Father,
Today, we praise You for marriage. You know it's not good for us to be alone, and so You provide a way for us to be loved and to live out Your will on this earth with a faithful companion. Today, Father, we first and foremost leave the plans we have for our children at Your feet, understanding that the future we see and wish for them may not be Your will for their lives. Today, we decide to prayerfully place our children in Your capable hands. Our job as parents is to guide them to Your feet. No matter what stage of parenting we are in, guide us as only You can to begin to let go when we need to. Help us to release them into Your full will and plan for their lives.
“But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female.' ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.' So they are no longer two, but one flesh.'” Mark 10:6-9
Our children are much like us in many ways, but none are carbon copies – nor are the compilations of their experiences, thoughts, and connections to You and the other people in their lives. Help us to meet them with wisdom and guidance relevant to their lives and aligned with Your will. Even in this prayer for their future spouses, we override our desires to seek Your will for them, their spouses, their future families, and lives.
“Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them.” Colossians 3:18-19
Father, may our children's spouses, wherever they are in life, be blessed. May they know You, know Jesus, and put You first in their lives. May this always be the case, no matter who captures their hearts' attentions, or our child's. May You reign first and foremost in their lives, before they meet, as they get to know each other, leading them all the way down the aisle and beyond. Take center stage in their individual lives, and in their marriages.
“Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.” Ephesians 4:2-3
May our children's spouses be kind. Let the words that leave their lips speak in love and grace. We pray for the qualities of humility and gentleness. In a world that is quick to bite and jump to defense, may our children and their spouses be quick to forgive. When society rushes their agenda, help them to be patient and wait on You, God. Let purity reign in the lives our children and that of their spouses. From long before they meet, let the desires of their hearts align with Yours for their lives, Father. Give them the strength to uphold Your righteousness in their lives long before they are charged to seek You together. As their paths cross, keep their eyes set and focused on You.
“To the pure, all things are pure. But to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure.” Titus 1:15
In a world that will tell them anything is OK, set them apart. Let them live according to Your will and word, so that they many enjoy the full joy of a godly marriage. Protect them, alerting them to choices they will later look back on and regret. Fill their hearts with compassion for those around them and compel them to lead others to You with their words and the way they live their lives.
Father, we pray for our children's spouses. Bless them and keep them physically safe. Guard their hearts and minds today and always. May they, and our children, enjoy walking in God's will for their lives. For if marriage is Your will for them, let it be long, lasting beyond all odds. Provide them with the wisdom – and sometimes the miracles – they will need to overcome the many challenges and tragedies of married life. May they be a shining example of Your love. Bless them – as You promise us all – beyond what we can imagine or ask for.
In Jesus' Name,
Amen.
Dear Lord, thank You that You know my child deeply and intimately. You formed her innermost being(Psalm 139), including what brings her joy and will make her thrive. All of her days, including those spent in marriage and raising a family, were laid out before You before she took her first breath, and You have promised that Your plans for her are good (Jeremiah 29:11).
Thank You for being so loving, and attentive and true. You know all, see all, and hold all things—my daughter's life included—in the palm of Your hands. I praise You for Your infallible wisdom and Your limitless understanding (Isaiah 40:28). You know precisely who will complement my daughter, and precisely who she will help complement as well. Thank you for the gift of marriage and the relational intimacy my daughter will experience through it.
Lord, please begin preparing my future daughter-in-law's heart. Guard and protect it and fill it with love for You (Proverbs 4:23). May she long to please You above all else. Where there is offense, replace this with love. May humility grow wherever pride attempts to take root, and may grace saturate her deepest and most hidden places. When others hurt her, teach her to come to you, that bitterness would never sink into those tender places meant only for love. Above all, may her heart find her home deep within Your embrace, for she cannot love my son well if she does not first love You well and experience Your love in return(1 John 4:8).
May her love for my son be an expression and an extension of Your love for her and her love for You.
Thank You, Lord, that You are, at this moment, molding my future son-in-law into the man You know my daughter needs and the father my future grandchildren need. When difficulties arise, help him to turn to you. Give him a longing to search your ways, to seek your wisdom. As He presses into you, teach him perseverance and what it means to rely on You. Remind him of your care, and through the struggle, reveal Your heart and care to him that he may always find solace and strength in You.
Through challenges and life's upheavals, interactions and regrets, develop within him the strength and integrity he'll need to raise his family well. When others disappoint him, may he not give in to frustration and anger, but be inspired by your Spirit to live differently. Develop his character to make him a man of integrity, who sees challenges as opportunities and uncertainty as avenues to deeper faith. Imprint the words of James 1:2-4 in his mind, his heart, and his will, that he might view all of life's challenges with joy, knowing You are working in and through them.
