Have you ever wondered why husbands and wives should pray together? It will deepen your marriage; that’s why!
1. The most important reason to pray together is to be one with your spouse. If husbands and wives do not pray together, they are not one spiritually. God desires the husband to lead the wife spiritually in Ephesians 5:22-27, where the husband is supposed to wash his wife with the Word, to present her holy and blameless to God. How can he do that without communicating to God in her presence?
2. We reflect Christ and the church when we pray with our spouse. The husband is the personification of Christ, and the wife is the personification of the church. The physical, emotional, and spiritual intimacy experienced between a husband and wife is supposed to reflect the church’s relationship to Jesus, where we are one, and we allow Him to enter us and rule us, and He lays down His life for us because of His incredibly deep love for us.
3. Jesus wants us to have unity. Jesus wants us to be one with our spouse the same way that God the Father and God the Son are one. In John 17:11b, He says: “Holy Father, keep them in Your name, which You have given Me, that they may be one, even as we are one.” (ESV) Do you understand how incredible that oneness is? Both of you must be saved, and you need to love God with ALL your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Then God will purify and transform you to be more like Jesus. That’s how you are more and more one—because you are both more and more like Christ. Plus, selfishness is the root of all sin, and the more God purges you from sin, the more selfless you are, and the more capable you are of loving your spouse.
4. We are commanded within the body of Christ to pray for one another, and this includes your spouse. To not pray with your spouse is to declare that you are not comfortable with your spouse spiritually. But God can change that. If the reason you don’t pray with your spouse is that you don’t like other people to listen to your prayers, get over your fear of other people’s opinions. God commands you to pray out loud (James 5:16). Christ whipped people out of the Temple and said that His church would be a house of prayer. So prayer was the number one thing that Jesus said the church should be doing! If you are a brother and sister in Christ, you are the church. What He commands the church to do is what He commands every believer to do.
5. Praying will draw you closer to your spouse. I’m attracted to my husband’s soul when he is praying, and that transfers to better physical intimacy. Prayer cracks you open to the spiritual life of your spouse. It gives you a glimpse into his soul.
Why are godly men and women not praying together as husband and wife? Many times the reason is that their prayer lives are stagnant, and they don’t enjoy prayer. In this case, they don’t want their spouse to see through them, that they have stopped growing spiritually, and they just want to be comfortable instead of deepening their walk with God. Oh, the horror of stagnation! Force yourself to pray with your spouse if only to get yourself out of this stagnant cesspool of a lack of growth in Christ. Do not rest on your past laurels.
Stay tuned for “How to Get Your Husband to Pray with You,” practical ways to transition into praying together to experience spiritual oneness, plus a free prayer audio to show exactly how to do this, and why you should do this!
Tags: Christian Living, marriage, prayer
This is a great post. My husband and I tend to pray together when we’re praying for someone else, but we don’t habitually pray together except before dinner. I’ll keep these points in mind.
Praying with each other will always draw you closer as husband and wife.
I agree with each of your points. My husband and I have grown in our praying together to longer we have been together. It absolutely has increased our connection in other ways as well. Thank you for the post!
It increases the connection we have as husband and wife when we are vulnerable enough to pray together.
I have to confess my husband and I don’t pray together. We pray about the same things at different times and in different places. But that may explain why I feel so… uncovered lately. Thank you for the reminder to set aside time to pray with him.
Yes, encourage your husband to pray with you!
There is a personal, intimate connection that grows when we pray with our spouses. It is such an important part of our spiritual and marital journey.
Absolutely!
Prayer has the power to bind us together as husband and wife. I think sometimes people are uncomfortable praying in front of others, but praying in front of our spouses is a good way to work on that.
Praying with your spouse gives you practice in praying aloud so that you are not fearful to pray over other people who need it.
Wonderful reminders! Life can get so busy and we get distracted and forget to make time to pray together. Thank you for the encouragement!
Always glad to encourage a sister in Christ!