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Question Title	Posted By	Question Date
Prayer	Michael	Sunday, October 4, 2009
Question: I have a query in a particular method of praying. My in-laws have created lot of problems in my marriage and they have created a gap between my husband and me. Now, my husband intends to bring them to stay with us for good. From my side, I am working very hard to keep my marriage intact but I fear so much that once they come, my marriage is going to be affected in a very bad way. Is it alright to pray in Jesus name that they don’t stay with us for my marriage sake till my husband comes back to the Lord and to me? God Bless you in all that you do for His kingdom.
Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OLSM Dear Michael: Well, I would certainly discuss this with your husband. Before invited his parents into your house, your husband needs to consider your feelings and concerns. The decision should be a mutual one. As for prayer, I would suggest that you pray for your in-laws and whatever situations or circumstances that has caused the problems in your marriage. There needs to be healing. Also pray that your husband will listen to and understand your concerns. If this is going to happen, then pray that the Holy Spirit will cover the household with his love and inspire everyone to act appropriately toward each other. Also pray for protection of your marriage, that if the in-laws presence will damage the marriage that, if it be God's will, the in-laws will be inspired to live somewhere else. A hedge prayer may be a good prayer for you: Hedge Prayer for Protection of Household [The "Hedge Prayer of Protection" is one of the most powerful prayers in the arsenal of spiritual warfare. We learn from Job that God has placed a "hedge of protection" around his children that Satan cannot cross except that God allows it (or as we allow it). It should be noted, as it is with all prayer, the Hedge Prayer of Protection is not a magic bullet. There are no guarantees that the Hedge surrounding us cannot be breached. We can allow Satan and his demons to breach the Hedge by our carelessness of leaving the gate open, through direct or indirect invitation to the demons, through sins of commission and omission, through holes left unrepaired after sins are confessed and forgiven, through ancestral afflictions, etc. Even if there are no other reasons, God may allow demons to breach the hedge, as He did with Job, for purposes of testing, learning, or other Divine Reasons that only God may know. And the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?" Then Satan answered the LORD, "Does Job fear God for nought? Hast thou not put a hedge about him and his house and all that he has, on every side? Thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. --Job 1:8-10] Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you men of double mind. -- James 4:7-8 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Trusting in the promise that whatever we ask the Father in Jesus' name He will do, I(we) now approach You Father with confidence in Our Lord's words and in Your infinite power and love for me(us) and for our household and family, and with the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, Blessed Archangel Michael, my(our) guardian angel(s) and the guardian angels of our household and family, with all the saints and angels of heaven, and Holy in the power of His blessed Name, as ask you Father to protect our household and its members and keep us from the harassment of the devil and his minions. Father I(we) ask in desire to serve You and adore You and to live our lives for You that You build a hedge of protection around our household, like that which surrounded Job, and to help us to keep that hedge repaired and the gate locked so that the devil and his minions have no access or means to breach the hedge except by your expressed will. Father, I(we) am(are) powerless against the spiritual forces of evil and recognize my(our) utter dependence on You and Your power. Look with mercy upon me(us) and upon our household and family. Do not look upon our sins, O Lord; rather, look at the sufferings of your Beloved Son and see the Victim who's bitter passion and death has reconciled us to You. By the victory of the cross, protect us from all evil and rebuke any evil spirits who wish to attack, influence, or breach Your hedge of protection in any way. Send them back to Hell and fortify Your Hedge for our protection by the blood of Your Son, Jesus. Send your Holy Angels to watch over us and protect us. Father, all of these things I(we) ask in the most holy name of Jesus Christ, Your Son. Thank you, Father, for hearing my(our) prayer. I(we) love You, I(we) worship You, I(we) thank You and I(we) trust in You. Amen. Also this prayer for your marriage: Prayer for Marriage Loving heavenly Father, I thank You for Your perfect plan for our marriage. I know that a marriage functioning in Your will and blessing is fulfilling and beautiful. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I bring our marriage before You, that You might make it all You desire it to be. Please forgive me for my sins of failure in our marriage. [Confess specific and particular areas of failure.] In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, strengthened by the intercession of the Immaculate Virgin Mary, Mother of God, of Blessed Michael the Archangel, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and all the Saints and Angels of Heaven, and powerful in the holy authority of His Name, tear down, O Lord, all of Satan’s strongholds designed to destroy our marriage. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we ask Father that You help us to break all relationships between us that have been established by Satan and his wicked spirits. I will accept only the relationships established by You and the blessed Holy Spirit. I invite the Holy Spirit to enable me to relate to [spouse’s name] in a manner that will meet his needs, and ask that you help [spouse’s name] to relate to me in a manner that will meet my needs. I will submit our conversation to You, that it may please You. I submit our physical relationship to You that it may enjoy Your blessing. I submit our love to You that You may cause it to grow and mature. I desire to know and experience in marriage the fullness of Your perfect will. Open my eyes to see all areas where I am deceived. Open [spouse’s name] to see any of Satan’s deception upon him. Make our Union to be the Christ-centered and blessed relationship You have designed in Your perfect will. I ask this in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ with thanksgiving. Amen. These and other prayers can be found in our Spiritual Warfare Prayer Catalog. We will be praying for you, your husband, and your in-laws. God Bless, Bro. Ignatius Mary Footer Notes: This forum is for general questions on the faith. See specific Topic Forums below: Spiritual Warfare, demons, the occult go to our Spiritul Warfare Q&S Forum. Liturgy Questions go to our Liturgy and Liturgical Law Q&A Forum Liturgy of the Hours (Divine Office) Questions go to our Divine Office Q&A Forum Defenfing the Faith Questions go to our Defending the Faith Q&A Forum Church History Questions go to our Church History Q&A Forum

Question Title

Posted By

Question Date

Prayer

Michael

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Question:

I have a query in a particular method of praying. My in-laws have created lot of problems in my marriage and they have created a gap between my husband and me. Now, my husband intends to bring them to stay with us for good. From my side, I am working very hard to keep my marriage intact but I fear so much that once they come, my marriage is going to be affected in a very bad way. Is it alright to pray in Jesus name that they don’t stay with us for my marriage sake till my husband comes back to the Lord and to me?

