Marriage is hard. There’s no way around it. But to get through it, you may need some extra prayer as you engage in battle against the things that culture says are important or against sin issues in your home.
What are spiritual warfare prayers you can say for your marriage? Prayers of spiritual warfare in marriage are prayers intended to fight against areas of difficulty in your marriage, recognizing that the battle isn’t always against the physical world but also against “against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places,” (Ephesians 6). It is a desire to lift up those struggles to the Lord and allow him to be at work in your marriage.
While this certainly isn’t an exhaustive list of all the things you can be praying for in your marriage, it is a good place to start.
Whether you are newly married or have been married for fifty years, praying for your marriage and areas of difficulty is important. Below are some ideas to get you started on this new journey of prayer.
1) Pray for Focus on God Marriage
This is, by far, the most important thing to be praying over in your marriage. Jesus needs to be the priority for both spouses individually, and also corporately. If this is a reality, you should be able to work through any difficulty that comes your way.
However, if one or both spouses stop putting Jesus in his rightful place, and allow desires and idols of the flesh to take his place, then trouble will surely come.
Here is a prayer you can say:
Lord, today give you myself, my spouse, and my marriage. I acknowledge that unless you are the center of each, we will fail at honoring this covenant and all it was intended to be. Help us to seek your face, build each other up, and encourage each other’s faith.
Help me to make you the focus of my life, that I would keep my eyes on you always and that my spouse would do the same. Help us to work together to keep you at the center of our marriage. Help us to seek you in every season and every moment.
Help us to glorify you and work together to accomplish your will for our lives. Amen.
2) Prayer to be Equally Yoked
To be equally yoked is for each spouse to be at similar “levels” in their faith. If they aren’t, and one is stronger than the other, it will be very difficult to move forward and grow. If you are already finding this to be true, this will be a very important area to cover in prayer.
Depending on when you got saved, or your awareness of this concept when you got married will influence how this plays out in your lives.
Here is a prayer you can say:
Lord, I lift up myself and my spouse to you today. I pray that you would help us to grow and move forward in our faith, that we would be effective in accomplishing your will for our lives, and honor you in every way.
Help us to maintain and continue to grow towards being equally yoked. We desire to be used by you but recognize that unless we are both growing together with you we will not be successful.
If our yoke is unequal Lord help us to support each other through the process of attempting to even out. Please be at work in us. Amen.
3) Prayer Against Temptation
There are a million ways to fall into temptation, however, in this case, we are looking to pray against sexual immorality and adultery. Our culture has become increasingly casual about these sins, and no longer treats them with the seriousness that God does.
God takes these sins very seriously and they can be very destructive in a marriage relationship.
It is important to be praying against this kind of temptation to sin, against opportunities to fall into sin, and strength when they do present themselves.
Here is prayer you can say:
Lord, today I give you my marriage. I understand how valuable it is and the blessing that is in my life. I want to reflect your values in my marriage and do not want to bring hardship and destruction through sexual immorality and adultery in my life. Lord, help me not to fall into this kind of sin.
Keep me from this temptation and protect me from opportunities to sin. Put a hedge of protection around me and open my heart to the conviction of the Holy Spirit. Give me the strength to stand firmly against these sins and remember my boundaries.
My spouse and I desire to honor you with our marriage, please give us the strength to do that. Amen.
4) Prayer for Patience
While all of the fruits of the Spirit are crucial to a Christ-centered marriage this one will get you a long way. Patience is the ability to handle problems or inconvenience without getting upset and is a form of grace for people when they fail to meet certain standards.
Without patience, you and your spouse will struggle to tolerate each other’s weaknesses or shortcomings, and they will instead spark anger and tension in your relationship.
When we pray through this area and ask God for opportunities to practice patience, we are asking for an opportunity to practice grace and endurance that will bring spiritual fruit in the relationship.
Here is a prayer you can say:
Lord, you are a patient God. You have extended grace over my life time and time again. I desire to become more like you in this way. I want to produce good spiritual fruit in my life and ask that you would give me more opportunities to practice patience.
Give me the grace and endurance to do this with my spouse and help it to grow our marriage.