Lord, so many lives and relationships have broken from wandering eyes. Like Eve in the Garden of Eden, we're all drawn to the lusts of the flesh, of the eyes, and the pride of life, which comes not from You and can keep us from the precious gifts you long to give. Help my son's future wife seek You first and find her needs in You. Teach her contentment and remove all those things, like fear of insignificance or unfulfillment that cause women to sin. Help her to find contentment in who she is, her marriage, her relationships, and station in life (Philippians 4:11-13). Remind her that she doesn't need to chase temporary pleasures or false securities. Instead, draw her steadily to You.
May she turn to you for her every need, and may her love for my son flow from the abundance of a spirit-filled heart. When discontentment rises up within her, give her the wisdom, strength, and insight to surrender to You, inviting You to purge all that is unhealthy and diseased within. Where greed attempts to grow, fill her with generosity. When the prickles of fear stir her to accumulate earthly treasures beneath her, draw her instead to deeper trust. When insecurity lures her to financial irresponsibility, flood her with your love and acceptance until she centers her identity in you.
Lord, thank You for preparing this man to be the husband that my daughter needs, a man of strength and integrity in a time when many seem void of those traits. Give him the courage to make hard choices for the sake of his family, to prioritize church and prayer. When hard decisions come, decisions he and my daughter disagree on, may Your voice become loudest. Give Him long-term vision to consider how every choice might affect his family ten, twenty, and even thirty years to come.
Help him lead with a servant's heart, displaying in words and deeds reflective of Your Son. May he love her like Christ loves the church, being willing to lay down his life for her and their children(Ephesians 5:22-33). May she show him honor and respect in return. Above all, may their marriage reveal the power and reality of the gospel.
Lord, I ask You to cultivate within her a love for silence and quiet moments spent with You. May she learn to hear Your voice and respond with trust-filled obedience. May her desire to be heard, whether by you or others, never overpower her heart to listen well. May she long for Your voice and daily seek Your guidance.
As she sits with others, may she quiet her mind so that she remains actively engaged. I pray she creates a safe environment, within the home and without, where others are encouraged to openly share concerns and emotions. May she be alert to words spoken and unspoken, with wisdom, drawing out the deep truths in the hearts of those she loves. When she is to respond, may she do so with wisdom and kindness, speaking all that You ask and nothing more. When she is to remain silent, help her do so with confidence and grace, knowing Your truth will ring out in a thousand other ways. May she mourn with those who mourn, laugh with those who laugh, and walk beside those who otherwise might stumble.
As I patiently, perhaps even painfully, release my precious child into his care, recognizing that the bonds between husband and wife must grow stronger than those between mother and child, may he listen to my heart as well. When I misspeak or release her imperfectly, may he grant me grace, knowing I, too, am learning to love well.
But most of all, God, I pray you would hold her, her family, and her marriage close to Your heart, keeping them from all harm and showering them with the abundant blessings that come through fellowship with Your Son.
Lord, You created my daughter. You saw her being formed in my womb, and you knew she existed, even before I did.
Besides knowing you as her savior, who she chooses to marry is the most important decision she will ever make. And so Lord, I pray for her. I pray for him.
I pray for them.
God, may my daughter's future husband love you with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength. May he be a man who loves other people as he loves himself.
God, be working in him, even now, to form his love for you, and for others.
Put people in his life to help him love you. Put circumstances in his life to help him trust you. Put successes in his life to help him praise you.
Lord, may my daughter's future husband appreciate her goodness and her gifts, and may he value her as his true companion. May he be a godly, servant leader of their home. Make him the kind of man who can say with genuine authenticity, “Follow me, as I follow Christ”.
Lord, help my daughter's future husband be a hard worker, a man of complete integrity, and a man she can trust to protect her and provide for her. Teach him the value and satisfaction of a job well done.
May my daughter's future husband be an unselfish man, who loves her as Christ loves his church. Give my daughter a man who is willing to sacrifice himself for her. And Lord, help my daughter never take his sacrifices on her behalf for granted.
God, I pray that my daughter's future husband would be strong, loving, kind, and wise. Help him live with her in an understanding way. May he validate her strengths, and help her grow in her weaknesses. May she do the same for him.
I pray their life together will be filled with love and laughter. May they always be friends, and never stop being lovers. Give them a home filled with joy.
I pray they will cling to each other through the storms of life. When life gets hard, remind them to turn toward each other, not away from each other. Give my daughter a man who is brave enough to work through difficulties with humility and grace. Give her a man that won't quit on her, on himself, or on You.
God, I pray that my daughter's future husband would give himself fully to her, and she to him. Give them deep satisfaction in each other's embrace. May he be a safe refuge for her; may she be a safe refuge for him.
May their life together be a signpost for others that declares, “God is real and God is good.”
But Lord, until the day he walks into her life, and she walks into his, draw them both close to You. May each of them learn how to depend on You. Always. Give his parents wisdom as they raise him. Give us wisdom as we raise her.
Lord, watch over him. Watch over her.
And bless them both.
Amen.