Praying for Marriages (PfM)

This week we are taking a slight turn for the holidays. Of course we want you to pray for marriages this coming week, but we would like you to pray particularly for the marriages of those people you will be with during Christmas and/or as 2017 draws to a close. In many cases those will be the marriages of family and friends, marriages into which you have more intimate insight and for which you can pray with more specificity than normal. On the other hand, you may have had or will yet still have occasion to spend time with new acquaintances about whose marriages you know little. Regardless, all these marriages will benefit from your intercession. So, even in this busy season, take time to lift up these marriages to our Lord who is actively about the work of renewing all things. We hope you have a blessed Christmas and you experience the full goodness of God as you seek to live obediently before Him in 2018.

Please join us this week in praying for marriages in which one of two non-believing spouses has become a believer in our Lord Jesus Christ. The difficulties a marriage can experience when entered into by a believer and a non-believer are many. All of those difficulties and more can be present in the marriage of non-believers when one comes to faith in Jesus Christ and the other does not. The new believer can find being faithful to Christ difficult because the very one s/he is joined to in marriage is at the least not equipped to be supportive and at the most possibly hostile. The non-believing spouse, even without intention, can tempt the new believer into situations that would violate his/her new relationship with Christ. These situations can strike at the heart of companionship and cause the couple to doubt the suitability of their relationship. Non-believing friends of the unequally-yoked couple can drive a wedge between the two by si...

Please join us this week in praying for marriages that have settled. First let me explain what I mean by “settled” for I admit “settled” can be both a positive and a negative term. Positively it can mean “settled in” as in “settled in for a long winter’s nap”. Negatively it can mean “settled for” as a new college graduate “settled for” a lower-paying job until s/he gains experience. In this blog I am using the term in the negative sense. We need to pray for marriages that have “settled for” less. You are right in asking, “Settled for less of what?” Well, less of a lot of things. Some marriages have settled for less physically. The spouses have gotten lazy or take each other for granted. They have assumed their spouse desires them even though they make no effort to be desirable. The old flame is a flicker. These couples don’t need to renew their vows. They need to renew their wows! Some marria...

Please join us this week in praying for marriages dealing with the issue of jealousy. Jealousy can arise in a marriage in a number of ways. The cause can be internal to the marriage, as when a spouse shows excessive or inappropriate attention to a person other than his/her spouse. In fact, jealousy can arise if the same excessive attention is given to something other than a person, such as work or even a hobby. Another cause of jealousy is low self-esteem or extreme possessiveness which causes one spouse to see every relationship the other spouse has as a threat or competition. Jealousy can also arise externally to the marriage when a third party shows inappropriate attention to one's marriage partner even though that partner may be above reproach or even actively shuns the attention. Another form of jealousy that can attack a marriage is that which arises because of differences in life situations. Jealousy can crop up if one spouse has g...

This week we are calling on you to give thanks throughout the week for marriages that have played or are still playing an important role in your life. That special set of marriages will be unique for each of us, so we may not suggest some that are important to you; nevertheless, here are some to consider just for starters. Give thanks for the marriage of your parents, the marriage that most often sets the example for our own marriages. Give thanks for the marriages of your grandparents, those marriages that have remained strong and vibrant for decades. Give thanks for the marriages of friends, for those who have walked along side you and encouraged you through good and bad times. Give thanks for the marriages of your spiritual mentors, your pastors, Bible study teachers, youth leaders, all those who have exampled for you how to be a couple faithful to the call of Christ. And don't forget to give thanks for your own marriage and for the one who shares this unique...

Please join us this week in praying for marriages in which the spouses are dealing with the recent death of one of their parents. Although the death of a parent fits within the “normal” pattern of a person’s life experience, it is still an event that can create stresses in a marriage. These stresses can be accentuated if the death is sudden or untimely. The child of the deceased, though a married adult, may still experience profound loss and even feel cheated that the parent did not live to fulfill long-anticipated roles (for example, being a grandparent to his/her children). As with any grief experienced by a married couple, strife can arise if the individuals express or react to grief differently or have different expectations concerning the impact of a parent’s death. Consequently, these times of loss can cause marital conflict if a spouse does not demonstrate in words and actions the compassion and support the grieving spouse may ne...

Please join us this week in praying for marriages in which the redeeming sacrifice of Jesus is unknown. The spouses in these marriages have joined in a relation-ship that demands oneness yet they lack the indwelling Spirit who makes that oneness possible. They have joined in a relationship that demands the presence of every fruit of the Spirit yet they lack the Spirit who provides that very fruit. They have joined in a relationship that demands the purest expressions of love yet they lack the personal knowledge of the Christ who, through His sacrifice, has given the highest example of that love. These couples have also joined in a relationship subject to great challenges, difficult struggles and endless attacks of the evil one, yet one that lacks the boundless resources of our God, resources given to equip believing couples to overcome these challenges and struggles and to resist Satan. This week pray that these couples without Christ w...