Scripture Prayer for Marriages in Trouble or Recovery

"He sent His word and healed them,

 And delivered them from their destructions." Psalm 107:20

God's Word is so powerful! And praying it is a wonderful way to grow in your prayer life and deepen your walk with Jesus. What's more, your faith will increase as you experience the blessing of answered prayers. So no matter what your battle is right now - troubled marriage, an adulterous spouse, or perhaps a spouse who has left the home - God's Word has an answer for each of these problems. It is absolutely loaded with timely wisdom and the precious words of those saints of old who have gone before us; many who faced the same giants we face today. Have confidence that the Word of God is powerful, and that by it you can STAND IN THE GAP on behalf of your marriage!

As promised, in this post I'll share my (ever-growing) list of Scriptures that I have prayed, or continue to pray, for my marriage, my husband, and/or myself as wife and mother. I say continue to pray because, until the day the Lord calls me home, I have determined that I will never "relax" or stop praying earnestly because the Bible tells us that we are to "Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour." (1 Peter 5:8) I can think of no better way to "be on the alert" than in prayer. (Mark 13:33; Luke 21:36; Col. 4:2) Because the list is extensive, I'm not going to group each one  for you, but rather will tell you that each Scripture verse or passage falls into one or more of the following categories:

• Marriage/ Husband and Wife Relationship
• Adulterer's/ Abandoning Spouse's Repentance, Spiritual Growth, Deliverance, Identity in Christ, Knowing & Understanding the Truth, and Protection
• Yourself (as Wife)
• Children

As you look them up you can decide:
1) If the reference is relevant to your situation
2) If it is, for whom or for what particular situation you will pray it

Many of the verses or passages were ones that were particular to the time of my husband's affair, or during the early days of our marriage reconciliation. These I no longer pray for my own marriage, but I pray them as I become aware of other marriages facing the heartache of infidelity. The Bible tells us that as Christians we have a duty to bear the burdens of others and lift their struggles before the Throne of Grace. (Gal. 6:2) 

Another thing I will tell you. Many of the verses have a similar theme and often I will pray them together. Sort of like cross-reference praying! Let me share an example with you, while at the same time demonstrate how to use Scripture to form a prayer. My husband, throughout his Christian walk, has often struggled with really believing that God  loves him and is pleased with him. So when I pray that he might better understand God's love, I say: "Lord, I ask that You would pour out Your love within Aaron's heart. I pray that he would come to know and believe the love which You have for him and that, by this, love would be perfected in him. Please let perfect love cast out all fear." (Romans 5:5; 1 John 4:16-18;) "Deliver him now from a spirit of fear - and instead fill him with power, love, and a sound mind." (2 Timothy 1:7) "And Father, finally I ask You to direct his heart into the love of God and the steadfastness of Christ." (2 Thessalonians 3:5)

Perhaps, if you've been here awhile, you'll also recall that along with the struggle to understand God's love, Aaron also grew up in a church that did not fully teach about God's grace. In the past he seemed to feel as if he somehow needed to do something to "maintain" his salvation. He was never able to simply rest in the Lord, and His finished work. (I wrote about this in a post entitled Understanding Grace and Our Identity in Christ.) To counter this, the Lord specifically gave me two verses which I still pray daily since understanding God's grace is something we must learn over a lifetime! The prayer goes something like this: "Lord, I pray that you would (continue to) cause Aaron to understand the grace of God in truth." (Col. 1:6) "Additionally, please allow his heart to be established with grace." (Hebrews 13:9)

The Full Armor of God

Lastly, before the list, I feel that I should mention one passage of Scripture specifically because of its absolute importance. I implore you to daily pray the full armor of God, as described in Ephesians 6, on both you and your spouse. I do not get up from my knees each morning until this is done. Charlyne Steinkamp, whom I've mentioned before as a wonderful inspiration to those who are "standing," says, "As faithful as Bob might be today to me and to our marriage, as well as to the Lord, I will continue to pray the armor of God on us and a hedge of protection around him in this area (adultery) until the Lord calls one of us home."

