30 Scripture Based Prayers for Your MarriageНамуна

Lord, guard our hearts and protect our marriage.

I have a confession. I had to give up Hallmark movies.

Let me explain. I love love stories. I love romance. I love a good “big city girl who gets lost in a near to nothing town and reconnects with a small town boy and they live happily ever after selling Christmas trees or making chocolate.” The problem was that I watched them so often, I began comparing my love story, the romance in my marriage, to the ones I was watching in the movies. Before I knew it, I was getting snippy with my husband because he couldn’t make chocolate, didn’t know when to buy me flowers, and he didn’t have an Irish accent. That sounds crazy right? It's funny, but it’s true. Without even knowing it, I’d let my guard down and my heart was building up resentment and envy about things my husband had no idea about. Proverbs 4:23 (NIV) says we have to guard our hearts because all that we do flows from it.

I don’t know what traps your heart. I don’t know what you get tangled up in.

I didn’t want my husband in a comparison trap he could never get out of because of fabricated love stories on TV. You may be watching social media and seeing spouses do this or buy that and feel jealousy creeping in. It may be that your family’s less than perfect view of your spouse is starting to affect the way you see him or her. Or maybe it's the stories your friends tell about the surprise date nights, thoughtful texts, or “just because” gifts their spouses give, and you start wondering why your marriage doesn’t look like that. Or, what about the men and women with airbrushed physiques that remind you that your spouse has a natural and untouched body? Before long, quiet disappointment builds into silent expectations, and those can quietly crush the joy and peace right out of your relationship.

Today's Prayer:

Dear God, please protect our hearts from envy and discontentment and jealousy. Help us to guard our hearts with your Word and your truth!