Prayers for Marriage Restoration

Every marriage goes through troubled waters at some point. Sometimes the struggles a couple faces come from outside their relationship or control. One of the partners might get laid off from work, placing enormous financial pressure on the couple and their family. In other situations, the marriage may be rocked by infidelity by one or both spouses, which calls the foundation and future of the relationship into question.

Whether from external or internal issues, whether it’s illness, finances, growing apart emotionally, struggling to conceive, grieving a significant loss, criticism from outside parties, or any other reason, a marriage can go through trying times and cease to thrive. At such times, the best avenue for relief is to seek the Lord in prayer.

Whether these prayers are prayers for yourself, your friends, or prayers for your parents who are going through a tough time in their marriage, the Lord is an ever-present help and source of comfort.

Prayer can take many different forms. We get many different examples of prayer in the Bible. Our prayers can be poetic like the Psalms or jarring and raw like the cries in Lamentations and some of the Psalms; they can be lengthy like Solomon’s prayers over the Temple, or a short, straightforward, and simple, “Lord, save me!”

At its root, prayer is a cry from a creature to the Creator, an appeal to the Lord for intervention in our situation. Whether you are simply feeling overwhelmed, or perplexed and at your wit’s end, angry or saddened by how things are going, we are reminded “Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you” (1 Peter 5:7 NLT).

We come to God with faith that God is able, “through the mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think” (Ephesians 3:20 NLT). We look to God trusting that in his wise timing and his way he will intervene on our behalf in our situation.

Prayers for marriage restoration.

Below are a few prayers you can pray either for yourself or for people whose marriage needs restoration. As we pointed out earlier, prayer can take many different forms. Sometimes, all we can muster is, “Lord, help me.” And that’s fine. Prayer isn’t about ceremony and long words. God knows what’s in our hearts, and simply opening ourselves for him to search us and minister to us is a huge step.

The prayers below come from several places on the internet. Most of them are sourced from Scripture, and they can function as a guide for your own prayers. Take what works and make it as personal as possible. You can pray these prayers by yourself, with your spouse, or in community with others.

Prayer for a marriage headed toward divorce.

“Heavenly Father, I come to you with a heavy heart. My marriage is in trouble. My spouse has filed for divorce and has fallen out of love with me. Your plan for marriages was for them to thrive, and not end in divorce. Please restore our marriage. Revive our marriage and make it flourish beyond what it was before.

“Bring us back together as a couple and do your work on each of us from the inside out. Give us the strength to find our way back to one another with an open heart, mind, and soul. Please God, bring restoration to my marriage. The vows we gave each other, let us yearn for them and each other once more. Have mercy and pour your abundant grace upon us, Lord.

“Lord, we have hurt each other in so many ways, but we have also hurt each other by refusing to forgive one another. Lord, I’ve tried my own way but realize I can’t do it on my own. My God, help us forgive each other and heal our hurts. We pray this in the mighty name of Jesus, Amen.”

Prayer over troubled finances.

“Dear Heavenly Father, I come before you to ask for your miraculous blessing and healing over our marriage. You are a remover of obstacles, and Lord we pray over our walk as husband and wife and in our walk with you, asking you to make us stronger and a better husband and wife.

“May the words from our mouths be full of encouragement and seek to build one another up. Remove any spirit of bitterness, blame, or criticism toward one another that may dwell within us. We ask for your hand of blessing over our financial situation, and we trust you for our provision. In the name of Jesus, we ask and pray, Amen.”

Prayer to draw closer to God and each other.

“Dear Lord, I believe you are working in my life and in my spouse to reconcile us back to you and each other. Lord, stir my spouse’s thoughts with the same good and loving thoughts that existed when our love for each other was still budding and strong. Let my heart and that of my spouse burn in love for you and each other, as at the beginning. Lord, rekindle our love for one another.

“Wherever my spouse needs understanding to be drawn to you, Father give them that understanding. May our love for you grow within us both, and Lord, please heal each one of our emotional wounds and cause our hearts to be drawn towards each other. Lord, we’ve tried and done what we can, and have come to the place now where we don’t know what to do.

“Lord, I ask you that if there is a way, please show us the way and what to do. I ask you to show us the next steps we need to take to restore our marriage. I ask you to deal with my heart, with any selfishness, apathy, or pride, or anything in me or in my spouse’s heart that is not pleasing to you. I ask you to reveal anything to us that we are not seeing for ourselves.

“I believe Lord that you are the Way, the Truth, and the Life. We’ve lost our way. We need your Way, your Truth, and your Life. We’ve lost our first love for each other. We need You. We need you to restore us; I ask you to restore us and to help us find the way back to each other and you again. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”

Prayer to rebuild trust.

“Heavenly Father, you are the one who created marriage and brought us together, and it is your will that we be reconciled together and that our love for each other grows, blossoms, and becomes stronger, no matter what has happened between us in the past. Give us hearts that are open to forgiveness; help us to live in a way that is pleasing to you and that fosters trust between my spouse and me. Lord, some things are hard to rebuild once broken.

“We trust that with you, even the things that are dead can be brought back to life. Lord, heal our marriage of its brokenness. Let this healing start with me. Lord, have mercy on our relationship and rebuild the trust and honesty that has eluded this marriage. In Jesus’ name, we pray, Amen.”

Prayer to remove bitterness, anger, and other negative emotions.

“Father, deliver me and my spouse from the lack of forgiveness, hatred, anger, and bitterness that is poisoning our hearts and minds and is undermining our relationship. Fill up every space in our hearts with your peace, love, joy so that we do not give way to negative emotions that would draw us apart. Lord, teach us to treat one another with dignity, love, and respect.

I ask for grace and emotional strength to avoid the use of anger and unforgiveness as a weapon to fight against my spouse. Help me to be slow to speak and slow to anger, but quick to listen to my spouse. I pray that we will no longer allow our emotions to work against us and drive a wedge between us, in Jesus’ name. Amen.”

Prayer for strength to work through differences.

“Lord, thank you for the good work that you have started and have always done in my marriage. I ask for the strength to stay courageous and strong in your promises as you work things out in our marriage. It’s tempting to give up, but I ask that you replace every negative feeling with love and help us to work through our differences.

I refuse to give up or yield quickly to alternatives such as divorce or separation. I will not be discouraged or lose heart even if it seems like nothing is happening and our efforts at restoring our relationship aren’t yielding fruit. Your word is greater and surer than any other power. So, I choose to trust in you and to keep working on my marriage and our differences. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”

The Lord calls us to pray because it helps us recognize our limits as human beings and draws us in trust to come before God and submit ourselves to his will and purposes for our lives. These and other prayers allow us to let the Lord minister to and strengthen us. We pray, but we also act. Prayer is one way we can offer support for friends going through a tough time in their marriage.

Christian marriage counseling.

It is one way for us to address the problems in our marriages. Encouragement toward and support through couples counseling is another way to stand in the gap for a couple with a troubled marriage. If you’re looking for marriage restoration, pray, but also seek the help of a trained marriage therapist to give your relationship the support and opportunity for flourishing it needs.