Praying together with your spouse can be a powerful way to connect on a spiritual level. However, you must find a prayer time that works for both of you and commit to it.
This daily prayer calendar is a great way to get started and foster a sense of unity and purpose in your marriage and expressions of hope and blessings for their union.
1. Set a Time to Pray
For many couples, praying together is a rare occurrence. It might bookend a family meal or happen before going to sleep, but it is rarely an everyday routine. This is a shame. Praying together is an important part of a healthy marriage and can be the engine that drives real change in your relationship.
A regular daily prayer schedule can help you and your spouse connect on a spiritual level, communicate more effectively, and resolve issues that are bothering you. It is also a great way to set goals and work on your own spiritual growth together as a couple.
Getting into the habit of prayer can be difficult, especially when you and your husband have such busy schedules. A few strategies for making time to pray together include:
Start by finding a time in your day that is a good fit for both of you, and commit to doing it every day. It might be a few minutes in the morning, before your kids get up or during your commute to work. If you are not used to doing this, try starting with short periods of time like five minutes and working your way up to longer sessions.
It is also a good idea to have a trigger that will remind you to pray, like writing it on your toothbrush or placing a sticky note on your bathroom mirror. This will help you keep your commitment to pray, even if you get distracted or have to skip a day or two. It is important to remember that changing a habit takes time, so don’t give up if you miss a day or two; it took time to get into the habit of brushing your teeth and you still do it on occasion!
Once you establish a regular time to pray, the next step is to focus on what you are talking about with God. Many people struggle with knowing what to say in prayer, so they end up saying nothing or repeating themselves. Some couples find it helpful to write out a list of topics to cover, or to use a book of prayers that they can read together.
2. Share Your Prayers
The key to a strong marriage is open and honest communication. Sharing your prayers gives you the opportunity to communicate your concerns and desires for your spouse in a safe space with God. Keeping this communication open also fosters unity within your marriage as you are both encouraged to share freely with one another about the most important things in life.
Sharing your prayer requests will also give you a chance to see the cares of your husband’s heart that you may not have seen in other conversations or situations. Similarly, hearing your wife’s prayers will help you to understand her perspectives on issues that are important to her and discover cares that she may not have shared with you in conversation.
This will build intimacy in your marriage and encourage you to pray more often together as a couple. You can make a commitment to pray with each other for at least three days each week and then increase this number as you become more comfortable with your prayer time. You can also add variety to your times of prayer by including worship music, Scripture reading, and trying a few different prayer methods.
For example, if you have a prayer group that meets every Wednesday at noon, you could switch up the method of prayer for each meeting to keep it fresh and exciting. This will also give everyone the opportunity to try a new way of praying that they may not have tried before.
In addition to strengthening the spiritual bond between you and your spouse, a commitment to daily prayer strengthens your marriage by encouraging you to work together to fortify your marriage. You are also able to draw upon the wisdom and guidance of ancient prayers that have been proven through time to be effective in guiding couples through marital challenges.
Like a lighthouse that illuminates the path forward through treacherous waters, the practice of daily prayer strengthens your marriage and helps to ensure that your marital decisions are in alignment with divine will. Embracing the power of prayer in your marriage will fortify the foundations of love and respect that are the cornerstones of any successful relationship.
3. Pray Together
When you pray as a couple, it is important that you learn to say things to God together. This will open a door of intimacy that you may have closed in your individual prayer lives. It will allow you to see deeper into your spouse’s heart and discover cares that he or she has that are not disclosed in conversation or other times of intimacy.
Learning to speak to one another in the presence of God is often uncomfortable at first, especially if you have not done it before. Try to keep it simple at first by using short, general prayers (like the Lord’s Prayer) and then progressing to more intimate prayers. The goal is to make this a pleasant experience, so that you can both be excited about continuing to pray together daily.
If one of you is more comfortable praying out loud, have the one who is more comfortable do so, and then have the other join in or say their own prayers silently. You can also pray out loud and then read the other’s words to each other afterward (like a prayer journal). Whatever you choose to do, it is important that both of you are able to express yourself in a way that is pleasing to God and to your spouse.
Eventually you will need to learn how to say things out loud to each other in the presence of God, and this is where things really begin to get interesting. This is where you will be able to use the most powerful tools in your marriage and bring deep intimacy into your relationship. It is here that you will be able to reveal those things about yourself to your mate that you probably would not share in your normal conversations, but which are vital to the health of your marriage and your love for God.
Intimate, vocal prayer allows you to be open and honest with your mate and it is in this honesty that true intimacy is found. This is the kind of intimacy that you can use to truly serve each other and reflect Jesus Christ’s love in your home.
4. Pray for Each Other
If you’re not in the habit of praying together regularly, it can be challenging to get started. Don’t worry if it starts out awkward or you can’t seem to find the right words to say. Just try to stick with it and see what happens. You may discover that it brings you closer to your spouse.
Prayer for each other is a powerful tool that helps foster unity within marriage and encourages alignment in values, purposes, and goals. Whether you are dealing with a minor disagreement or something life-altering, prayer can help you heal from past hurts and build resilience in your relationship.
Developing a daily prayer routine with your spouse is an investment in the longevity of your marriage. It can strengthen the bonds of love and trust, help you navigate through difficult times, and keep you from taking each other for granted. However, it’s easy for a daily prayer routine to fall by the wayside in the hustle and bustle of married life.
To help you stay on track, try committing to pray together at the same time each day. Then, gradually increase the frequency of your prayer until it becomes a lifestyle.
Prayer is a beautiful gift from God. It’s a way to communicate directly with Him and ask Him for His blessings on your marriage. It’s also a way to remind each other that your union is a sacred one and to keep it above reproach.
By following these simple tips, you can create a daily prayer routine that will strengthen your marriage and draw you closer to each other. So, start today and make prayer a priority in your marriage! Your marriage will never be the same.
