It's "Marriage Prayer Friday!"

Once again, we are praying for marriages to be refreshed, renewed, healed, restored and thriving. Whether you are praying for your own marriage or standing in the gap for a friend, thank you for joining us in seeking the Lord for the protection and fruitfulness of this sacred union.

A prayer for your own marriage—

MERCIFUL GOD, it is marvelous for me to contemplate your infinite wisdom, love and power to form me in my mother’s womb and then keep transforming me daily into Your image (2 Cor. 3:18)! Thank you for having such tremendous patience with me when I struggle with weakness, imperfection and sin. Help me to have that kind of grace for my spouse. He/she, like me, is on a journey that is bumpy. Each of us is new creation from the first moment we embrace relationship with You (2 Cor. 5:17) and yet our sanctification and spiritual growth is a process — a race that feels like a grueling marathon sometimes, Lord (Acts 20:24)! Help me to respect my spouse’s personal process and faith journey. It is different from my own but no less precious to You. Forgive my impatience and high expectations. Show me how to keep You, Jesus — not my spouse — as the supreme object of my hope and expectations. Jesus, You are the author and perfector of our faith both personally and as a couple (Hebrews 12:1-3). Please increase our unity in the faith and help us grow more and more into a couple and family that brings glory to You. AMEN

Something to pray for a friend's marriage—

MERCIFUL GOD of infinite wisdom, love and power, thank you for forming me in my mother’s womb and then transforming me daily into Your image (2 Cor. 3:18). Thank you for doing an ongoing sanctifying work in me and in the marriages around me. Help me and my married friends to grasp the enormity of the privilege that it is to be saved in Christ even as we all struggle with weakness, imperfection and sin. Strengthen my married friends to have Your grace for their spouses. Show them how to demonstrate respect for one other as each of them grows in their own faith. Show them how to keep You, Jesus — not their spouses — as the supreme object of their hope and expectations. Jesus, You are the author and perfector of our faith as individuals and couples (Hebrews 12:1-3). Please increase my married friends’ unity in the faith and help them catch a vision about how they can grow in their relationships with you TOGETHER. Please empower my friends’ marriages to bring glory to You. AMEN