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Prayer for My Marriage
To strengthen a marriage that is going well, or to hold one that is going through a storm
Marriage is the first human relationship the Bible describes, and it does not pretend it is easy: the same book gives us Abraham and Sarah's long silences, Hosea's broken home, and a proverb that compares a quarrelsome house to a leaking roof. Paul's advice to couples is not a technique but a short list, patience, forgiveness, love that holds the rest together. This prayer can be said by one spouse alone or by both; change the words to fit where your marriage actually is.
The prayer
Lord, I bring you my marriage as it is today, not as it looks from outside. You know the good in it that I forget to be thankful for, and the cracks we have stopped mentioning. You were there when we made our promises, and you are here now.
Give us patience with each other, and the humility to say sorry first. Where words have wounded, bring healing; where silence has grown, give us the courage to speak; where trust has been broken, begin the slow work of rebuilding it. Protect us from the small neglects that do more damage than any storm.
Change what needs changing in me before I ask you to change anything in the one I married. Teach me to see them the way you do, and to keep choosing them on the days when it is hard.
Be the third strand in our cord, Lord, so that it does not break. Amen.
In one breath
Lord, hold our marriage together where we cannot. Give us patience, quick forgiveness, and a love that outlasts the hard days. Amen.
Verses to hold on to
And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.
With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
Colossians 3:13 was the verse of the day on February 13, 2024. See that day
How to pray it
- Pray for your spouse's good before you pray about your grievances; the order changes the prayer.
- If you can, pray together for one minute at the end of the day, even on the days you have argued.
- Thank God for one specific thing about your spouse each time; gratitude keeps the prayer honest.
Make it your own
Say what you are living, in a few words, and receive this prayer written for your situation.
- Your words
- Your prayer
Questions
Other prayers
- Prayer for a Loved OneFor someone you love who is going through something you cannot fix for them
- Prayer for My ChildrenA parent's prayer for a child of any age, from the cot to the grown-up who no longer calls
- Prayer for AnxietyFor the mind that will not stop, at 3 a.m. or in the middle of the day
- Prayer When Faith Is WeakA prayer for the days when believing is hard and God feels far away
- Prayer for ForgivenessA prayer to ask God's forgiveness, and to find the strength to forgive someone else
- Prayer of ThanksgivingA prayer to thank God for what he has given, named one thing at a time
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