Rating: 
Summary: For the long-term marriage.
Review: "The power of a praying wife" challenged me to be a better wife by examining my own heart and attitude twords not only my husband but my attitude twords marriage as well. I can not fathom how the critics of these books can say that these books blame the man and ask her to pray that HE changes. Specifically Stormie Omartian writes in 'Power of a praying Wife', "Make me a new person, Lord. Give me a fresh perspective, a positive outlook, and a renewed relationship with the man You've given me. Help me see him with new eyes, new appreciation, new love, new compassion, and new acceptance. Give my husband a new wife, and let it be me."The challenge to renew my twelve year marriage to my husband has been possible by God and helped by this book written by a woman who has gone the distance and been met by the many trappings, challenges and temptations that our culture throws at a marriage relationship. You would have to have been in your marriage for a many number of years to even begin to appreciate and value the authors insight and help through these books. By her own admission she writes how it took years for her perspective of marriage to change, with great help by the Holy Spirit. These books are simply to convey that help she received. There for I would say to the man due to marry soon and looking for help in his marriage; you read it too soon. Put it away for a number of years. When you feel things slipping away or you've met the challenges of our pop society culture, blah, blah, blah...coming against your marriage then you will see it with a different heart and different eyes. My husband and I both are commited to go the distance in our marriage. We've been challenged by the enemy of our soul to quit, walk, leave, cheat, lie, dishonor, disrespect and a number of other things that ALL christian couples endure if you're fighting for your marriage. These books are a great encouragement from a woman/husband who understands those battles and assaults that come against a Christian marriage and yet inspite have them have set themselves to come out the victors. I highly recommend these books for the long term marriages. Newly or soon to be married couples are still in LA-LA land and reality is aways off for you. Maybe later. Meanwhile check out Dr. James Dobson. Great books for pre-marriage and early stages of marriage. My four star rating is because it is not spelt out to the reader that long-term marriages benefit the most from these books. Or atleast not until you're ready to be honest with yourself and God . Our culture may make man out to be a pansy these days but it also makes marriage a great big fantasy that isn't so. If you want a heavy dose of reality and your looking for a tool to help you go the distance I recommend 'Power of a Praying Husband', 'Power of a Praying Wife' and a mirror.
Rating: 
Summary: Want a "WOW! marriage?
Review: Gentlemen, how would you like to have a great marriage? I not talking about a good marriage or an ok marriage…I’m talking about a marriage of the kind that makes you take a big step back and say…”Wow!”? You can have that kind of relationship with your wife. As husbands, we have a biblical responsibility to our wives and families to pray for them. Now I can say that I prayed for my wife and family on a more or less regular basis, as time and memory allowed. I hate to say it, but that doesn’t cut it. That sort of conviction doesn’t extend the full benefit of prayer to your family and in particular to your wife. In fact, I didn’t realize how infrequently I prayed until I picked up The Power of a Praying Husband, by Stormie Omartian and began to pray the prayers inside. I noticed that many things started to happen within our relationship almost immediately. We disagreed less, we communicated better, her relationship with the kids and extended family improved. I also noticed almost immediately when I missed a day praying. The book is laid out in 20 relatively short chapters. Each chapter has a theme and lead in by Stormie. What follows is a short section entitled “He Says” in which the men, most of them popular ministers and artists detail the effect of prayer in their relationships. After that comes the prayer itself and some scriptural references. Topics that are covered include praying for your wife’s: relationships, motherhood, emotions, moods, beauty, trust, protection, and sexuality. Some have argued that the book is more of a “how to treat your wife” book than how to pray for her. Others have argued that the book is a joke and too campy with it’s use of humour and light heartedness. I have to say that I disagree with both statements. Through the use of humour, and male related stories, the author is able to effectively reach the generally difficult male audience. I have a great burden for us as men and the apparent loss of our place in society. The role models presented by popular culture are not role models at all, but parodies and jokes of what real men should be. Yes, this book is more basic and light hearted, it is supposed to be to reach a general audience. No, it doesn't tell you what to pray, it provides the framework, the rest is your responsibility to figure out through discussion with your wife. What this book does do and do very well, is provide a firm foundation for most men, most of whom are very busy and occupied with many things in their lives. I highly recommend this book.
Rating: 
Summary: A Cultural Icon
Review: I am a Christian man who is currently about seven weeks away from wedding. As one is such a position any material that will help to encourage and develop prayer between partners is certainly worth the time to digest. The book in question certainly can't be denied as to having such intentions, it is not this area of criticism that has brought criticism to surface, but instead the book's blatant communication of an unacceptable amount of overly stereotypical, culture friendly and simplistic assumptions. The paradigmatic husband that the text assumes as audience is immediately addressed as being either entirely self-consumed, a mindless statistic regurgitating sports fanatic, ignorant or completely outside any spiritual gifting promised by the Holy Spirit. The author finds it necessary to spend a significant amount of time congratulating the men to even think of beginning to pray for their wife, let alone finding the courage to fight against the genetic bondage of their maleness and attempt alas to read and comprehend. An example from the text follows as the author compassionately addresses men in her usual style of gross generality, "Try to understand that as men you have simple, clearly defined needs... Your wife on the other hand, is a complex being."
