This prayer is for couples who want to bring their marriage before God, whether it is going through a season of strain, a long stretch of ordinary busyness, or a joyful season they want to protect. You can pray it aloud as written, together or on your own, or use it as a starting point and speak in your own words. It works well at the close of the day, when the noise has settled and you can hear each other again.
Prayer for Our Marriage
Lord, you were there when we made our promises, and you know every word we meant and every word we later wished we could take back. We bring our marriage to you as it really is: the tired evenings, the small irritations that grow into silence, the worries about money, work, our children, and our health. Give us patience with each other that does not run out by Thursday. Teach us to listen before we defend ourselves, and to speak the truth in a way that builds up instead of tearing down.
Father, where we have hurt each other, show us our part without shame that crushes us. Give us the humility to apologize quickly and the courage to forgive fully, even when the memory tries to hold on. Protect the tenderness between us. Let us laugh together again, pray together again, and find joy in the small things we share. Guard our hearts from comparison, from bitterness, and from any habit that pulls us toward each other’s harm. Make our home a place of peace where our children and our friends can see something of your faithfulness. Amen.
A Shorter Version to Pray in a Moment
Lord, we are weary and we need you in this marriage today. Slow our words and open our ears. Where one of us is hurting, let the other notice and respond with gentleness. Help us choose kindness over being right, and remind us that we are on the same side. Bind us together in your love, and keep our hearts turned toward each other and toward you. Amen.
Scriptures to Pray Alongside
Ecclesiastes 4:9-10
9 Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. 10 For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow; but woe to him who is alone when he falls, and doesn’t have another to lift him up.
(WEB)
Pray this for the gift of companionship in your marriage. Thank God for the partner who helps you up when you fall, and ask him to make you that kind of help in return.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7
4 Love is patient and is kind; love doesn’t envy. Love doesn’t brag, is not proud, 5 doesn’t behave itself inappropriately, doesn’t seek its own way, is not provoked, takes no account of evil; 6 doesn’t rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
(WEB)
Read this slowly, pausing at each quality, and ask God to show you where love is already at work between you and where it needs to grow.
Ephesians 4:31-32
31 Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, outcry, and slander, be put away from you, with all malice. 32 And be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving each other, just as God also in Christ forgave you.
(WEB)
Bring any bitterness or harsh words you are carrying to God, and ask him to replace them with kindness and a willingness to forgive.
Colossians 3:13-14
13 Bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, if any man has a complaint against any; even as Christ forgave you, so you also do. 14 Above all these things, walk in love, which is the bond of perfection.
(WEB)
Pray this over the grievances you have not yet released. Ask God to clothe you both in forgiveness and in the love that binds everything together.
Psalm 127:1
Unless the LORD builds the house, they labor in vain who build it. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman guards it in vain.
(WEB)
Use this when you feel the marriage is carried by your own effort alone. Lay the household, its plans and its worries before the Lord, and let him build what you cannot build by yourselves.
How to Pray This Prayer
Choose a regular time, such as after the children are asleep or during a short walk after dinner, when neither of you is rushing off to the next task. Sit or stand close enough to hold hands, or rest a hand on your spouse’s shoulder while you pray. If one of you is uncomfortable praying aloud, let that partner read silently while the other speaks, or take turns reading a paragraph each.
If you are praying alone for a marriage that is struggling, read the prayer quietly in a place you can be honest with God, such as your car or a kitchen chair before the house wakes. You might also invite a trusted friend, pastor, or mentor to pray with you, or to pray for your marriage on their own. Keep returning to the prayer on hard days, even if the words feel thin.
A Blessing to Close
May the Lord who joined these two hearts keep them close and fill their home with patience and peace. May he give them grace to forgive quickly, joy to share generously, and faithfulness that outlasts every difficult season. May they grow together toward him, day by day, until their love reflects something of his own.
