Day 4: Who Am I Praying To? - How to Pray for Your Marriage

“Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.” Matthew 6:9

When our children get hurt and cry, or when they are experiencing a frustrating situation with a sibling, our desire is that they run to us to communicate what has happened. As parents, we want to know what is going on inside their little hearts. Even if we saw what happened and can guess what they might be feeling and thinking, we still desire that moment of connection when they come to us. Our children know that we are capable of helping them, comforting them, and providing answers to their situations. They know us, and we know them. The more encounters we share together of connection and communication, the more we foster a bond that is full of love and trust.

Although God is omniscient, He still wants us to come to Him and reveal our hearts to Him through prayer. He wants to foster that bond of connection, love, and trust with His children, just like we do with ours.

In Matthew 6:9, Jesus starts off this iconic and historic prayer by teaching that when we pray, we are addressing God, our heavenly Father. We are also called to acknowledge His holy name. In doing this, we are acknowledging His greatness, righteousness, power, and majesty. We recognize who God is in relation to Himself and us.

Who do you run to when you need help? Where do you seek comfort and solace?

When it comes to our marriages, we can trust that He is our good, good father, that He knows us and understands what we need. Knowing God is holy helps us bring our life and marriage to Him in prayer with humility. And often, our circumstances and feelings seem incredibly small in comparison to His greatness. A heavenly perspective helps shift our eyes to see more clearly.

When we come to Him with anger flooding our hearts or ideas about how our spouse should change, His power and majesty can humble us and help us pray for our spouse and marriage. Only God is able to bring our desire for reconciliation and peace to fruition.

We also can acknowledge that as a holy God, He is neither on your side nor your spouse’s side because He shows no favoritism. Rather, God is on His own side, desiring to draw each spouse in closely to Himself. This means He is not there to do your will but to encourage you both to do His.

God is our heavenly and holy Father. He loves us as His children, and He wants His will to be done in our lives. He wants our marriages to be moved by His holiness and reflect His love to the world.