strategy for the fly, of course, would be to veer away from the web in the first place.

"This is now bone of my bones 

and flesh of my flesh,” said Adam.

“For this reason a man shall leave father and mother and be one with his wife.” said God. In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve experienced bliss with no sin. They walked naked together and enjoyed union with God until the day they rebelled, disobeyed, and sinned. God designed man and woman to unite in a wonderful bond as husband and wife. God designed them to reflect his love, to live in physical love with each other, and to create children to continue the human race.

“Be holy because I, the Lord your God, 

am holy.”

"Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them: 'Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy'” (Lev 19:1-2 NIV) the Lord said to Moses. On Mount Horeb, God gave Moses the Ten Commandments. The commands included sexual protection, “You shall not commit adultery” and “You shall not covet your neighbor's wife” (Exodus 20 NIV). God gave the commandments for the well being of mankind.

Joseph was one man who showed he could overcome temptation and obey the commandments. Joseph was a servant of God who resisted strong seduction from his boss's, Potipher's, wife. In Egypt, the feminine dress was frequently transparent fabric. No easy temptation. Although he refused her advances, her false accusations cost him fourteen years in prison.

“No one is greater in this house than I am.

“My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?" And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her. One day he went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the household servants was inside. She caught him by his cloak and said, "Come to bed with me!" But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house (Gen 39: 9-12 NIV).

Joseph proved a man could stand and be free before his God and not be forced to become a slave to sin to another's seduction. For this he paid a heavy price of fourteen years in prison. But God rewarded Joseph for his faithfulness. God gave him a spiritual gift of dreams through which Pharaoh assigned Joseph to become Prime Minister of Egypt. Joseph, as a result, saved the country from famine and his own relations from starvation.

– Bill Hunt 


What do you need from God?

Mercy Seasons Leadership

“The quality of mercy is not strained…. It becomes the throned monarch better than his crown,” instructed Shakespeare. Shouldn’t mercy likewise season all leadership of the pastors in the church, the politicians in government, the managers in business, the fathers of families?

"The Scapegoat" (1856) by William Holman Hunt

Shepherding
God is teaching me what it means to be a shepherd. I own Barbados Black Bellied Sheep. They know my voice on hearing and my appearance on sight. In fact, they have extremely keen eyesight. They watch me in the windows of my house from an acre away. They depend on me for their needs, and they let me know. For instance, they clearly signal me when it’s time to eat.

The sheep are also extremely timid. As a result, I have to be careful to be very gentle around them. I do not startle my sheep. If startled, I have seen them jump a six-foot fence in a long glide like a gazelle. If they escape my fences, I would probably never get them back because of their shyness. No, I do not startle them, I’m always careful to speak softly to them and to protect them. God knows what it means to be a shepherd.

“I myself will tend my sheep and have them lie down, declares the Sovereign Lord. I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak, but the sleek and the strong (the butt heads) I will destroy. I will shepherd the flock with justice” (Ezk. 34:15-16 NIV).


Correction Before Judgment
Jesus shows us this grace of shepherding when he tells us how we are to pastor the delinquent members of his flock in the church. “Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment!” (James 2:12-13 NIV).

Does not Shakespeare’s words parallel that last line? Let’s see if I can remember.
PORTIA: The quality of mercy is not strain'd, 
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven 
Upon the place beneath: it is twice blest; 
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes: 
'Tis mightiest in the mightiest: it becomes 
The throned monarch better than his crown....                                                  

 (From Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, 

  Act 4, scene 1, 1596.)

There are, at least, two steps of correction which must precede any judgment, Jesus teaches.

I “If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over.
                        
II “But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’
                       
III “If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.

“I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” (Matt 18: 15-18 NIV). Notice, this quote refers in context to discipline, not to doctrines.

The instruction of Jesus works just as well in business management, political and legal authority, church discipline, or family headship.

– Bill Hunt

Marriage Crisis: God Heals the Wife

“To the married, I give this command (not I but the Lord): A wife must not separate from her husband. But if she does, she must remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband. And a husband must not divorce his wife” (1 Cor. 7:10-11 NIV).

In Marriage Are Rocks to Overcome (PD).

Can God save a marriage? Emotions are very powerful. They prove to be either very supportive or very devastating. I think a young wife can come to a point when she feels she needs to prove her husband and her marriage. "Have I married the right husband?" she ponders.

SHE: There was a lack of security; I always wanted security. And yet we felt called to live our lives by faith. We had not really made the break from the religious church. I don't think we realized the kind of spiritual warfare that would confront us in ministry.

