Marriage is one of the most beautiful things God has given to humanity.

   Before we talk to God, let's first take a moment to listen to God's word and then we'll pray together. 

  Marriage is one of the most beautiful things God has given to humanity. 

  It is a covenant, a sacred bond that God himself designed and ordained. 

 And yet if you have been married for any length of time or if you know someone who has then you already know that marriage is not without its challenges. 

 Relationships whether between husbands and wives, family members or close friends can be tested. They can be stretched. They can come under tremendous pressure from within and from without. 

The Bible is very clear in Psalms 127:1. It says, "Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain." I find this verse deeply instructive.  It tells us plainly that there are some things that human effort alone simply cannot accomplish. 

You can try to build a marriage on charm, on good intentions, on romantic feelings, or on sheer willpower, but if God is not at the center of it, you will find yourself struggling.  Because divine marriage was never designed to run on human strength alone. 

It was designed by God to be sustained by God.  I've come to understand over time that one of the most powerful things a married person can do is to pray. 

Not just pray about other matters and leave the marriage out of it, but to deliberately, intentionally, and consistently bring your marriage and your closest relationships before GOD. to ask HIM to guard them, to ask HIM to protect them, to ask HIM to keep them alive and strong.

Chapter 2: Genesis.

 In Genesis 2 24, God gives us the foundation for marriage. It says, "'That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife and they become one flesh." One flesh. 

That is a powerful picture. GOD did not just bring two people together in marriage. He merged them into one. And what the enemy tries to do day after day in a thousand different ways is to tear apart that one what God has joined. 

The devil uses misunderstandings. He uses pride. 

He uses external voices that should not have access to the inner walls of your marriage. 

He uses past hurts that have not been properly healed. 

 He uses comparison, distraction, and the slow drift that happens when two people stop choosing each other intentionally. 

 And if we are not vigilant, if we are not prayerful, those attacks can do real damage. 

But here is the good news. 

The same God who ordained marriage is more than able to protect.

 The same GOD who called you into your relationships is able to sustain them and he is waiting for you to ask HIM. 

 Ecclesiastes 4:verses9-12 talks about the strength of two and the even greater strength of a cord of three strands.  A cord of three strands is not quickly broken. That third strand is God. 

When God is into your marriage and your relationships, when he is truly at the center of it, there is a strength that the enemy cannot easily unravel. But that third strand has to be invited in. And it is invited in through prayer. 

 I also want to speak to those of you who are not yet married, but who desire marriage and to those whose relationships are under strain today. 

 This word is for you too. Ask GOD to order your steps.  Ask HIM to protect the relationships he has placed in your life. Ask HIM to remove what does not belong and to strengthen what is of him. 

Ask HIM to guard your heart and the hearts of those you love. 

 Song of Solomon 8:6 tells us that love is as strong as death and its jealousy as unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire 🔥, like a mighty flame 🔥. 

 But even love that is genuine and deep needs to be protected. 

Chapter 3: Ephesians.28 

 It needs to be tended to. It needs to be prayed over.  And in Ephesians 5: verses 25- 28, the Apostle Paul gives husbands a charge that is nothing short of extraordinary. He tells them to "love their wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her." 

That is a sacrificial covering love. A love that protects, sanctifies, and presents the other in wholeness. 

That kind of love does not happen by accident. It happens by grace. And grace is accessed through faith and prayer. 

 So today, I want us to take this matter seriously. 

 If your marriage is strong, pray to keep it that way. 

 If it is struggling, pray for restoration. 

 If you are single and believe in GOD for a godly relationship, pray for protection and direction. 

 Whatever your situation is today, there is a prayer to be prayed. If you are ready to do that right now, let us pray 🙏🏽 🙏🏽 together. 

Heavenly Father, I come before you today because l  know that you are the author of love, the founder of marriage, and the keeper of every relationship that has been built in your name. I come because I believe that what you have joined together is worth fighting for, worth praying over, and worth trusting you to protect. Lord, I ask you today to watch over our marriage. I ask you to build our home because I know from your word that unless you build it, we labor in vain. 

We have tried to do things in our own strength. 

We have tried to manage our differences on our own. We have tried to hold things together by sheer determination and goodwill. And Father, we have seen how far that takes us without you. So today, I surrender our marriage to you. I give it back to you, the One who designed it. l ask you to be the third strand in our cord. Come into the center of this union, Lord. Be present in our conversations, in our disagreements, in our silences, and in our celebrations.  Let your wisdom govern how we speak to each other.  Let your patience be the well from which we draw when we are frustrated. Let your love be the standard by which we treat each other every day.  Father, I ask you to protect our marriage from every external force that would seek to destroy it. Protect it from the voices that should not have access to our inner walls.  Protect it from comparison, from the kind of envy that makes us look at other people's relationships and feel dissatisfied with what you have given us. Protected from the distractions of this world, from busyiness, from the slow drift that can happen when two people stop choosing each other with intention.  Lord, I ask you to protect our marriage from what is within us, too. Protect it from our pride. From the stubbornness that refuses to say sorry when sorry needs to be said. From the silence that builds walls instead of bridges. From the unforgiveness that roots itself deep and poisons the soil.  Father, you know the places in each of us that are still unhealed. You know the wounds we carry from long before we set our vows. Heal those places. Lord, do not let old wounds become new weapons used against each other. I ask you to restore every area of our marriage that has suffered. Wherever closeness has given way to distance, Lord, draw us back together.   Wherever trust has been broken, Father, I ask you to do what only you can do. Rebuild it.   Wherever communication has broken down, give us the grace to begin again with honesty, with gentleness, and with a genuine desire to understand each other. Wherever the flame has grown dim, breathe on it again, Lord. Reignite what was once alive. Remind us why we chose each other and why that choice is stil worth making today. I lift up every husband before you right now. I ask that you fill him with the love that Ephesians 5 speaks of, the sacrificia love, the covering love, the love that lays down its preferences for the sake of the one it is called to cherish. Lord, give him wisdom to lead with gentleness, the courage to be vulnerable, and the faithfulness to remain steady even when things are hard. Let him be a man whose wife can trust in him and find safety in his presence. I lift up every wife before you, too, Lord. I ask that you grace her with a spirit 

R that builds and does not tear down. That you give her wisdom to speak life over her home, to be the woman the book of Proverbs speaks of, one whose worth is far above rubies. Give her the grace to love her husband well, to pray for him when she does not have the words to speak to him, and to trust you to work in the places where her own hands cannot reach.  Father, I also pray for those who are single and believing you for a godly relationship. Guard their hearts today. Do not let them rush into what you have not ordained.

PRAY FOR YOUR HOLY MARRIAGE & RELATIONSHIPS IN THE FAMILY FOR GOD'S GLORY, HONOUR AND PRAISE.