Are you praying for a wife or a husband? The preceding marriage prayer is a suitable wedding prayer for you.
God is not only the Creator God but also the God who authored love and romance. The Scriptures begins and ends with marriage — of Adam and Eve and the Bridal body of Christ with Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. And in-between the Old and New Testaments, godly men and women of the Bible tied the knot and
fulfilled God’s destiny for their lives together.
Marriage is more than a signed contract between a husband and his wife. It is a divine covenant with God as the third party. Marriage is a blood covenant being sealed when the hymen membrane in a woman is being broken and blood is shed for the first time during consummation. God has placed this institution in the society for married couples not only to procreate but to respond to His call to inhabit and take dominion over the earth and proclaim the gospel to the lost.
In this contemporary day and age, the original intent of God for marriage has slowly been forgotten because of the propensity of man towards divorce, legal separation, annulment, illicit co-habitation or living-in, homosexuality, sexual perversion, pornography, and fornication. Those in the Christian circles are not exempted from all these.
However, there are still Christian men and women who are keeping themselves pure and holy while waiting for the right and the best godly
Praying for a Wife
spouse for them. Many of these godly bachelors and bachelorettes have been praying for a wife or husband and fasting to seek the will of God for their lives. Perhaps, you are one of them—patiently waiting and eagerly expecting that one day, you will meet the one God has for you since the foundations of the world.
Do not lose hope because if God has placed a desire in your heart until now to marry a spouse, experience sexual intercourse, and bear children, then be assured that they can happen in God’s appointed time. Begin to pray wedding prayers for your future husband or wife everyday, blessing him and praying for his protection and goodwill. You may list down Bible verses to declare as prayers for him daily and thank the Lord for him even though he has not arrived yet in your life. Thank God in advance for him. You may listen to God for his specific qualities or character and pray them through.
Then, for the practical side of it, prepare yourself for your meeting and for the marriage you have so long been praying for. Take care of your body and make yourself presentable, neat, and clean because any moment could be the day that he will come. Become emotionally stable, mature, and strong in your spirit as marriage is not as easy as you think it will be. Organize your life and make preparations to become a wife or husband. Learn how to cook, clean, fix household stuff, work efficiently, and handle finances. The moment you prepare yourself seriously for marriage, perhaps the faster your spouse will appear before you.
Continue on praying for a spouse and allow the Holy Spirit to renew your mind with God’s Word daily and take control over your will, emotions, and heart. Guard your heart at all times as not all prospective men or women is the right one for you. It takes a strong discernment to know and to choose God’s best for your life. Do not settle for anything less. You will know the perfect spouse if you are attuned to the voice of God, rested in His presence, and know His perfect will. The result of love is beauty and life. If this person is imparting beauty and life in you and you are at peace, in joy, and excited then this can be God’s spouse for you.
It is important that you have an accountability partner like a trusted pastor or spiritual mentor or a close friend to consult with the matters of the heart. God is the one who gives a man his wife and He speaks to the man and woman that they are meant for each other and the biological and spiritual family in the church or ministry will confirm it.
You may have prayed many prayers before. You may use this prayer for marriage as a guide —
Our Father God, you know the deepest longings of my heart. How I yearn for someone to be with, to talk to, to love me, and to share my life with. I have spent countless nights crying out to you to bring the right person and ordain our meeting. Instill in him the sense of urgency to find me. Let him long for me as well and speak to him that it is me you have chosen for him. Prepare us now in all aspects of our lives and set us free from anything that binds, ensnares, entangles, and addicts us. Remove the wrong people from our lives and cut all our ungodly soul ties from our past relationships and even our emotional or romantic entanglements now with other persons. I ask You, Lord to mold us to be a responsible and committed spouse for each other that our marriage will last for as long as we live. I pray for him that You will protect my spouse and deliver him from all temptations. Give me to someone who will honor me and respect me, love me, cherish me, and take good care of me. I am praying for the best and right spouse for me, the one you planned for me to marry. Order our steps so that our paths will cross in Your beautifully ordained time. Orchestrate events for us to find each other. Keep us pure and holy at all times even when no one is watching because indeed You are. I bless my spouse that he will become who You called him to be. I bless his spirit, soul, and body to be whole. I plead the blood of Jesus over both of us and everything concerning us. Thank you Jesus for this desire to marry and the hope and excitement to enter into this sacred union with You. Have Your way, Lord. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
God is our Husband and Maker. Accept His invitation to be the lover of your soul. Love God first and then when He knows that you are completely His, He will give you the man or woman of your dreams because by then God knows that He is your first love even though you have an earthly partner to share the rest of your life with. If you learn this, God will give you the desires of your heart because it is He who placed those desires as you delighted in Him. Every time you feel discouraged and hopeless about getting married, go back to this marriage prayer and be encouraged.
