Hi. My name is Tiffany and I live in a broken marriage. You might call it a difficult marriage, but after so many years moving through each cycle I call it broken. Consistent, intentional, strategic prayer for a broken marriage is the real secret sauce for finding hope and joy in my marriage, broken, damaged or anything else!
Why Prayers For Healing A Broken Marriage Change Everything
Here’s the thing, prayer changes everything. I know it’s not the answer people usually want, but it’s the god’s-honest truth. Prayer for a broken marriage will become the foundational piece in your journey to become a godly wife who has access to unlimited hope and joy in her life.
Most people who find hopejoyinchrist.com are searching for things like:
- Can God fix a broken marriage?
- How can God fix a broken marriage?
What you find here are practical advice and tools you can apply immediately in any situation. Those things are incredibly important, but without prayer, they will not save a marriage.
Why pray first? Without prayer, your marriage will not be filled with hope and joy.
Surviving Versus Thriving
The truth is that marriage is a relationship between two sinful, selfish people. Every marriage will go through difficult seasons. Those difficult seasons bring great pain and stretching. It can be overwhelming emotionally and that can even impact your physical health.
As much as we wish marriage were always happy and healthy, in today’s world that is just not the reality. We long to be godly partners who are thriving no matter what season we find our marriage. Therefore, every marriage needs prayer.
A prayer for a broken marriage is the difference between thriving – thriving spiritually, thriving emotionally, and thriving physically – and just trying to survive the season.
Consistent, intentional, strategic prayer for a broken marriage is the real secret sauce for finding hope and joy in my marriage, broken, damaged or anything else! Share on XHope and Joy In Marriage: Prayer For A Broken Marriage
Over the past 20 years of rocky marriage struggles I’ve learned the secret to finding hope and joy in my marriage no matter the circumstances. Prayer.
Prayer keeps me connected to the Lord. This holy communication invites the Holy Spirit into the midst of the struggles.
The one thing that has held me together and helped our marriage grow and heal through all the trials and chaos has been prayer.
- I have hope.
- Not because I expect my husband to transform into a perfect spouse, but because God is always changing and healing us both.
- I have joy.
- Not because I see every difficulty resolving in the near future, but because the Lord gives me His joy for a marriage that shines His love and commitment to the lost world around me.
Hope and joy are a place in our hearts and minds that we can access regardless of our circumstances. They are ours because the Holy Spirit lives within us, loves us, and cares about this marriage far more than we ever could.
Prayer for this marriage relationship is the way to access hope and joy without limit and beyond measure.
Related Post: 16 Characteristics of a Godly Marriage
How Do You Pray To Save a Marriage?
You have to face the reality that there is a real battle being waged over your life and your marriage. Right now, powerful, invisible, Spiritual hosts are waring all around us.
- Why do they care about your life?
- You chose to serve the Lord which made you their enemy.
- Anyone who sides with Jehovah automatically has a target on their lives.
- You chose to serve the Lord which made you their enemy.
- Why do they care about your marriage?
- Marriage symbolically describes God’s unwavering, unconditional love and the Lord’s irrevocable covenant commitment to His people.
- Anyone who strives to honor Jesus in their marriage has a target on their relationship.
- Marriage symbolically describes God’s unwavering, unconditional love and the Lord’s irrevocable covenant commitment to His people.
So, how do you pray to save a marriage?
- Remember.
- You must pray remembering who the real enemy is in your relationship and in your life.
- Look deeper.
- Pray about the problems but then pray into the problems.
- Find Scripture.
- Specific verses about specific problem areas.
- Join a daily marriage prayer Challenge.
- Go deeper with Scripture-based prayers.
- Pray over your own heart and mind first.
1. Remember: We Need Spiritual Warfare Prayers for Marriage
It is tempting to see your spouse as the enemy. So tempting. They are right in your face with all their sin and selfish behavior. All that sin and selfishness hurts your real physical life. It feels like they are the enemy.
