Page 15 - Military Ministry of Cru_Our Connection 2021

Preemptive Prayer

“ A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.”
– Ecclesiastes 4:12 (NIV)

n old saying goes, “The family that prays together stays to-
Agether.” That’s true…for several reasons. When a husband
and wife surrender their hearts and lives to the Lord and go to
Him daily with every thankful thought and every desperate need,
the Holy Spirit weaves them together with God in a supernatural
way which cannot be explained.
But does this discipline of prayer work if the trauma of war
has invaded as an unwelcome strand in the marriage? Or what
if the war-torn husband or wife is now so weak the once-strong
bond cannot be sustained? A couple who has developed a rou-
tine of praying together—in the morning, at night, at meals, with
the children, even over the phone or in email—will have formed
a beautiful practice which helps to minimize the post-trauma pa-
ralysis of communication that can further complicate a couple’s
healing process.
Praying together prepares the heart of a couple for deploy-
ment, sustains them through the deployment, and can also be
a powerful tool during the couple’s reintegration, especially if
there are wounds caused by combat trauma. Getting into the
routine of coming to God daily in prayer is something we can all
think about doing now—before the need arises.

Prayer: A couple can start with something simple like, “God, help us!”
Then talk to Him like He loves you—because He does.

10 For a marriage to work it takes three—a husband, a wife and God.