Partners in prayer
Praying together should be one of the greatest privileges of married life, but it can prove very hard to get around to. There may be difficulties in finding a suitable time, or in the style of prayer that each prefers. There may be a problem of leadership, with one partner expected to take the initiative in suggesting prayer – and then to do all the praying. It may even happen that praying together goes sour and turns into getting at each other in front of God.
If this is you, then take heart! Christian couples are in fact praying together a lot – although by no means always do they pray about the same thing in the same words in the same place at the same time.
As with so many other aspects of marriage, we must accept each other as we really are, and not spend our time and energy trying to redesign the partner God has given us!
John Richards suggests a simple way forward, which he describes as ‘a one-minute four-point programme’. It runs as follows:
- Agree a time to pray – a time which is signalled not by one partner calling the other, but by an independent source such as the kitchen pinger, an alarm watch, a chiming clock, or the end of a meal or TV programme.
- Be natural. Sit or kneel – whichever you prefer. Hold hands or share a book if it helps express your togetherness.
- Make peace. Say to each other: ‘The peace of the Lord be always with you’. ‘And also with you’.
- Share a short silence for your own quiet prayer. This avoids the pressure (or embarrassment) of putting deep thoughts into words; or risking an action replay of a family row.
- Say the Lord’s Prayer together. And that’s it!
Print this page
Bookmark this pageFeedback on this page: contact Webmaster