It cannot be denied that contemporary pop culture has painted a portrait of the father and husband as emotionally dead, socially helpless and without any hope of discernment or logic in their ability to make decisions. Between "Everybody Loves Raymond" and "Tool Time", the husband becomes the essence of a shamefully idiotic entity, whose witty and lovingly sarcastic wife does all she can to brighten his eyes to the light of social reality.
The text itself is laden with a number of scriptural references with fall far outside contextual or historic consideration. The biblical view of a Christ fearing man's natural strengths, roles and weaknesses are abandoned to the serpentine glance of pop culture and comedy routines.
In essence, a man must take himself seriously before he can seriously value his relationship with Christ. A man who fails to seriously value his relationship with Christ will certainly fail to pull much from scripture or texts that attempt to apply commentary to it. The first step then to making prayer a pragmatic as well as aesthetic addition to a marriage relationship is for a man to learn to value himself as a potential picture of God's strength, love and glory.
Embracing a book then, that holds to media's suggestion of contemporary maleness instead of the vision painted by the word of God is syllogistically counterproductive and logically unsound, leaving one feeling more impotent and incapable than empowered and willing.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent and helpful work
Review: I am so impressed with this author. A friend of mine some time ago gave my wife and I "The Power of a Praying Wife" and "The Power of a Praying Husband." When I first read the book I couldn't get through it. As a Catholic Christian I thought that spending a chapter on submission was ridiculous, outdated, and downright fundamentalist. I nearly threw the book away, but instead shoved it into my bookshelf, assuming it to be yet another book by an undereducated fundamentalist someone decided to burden me with. However, my wife and I were arguing about something about six months later, and I thought to myself "stop yelling and get quiet... I can't hear God when I'm loud." I apologized and went to my study, and there on the book shelf was "The Power of a Praying Husband." Aright I thought, prayer is ALWAYS the best answer, lets pray, I began doing a chapter a day. I say "doing" because at the end of each chapter there are prayers, and I prayed them seriously. I also began "doing." I realize many readers of this review will probably think I am going to hell for this, but I believe that faith without works is dead, so I began acting on the implications of what is in the book. I took control of our finances so my wife wouldn't have to worry about paying the bills. She has so much to do already. I started picking up around the house to help her. I started to do so much MORE than I used to. I realized something through the process. I was not an enlightened person in a modern marriage. I was lazy! I began to feel better about myself and more empowered, especially in that I was in charge of the finances and paying the bills etc. My wife became less burdened and much more happy. Our sex life improved and I received a greater sense of purpose in my manhood. Our lives have become happier. This is not an academic book. I spend most of my reading time on serious theology, scripture, and on the history of the early church. I had to get "un-snoby" and read with the simple eyes of a man seeking to be a better and Christian husband. Praise God I did. This book was literally life changing. My wife and I keep our copies of our respective editions by the bed. Really folks, BOTH you and your spouse need to read BOTH editions before judging whether or not this author has an appropriate and Christian agenda. We reread and redo the chapters pretty regularly and our marriage is more rewarding than ever before. I recommend this book wholeheartedly. If found that when I let go of my arrogance and prayed with the book, my life improved. Thanks stormie!
Rating:
Summary: Very Powerful
Review: I read this book and started putting what I learned into my everyday life. The changes in my wife and our life together were evident immediately. She then read The Power of the Praying Wife. We treat each other better, no longer take each other for granted and understand what we both are going through being husbands, wives, fathers and mothers. I highly recommend this before and during marriage. Don't wait until there are problems as I did.
Rating:
Summary: Misleading Title
Review: I would have given it 2.5 stars if I could, but with the limited options felt 2 was closer to my thinking than 3. I have read various "how to" books written to men as to serve as an insightful perspective into the needs and desires of women. One need not read long in this Omartian book about "prayer" before realizing that the piece is much, much more such a book than a book truly about prayer. Much of the text regarding each category covered regards how the husband should treat his wife or otherwise understand her so as to be a blessing to her. There's nothing wrong with that sort of advice, but when the bulk of the book is so devoted, I had a hard time with the notion that I had been led to believe from the title that I would find insight on the prayer needs of my wife. I found myself feeling that Omartian (and her husband whose express contributions seem to make him essentially the co-author) were using the book as a means to lecture the reader on how to treat one's wife, not how to pray for her. Even many of the prayer focus suggestions are veiled suggestions as to the man's heart or conduct, rather than prayer FOR his wife. As a "here's-how-to-understand-your-wife-and-meet-her-desires/needs-book," it was perhaps above average; but I was so torked at feeling like the author duped me with the title that I probably wasn't in the best mind-frame to give that material a fair assessment. The subject has a lot of potential. This book in my view does not deliver as a prayer book. ......... If you are looking primarily to gain insight into the focus of the actual title -- prayer for one's wife -- you might be a bit disappointed. I was.
Rating:
Summary: OK, not a well balanced book on prayer or marriage
Review: I've been reading this book as part of a Bible study. This book rubs me the wrong way in so many ways.
