(upbeat music) Hello, hello, welcome back to another episode of the Praying Couple Podcast, where your hosts--- Mike.- And Carly Kirchival. And we are so excited today to bring to you an episode that is different. This one is a little bit different than the previous types of episodes we've done. The format's gonna be different, but we are thrilled to have you here today. We are going to formally invite you to join The Marriage Prayer Army. And today's episode is all about that. Mike, do you wanna go ahead and share a little bit about what that means?- Yes, so what that means is when we talk about an army, okay? An army is a large organized body of army personnel that are trained for war on land. All right, it's important that within the army, everybody has a common focus. They have an objective, they have a role. And as you learn your role, the overarching theme is to operate together.- I love that. And I love these, we're providing these, actually from the Merriam Webster dictionary. Another thing that is under army is a great multitude, okay? So think of this when we're inviting you to join a marriage prayer army, this is a great multitude of people. We can save with certainty and with confidence that we already have over 35,000 people around the world from 195 different countries who are agreeing to pray with us for marriages and families. And we're hoping that that includes you. One of the things that we want to share about this first and foremost, if you already feel a conviction in your heart to join this global movement, please head on over to our website, theprayingcouple.com. And you'll be able to see the green buttons that are saying join the marriage prayer army. So you can do that at any time. So one of the things that we also want to talk about is how we were prepared in a way that we didn't understand to start this movement. So for those of you that don't know, my husband Michael was a US Army soldier for 15 years before he was retired early due to combat related injuries. So I'm going to let him share a little bit about his testimony because what you're going to learn about what God does in the lives of his children is that he prepares us for what's to come. So while we're walking through some difficult times, while we stand in places that we don't understand, trust, know and believe that our Father in Heaven is establishing us for Kingdom work. Yes. So as Carly said, I was in the army for 15 years. And within the United States Army, I kind of want to give you an idea of how the breakdown is on a, you know, going from a division unit level to a brigade, which is a little bit smaller than the division level and then to a battalion-sized unit all the way down to a company-sized unit. And then within a company, there's a platoon and a squad. OK. And so when I was deployed in Iraq 2004 through 2005, we actually had a, called a mini-armory of prayer warriors that was praying Psalm 91 over myself in my whole battalion unit. Yes. OK. So imagine me, this is my first deployment. Yes, as an army soldier, I'm trained for war. I'm trained my role within, within the mission, but I didn't have the experience to go with it. So there was, we called our mini-prayer army that was praying Psalm 91 over us. So despite all these different several incidences with attacks, we were not harmed. Nor was there any injuries because of the power of prayer. And to insert this into it. So Michael, like he said, he's a trained soldier for natural warfare. Yes. But the beautiful thing about being called by God, established in his kingdom and being able to access the power of his spirit and the power of his word is understanding that there is a supernatural, a spiritual side to the equipping that God does for his armies. So for instance, this marriage prayer army that the Lord had put on our heart decades ago, y'all, this is a decades long ago project. God has been training us to step up to the plate to leave this global initiative for the last 26 years. And it's finally here. It's finally time. And what's so beautiful about it is the marrying of the natural preparation with the spiritual preparation. It's kind of like this. We know the Apostle Paul. He was well versed as a Pharisee and the affairs of men. He was well versed in the natural side, reading God's word, you know, kind of going through the religious ceremonial aspect of some Christianity, if you want to say that. But what Paul lacked was the spiritual fortitude, the experience spiritually, supernaturally with the living God. He interacted with the Word of God, which, you know, that's God, yes. But the words on the paper don't come to life unless the spirit of God himself reveals it to you. That's right. So when Paul on the road to Damascus had his supernatural encounter with God with Jesus, the living God, then, and only then, was he prepared to be launched into the ministry that would establish my goodness, generations and generations to come, because I know for one myself, when I read the books that Paul wrote, I am so convicted to this day by his conviction, by his revelation, because I understand because of the time that I personally spent in prayer these last 26 years in the presence of God. I know when another person is writing from that same disposition of understanding on their own, because of their own experience in the presence of God, because of the work that they put in with the Word of God, serving, obeying, you know, having troubles, but trusting God, continuing to pray, even when things look bleak, even when things just don't make sense, and things around you are dying, and people are dying, and situations are dying, and doors are being closed, and you still stand up and say, you know what, no, I'm going to take you at your Word, God. So this is what we're talking about. This army, I'm going to read you guys the mission statement that God has given us. Now, listen. If you listen to this podcast a couple years from now, you could have, you could change, you just never know. The mission is going to be the same, but God continues to make us better, and be able to communicate His Word better. But this right now, as it stands, the mission statement for the Marriage Prayer Army. The Marriage Prayer Army exists to raise up a global community of Christians who are committed to standing in prayer for marriages, reclaiming them for the kingdom of heaven. Our mission is to protect and uphold God's design for marriage and family through intercession, spiritual agreement, and the transformative power of prayer. We believe that through the authority of God's Word and the unity of His people, we will see marriages restored, family strengthened, and the light of Christ shining brightly in homes around the world.- Praise God.- Amen.- Amen. Here's a little quick story I wanna add also within this, the power of, you know, with prayer, agreement, being a part of this army, all right? Think about King Jehosephat and Second Chronicles 20, all right? You had all these armies that were advancing to attack Him and the children of Israel. He could have easily freaked out. He could have, he could have tried to, you know, retreat. But what do he do? He called everyone to pray and to fast. And because of that, because of prayer, God caused those advancing armies to essentially fight against themselves. And He saved King Jehosephat and the children of Israel. So there is power behind being a part of this army because it goes beyond what we're personally going through on a daily basis and the overarching theme and the focus is Jesus Christ and us being laser focus on things that we all go through.