Dear Lord,
I offer you this prayer, to help me with my current relationship situation. Please take away all the pain and hurt in my heart. Fill it with love, joy, patience, and understanding. Bless me and my partner, so that we may never surrender to whatever challenges that come our way. Fill our hearts with love for each other, and may you make each one of us realize each other’s worth. Please touch the heart of my partner,fill it with much love for me. Make our complicated relationship become uncomplicated. I seek for your mercy and blessing that you may allow us to spend the rest of our lives with each other. Please make this feeling mutual for both of us. Lead us not into temptations. Guide us wherever we go. Always put us in each other’s heart and mind. Thank you Lord for hearing my prayer. I love you. Amen.
Prayer to Find a Companion
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Prayer for relationship Strengthening, Restoration and Guidance. Our relationships with friends, family, coworkers, and colleagues shape our lives. We demonstrate our love for people with communication, time spent together, patience, and compassion.
When we move to a new town, start a new job, or attend a new school, we can feel lonely and disconnected, we feel like we lost something very important. Simply put, we all want to belong.
According to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, after human’s basic needs (physiological and safety) are met, humans need to feel secure in intimate relationships and friendships (MacLeod, 2016). That’s why we need prayer for relationship strengthening, restoration, an guidance.
That’s because God designed us to live and work in community. Have you stopped to think about the Greatest Commandment? (Matthew 22:34-40) It boils down to “Love God and love others as yourself”.
Praying about our needs
Prayer is communication with God. We can talk with Him at any time – all we have to do is speak His name! 1 John 5:14 – “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us”.
This also means that we can talk to Him when we feel lonely, a need for connection! God hears and answers prayer for relationship strengthening, restoration and guidance.
Putting it into Practice Prayer for Relationship Strengthening, Restoration, and Guidance
How can be put prayer for relationship strengthening, restoration and guidance into practice? (I mean, how often are we told, “Just pray about it” but not given some kind of guidance?) I suggest following these steps:
- Begin with Praise.
- Ask God to bring people into your path.
- Ask God to protect you from people who aren’t in His will for Your life.
- Thank Him.
1. Begin with Praise
When you pray, begin by thanking God for what He has given you or done for you. Not sure where to start? I find myself saying:
God, I praise You and thank-you because You have given me hope and a future. You love me enough to extend the gift of underserved grace through Your Son, Jesus.
Doing this puts our hearts in line with His. If you’re not sure where to start, meditate on Psalm 145.
2. Ask God to bring people into your path
Like I said, before, prayer is our opportunity to communicate with God. I love that I can be honest with Him:
Lord, I am feeling lonely. I need some friends to connect with! Please restore my lost relationships with my friends. Please bring people who can be solid friends into my life.
This is the time when prayer for relationship really comes into play. What characteristics are you looking for in a friend?
3. Ask God to protect you from people who aren’t in His will for Your life
A friend in college told me about prayer and, at first, I thought it was odd. But I believe it fits here as we’re talking about prayer for relationship. My friend shared with me that when she started praying this, she saw man she was interested in dating get redirected to different classes, jobs, or even schools.
I’ve said this prayer many times and people (even other Christians) have moved on from my life. It’s hard to understand why things happen, but this prayer has given me peace that God has an active and loving hand in my life.
Lord, You are a God of love and You protect Your children. Give me wisdom regarding the people I come in contact with. Lord, give me guidance and please protect me from people who are not in Your will for my life.
4. Thank Him
When I think about God’s character, I am reminded that God is always motivated by love.
God, thank You that You listen whenever we call Your name. Thank You for what You provided me with today . You are a loving Father and I am grateful! Amen!
I know that He will answer prayers in His time and He will meet all my needs. I love to meditate on this verse when I need a reminder: “Do not be about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” (Philippians 4:6 )
What are the fruits of the prayer?
The Lord is faithful and He is always looking out for our best interest. God will bring people into your life to meet your relationship needs. When that happens, remember to thank Him for His demonstration of love.
Also read: PRAYER OF FAITH – Faithful Examples in the Bible
prayray.com
Does prayer for a relationship work? Should Christian singles expect their prayers to be answered when they pray for a future spouse? Dr. Jim explains what singles should expect from their prayers and God’s answer (or not) to those prayers for relationship. Are our prayers being answered but we don’t see or can tell? Below is a great read for those looking for an answer to their prayers.
Why is my prayer for relationship not being answered?