One of the neatest things you can do with this is when you go through each piece of the armor - for example, loins girded with truth - is to incorporate other verses that speak of truth, like John 8:32 or John 17:17, into your prayer. Doing this will help you to cover each area mentioned in Ephesians 6, while truly helping you to develop your own "cross-reference system." I believe your hunger for the Word will increase as you're challenged to find more and more verses related to each piece of armor.

Prayer Scriptures

All that said, here's my list of Scripture verses and passages. Although some of them will be in the form of a prayer, such as some of Paul's prayers recorded for us in the epistles, please remember that most will not, and therefore you may need to "reword" them a bit. May I emphasize that praying through the Scriptures is a means by which we may come to be in union with the heart of God; it should not, however, become an empty religious exercise of merely reciting the Bible.

2 Chronicles 20:12,15-17
Nehemiah 1:5-9
Job 33:14-18
Psalm1; Psalm 15; Psalm 19:7-14; Psalm 25; Psalm 34:8-14,19; Psalm 35; Psalm 37:7-15; Psalm 40:1-3,8; Psalm 43:3; Psalm 46:1-3,10; Psalm 51; Psalm 57; Psalm 63; Psalm 71; Psalm 86:11-13; Psalm 92:12-15; Psalm 107:20; Psalm 119:11,105,133; Psalm 126; Psalm 127a; Psalm 143 (really there's many more from the Psalms so I would suggest that you peruse them and write down ones that express your own heart towards God)
Proverbs 2:10-17; 3:1-13; 31:10-31
Isaiah 40:31; 46:10b; 52:1; 57:15-19; 59:19; 61:3
Jeremiah 24:6-7; 32:17
Ezekiel 22:30; 36:25-27; 37:23
Hosea 14:4-6
Micah 6:8
Malachi 4:6
Matthew 6:33
Luke 2:79
John 1:12; 8:32; 12:24; 15:1-17; 17:17
Acts 26:18 (an excellent prayer if you're not sure about your husband's salvation)
Romans 5:5; 6:11-14; 8:15; 12:1-2,9-21; 15:5-7,13 (Verse 13 is a perfect prayer for someone who struggles with assurance of their salvation)
1 Corinthians 2:16; 13:4-7
2 Corinthians  3:14-18; 4:6; 5:7,17; 7:1,10
Galatians 4:5-7
Ephesians 1:2-3; 1:17-19; 3:16-20; 4:22-27,32; 5:33; **6:10-17
Philippians 1:6; 2:2-5,12-13; 4:6-8
Colossians 1:5-6,9-14,23; 2:2-15
1 Thessalonians 1:5; 3:12; 5:23
2 Thessalonians 1:3,11-12; 3:4-5
1 Timothy 2:4; 6:11-12
2 Timothy 1:7; 2:22,25-26
Hebrews 4:15-16; 10:19-25; 13:9,20-21
James 4:7; 5:16,19-20
1 Peter 3:1-6; 4:8,11
2 Peter 1:3-9
1 John 1:9; 4:16-17

Now, while this list is quite long, please know that I don't pray every single one of these passages each day. Some I no longer pray because they're no longer relevant. Some passages are similar, so I pray one or the other. Others express a need that is not urgent today and so I skip that. I really do pray what's on my heart each morning - and throughout the day - and so I don't get hung up on praying through a list. These Scriptures just happen to be the "backbone" of my prayers and enable me to better convey my requests as I seek the face of God.

As much as I'd like to continue, I have to tell you that right now I feel like I should publish this post today, and save my answered prayers for the next one! It just seems like that should be its own post. 

Friend, please know that I pray for all the readers here. I pray that this week the Lord will fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.

If you are visiting today because your spouse is having or has had an affair, please click on this link to take you to the first article I wrote on 8/27/10 about my own experiences entitled, What I've Learned Through My Husband's Affair. From there to the present are many more helpful posts for those going through the trial of adultery that include such topics as: forgiveness (6 posts); regaining trust; prayer; and others. You may wish to use the Blog Archive in the sidebar to navigate forward from the above post through the articles that seem relevant to you.


I also am available to talk privately with anyone who needs that as well. I have counseled a number of women and would love to visit with you! You may reach me by email at titus2homemaker@gmail.com. I'm glad you stopped by!