Prayer in a marriage can do a lot to help a couple grow closer together spiritually. In fact research shows that couples who pray together are more likely to stay together than couples who do not. Why is that? Prayer is one of the most personal things a person does in their relationship with God and letting one's spouse in on that helps him/her to see your heart which in turn allows him/her to connect with you on a deeper level. So how should we make prayer a part of our relationship?
First, pray for your spouse on a regular basis. Prayer is not only a way that we connect with God and have relationship with him, it is also a ministry that we can give to one another. When we pray for or intercede for each other, it is one way we can minister to each other's needs and puts our hearts and minds in a place of thankfulness for one another. Take some time to ask your spouse how you can pray for him/her and then commit to doing it. Thank God for giving you your spouse and lift up his/her needs to God. You will find not only that your spouse will appreciate the prayer but you will find that your attitude towards your spouse will change and your love and gratitude for him/her will increase as well.
Second, spend some time praying together as a couple. Now I know many of us have had bad experiences praying out loud in front of a group so this could be up there on the list of things you fear right next to public speaking. But remember that this is an opportunity to connect with your spouse and performance in terms of how well you pray or what words you use is not the issue. It is the time you spend together connecting with the Lord that is important. In fact if you are not good at words and have never prayed together you can still pray together without talking out loud. Here is what you can do:
- Talk together about what you want to pray about. It could be your relationship, a job situation, or the kids. The important thing is that you decide together what you want to pray about.
- Next hold one another's hands and begin to pray silently.
- Finally, when you are both done praying squeeze one another's hands and say "Amen."
In this way you can pray together without having to worry about how good your words are. What will happen over time is you will get more and more comfortable with the idea and find it easy to start to pray out loud. The more you do this the more connected you will feel with one another and with God. Prayer is an important part of a healthy marriage so give it a try this week and see how God uses it in your marriage. Be sure to share your experiences with prayer as a couple in the comments for this post. I am sure your story would be a great encouragement to other couples!
