Christians who seek to be the salt of the earth and stand against this “worldly societal trends” need to be fully equipped from scripture. knowing that “God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” 2 Timothy 1:7
It seems that through nearly all forms of media fear is being stirred up, and many opinions are reported sometimes seemingly taking more space in the media than the truth or certainly any good news – eg rarely are the number of recoveries from the ‘virus’ reported. This all can bring increasing pressure, strain on marriages.

We need to help couples identify the need, to build and strengthen their marriages on the ROCK firmly establishing the right foundation, and guide them along that route.

I can talk of this from my own experience – for many years we were doing marriage our way and people around us from time to time said “we had a good marriage”. Then we surrendered our marriage to Christ and He gave us that ROCK solid foundation that can stand up against any storm or trial. On surrendering our marriage to Christ we realised what we had been missing! Also for many years we have had a good friend whom we asked to hold us accountable.

So how can we in the church guide those around us to give their marriages a ROCK Solid foundation. The good news is we are doing much of it already through our gathering together and the messages that are preached, particularly where we are able to connect the dots to marriage and family life. We could arrange a marriage seminar/course, have a list of marriage books available or even a few in a “library” or even start a couples small group. However, there is another route that probably has a more dramatic effect to start to build that foundation and that is partly what we are doing at the moment – encouraging prayer! But we need strongly to encourage couples to pray for each other and with each other every day and yes with the children if they have been blessed with them. A couple of things may stop couples from doing this and you will know them well … we haven’t the time … it is awkward!
Maybe it would be helpful to email or give to couples a few sample prayers to help them along the route after an appropriate sermon message.

Some ways to help the couples that you minister to are:

Prayer for Couples Checklist ( maybe this could be printed as a card to give out)

  • Give thanks to God and praise Him for your spouse and for your marriage (and children).
  • Confess your sins and repent.
  • Pray for your spouse’s physical and spiritual needs.
  • Ask God for His protection over your spouse and children
  • Ask God for His leading to be accepted by your spouse.
  • Pray for the needs of your marriage, remembering that He has promised to meet all your needs.
  • Pray for the needs of your children.
  • Ask God to bless your spouse.

Also either or both of these free downloads may be helpful:

This short prayer might help some start out:

Lord, You’ve promised to meet all our needs, but sometimes we don’t even know what our needs are. Help us to open up with You and with each other as we look to Your Word for guidance in praying together. Guard us from distractions like excessive television, social media, work, or anything else that can steal our time and commitment to pray together.