What Might 28 Days of Prayer Do for Your Marriage?
Last August, I made a plan to help parents and caregivers pray for their children daily during the school year. If you wish, you can read more about that plan here, but the basic idea was to write 28 prayers for your children, enter them into your phone calendar and set them to repeat every day for four weeks. I, along with many others, did just this, and now every day, we get an alert on our phones and computers reminding us to stop and pray for our children. Taking these simple steps has increased the time I spend praying for my kids' faith, character development, safety, and friendships immeasurably. And lately, I've had the desire to pray with the same consistency for my marriage.
My husband and I have been married for a little over ten years, and, like all couples, we have had our ups and downs. The first five years of our marriage were difficult. Neither of us was walking with God closely during those years. As a result, selfishness, pride, and anger were the most influential forces in our marriage. It wasn't a pretty sight. Eventually, we reached a breaking point. We realized we had made quite the mess of our lives, and it was time to make a change. We needed to put God at the center of our lives again. We started praying and reading the Bible daily, and we recommitted to attending church regularly. But the biggest change was in our hearts. We simply chose to surrender our minds, wills, desires, and emotions to the Lord. We chose to serve Him with our entire lives.
I cannot overstate how drastically our marriage changed for the better at that point. But of course, we are both still sinners, and we still experience pain and heartache within our relationship. We also now have the added pressure of careers, raising four children, and handling all of life's other stressors. I know that we need the Lord more than ever. And prayer is one way God has given us to communicate our needs and desires to Him.
Below are 28 prayers for marriage, one for each day over the next four weeks. Each of the four weeks of prayer has a theme.
The themes are:
- Unity
- Strength in times of struggle
- Spiritual growth
- Relational depth
Like the prayers for my children, I plan to put each of these prayers into my phone's calendar as an event. I'll set a reminder to pop up at 1:00 PM each day to remind me to stop and pray for my marriage. I'm also going to set each prayer to repeat every four weeks, so I will continuously be praying these prayers over my marriage even after these 28 days are done. I'd love to invite you to do the same if you are looking for a way to pray consistently for your marriage.
You may want to use the prayers below, adapt them some, or write ones specific to your unique relationship. If your spouse is willing, it might be helpful to pray these prayers together. At the end of this blog, there is a brief explanation of how to add these to a digital calendar, so you receive daily reminders to pray for your spouse and yourself.
Week 1: Unity
Day 1: Lord, teach us how to consider each other's desires above our own.
Day 2: Lord, unite us in areas where we are currently in disagreement.
Day 3: Lord, show each of us where we are creating disunity in our marriage so that we can instead pursue unity.
Day 4: Lord, help us communicate our opinions respectfully when they differ from each other.
Day 5: Lord, help us to be quick to listen and slow to speak.
Day 6: Lord, give us the courage to have difficult conversations.
Day 7: Lord, help us honor each other's emotions and experiences instead of dismissing them.
Week 2: Strength in Times of Struggle
Day 8: Lord, give us wisdom when we encounter unexpected circumstances.
Day 9: Lord, remind us to depend on You as our source of strength.
Day 10: Lord, anchor us in times of trouble by the hope we have in You.
Day 11: Lord, be our guide in times of confusion.
Day 12: Lord, help us to grow together and not apart in hard times.
Day 13: Lord, provide for us all that we need in times of lack.
Day 14: Lord, help our unbelief in times our faith feels weak.
Week 3: Spiritual Growth
Day 15: Lord, help us to understand and apply the Scripture we read.
Day 16: Lord, convict us of and help us turn away from sin.
Day 17: Lord, teach us to prioritize time with you even when we are busy.
Day 18: Lord, teach us to recognize the leading of the Holy Spirit.
Day 19: Lord, embolden us to share the gospel with those in our sphere of influence.
Day 20: Lord, strengthen us to stay steadfast in our faith in the face of opposition.
Day 21: Lord, remove anything that has become an idol in our lives.
Week 4: Relational Depth
Day 22: Lord, help us to recognize and apologize for the mistakes we make.
Day 23: Lord, may we experience times of laughter and joy together.
Day 24: Lord, help us find common interests and continue to grow our friendship.
Day 25: Lord, help us work through any relational weaknesses we have picked up from our past experiences.
Day 26: Lord, help us to forgive one another as You have forgiven us.
Day 27: Lord, remove any unrealistic expectations we have placed on each other.
Day 28: Lord, help us to recognize and celebrate the strengths we each bring into the relationship.
How to Add a Prayer Prompt to Your Digital Calendar:
- Open the calendar app on your phone or computer
- Add a new event (on an iPhone, you click the + icon)
- Copy and paste the entire prayer prompt into the event title box
- Set the start time as the time you'd like to receive your prayer prompt
- Set the event to repeat every four weeks, if desired
- Turn on an alert for the event