Here is another Prayer for a Husband for you.
Here are some other prayers that may be helpful to you
Jeremiah 29:11-13 Prayer
Prayer for Wisdom
Prayer of Faith
www.missionariesofprayer.org
Bless this marriage, O God, as __________ and __________ continue their journey down the road of life together. We don’t know what lies ahead for the road turns and bends. But help them to make the best of whatever comes their way.
Help them to realize that if they will hold onto each other, they will know that things have a way of working out for the good.
Help them to create for their children a peaceful, stable home of love as a foundation on which they can build their lives.
But most of all, dear God, help them to keep lit the torch of love’ that they now share in their hearts so that by their loving example they may pass on the light of love to their children and to their children’s children forever. Amen
More ceremonies and readings
allseasonsweddings.com
The first characteristic of the Christian family, says Pope Francis, is that “the family prays.” Indeed, prayer “is what makes the family strong” (Homily on Family Day, 2013). A Short Guide to Praying as a Family: Growing Together in Faith and Love Each Day, by the Dominican Sisters of Saint Cecilia Congregation, is a marvelous how-to guide for families who want to pray together but don’t know how, as well as for families who do pray together and want to progress even further in their shared life of prayer. The Sisters’ solid advice on how to pray and numerous suggestions of what to pray, all complemented by beautiful stained glass art throughout, make this book a valuable resource for any domestic Church – the family.
A Short Guide begins with a brief reflection on what prayer is and why it is important, particularly in the family. This sets the tone for the rest of the book:
Beginning to pray as a family can genuinely transform your life, enriching not only your relationship with the Lord but also your relationships with one another. Prayer can change the way you see the ordinary circumstances of your daily life (p. 13).
When advocating for family prayer, the Sisters’ tone is gentle and encouraging. They give common sense advice, such as starting slowly when introducing new prayer routines into the family, and finding times of the day where prayer naturally fits, such as before and after meals, and at the beginning and end of the day. The goal is to make family prayer something that is enjoyed by every family member and not seen as a burdensome chore.
After an introduction to the life of family prayer, the next sections provide a number of tried-and-true prayers for families. The Sisters start with the most basic prayers: the Sign of the Cross, the Our Father, the Hail Mary, and the Glory Be. Their explanations of each one remind the reader of the depth and power of these simple but grace-filled prayers. Even if a family “just” prays these short prayers reverently, they will be building a solid foundation of faith and trust in God.
The next section gives ideas for making the home a place that is well-suited for prayer. After all, as the domestic Church, the family’s primary place of praying together is in the home. Sacred art, statues, and candles all contribute to making the home a prayerful place. The Sisters provide several “templates” for specific times of prayer, such as family bedtime prayers and a monthly family meeting. These give the family a model to start with, and something to use as they develop their own unique prayer rituals.
The Sisters also suggest ways in which a family can pray together, or for each other, throughout daily life, such as before car rides and sporting events. They encourage parents and families to be proactive in finding opportunities to pray as a family or discuss the faith together, since the family’s primary role is helping its members get to heaven. The authors also give suggestions on how to make attending Mass as a family more devotional and prayerful, the most important hour of the week.
The book could have been strengthened if it made clearer that family prayer is something necessary and enriching for all families, not just those with children at home. The focus throughout was on parents and children learning how to pray, which is certainly valuable and needed. But (for example) couples not blessed with children or “empty-nesters” too can and should live a rich life of prayer as a family. They may also have the call to welcome others into their lived relationship with God.
The strengths of A Short Guide to Praying as a Family are many. No knowledge is assumed, so even those unfamiliar with prayer would find the book understandable. And those who have more knowledge and experience in praying would benefit from going “back to the basics” and receiving a refresher on the power of prayer. The artwork in the book is beautiful and in itself an invitation to contemplate the Gospel. There are so many ideas for prayer, from the short and simple to the more involved, that any family could find something new and enriching. And throughout, the Sisters’ guidance on praying feels like what it is: advice from holy women who have devoted their lives to prayer and service of God, sharing their rich insights on what fruits prayer can bear in the family.
The book is also available in Spanish, with added elements from Hispanic culture – such as Posadas, Quinceaños, Novenarios, etc., and 20 added paintings by a Peruvian artist.
Visit the Sisters’ website to order with a 20% discount.
About the Reviewer
Bethany Meola is the assistant director of the USCCB Secretariat of Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth and the editor of pre2018.foryourmarriage.org. She and her husband Dan strive to live a life of family prayer together in their home in Maryland.
Disclaimer: Book reviews do not imply and are not to be used as official endorsement by the USCCB of the work or those associated with the work. Book reviews are solely intended as a resource regarding publications that might be of interest to For Your Marriage visitors.
www.foryourmarriage.org
