How to Pray for Your Marriage
One of the first things you should do after saying, “I do” is learn how to pray for your marriage. In reality, praying for your union and your spouse could (and should) start long before those two words are set to leave your lips. However, if your prayer journey is starting now, here are 5 prayers and verses of promise to stand on for your marriage.
What is prayer?
Simply put, prayer is communication with God. It can be anything from praising and petitioning to expressing gratitude or conducting spiritual warfare. Throughout scripture, you can find many different types of prayer. Prayers of adoration were typically prayed to worship the Lord out of a deep love and admiration. Prayers of confession were prayed to admit sins and resulted in expressing repentance.
Other prayers can also be found in scripture, such as vows, reflection, healing, transformation, and blessing. Each of these can be used to pray for your marriage.
The Power of Praying for Your Marriage
You’ve probably heard the saying, “a couple that prays together stays together.” Nice jingle aside, this saying carries some heavy truths. Not only will prayer help you build a solid foundation for your marriage, but it will also help:
- Strengthen your relationship with your spouse.
- Keep you humble.
- Teach you to be selfless.
- Encourage vulnerability and transparency.
- Increase trust and intimacy.
Without a doubt, there will be times along your marriage journey where it may feel like prayer is all you have. Not to mention, God wants you to talk to Him about your marriage. He wants you to come to Him for answers and help. Making prayer a priority early in your marriage will help you stay strong.
How to Pray for Your Marriage
One of the easiest ways to start praying for your marriage is to approach it topically. For example, you can begin praying in the area of unity. Then, find a scripture or two to use as a prayer starter. Below are a few topics, scriptures, and prayers to help you get started.
Prayer for Unity
How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity! (Psalm 133:1)
Heavenly Father, we are so thankful for your Word. Help us to live together in unity, where we know Your goodness and pleasantries are waiting. In the moments when we’re not seeing eye to eye, help us to be selfless, good listeners, and strive to keep the peace in our marriage and our home. May we truly seek to identify and work through anything not pleasing to You. In Jesus Name, Amen.
Prayer for Mutual Growth
Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness. (Colossians 2:7)
Lord, I pray that You would help us be rooted in You and that we would seek to build our lives together on Your solid foundation. We desire to have strong faith in the truth we were taught and we desire to overflow with thankfulness. May we boldly step out in faith and grab hold of the strength to move forward together. In Jesus Name, Amen.
Prayer for Trust
Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. (Proverbs 3:5)
God, we thank You for showing us what it really means to trust. Help us to extend this characteristic toward one another in our marriage as we do toward You. When we trust You, we know that we don’t have to understand everything. Help us to be vulnerable with one another, trusting and being a safe place for all of our feelings, emotions, dreams, desires, and so on. In Jesus Name, Amen.
Prayer to See Trials as Opportunities
Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. (Romans 12:12)
Heavenly Father, we know that trials will come. Help us to be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and faithful in prayer. For it’s within these three things that we can truly see the purpose of going through tough times. We will have Your eyes to see situations and circumstances as opportunities to grow closer to You and to one another. In Jesus Name, Amen.
Prayer for Wisdom
If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. (James 1:5)
Lord, we thank You for the boldness to ask for wisdom because we know it is necessary in our marriage. Help us to not be prideful and instead ask for wisdom with confidence. Your Word says that You will give it generously, so we accept it generously so we can have a strong relationship with one another. We thank You in advance for blessing us with Your wisdom and understanding. In Jesus Name, Amen.
Final Thoughts
As you start the journey with your spouse, always remember to pray for your marriage. The time you invest in your relationship is what you will get in return. Always seek to put God first, your marriage second, and everything else in their proper places thereafter. We are praying for you to have a prosperous and thriving marriage!