The sample prayers in the book are genuine and meaningful, and I think if prayed from the heart, God can bring meaningful change to a marriage realtionship. But the overall view of prayer in this book is so incomplete and shallow. Stormie presents prayer as a one sided dialog with God, in which we ask for something and wait for an answer.
No where is prayer defined as a dialog with God. For Stormie, prayer is simply standing in front of some sort of spiritual vending machine, pressing buttons and waiting for a item to drop down. There is nothing wrong with the prayers in the book, they are just so gimme-gimme-gimme in nature, they miss the whole point of knowing and standing in the presense of God. And while many prayers do involve asking God for something, they can be so much more. A book on prayer should communicate this to some degree.
Stormie presents a very well polished good submissive wife attitude throughout the entire book. I find many Christians have this attitude, and to varying degrees, many of these Christians actually demean one another as a result. To Stormie, and many other Christians, marriage is not truly a partnership or a relationship. Stormie says many people confuse the terms 'obey' and 'submit', and I agree with her, wholeheartedly. However, I would submit to you she is one of the confused people!
To her, and countless other Christians, a husband's leadership is simply taking all factors into account and making a decision. If a wife sees he is considering her feelings and desires in making his decision, as well as yielding to God's leading for his family, the wife should happily and willfully follow his leading, even if she disagrees with him. No encouragement to discuss the matter is given, Stormie does not suggest dialog between the husband and wife; the wife must simply follow. There is actually nothing wrong with a husband and wife agreeing to conduct their marriage like this, but I don't think there is a strong case for this type of marriage presented in the Bible.
Stormie uses so many stereotypes, I often feel like I'm reading 'Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus'. Men having deep and soothing voices, her commentary about having a serious conversation with her husband while he was watching a baseball game, and in her discussion of moods, calling men simple and straightforward and women complicated. All these are sterotypes.
Stereotypes in general don't work to illustrate your point, because they have such a weak foundation. For example, I know many husbands who do not have deep voices. Many men have no interest in sports. For those who enjoy sports, if their wife was talking to them in the middle of the game, I know many men who would stop to listen, or at the very least clearly communicate to their wife that this isn't the best time for a serious discussion. And on the many moods of women and the simplicity of men, I know of cases where the exact opposite is true.
Stormie has her heart in the right place, but honestly, I think she misses the boat here. She is extremely superficial at times, rarely digging very deep into scriptural foundations for what she is writing. Also, I don't think she was the right person to write this book. She is a woman instructing men on how to pray for their wives. This formula makes as much sense as going to a unmarried man for maritial counselling.
I think many people gain the most from this book by considering their wives point of view and providing for them by praying for them. I think many husbands have probably never stopped to consider praying for their wives, and this book might really open up their eyes. In this respect, I suppose the book does accomplish what it sets out to do. If you are looking for depth, substance, and an accurate biblical foundation on which to build your marriage, this book probably won't hurt. But I would encourage you, don't let this be the only book you read on marriage.
Rating:
Summary: Great prayer tool!
Review: My wife has been reading and re-reading "The Power of a Praying Wife" for some time now. For Christmas, she got me "The Power of a Praying Husband." This is a simple-to-read, yet very practical book. It covers twenty different areas in which women need their husbands' prayers, including such areas as her spirit, emotions, motherhood, relationships, sexuality, trust, fears, and her desires. A separate (but brief) chapter is devoted to each topic. At the end of each chapter, there are seven specific items related to that area about which a husband can pray. Following that is a brief testimony from a husband who implemented prayers in that area, and then a "sample" prayer. Each chapter closes with several Scripture verses related to the topic. I am incorporating these twenty areas into my daily prayers for my wife. I'd recommend this book for anyone who wants to enrich their prayer life and improve their relationship with their wife!
Rating:
Summary: A Good and Convicting Book on a Man's Prayer Life
Review: My wife suckered me into reading this book just before we got married. But, I'm so glad it was on my so-called, "Required Reading" List. It has really changed the way I approach my prayer, specifically for my wife. I can't say that I've suddenly become a prayer warrior, because I haven't. But, one thing that has struck me is that when I pray, I tend to love and value my wife so much more. The big thing from this book that struck me was that God won't answer any of my prayers if I'm not loving my wife the way I'm supposed to. I would encourage husbands or future husbands or potential husbands to read this book. It's short, easy to read, and it will help you on the journey to becoming a solid man of God. And men, we need all the help we can get!
Rating:
Summary: A Good and Convicting Book on a Man's Prayer Life
Review: My wife suckered me into reading this book just before we got married. But, I'm so glad it was on my so-called, "Required Reading" List. It has really changed the way I approach my prayer, specifically for my wife. I can't say that I've suddenly become a prayer warrior, because I haven't. But, one thing that has struck me is that when I pray, I tend to love and value my wife so much more. The big thing from this book that struck me was that God won't answer any of my prayers if I'm not loving my wife the way I'm supposed to. I would encourage husbands or future husbands or potential husbands to read this book. It's short, easy to read, and it will help you on the journey to becoming a solid man of God. And men, we need all the help we can get!
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