God Bless you in all that you do for His kingdom.

Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OLSM

Dear Michael:

Well, I would certainly discuss this with your husband. Before invited his parents into your house, your husband needs to consider your feelings and concerns. The decision should be a mutual one.

As for prayer, I would suggest that you pray for your in-laws and whatever situations or circumstances that has caused the problems in your marriage. There needs to be healing. Also pray that your husband will listen to and understand your concerns.

If this is going to happen, then pray that the Holy Spirit will cover the household with his love and inspire everyone to act appropriately toward each other. Also pray for protection of your marriage, that if the in-laws presence will damage the marriage that, if it be God's will, the in-laws will be inspired to live somewhere else.

A hedge prayer may be a good prayer for you:

Hedge Prayer for Protection of Household
[The "Hedge Prayer of Protection" is one of the most powerful prayers in the arsenal of spiritual warfare. We learn from Job that God has placed a "hedge of protection" around his children that Satan cannot cross except that God allows it (or as we allow it).

It should be noted, as it is with all prayer, the Hedge Prayer of Protection is not a magic bullet. There are no guarantees that the Hedge surrounding us cannot be breached. We can allow Satan and his demons to breach the Hedge by our carelessness of leaving the gate open, through direct or indirect invitation to the demons, through sins of commission and omission, through holes left unrepaired after sins are confessed and forgiven, through ancestral afflictions, etc. Even if there are no other reasons, God may allow demons to breach the hedge, as He did with Job, for purposes of testing, learning, or other Divine Reasons that only God may know.
And the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?" Then Satan answered the LORD, "Does Job fear God for nought? Hast thou not put a hedge about him and his house and all that he has, on every side? Thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. --Job 1:8-10]

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you men of double mind. -- James 4:7-8
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Trusting in the promise that whatever we ask the Father in Jesus' name He will do, I(we) now approach You Father with confidence in Our Lord's words and in Your infinite power and love for me(us) and for our household and family, and with the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, Blessed Archangel Michael, my(our) guardian angel(s) and the guardian angels of our household and family, with all the saints and angels of heaven, and Holy in the power of His blessed Name, as ask you Father to protect our household and its members and keep us from the harassment of the devil and his minions.
Father I(we) ask in desire to serve You and adore You and to live our lives for You that You build a hedge of protection around our household, like that which surrounded Job, and to help us to keep that hedge repaired and the gate locked so that the devil and his minions have no access or means to breach the hedge except by your expressed will.
Father, I(we) am(are) powerless against the spiritual forces of evil and recognize my(our) utter dependence on You and Your power. Look with mercy upon me(us) and upon our household and family. Do not look upon our sins, O Lord; rather, look at the sufferings of your Beloved Son and see the Victim who's bitter passion and death has reconciled us to You. By the victory of the cross, protect us from all evil and rebuke any evil spirits who wish to attack, influence, or breach Your hedge of protection in any way. Send them back to Hell and fortify Your Hedge for our protection by the blood of Your Son, Jesus. Send your Holy Angels to watch over us and protect us.
Father, all of these things I(we) ask in the most holy name of Jesus Christ, Your Son. Thank you, Father, for hearing my(our) prayer. I(we) love You, I(we) worship You, I(we) thank You and I(we) trust in You. Amen.

Also this prayer for your marriage:

Prayer for Marriage
Loving heavenly Father, I thank You for Your perfect plan for our marriage. I know that a marriage functioning in Your will and blessing is fulfilling and beautiful. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I bring our marriage before You, that You might make it all You desire it to be. Please forgive me for my sins of failure in our marriage. [Confess specific and particular areas of failure.]
In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, strengthened by the intercession of the Immaculate Virgin Mary, Mother of God, of Blessed Michael the Archangel, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and all the Saints and Angels of Heaven, and powerful in the holy authority of His Name, tear down, O Lord, all of Satan’s strongholds designed to destroy our marriage. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we ask Father that You help us to break all relationships between us that have been established by Satan and his wicked spirits. I will accept only the relationships established by You and the blessed Holy Spirit. I invite the Holy Spirit to enable me to relate to [spouse’s name] in a manner that will meet his needs, and ask that you help [spouse’s name] to relate to me in a manner that will meet my needs. I will submit our conversation to You, that it may please You. I submit our physical relationship to You that it may enjoy Your blessing. I submit our love to You that You may cause it to grow and mature.
I desire to know and experience in marriage the fullness of Your perfect will. Open my eyes to see all areas where I am deceived. Open [spouse’s name] to see any of Satan’s deception upon him. Make our Union to be the Christ-centered and blessed relationship You have designed in Your perfect will. I ask this in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ with thanksgiving. Amen.

These and other prayers can be found in our Spiritual Warfare Prayer Catalog.

We will be praying for you, your husband, and your in-laws.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary

Footer Notes: This forum is for general questions on the faith. See specific Topic Forums below:
Spiritual Warfare, demons, the occult go to our Spiritul Warfare Q&S Forum.
Liturgy Questions go to our Liturgy and Liturgical Law Q&A Forum
Liturgy of the Hours (Divine Office) Questions go to our Divine Office Q&A Forum
Defenfing the Faith Questions go to our Defending the Faith Q&A Forum
Church History Questions go to our Church History Q&A Forum