Welcome, Welcome, Welcome and you guessed it Welcome!
It's Week One of the #30DayHusbandFast, and I hope you are as excited as I am to start this. If not, I pray by the end of the week that will have changed.
If you haven't already I strongly suggest checking out, the #30DayHusbandFast intro blog here which gives ...an intro, and also the FAQ's which breaks down certain aspects, questions of the Fast which will help making this post easier to digest.
So as mentioned in the FAQ's, there are weekly 'themes' to help guide us in things to pray about when it comes to the topic of a Husband. These themes aren't set in stone, so if you don't want to do the theme, guess what, you don't have to lol! Do another theme, scrap the theme, it's really up to you. However, you may want to continue reading this piece, to get some ideas and inspiration. At the end of the day, how you go about this fast is between yourself and the Lord, just make it count, in the very best spiritually possible way you can.
Week One – Y.O.U
You may be wondering what Y.O.U has to do with you (yes, you) or why a Husband fast would start with you/Y.O.U!
Y.O.U stands for Yahweh.Over.Us.
You = You (feel free to look in the mirror, at this point)
The interesting thing about fasting when it comes to wanting a husband, having a husband and for the gents becoming a husband, it involves 2 main components and it's important to get your understanding/mindset in place when it comes to those components. Those components are God (Yahwweh) and You.
In your life and in marriage God (Yahweh) is going to be over you and your spouse (hence, Yahweh Over Us), He's the firm foundation on which you'll stand and build on/from. So although we're praying/fasting when it comes to the topic of a Husband, as a precursor it's almost like you need to do a spiritual self-assessment that involves your relationship with God and also you as a person.
The interesting/obvious thing about marriage from the Christian perspective, is that it involves God, you and your spouse. However you can't control your spouse you can only control You. So although we're praying/fasting on the topic of a Husband, you also need to be praying about yourself, and assessing what your relationship with God is like. Why? Because your relationship with God will be the cornerstone of many/major decisions you make, and then in turn who you marry/how you conduct yourself in marriage and so forth.
Jesus says in Matthew 19: 16 "So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.” But how can this apply if you can't really hear from God? If you don't spend time with God? If God isn't your first love? How can you truly know whether God has joined you two together? Our relationship with God provides a roadmap to and with our Husbands, as he is the starting point.
So that's why WEEK ONE is based on focusing on your relationship with God, you as an individual and then also applying this to your spouse.
So over the next few days/week (or longer) ask yourself these questions/go through the activities.
I'll be splitting the below into days so don't worry you don't have to do it all now, but I've listed everything here to get your mind stirring ;-)
Part 1: Yahweh. Over. Us.
What is my relationship with God like?
Am I totally reliant on Him/God?
Do I wait to hear from him fully before I make a serious decision (1st Samuel 23: 1-13)
Or do I try to work through things my own way and then start praying?
Part 2: You
Take an honest look at yourself and list your positive qualities and your negative traits.
Read Galatians 5
Re-read Galatians 5: 22-23 about the fruits of the Spirit, measure yourself up against each fruit and rate on a scale of 1 – 10 where you are with each fruit (1 being bad/not so great at and 10 being the best/excelling in).
Re-read Galatians 5: 19-21 about the fungi of the flesh (yep I've coined that term), measure yourself up against each fungi and rate on a scale of 1 – 10 where you are with each fleshly desire (1 being good/not a problem and 10 being bad/problematic).
Take a look at your positive qualities, negative traits, fruits and fungi, what needs to be improved on? What needs to built on/consolidated? What needs to be removed? All of these things can be worked on now, especially before you enter marriage. Marriage is one of the most testing relationships you will ever go through (after choosing Jesus Christ). We become one flesh with our spouse, we have to learn how to communicate, compromise, be in each other’s space, deal with annoying habits, conflict resolution the list can go on. If you bring too much fungi into the relationship, guess what? It will grow, become mouldy and cause disease/death of a relationship. However if we bring a lot of fruit into the relationship, whatever storms may rage we know how to deploy our fruit reserve to deal with the situation. Imagine what gentleness and self-control can do in a heated argument? (Trust me, I'm still imagining and praying as I need to work on gentleness and self-control like you wouldn't believe).
Part 3: Yahweh.Over. Us = Yahweh over You and your Husband
Take a look at the questions/and your answers to part 1 - what/how would you want your Husband to answer?
Pray about that. Pray about how you would want him to answer and then pray for him to be asking these questions to himself and going through his own discovery.
Take a look at your responses to part 2 - what/how would you want your Husband to answer?
Pray about that. Pray about how you would want him to answer and then pray for him to be measuring himself up against the fruit of the spirit/fungi of the flesh, and going through his own discovery.
So this week spend some time focusing on Y.O.U and You, take time to pray about these things for yourself and your Husband, pray that he is working on these things as well.
The daily prayer points/guidelines aren’t exhaustive, but just a general guideline on topics that fall under the umbrella of this topic. But by all means, take out, add in, swap around what you feel like when it comes to this topic. You may want to spend more than 1 day on a subject – go right ahead. You may just want to spend the week focusing on the theme but not particular aspects - go right on ahead. The reality is, please feel free to focus on the theme in whatever way works for you.
Remember, the focus is for us as women to be encouraged in faith when it comes to the topic of marriage and Husbands. We are trying to grow in awareness of ourselves spiritually, to focus with intent when it comes to our Husbands and primarily, develop a healthier prayer life and fellowship with God, whilst single/married.
Suggested Youversion Bible Plans / Bible Chapters
Fresh Fruit – A two-week devotional that goes through the fruits of the spirit, and how this helps us submit to God.
In addition to the devotional or alternatively if you'd rather not do the devotionals here are some Suggested Bible Chapters/Verses to read over the 7 Days
1st Samuel 23: 1-13
Psalm 51: 1-17
Proverbs 11
Romans 8: 1-17
Galatians 6: 1-10
Check out Day One here!
If you're looking for another 4 week guide, I gotcha! Feel free to get some previous inspiration from the last #30dayhusbandfast Week One here and Day One here.
