Praying for Marriages (PfM)

Please join us this week in praying for married couples on the mission field.  Couples on the mission field often experience a number of stressful situations all at the same time. They are separated from family and friends; they are immersed in a new and strange culture; they are starting a new job; they are establishing a new home; and, on top of all that, they are often learning a new language. Just one of these situations can create difficulties. All of them together almost guarantee some degree of marital conflict. Many times conflict will arise because the spouses adjust to all the changes differently or at least at different rates. One may have difficulty with homesickness; one may have a harder time with the language; and one may make cultural adjustments with less ease than the other. The more out of balance the couples’ adjustments, the more likely it is conflicts will arise. Also, if an adjustment period in any of these areas i...

Please join us this week in praying for marriages dealing with the military deployment of a spouse.  Although there are many elements of military life that can affect a marriage, probably none affects the couple more than the separation of deployment. Just preparing for the deployment of a spouse can be stressful for the marriage. During this preparation period it is not unusual for the couple to become emotionally and physically detached.  This detachment may be an unconscious defense against the sadness of the coming separation.  The anticipation of the deployment can also be accompanied by fear, fear of the unknown, fear of never seeing the departing spouse again and even the fear of facing daily life alone. Once the deployment occurs emotions can fluctuate wildly:  relief that the good-bye is over; resentment of being abandoned; guilt for abandoning; excitement about accomplishing a mission; or deep and debilitating loneliness. ...

Please join us this week in praying for marriages dealing with the workaholic tendencies of a spouse. A workaholic is often defined as one who works compulsively. When a workaholic is in a marriage, his/her compulsive tendencies can create serious difficulties. Examples of issues brought about by a workaholic spouse are a low degree of spousal interaction, limited emotional connection, an absence of sexual intimacy and insufficient opportunities to enjoy common interests, all of which can lead to loneliness and isolation. It is no wonder the spouse of a workaholic can become convinced he/she is not cherished or valued by the work-driven spouse. All needs, interests and dreams take second place to the workaholic’s job. When children are involved, stresses increase even more as the workaholic habitually misses significant events and family functions, leaving the spouse to be the children’s sole support and forcing the spouse to explain ...

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...