I also lift my spouse up to you, I pray that you would grow their patience with me as I also practice patience with them. Please grant them grace for my faults and endurance for when I again fall short.
Use this as an opportunity to increase the spiritual fruit of our marriage and make us better followers of you. Amen.
5) Prayer for Perseverance
As I am sure you already know, marriage is not a walk in the park. There will, of course, be seasons that are wonderful and bear much fruit, however, there will also be seasons that seem as though you are walking through a desert valley or wrestling with a violent storm.
In those times, praying for perseverance, the willingness and grit to see that difficult season through to the end despite its hardship, is very important. In these seasons it can be even harder to extend grace to your spouse and can cause extra tension that wouldn’t be there otherwise.
So be sure to pray for the perseverance to work through the season together as a couple.
Here is a prayer you can say:
Lord, we are in a difficult season right now, yet we know that we are enduring it for a reason. We trust that your ways are higher than our ways, and desire to honor you in this time and grow in whatever ways you need us to grow.
Help us to stay committed to that purpose. We ask that you would help us to pursue perseverance together during this time and to lift each other up, each of us extending grace to the other.
We know that this experience will help us to become spiritually mature believers if we allow you to be at work in our hearts, and we desire that growth. Lord, help us learn to endure. Amen.
6) Prayer Over You and Your Children
One of the blessings of marriage is the opportunity to start a family. Children are a huge blessing and are part of God’s design. However, as wonderful as they are, they also present challenges to a marriage that should also be addressed through prayer.
While there are a multitude of things to pray for in this area there are some key things that you may want to focus on.
Pray for unity as you parent your children and that you would raise them up together in a godly way.
Pray that you instill a love for Jesus in the hearts of your children and pray for their salvation.
Here is a prayer you can say:
Lord, children have brought such blessings to our marriage and we want to honor that blessing in our lives. Help us to become good parents and to be humble enough to reach out for help when we need it.
Help us to raise our children in a way that honors and glorifies you as our Heavenly Father.
We pray that you would give them your Holy Spirit and that they would pursue you with their lives daily. We pray your blessing over their salvation and pray that they would learn to run to you in every situation.
Please bring our children close to you. Amen.
7) Prayer Against Conflict
It would be entirely misleading to think that any marriage could exist without some amount of conflict or another. Some struggle more than others but at the end of the day all struggle.
When we encounter conflict, it is vital that we respond, not with anger or bitterness, but with prayer.
If, when you encountered conflict, you stopped and together gave the matter over to Jesus, you would find that perhaps, those conflicts weren’t as important as you thought.
In doing this you are re-centering your marriage on Jesus, and acknowledging his place in your lives. You are also inviting him into that conflict to help you handle it in a way that honors him.
Here is a prayer you can say:
Lord, my spouse and I give you this conflict. We put it in your hands and accept your authority over this situation. Please help us to resolve this matter in a way that is glorifying and honoring to you.
Help us also to honor you in how we discuss this topic. Help us to be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry. Help us to pursue you in the center of this conflict and not allow it to drag us into sin.
We want to honor you in our marriage and how, as a couple, we handle conflict. Continue to grow us and mold us in your character. Amen.
8) Prayer for a Heart of Service
A heart of service is another important quality to pray over in your marriage. To have a heart of service is to practice selflessness, and putting your spouses needs and desires above your own.
It is taking the initiative to help them without expecting reward or holding it over their head.
For some people, this comes quite naturally while for others, it may be more of a struggle. Regardless, pray for God to open your eyes to see opportunities to serve your spouse.
It can be as simple, or as complicated as you choose and is super important to developing, or continuing to develop, a good relationship with your spouse.
Here is a prayer you can say:
Lord, I lift up myself to you today. Open my eyes to see the opportunities to serve my spouse today. I want to serve my spouse just as you served your disciples by washing their feet. Help me to follow your example.
Help me to do these things in love, and not with a begrudging heart.
I also ask that you would give me the eyes to see how my spouse is serving me. Help me to recognize and be thankful for all the ways that my spouse has been serving me throughout the week. Amen.
