It doesn’t include a Couple’s Devotional
Jordan Sparnroft
You don’t need to spend quiet time with your spouse or do a daily marriage devotional with them to have a strong marriage. Though those things are great and definitely do not bring harm to marriage, don’t be fooled into thinking that is the only way your marriage can be made spiritually ‘strong’.
Marriage is meant to emulate Jesus and his relationship with the universal church. It goes without saying that marriage is extremely important to God therefore how we as Christ-followers emulate Christ’s love to our spouses should be a high priority.
What if your spouse is not a Christian or your marriage is barely surviving in this season? Can quiet time be a tool used to strengthen your marriage? While daily quiet time is unlikely to solve all the problems in your marriage, it will begin to humble and sanctify you as you look at the One who is Love.
Whether or not I specifically pray for my husband or my marriage that day, spending time with Jesus ALWAYS equips me to love not only my spouse but the people I will encounter that day. When I look at how perfectly loving and patient Jesus is with me, I realize the countless ways I fall short in loving and serving my spouse. In the midst of my raging anger during an argument, I ask the Holy Spirit to help me emulate the things I’ve learned about His love in all the time spent with him in the dark hours of the early morning. THAT is where our quiet times make our marriages strong. It’s in the discipline of looking into the mirror of perfect love and being reminded of all the ways Christ perfectly loves us while we are yet sinners.
1 Corinthians 13 is a practical and beautiful passage that tells us what and Who love is. But more often than not, the verse that comes to mind when I feel like my husband isn’t deserving of my love or my prayers is Romans 5:8, ‘but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.’ It’s in this verse that I’m reminded of how undeserving I am of the constant love, grace, advocacy, and patience Jesus pours on me daily.
Here are some practical ways you can pray for your Spouse and Marriage:
- Prioritize praying for your spouse in your quiet time. Set aside a particular day of the week or time of day to pray for your spouse and specifically your marriage.
- Pray for things that are specific to your spouses’ strengths and areas of need.
- Consider some of your recent fights, what have they centered around? Where did you emulate Jesus? Where did you not? Do you need to apologize? Are your spouse's complaints valid? How can you wisely and lovingly speak hard truth to your spouse?
- Pray for humility for both of you so that you can humbly receive others' opinions and criticisms and serve others.
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Jordan Sparnroft lives in historic central Virginia with her husband and daughter. She is a first-grade teacher at a Christian school, and loves early mornings and spending time with her family. |