To be completely honest, in the first several years of my marriage I did not pray together with my husband. We went to church and did our own devotional time, but praying together just wasn’t something we did. Then, about three years into our marriage we were taking a couples class that encouraged praying together. We started praying together, but I won’t lie. It felt strange praying aloud next to my husband. Have you figured out ways to pray with your husband that doesn’t feel strange anymore?
When I saw that B&H Publishing had a copy of “The 7 Rings of Marriage: Your Model for a Lasting and Fulfilling Marriage” to review I was all about it. I was super excited when I saw the part author, Jackie Bledsoe, wrote about seven ways to pray together with your spouse!
When my husband, Ryan, and I started praying together it was a little intimidating. Sometimes I would ask myself, “Are we being authentic and true in our prayer?” I also feel like over time we can get stuck in a rut in our prayer life if we aren’t being intentional. That’s why I want to share these 7 ways to pray with your husband.
Ways To Pray With Your Husband
These 7 ways come from Jackie Bledsoe’s book on pages 45 and 46 although I will be paraphrasing and giving my own thoughts on each of them.
- Choose a time but be flexible- Ryan and I have two times a day we pray together. At dinner and before bed. I do pray for him other times, but these are the times we pray together. So we have the “choose a time” down. However, it is rare that we randomly pray together because of a need or want. That is where the flexibility comes in. There will be times when prayer in needed/wanted/requested randomly and we get to be flexible!
- Pray alone before praying together- Sometimes we might feel the need to pray to God before we pray with our husbands. And that is okay! We can ask Him for guidance, support and wisdom before entering prayer with our men.
- Thank God and praise him for your spouse- Pray thanksgiving that God would bring you to your husband. Thank Him for specific qualities that your man possesses that you love.
- Use scripture for your prayers- This is a great alternative to when we don’t know what to pray. Find scripture and pray that you can implement it into your life. If you are new to praying aloud this could be a great way to start to support you in getting a little more comfortable as well.
- Write a prayer and read it- Sometimes writing our prayers down can be easier than verbalizing. Write the desires of your heart and then read them. Here are 15 prayer prompts to strengthen your marriage that might be helpful.
- Start short- Keep it short and simple while building the routine. Short doesn’t mean it’s unauthentic!
- Show some affection- Prayer is meant to be intimate. Cuddle up together and hold hands while you pray. End your couple prayer time with a kiss, hug or cuddle.
These are all great ways to pray together as a couple. This is just one jewel from the book “The 7 Rings of Marriage“! Praying with our husband’s doesn’t have to be intimidating or feel strange. Just like anything else with practice it gets easier and feels more natural. The benefits of praying with our spouse is worth the uncomfortable feeling in the beginning. So make a point to pray with your man today.
What is another way you pray with your husband?
Until Next Time- Truly Love,
Cassie
I really enjoyed this blog post! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for sharing this, Cassie!
Of course, Jackie! Thank you for writing a resource that can serve so many married couples!
Cassie, I think the keeping is short helps your husband want to come back. Good thoughts.
Yes, Debbie, I think you are on to something. If our husbands are not excited to pray or it is awkward for them keeping it short, especially in the beginning, will be helpful.
Oh yes, Cassie! This is something my husband and I started doing about six years ago and we’ve been married for 30 years! Crazy that we didn’t do it sooner! We do it at the start of our day when we are about to “part.” That’s become our cue and we rarely if ever miss it–holding hands when we do it. It is now so central to our everyday rituals that it’s not awkward at all–in fact, it’s awkward when we don’t do it! ha! Thanks for inspiring us to do something that is SO important to a couple feeling connected and looking to God to be the glue that holds us together!
Beth, I am so glad we had the struggle we had that got us praying together as a couple. Now we take time to pray together, pray for others and pray at dinner and bed with our girls. It’s teaching us and them so much. Just one example how God turns a struggle into a victory!