A Prayer for Unity Within Marriage - Crosswalk Couples Devotional - March 17
A Prayer for Unity Within Marriage
By: Vivian Bricker
“Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble.” (1 Peter 3:8)
Within marriage, it is important to be united in mind and thought. Without unity, there can be many problems within your marriage. At times, it can feel like you are not on the same page as your spouse, and this can cause you to feel overwhelmed, stressed, and frustrated. However, being on a different page than your spouse and lacking in unity are two different things. Occasionally, being on a different page than your spouse could cause issues, but they are not going to be the same as when you are short on unity within your marriage.
Unity is what should happen after marriage. God tells us that a husband and wife become one flesh when they are married (Genesis 2:24). When we think of one flesh, we think of complete unity. Without unity, our marriage will have intense struggles. You and your spouse need to be strong together with complete unity in your hearts. However, sometimes this doesn’t happen.
There are many things that can cause unity to falter within marriage. Differences in political matters, financial matters, personal matters, and life goals can cause marriages to have a lack of unity. Within your marriage, think about what is causing discord. Focus on this issue at hand, bring it to the Lord, and work through it with His help. The Lord will be able to bring immeasurable blessings into your life (Ephesians 3:20-21).
There will be times when you and your spouse will have disagreements, but it shouldn’t affect your marriage in negative ways. If you and your spouse are having intense troubles between the both of you and it is significantly impacting your marriage, it might be time to reach out to a Christian marriage counselor. A Christian marriage counselor can help you work through these issues and keep Jesus involved in every session.
Having Jesus involved in your sessions will ensure things are worked through biblically. If your spouse needs time before committing to counseling, give them some time, but don’t put it on the back burner. Try to stress the importance of counseling and how it can help your marriage in the long run. With time, your spouse should be more open to the idea of counseling.
Sometimes, it can feel as though your marriage is falling apart due to a lack of unity but know that it can be restored. By engaging in Christian marriage counseling, turning to the Lord, and working through the present issues with His help, you will be able to restore unity in your marriage. By putting aside differences, you and your spouse will be able to overcome this struggle and emerge stronger on the other side.
The Apostle Peter tells us, “Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble” (1 Peter 3:8). While Peter is referring to all people in this passage, it can be easy to forget to apply this teaching in our marriage. However, when we are mindful of biblical teachings, we will be able to better apply them into our life.
When discussing Peter’s teaching above, we are taught to be like-minded, sympathetic, love others, compassionate, and humble. If we follow Peter’s teachings here, our marriage will become more unified. By being like-minded, we will have unity with our spouses. In the same way, being sympathetic, loving, compassionate, and humble will also help us seek true unity.
As you extend these beautiful blessings to your spouse, they will return them to you and you will reach unity. It might take time, yet it will come to fruition. Keep praying, stay dedicated to the Lord, and faithfully apply His teachings to your life. Your marriage will be restored and blessed beyond measure.
“Dear God, I pray for unity within my marriage today. I need my spouse and I to be unified. There is nothing worse than to feel out of step with my spouse. Please help us to work through what is causing discord in our marriage. It is not good or healthy to continue down a road of disunity. I give all of my worries and concerns over to You. Amen.”
Related Resource: Engaging with God in a Technology-Saturated World
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