But Scripture is clear – crystal clear – that we do not actually wrestle with flesh and blood. Nope, there are powerful, invisible, Spiritual forces at work in a lot of the sin and selfishness that hurts us in life and especially in marriage.
So, who is the enemy you are fighting?
“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:12 NASB)
- Powers
- World forces of this darkness
- Spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places
Powerful, invisible Spiritual forces.
You can’t see them. It will be difficult to remember they are at work in all of this.
So what is the best prayer for a broken marriage? A prayer that keeps the main focus the main focus.
Do You Have Your Armor On?
- Are you wrapping yourself in truth?
- Surrounding your mind with it…
- Have you been in the Word of God allowing His righteousness to arm you for the sin of the world?
- Do you share the gospel wherever you walk?
- Are you prepared to do that?
- Is your faith big – shielding you from the lies the enemy slings at your mind daily?
- Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your Personal Lord and Savior?
- Are you walking in that identity today?
- Is your Sword up?
- Have you been in the Word enough that you can fight the enemy’s lies with it?
- Are you beginning to pray at all times – fighting the enemy’s attacks both offensively and defensively?
Let me ask it a different way…
Do you put your armor on every day?
Are you prepared for the battle around you or do you feel surprised when the enemy’s fiery darts land a direct hit where you are weakest?
I lived for years confused about why life was so hard, marriage was so hard. Why did it always have to be us struggling? Couldn’t we get a break? Was there some secret others had to succeed in life that I somehow missed?
I know I know, so many questions.
Then – through some amazing mentoring – I learned the secret… The secret I had been trying to figure out my whole life.
These women -who have an amazing grace about them, a marriage that has stood the test of time and trials and is still amazing – are prayer warriors.
Become a Prayer Warrior Fighting the Battle Instead of Reacting
They pray over their lives and marriages. They pray scripture – strategically and powerfully – believing God will move in mighty ways.
I wanted to become a Prayer Warrior Wife.
I wanted to see God move in mighty ways in my life and Marriage. Don’t You?
But honestly, I didn’t even know where to start. We had a difficult marriage – still do on so many levels. Where do you start to pray in a Difficult Marriage?
2. Look Deeper: How To Craft Spiritual Warfare-Focused Prayers
It is critical that we pray for our marriage daily, but more so that we pray over the real problems that are being stirred up by the real enemy.
How can you keep the main focus the main focus when praying over a broken marriage? Spend time praying about your spouse, but then shift to praying for your spouse.
For example:
My husband struggles to keep a job. I have to talk to God about all the ways this impacts my real world, our kids, my mental health, my feelings for my husband, and all the things we struggle with financially. God helps me process all the feelings so that I do not constantly have to talk to my husband about this and hurt him.
But I have to be intentional to shift my prayers toward my husband’s needs in the battle. I have to ask deeper questions:
- What is at the heart of his struggle to keep a job?
- How is he feeling?
- In what ways is the enemy attacking him?
- How can I encourage him and support him while still standing for what is right and necessary?
- Where is his faith in all of this?
3. Finding Bible Verses To Strengthen A Marriage
From those deeper questions, I can then begin to pray intentionally. To pray intentionally, I need to know what God says about each area I am praying over.
It is easy to find Scriptures for a troubled marriage when you keep in mind the real enemy and pray for your spouse rather than about them.
Using our example questions for my husband and this battle I can search out “Bible verses about …” and insert the answers I gave.
- Fear of failure, discontentment, resisting authority in his life, unrealistic expectations…
- Fearful, anxious, angry, resentful…
- His mind, his identity, his faith…
- Re-affirm his identity, assure him of my love, forgive him, and be less easily offended…
- Struggling to read his Bible, very little prayer, resisting community at church…
It is much easier to pray over his fear than to pray for his need to find a job… make sense?
Can God Restore a Broken Marriage?
Today’s article is meant to help you learn how to pray to save your marriage. But I would be dishonest if I didn’t answer your burning questions…
Yes, you can save even a broken marriage.
Yes, even a broken, difficult marriage can be worth saving!
