7 Prayers for Your MarriageSample

FORGIVENESS

I forgive you.

These are three of the most powerful words in any relationship, and giving and accepting forgiveness is an essential component of a healthy marriage.

We all make mistakes. We forget the dinner date. We say something hurtful out of frustration or fear. We get triggered by something our spouse says, and we withdraw physically, sexually, and emotionally. The question isn’t whether or not we will do or say something that will hurt our spouse; the question is what are we going to do about it when we hurt our spouse?

Left unchecked, hurt turns into resentment and bitterness that will grow and consume our marriage. That’s exactly what the enemy wants. He hates godly marriages, and he loves to drive a wedge between spouses. Over time, he’ll keep pounding away at that wedge, driving it deeper into the cracks of our marriage. Forgiveness breaks the deadly separation the enemy uses to isolate a husband and wife from each other.

Fostering forgiveness in marriage requires ongoing, vulnerable communication in which we share our hurts. It also requires humility as we admit our wrongs and come face-to-face with our faults and mistakes. When we don’t do the hard work of forgiving our spouse, we can experience marriage at its worst, but when we are willing to forgive, we can experience marriage at its best.

Prayer

God of all mercy and grace, we thank You for being faithful and just to forgive our sins. Thank You for hurling our sins into the depths of the sea and remembering them no more. Thank You for the ultimate forgiveness demonstrated through Jesus’s sacrificial death on the cross. We ask for forgiveness for the ways in which we have sinned against You and sinned against each other. Root out any pride and self-righteousness within us. Let us humbly seek forgiveness when we have wronged each other. Guard us against any resentment, jealousy, antagonism, or bitterness that could creep into our relationship. Give us the courage, grace, and compassion to forgive one another just as You have forgiven us. Amen.