To do what we were doing, we should have had the mature backing of a Christian church. On our own, we spun off from our religious background. Our families thought we were crazy to sell and give away all our possessions to follow the Lord. I found it especially hard because I had these four kids under kindergarten age. I felt emotionally depleted. Our fourth baby was just age one.

SHE: More than that, my husband was involved as a graduate divinity student. I remained at home alone taking care of kids. I found it very difficult to handle this. I felt vulnerable, I guess, from all of it, and the enemy knew my weaknesses. Although we belonged to some prayer groups, they were still very new relationships.

At that time, nationally-known Christian leaders 
were in the process of divorcing. 

We've come to see that when something is going wrong inside a certain ministry or organization, that very spirit of devastation extends from the head and spreads throughout the body.

SHE: We heard and we knew of other married students getting divorces. I'll never forget this tall guy in our graduate class from Texas and how very sad and sullen his face appeared as he told us his wife was divorcing him. All of sudden I just lost my bearings. I felt I couldn't depend on my husband. I couldn't depend on anybody. I just needed to get out. I folded up emotionally.  

Often there was no food in the refrigerator. 

You've got to be prayed up to handle that. We saw many miracles. I felt a lack of connection with my husband. He worked a night job to earn income selling insurance. He was gone during the day to classes. We didn't have enough time together. We had stress and tension. I grew further and further disconnected from him. I just did not want to do it anymore. 
 

Anointed prayers for inner healing 

SHE: When I returned back to my family home, my aunt was helpful in getting me connected to the Christian counseling center. The counseling sessions showed me problems in communications and how to deal with my emotions. But I just knew what I longed for was something more, anointed prayers for inner healing.

SHE: My Mom's wise friend, a Spirit-filled Christian, set aside some time for me to pray with her for inner healing. I drove to the northern end of the county to her home. Something happened in that prayer! As she prayed with me, a burden lifted from me like a heavy load I carried. I now had peace in my soul that I had not known until then.  

“Okay, Lord, I'm willing.” I remember sitting out on the patio and praying. “Lord, place the love in me for my husband.” God tenderly comforted me. That night, I heard a flock of geese overhead honking and the Lord spoke to me. 

"As the geese know when to fly, 
you'll know when to return home."

(Follow this true story on Corner Retreat.)

– Bill Hunt

Q. Invariably, someone will ask me, what about the tragedy of the sorely abused wife or husband? All the scriptures of love apply. Or as Paul says, “God has called us to live in peace” (1 Cor 7:15 NIV). Christian love demands the church help this victim to a place of safety and peace.

Marriage Crisis: God Heals the Husband

A marriage crisis will end in acceptance or rejection. Circumstances and persons will work for or against healing. God proved he is the first partner, and both my wife and I turned to his healing.

God's Daily Grace Binds the Marriage,  by Bill Hunt (c) 2011.

Can God save a marriage? Emotions are very powerful. They prove to be either very supportive or very devastating. From my point, I think a young wife can come to a point when she feels she needs to prove her husband and her marriage.

"Have I married the right husband?" 

she ponders.

Marriage progresses through defined stages, the experts advise: initial infatuation, growing awareness, disillusionment, and ultimately, acceptance or rejection. Disillusionment normally arrives within seven to ten years. Ours certainly came right on schedule. I don't know if some marriages progress without these rocks, but I know we experienced ours. I found this extremely humbling. Little did I realize, on the other side of the rocks lies open sea.

HE: I could not understand my wife's change in emotional attitude towards me from a supporting partner. I could not figure out what I was doing wrong. I remember sitting on the front steps in the dark night trying to pray. My heart hurt inside my chest, and I could barely breathe. I sat very alone and very frightened.

HE: I made an appointment with our pastor. He talked with me. He prayed with me. Then he received a phone call. It was a final call from my wife. She was already on her way to the airport with the kids. Then, my pastor shockingly confessed his heart to me. His wife, too, had just left him the day before.

HE: My wife took the kids and flew home, back East. As I drove the river drive to our empty house, I was in a state of shock. On the way I resolved to stand and prepare for the worst. If she divorced me, I would not fight her. She is the wife God gave me and those are my children. Everything I have is hers in God, and I would continue to surrender our finances and possessions to provide for her. I would not be forced back on my conviction to her. And I cried.

I learned well-meaning religious friends actually advised my wife to leave her husband. An angry person will tend to accept friends who support her feelings. Spiritual Christians, on the other hand, have a different attitude. They know honest examination may come later. That's when true friends believe in healing.