9) Prayer Over Finances
Finances are a source of tension in many marriages and if there is tension, there should also be prayer. As a couple, run to the Lord with your finances and pray for guidance, self-control, grace, and patience.
Don’t leave prayer as a last resort.
Also pray against the love of money, which is the root of all evil. Pray for God to center your hearts and lives on him and not on a job or the money you receive from it. Finances are a struggle for many people, and love of money, even more so.
Pray over this area of your life, and allow God to dictate how you proceed.
Here is a prayer you can say:
Lord, today I lift up our finances to you. Please help us to honor you with how we spend our money. Give us the courage to trust you with the resources that you have provided for us. Help us to be good stewards.
Help us to work through any conflict that may arise in this area in a way that honors you.
We also pray against the love of money. We want you to remain the center of our lives and we come against the idol of money. Help us to keep our focus on you and not on money.
We know that you are our provider and that you will give us what we need. Amen.
10) Prayer for Support
Being supportive of one another is, no doubt, crucial to every marriage relationship. However, sometimes this is easier said than done. Similar to service, pray for God to give you his eyes for our spouse to see their needs, and support them when they are struggling.
Pray that you would have eyes to see, ears to hear, and the compassion to understand.
Pray that God will help you to encourage your spouse and pursue Christ in the situation. Direct them to the Word and spend time in prayer together.
Here is a prayer you can say:
Lord, I lift myself up to you today as your servant. Help me to be a supportive spouse today and give me your eyes to see them the way that you do. Help me to be there when things are going well, and also when they are falling apart.
Give me the eyes to see, ears to hear, and compassion to understand their needs.
I also pray that in the process I would point them to you. Help me to encourage prayer and time in the Word during these moments and remember your place in the center of our marriage.
We desire to honor you with our marriage and how we support each other in love. Help us to grow in character to be more like you through this time. Amen.
11) Prayer Against Sin Struggles
Sin struggles in some way shape or form are a part of every individual, and therefore also every marriage. There are some that appear to be worse than others but at the end of the day it is all sin.
Sin struggles tend to pertain more to recurring sin, making it a very important thing to pray over.
Your spouse is a blessing, a God ordained support system designed to work together and help each other. So come together and pray.
You don’t have to battle your sin struggles alone, even in prayer. As prayer warriors, pray together against that sin struggle.
Here is prayer you can pray:
Lord, we come before you today to pray over my sin struggle. I hate how easily I give in to this temptation and I want to honor you in this area of my life.
Please give me the strength to face this temptation and to destroy this sin struggle in my life. I can’t do it on my own, please give me the strength to move forward.
I also thank you for my spouse. Help them to keep me accountable in this area of my life and to support me as I work towards eradicating this sin struggle in my life.
Thank you for the blessing of that support and the opportunity to pray over this together. Help us to do everything according to your will and desires and to fight against the temptation to sin this week. Amen.
12) Prayer for Unity
Our culture has fallen away from encouraging unity in marriage and has fallen to encouraging independence and selfishness. Spouses are encouraged to stand up for their wants, needs, and desires, regardless of the cost. This is not a biblical view of marriage.
The Bible consistently expresses the need for unity in marriage, that the two individuals would become one flesh. Pray for each other and the process of growing towards unity, even when culture promotes otherwise.
Pray that you would seek God’s will together, and grow in your selflessness and compassion.
Here is a prayer you can say:
Lord, today I put my marriage in your hands. Help us to seek your will for our lives together, unified in the marriage covenant you blessed us with. Help us to stand in unity even when culture tells us we should stand alone.
Help us to recognize the blessing of that companionship.
Help us also to become more and more selfless daily. Help us to work for our marriage together and not our individual interests. Grow our compassion for one another and help us to reflect you not just as individuals but as a couple as well.
We desire your will and your character to be lived out in our marriage. Help us to have the patience to get there. Amen.
There are plenty of other areas to be praying over as prayer warriors in your marriage, however, I hope this gives you a good place to start, especially if you are having trouble finding the words to say.
Remember, individual prayer is valuable and you should continue to pursue that, but also take the time to pray together over your marriage as well as you chase after the Lord’s will for your lives.