As Christians, we are well aware that the institution of marriage is under assault, and has been for many decades. The forces that are attacking it are bent on nothing less than its total destruction and subversion, as the philosophical and political leaders who coordinate the assault have stated so often and publically.
The Downfall of Traditional Marriage
And they seem to be winning, at least for the moment. Over half of marriages in the U.S. today end in divorce, a significant percentage of them after many years. It’s not just kids deciding they made a mistake after a couple of years. And millions of children are either born out of wedlock or live in broken homes with a single parent, usually the mother, and are thus deprived of the role model and authority figure they so desperately need in their lives.
The rise of feminism in the late 50s and early 60s caused much damage to the traditional family, as did the general falling away from faith that has occurred in societies around the world. And of course the temptations of a society and culture that has fallen so far into depravity and licentiousness must bear much of the blame.
Christianity Is The Solution
Virtually every society since the beginning of recorded history has practiced marriage in some form, even in pagan times, and of course it’s practiced today in non-Christian societies. Yet, it can be argued that for Western civilization, regardless of its origins, marriage is a particularly Christian institution.
It’s what has given it its strength and stability, indeed its very reason to exist, for centuries. It follows that if the removal of the Christian faith from our society is the primary cause of the decline and deterioration of marriage, then the solution is a renewal of that faith. And, while bringing that about in society as a whole is an uncertain and long-term undertaking, Christian principles and the acts of prayer and faith can certainly be embraced by the two people within a marriage to strengthen and uplift their relationship and utilize the freely available power of the Holy Spirit to heal, maintain, and sanctify the union.
Praying together as husband and wife is especially important in a Christian marriage. It can literally work miracles.
How Prayer and Faith Can Save Your Marriage
Praying together as a couple has many wonderful benefits. Here are just a few examples:
- It promotes intimacy.A strong marriage requires intimacy on many levels, not just physically. An emotional and spiritual connection is required too. When you pray together, you’re drawing closer to one another in both dimensions, learning things about each other that you might not have discovered in any other way.
- It encourages unity. The Bible teaches that when you enter into holy matrimony with your spouse, you become as one in the sight of God. But you’re still two different people, and as a practical matter it takes time and effort to learn to act and live as one. And this process can often be a source of hurt and strife within the marriage. Praying together helps to create unity between yourselves and with God, and serves as a balm for the pain and troubles you will inevitably experience on your journey.
- It changes your relationship for the better.Any marriage will have its ups and downs – its good times and its bad. That’s unavoidable. And its true that people can’t change one another, or at least not much. But God can. There’s a reason that the Bible exhorts us to prayer to handle the turmoil in our lives. It works, and millions have testified to that fact. Even a marriage that has been through the worst that can happen can turn around and prosper with the power of prayer and faith. It’s never too late.
- It brings God into the marriage. As the Bible states in Matthew 18:20, “For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” You are never closer to God than when your head is bowed in prayer. It makes God the third part of your relationship, and with Him, how can you fail?
Christian living and a relationship with God is the only thing that can save marriage in our society and in our individual lives. Try it with your spouse today, you’ll be glad you did.
~ 1776 Christian
