Prayer points with Scriptures · 21 points
Prayer Points for Marriage
These prayer points are for husbands and wives praying for their own marriage, for couples praying together, and for churches praying for the marriages among them. They cover thanksgiving for marriage, Christ at the center, husband and wife, love and faithfulness, and hard seasons and restoration. Each point has a Bible verse and a short prayer you can pray alone or out loud with your spouse.
For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.
Genesis 2:24 (BSB)
If you pray as a couple, take turns: one reads the verse, the other prays the prayer, then both add a sentence of your own. Pray one section a night through the week. If your marriage is in a hard place, start with the last section and stay there as long as you need. Verses are from the Berean Standard Bible.
Thanksgiving for the gift of marriage
1Thanks for God’s design
Lord God, You said it is not good for the man to be alone, and You made marriage as a gift. Thank You for the companionship, help and joy You have given us through each other.
The LORD God also said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make for him a suitable helper.”
Genesis 2:18 (BSB)2Two are better than one
Lord, two are better than one. Thank You for a partner who lifts us up when we fall, shares the work and carries the load. Make each of us that kind of companion to the other.
Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor. For if one falls down, his companion can lift him up; but pity the one who falls without another to help him up!
Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 (BSB)3Joy in each other
God, You gave us this fleeting life to enjoy with the one we love. Keep us from rushing past each other. Restore laughter, friendship and delight to our marriage, and help us enjoy the days You have given us.
Enjoy life with your beloved wife all the days of the fleeting life that God has given you under the sun—all your fleeting days. For this is your portion in life and in your labor under the sun.
Ecclesiastes 9:9 (BSB)
Christ at the center
4A cord of three strands
Lord, a cord of three strands is not quickly broken. Be the third strand in our marriage. When one of us is weak, hold us together, and let our love for each other be bound up in our love for You.
And though one may be overpowered, two can resist. Moreover, a cord of three strands is not quickly broken.
Ecclesiastes 4:12 (BSB)5What God has joined together
Lord Jesus, You said that what God has joined together, no one should separate. Guard our marriage against everything that would pull us apart: busyness, bitterness, temptation and neglect.
So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.”
Matthew 19:6 (BSB)6Praying and worshiping together
Gracious God, teach us to magnify You together and exalt Your name side by side. Help us pray with each other, not just for each other, and make Scripture and worship a regular part of our life as a couple.
Magnify the LORD with me; let us exalt His name together.
Psalm 34:3 (BSB)7Humility toward each other
Lord Jesus, root out selfish ambition and pride from our marriage. Teach each of us to look to the other’s interests, not only our own, and to serve one another the way You served us.
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or empty pride, but in humility consider others more important than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
Philippians 2:3-4 (BSB)
Husbands, wives and couples around us
8Husbands who love like Christ
Lord Jesus, You loved the church and gave Yourself up for her. Teach husbands to love their wives that way: sacrificially, faithfully and tenderly, putting her good ahead of their own comfort.
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her to sanctify her, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to Himself as a glorious church, without stain or wrinkle or any such blemish, but holy and blameless.
Ephesians 5:25-27 (BSB)9Husbands who honor their wives
Father, help husbands treat their wives with consideration and with honor as fellow heirs of the gracious gift of life. Make them gentle and attentive, so that nothing hinders their prayers.
Husbands, in the same way, treat your wives with consideration as a delicate vessel, and with honor as fellow heirs of the gracious gift of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered.
1 Peter 3:7 (BSB)10Wives who are trusted and treasured
God, give wives hearts their husbands can safely trust. Fill them with strength, wisdom and joy, and let them do their husbands good and not harm all their days, as their husbands do them good in return.
The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he lacks nothing of value. She brings him good and not harm all the days of her life.
Proverbs 31:11-12 (BSB)11Marriages in our church
Father, strengthen the marriages in our church: newlyweds, couples with young children, empty nesters and those married fifty years. Help us encourage and build one another up, and give young couples mentors who have walked this road.
Therefore encourage and build one another up, just as you are already doing.
1 Thessalonians 5:11 (BSB)
Love, friendship and faithfulness
12Patient, kind love
Lord, Your love is patient and kind, not proud, rude or easily angered. Grow that love in us. Where we have kept an account of each other’s wrongs, teach us to let it go.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no account of wrongs.