God is complete and His Word is complete as well. There are some who suggest that if one prays hard enough and long enough, all of their troubles and challenges will be positively changed. Paul’s words in 1Thessalonians 5:17 states that we are to pray continually. (It also continues in verse 18 to give thanks in all circumstances.)
Our minds and hearts should always be in an attitude of prayer. What this means to me is that our Spirit should continually be seeking the Spirit of God in everything we think and do.
The Bible instructs in Matthew 7 that we are to ask and it shall be given to us. However in John 16 Jesus states that what we ask for must be in Christ’s name before the Father will give it to us. The Bible does not instruct us to go around spinning off to Heaven everything we desire and then sit back and expect God to deliver it to us.
Jesus came so that He might glorify the Father. Everything we ask for – in Jesus name – must also glorify the Father (according to John 14:13).
Why all these verses from the Bible? There are some teachings by pastors that I believe cause a great deal of confusion and unnecessary burdens on a lot of people – especially single adults. Some teach that all one has to do is just get their spiritual life strong enough and pray enough and God will answer and take care of everything.
While I strongly advocate discipline, prayer and accountability, there are some things that hinder our release to freedom and joy that we are not able to accomplish by ourselves. This does not mean that God is inadequate. It means that God often chooses a different path than the one that we are currently focusing upon.
Should we be upset with God for not answering our prayers?
Several years ago I was a lay counsellor in a church in California. A young professional man in his 30’s came to me because he was wrestling with severe anxiety attacks. In our sessions, he shared how angry he was with God for not delivering him from this burden. As we spent time together I learned that he was currently seeing a doctor at Stanford Medical University.
The doctor wanted this man to go on a medication that would address some of the ‘chemical’ reasons for his anxiety attacks. The man did not want to take the medicine because he was of the opinion that if he asked God to deliver him, God was supposed to do so. Why hadn’t God delivered him?
“God often chooses a different path than the one that we are currently focusing upon.”
This is the type of false impression of God’s ways that leads too many to their own imprisonment. I shared with this man that God uses a variety of means and people to accomplish His will. God has been in the business for many years of calling people into the medical field, counselling, and other areas to be a healing vehicle of His love and power.
When the man realized that he was very blessed to have already been accepted into the Stanford program, and that he had a doctor who cared for him, he began to consider the fact that perhaps God had been answering his prayers for some time. He took the treatment, and the difference that it made within a few weeks was amazing to observe.
Please read our previous blog on a similar topic: Struggle for an answer from God.
God is Real
God is real and His power is indeed supernatural. My observation is that we tend to place God into a box that is named ‘spiritual,’ and neglect to remember that He is the creator of ALL of us. He not only made our spirits, but our bodies, our minds, and our emotions.
When something happens to damage one of these areas, it takes prayer for relationship and putting faith into action by seeking to find the best person trained to work with us in that area of damage.
Should you seek help only from Christian professionals?
Here is another thought that I would like for you to consider. The best person to work with us is not always a Christian. Just because one is a Christian does not mean that they are automatically the best one trained in the area of our need. As an example: If you had a heart ailment and wanted to seek out the best doctor to work with you, would his/her being a Christian be at the top of your list of requirements? I don’t think so!
“We tend to place God into a box.”
I would want a doctor who had the training AND experience with the ailment that I was confronting. It would be an added bonus if he or she were also a Christian.
While you will often find me recommending that you consider finding a Christian counsellor to help guide you to process some issues in your life, I think, however, that it is even more important that you find a counsellor who is the best trained and experienced to work in the area where you need guidance.
If at all possible, it would be great if this person was a Christian but their training and experience is of more importance in non-spiritual matters.
Let me conclude by stating that you and I should always be praying and seeking God’s guidance in everything we do. God also gave us feet and often He desires to guide our ‘steps’ to the best person to work with us.
This person could be a pastor or a trained counsellor. If it is an issue other than spiritual, I strongly encourage you to only see a counsellor OR a pastor trained and experienced in counselling.
“God is complete.”
Are you aware that God might have answered some of your prayers?
Has God been answering some of your prayer for relationship and you were not aware? Take a moment and ask God to reveal to you ways that you may have not seen where He is trying to lead you down a new and better path. God is complete and I encourage you not to limit how and when He decides to move in your life.
Dr. Jim
Author of “Guide to Successful Online Christian Dating”
www.christiancafe.com