But then again, there will be broken marriages that are not salvageable. My heart breaks to even type that sentence. Yes, there are some circumstances that require you to separate, maybe even divorce. There are some situations where you need more than a prayer to save marriage from divorce.
If you are wondering when to stop praying for marriage restoration I have a resource for you…
When to stop praying for marriage restoration: 7 Biblical Reasons For Divorce And Practical Steps For Each
How Do I Surrender My Broken Marriage to God?
The crux of all of this is that we must surrender our marriage to the Lord no matter what condition it is in.
Are you facing the beginning of a difficult season? Has there been grief or loss or betrayal or any other hard thing pushing you past your limits in marriage?
Or have you been struggling for a while and you feel as if there is no hope?
Surrender it to the Lord.
He is the only One capable of picking up the pieces and putting things back together. The ONLY One.
If you try to fix it by following all the amazing advice on this site but neglect to surrender your heart, mind, and expectations to Him… well, you are just wasting time.
Learning how to repair damage in marriage begins with inviting God into the center of your life and your marriage. Inviting the Holy Spirit in with open hands brings real change… the change you are seeking!
Related Post: Complete Surrender to God Is Hard: How To Fully Let Go
4. Join a Daily Prayer Marriage Challenge
While we work through this deeper series of prayers to save a marriage why not join us for a daily prayer marriage challenge?
Honestly, when learning how to pray for an unhappy marriage I used someone else’s prayers. That’s a perfectly acceptable way to begin praying!
I am working through this challenge now and already have 30 days of prayers for healing a broken marriage. They are surface-level but still based on Scripture! A great way to start!!!!!!!!!
FREE Daily Prayer Marriage Challenge
Prayer Resources To Help You Start
The same mentor – love you dearly friend – gave me a copy of Stormy Omartian’s The Power of a Praying Wife
That book helped me get into the habit – form the spiritual discipline – of praying for my husband and marriage every day.
Then The Kendrick Brothers’ book – Battle Plan for Prayer taught me how to take the real problems in my own life and find scripture to pray powerful Prayers over.
I highly recommend both books to you.
5. Go Deeper With Scripture-Based Prayer For A Broken Marriage
The prayers in the daily prayer challenge are short and focus on one aspect of each area. What I really need are many prayers based on many Scriptures.
If I am honest, as I ask the Lord, “What is the powerful prayer for a broken marriage?” the answer I get back is not simple.
We struggle to communicate in this season. I can’t just pray one prayer over one area. Nope, there are so many issues at the heart of that issue that I need many prayers. Anybody else?
So I am writing them out as a series. There will be several verses and then several prayers under each topic. Of course, these are all personal to my marriage, but you can just adjust them as needed while you work through the issue.
In the mix, I will add areas of past struggle as well as areas I’ve worked through with other wives. If you don’t see an area you need covered in prayer, comment below with it or email me and I’ll add it to my list.
6. Get Things Right In Your Heart and Mind
But before we can effectively pray over our spouse, we must pray over our lives. These are a few areas where I must have things right before I can focus with a right heart attitude toward my husband.
- Pray Over Your Identity in Christ To Begin (Then Pray It Over Him)
- We have to be sure we are fully satisfied and filled up with God alone.
- It is critical we evaluate our expectations and set them completely on Jesus alone. (Post Coming Soon)
- We need to be honest about how well we are accepting and loving our spouse. (Post Coming Soon)
- Begin to pray – fighting for our marriage in prayer. (Series at the end of this – click on Pictures to read)
Strategic Prayer For A Broken Marriage Guide
As I add more to this series – prayer for a broken marriage – I will insert them under this heading. You can click directly to it from the table of contents for easy access. Be sure to bookmark the page.
Consider joining the HopeJoyInChrist email community as they get the heads-up about everything new FIRST!
Area 5 coming soon.
in HIS love,
Tiffany of Hope Joy in Christ inspires Christian Women to grow in faith, live out Biblical Marriage Principles and raise Godly Children. Join the Wives Only Facebook Group here or keep up with her through Pinterest.