- Yes, that's so true. And I just love like one of the biggest things that resonates in my spirit on a daily basis. And it's just a conviction that holds me so close to my Lord and my Savior is that I want His kingdom to come and is will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. That is like it for me. That is the ultimate thing. That's why I'm here. That's what I'm designed to help do. And one of the things that I know for sure is many of you, it's the same. - Yes.- It is the absolute same. Will you answer this call? Will you answer this call to arms to join this marriage prayer army? This is for intercessors. This is for people who are married and who are struggling in their marriages. This is for people who just want to see God's will be done on earth as it is in heaven.- Yes.- There's no requirements other than you feeling that the spirit of the living God is saying, you know what, come together with them because you know in Matthew 18 and 20 it says for where two or three gather in my name. There am I with them. Here's the thing. We know too that the power of agreement that is outlined and established in the Word of God is something that we cannot continue to neglect as believers.- That's right.- Now I don't mean agreement with your flesh. I don't mean agreement. Oh, I don't like so and so in the way they pray. Oh, I don't either, girl. I don't mean that. I mean agreement with God's Word, agreement with his spirit, agreement with his will being done on earth as it is in heaven. Whatever that may look like, okay? So we're looking for people that don't care about man pleasing, that don't care about man-made systems that destroy about the world. We're talking, we want people like us who literally are here for one thing.- That's right.- And that is to be used by God to establish his kingdom on earth that we understand that it's not by might, it's not by power, it's not by money, it's not by worldly systems, but it's by his spirit.- Yes.- His spirit. We are spirit led prayer warriors, intercessors, people who are championed from marriages because marriage is the start of families.- That's right.- Marriage dictates what culture does. Marriage is the establishment of marriage. It is so powerful and God revealed this to us decades and decades ago. And so we are so excited to put that call out there. Do you feel that call to stand in the gap for marriages? Are you ready to be a part of this global mission to reclaim marriages for the kingdom of heaven? Then we welcome you into the marriage prayer army. Now let me explain a little bit about this. The marriage prayer army, essentially what we're gonna do, it's free to join. What we're gonna do is every month we are gonna send out a mission, okay? This mission is gonna be where the power of agreement comes into, it comes into play. It comes together, we're gonna start establishing some things. There will be tens of thousands of people around the world already signed up and there's gonna be more. We will come and we will go before the Lord and we will be praying scriptures, okay? We're gonna teach you how to pray scripture-based prayers. We will even provide some prayer prompts for those of you that may be not as well versed in prayer or maybe not as confident. Trust me when I tell you, no one person prays better than another. Really what establishes a powerful prayer life is your faith. You being a willing and open vessel, trusting and believing God is who he says he is and releasing and having these conversations with God and doing as he commands. What instructions will he give you after you pray? So these are the things that we're gonna provide and we're excited about you. So remember go to our website at thepreycouple.com to sign up today. Is there anything else you wanna add, Mike?- Yes, I wanna, some of you that might be like,"Ah, I'm not sure. I'm gonna encourage you to go ahead and do it anyway." It's okay at times to be uncomfortable, but no deep down inside that this is beyond what even Carl and I are talking about or what we think. This is a global movement. This is for the kingdom in heaven. We are all as being part of this army is showing God that we are committed to the call. We're committed to his cause. Whatever it is that he shows us to pray about and for us to have that built-in accountability, that community that's saying regardless of what I'm going through or what things seem like, we're gonna continually believe God, we're gonna confess his word and we're gonna do what he tells us to do. Amen, I just wanna add, in this world, the enemy is relentlessly attacking the sacred covenant of marriage.- Yeah. - Right? But that's okay. He can try attacking all day long because we understand that we are more powerful. If one can put a thousand to flight, just the word tells us. Two can put 10,000.- Yes.- That's just two. What about 25, 35, 45,000 Christians coming together speaking the word of God? Praying about the same things for marriages and families. Do y'all understand that we are armed with faith, the weapons of our warfare, they're not carnal?- That's right.- And so we, no matter what's going on, if we would rise up and be the bride of Christ, the people he has called us to be, to be the body, to stand in the gap, to go on and speak the word of God into our daily lives over our neighbors, over our brothers and sisters in Christ around the world. The things that we're gonna start to witness y'all, I still can't believe it when Jesus said, that greater things will you do than I'm doing because only because he went to go to part to be the father now.- That's right.- It's not because we're greater, or have any power or authority, it all comes through him. But think about that. Think about that. That is extremely, extremely powerful, exciting. And it just shows you there's a lot of work to be done. But he's given us the ability to do it. So with that said, we want to encourage you to go sign up today. Also we're gonna lead, Mike's gonna lead us out in prayer because we want to cover you because we understand that when we begin to obey and rise up as a global movement, and you know, it's another target. But that's okay because truly we are hidden in Christ.- That's right.- You can't find us. I'll go into that another time. That's a no-one other episode, a whole new teaching y'all. Okay, but Mike, will you just end us in prayer, please?- Yes. God will just come before you. We thank you, God that you are building up this prayer army. We thank you, God, that as people are listening, they're being strengthened, they're being encouraged. We thank you, God that your will is being done. God, this is for your kingdom. I pray, God that you will continually draw the people as you see fit. We are committed to your cause. So God, we just thank you for your protection. We thank you for increase. We thank you for confidence. We thank you for all these things in Jesus' name.- Jesus mighty name. Okay y'all, if you haven't already, you can listen to some other episodes that we have. We do have some great topics that we've prayed about and we will continue to do that as we move forward. But again, we are excited and we cannot wait to meet you inside of the marriage prayer army.- See you later.(upbeat music)