1 Corinthians 13:4-5 (BSB)13Listening well
Father, make us quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to anger with each other. Help us hear each other’s hearts before we answer, and give us words that heal rather than wound.
My beloved brothers, understand this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger, for man’s anger does not bring about the righteousness that God desires.
James 1:19-20 (BSB)14Faithfulness and purity
God, help us honor our marriage and keep our marriage bed undefiled. Guard our eyes, hearts and phones from temptation, and give us the courage to run from anything that threatens our faithfulness.
Marriage should be honored by all and the marriage bed kept undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.
Hebrews 13:4 (BSB)15Love that lasts every season
Lord, mighty waters cannot quench love, and rivers cannot sweep it away. Keep our love strong through busy years, small children, illness and old age, and let it grow deeper rather than fade.
Mighty waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot sweep it away. If a man were to give all the wealth of his house for love, his offer would be utterly scorned.
Song of Songs 8:7 (BSB)
Hard seasons and restoration
16Forgiveness and a fresh start
Lord, make us kind and tenderhearted to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ You forgave us. Where we have hurt each other, give us humble apologies and real forgiveness.
Be kind and tenderhearted to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave you.
Ephesians 4:32 (BSB)17Restoration, starting with me
God, create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit within me. Before I ask You to change my spouse, show me where I need to change, and give me the grace to go first.
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
Psalm 51:10 (BSB)18Marriages under strain
Holy Spirit, for marriages near the breaking point, ours included if it is, give humility, gentleness and patience. Help husbands and wives bear with one another in love and work hard to keep the unity You give.
As a prisoner in the Lord, then, I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling you have received: with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, and with diligence to preserve the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
Ephesians 4:1-3 (BSB)19Money pressure
God our Provider, a simple meal where there is love is better than a feast with hatred. When money is tight, keep us on the same side, honest with each other about spending, and grateful for what we have.
Better a dish of vegetables where there is love than a fattened ox with hatred.
Proverbs 15:17 (BSB)20Couples waiting for children
God of all comfort, Hannah prayed to You in bitter distress and wept. Comfort couples who long for children and grieve with each month or each loss. Hold them close, and keep their marriage tender while they wait.
In her bitter distress, Hannah prayed to the LORD and wept with many tears.
1 Samuel 1:10 (BSB)21Sickness, caregiving and grief
Father, strengthen husbands and wives caring for a sick spouse. Make them joyful in hope, patient in affliction and persistent in prayer, and comfort those who have lost the one they loved.
Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, persistent in prayer.
Romans 12:12 (BSB)
A closing prayer
Father, thank You for the gift of marriage. Be the center of our home and the third strand that holds us together. Teach us to love with patience and kindness, to forgive as You have forgiven us, and to stay faithful in every season. Heal what is broken, strengthen what is weak, and let our marriage point others to Christ, who loved the church and gave Himself for her. In His name we pray. Amen.
Pray with a voice
Short prayers with a voice to pray along with, each drawn from one passage.
Questions
What does “a cord of three strands” mean in a marriage?
The phrase comes from Ecclesiastes 4:12, where the Teacher praises companionship: two can stand together where one alone would fall. The verse is about companionship in general, but Christians have long applied it to a husband and wife bound together with God. The point is that a marriage held together by Christ is stronger than two people trying on their own.
Should I pray for restoration if my marriage is unsafe?
Pray, and get safe first. Scripture says the LORD “hates the lover of violence” (Psalm 11:5), and praying for a marriage never means staying where you or your children are being hurt. If you are in danger, call 911. In the US, the National Domestic Violence Hotline is 1-800-799-7233, and a pastor or Christian counselor can help you take the next step.
How can a husband and wife pray together?
Start small: five minutes before bed or after dinner. Read one verse, each share one thing to thank God for and one need, then pray for each other by name. Many couples feel awkward at first, and that passes. 1 Peter 3:7 links how a husband treats his wife with their prayers not being hindered, so kindness and prayer belong together.
More prayer points
Every verse on this page is quoted word for word from the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), which its publishers dedicated to the public domain. Copy, print and share these prayer points freely with your church.