HE: On the third morning, I packed the boxes alone sitting cross-legged on the dining room floor. Initially, I decided to pack up the house and return back East to attempt to restore the relationship with my wife. The house was a mess of half packed boxes from room to room.

Suddenly, I realized the powerful presence of Jesus with me. He sat there, also cross-legged, on the floor opposite me. I shared my hurts with him and cried out my heart to him in long repentant prayer. I strangely felt my hurting heart in my chest.

"I'm taking out your heart of stone,"

Jesus spoke in my spirit.

This was no longer just a spiritual experience! Now I actually felt my heart physically coming through my chest like a fist-sized rock. I physically felt the stone coming out. I could also feel a deluge of the Holy Spirit's anointing presence all through the house. 

"I'm taking out your heart of stone," Jesus repeated.

"I'm giving you a New Heart."

As the stone disappeared from out my chest, Jesus replaced it with a live, fresh, beating, New Heart.

"I'm giving you a New Heart," he said,

"I'm giving you My Heart."

(Follow this true story on Corner Retreat.)

-- Bill Hunt

NOTE: To Heal Your Marriage!

My wife and I are married many years. She's hot Irish-Italian.

I'm strong minded Early Puritan. God tempered us both by his Love!

Our relationship and blessing with God is found in daily prayer.

Our strength, anointing, and knowledge is found in daily scripture.

Pray and read together daily, short or long as your time permits.

1 Make God the first partner in your marriage & obey his Word.

2 Listen to Him and to each other.

3 Love is a commitment & a romance.

4 Exercise unconditional daily Forgiveness always.

5 “Never desert your partner in a fire” (movie: Fireproof).

Pray marriage scriptures daily for healing.

Divorce devastates children, young or adult.

I never saw a wife who wasn't a gift of wisdom for her husband.

(Singles: choose only a godly, serving person for marriage!)

E-mail at BillHuntiii@gmail.com and I'll send you a list of

marriage scriptures for daily medicine. Blessings!

Is Our Christian Love True?

Being a Christian can mean persecution and death in ancient or modern times, but what is this love so truly marked in ardent believers?

How does our Christian Love compare to the Early Church? (Artist Unknown, 1901).

 

An ancient letter caused me to compare our modern practice of Christian love with that of the Early Church. Jesus clearly exemplified love for us. “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another,” (NIV: John 13:35).

Paul defined the church foundation for love. “Be completely humble and gentle. Be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in all (NIV: Eph. 4:2-6).” Have we utterly failed? 

 

Would our attitudes of love towards one another be the same as the early Christians in the first age after Christ? A young disciple of Paul the Apostle, Mathetes, writes to Diognetus, a tutor to M. Aurelius, a Roman nobleman, a revealing letter about AD 130. This very earliest of letters from a Christian disciple is well worth contemplating. He describes the early Christians to his correspondent as follows. I here emphasize the points of discussion.

Pilgrims in common: They (the Christians) dwell in their own countries, but simply as sojourners. As citizens, they share in all things with others, and yet endure all things as if foreigners. Abortion and marriage: They marry, as do all others. They beget children, but they do not destroy their offspring. Living spiritually: They have a common table, but not a common bed. They are in the flesh, but they do not live after the flesh.

Citizens of Heaven: They pass their days on earth, but they are citizens of heaven. They obey the prescribed laws, and at the same time, surpass the laws by their lives. Persecuted: They love all men, and they are persecuted by all. They are unknown and condemned. They are put to death and restored to life. Materially detached: They are poor, yet make many rich. They are in lack of all things, and yet abound in all. They are dishonored, and yet in their very dishonor are glorified.

Reviled: They are evil spoken of, and yet are justified. They are reviled and bless. They are insulted and repay the insult with honor. They do good, yet are punished as evil-doers. Joyful Witness: When punished, they rejoice as if quickened into life. They are assailed by the Jews as foreigners, and are persecuted by the Greeks. Love exemplified: Yet those who hate them are unable to assign any reason for their own hatred. To sum up all in one word: what the soul is in the body, the Christians are in the world. (Source of Ancient Letter: Roberts, A. and Donaldson, J., eds. “The Epistle of Mathetes to Diognetus.” Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, The Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus. Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., Peabody, Mass., USA 1999.)

I think we would do well to weigh our love as modern Christians in the light of Christ and these early Christians. Such consideration should remind us that Christianity is not intended as a religion but a love relationship exemplified through Jesus, the Son of God. How do we really fare in living the love of Christ?

– Bill Hunt    

Christian Love is the most important thing we do.