Trying to find balance is not easy. As a woman, wife, and mom, there is always something that needs our time, focus and energy. With our time, focus, and energy always being pulled in different directions, it is so easy to lose focus on the most important things. You can easily become so focused on your kids’ activities, projects at work, and getting all your to-do lists checked off that your marriage gets pushed to the back burner along with your faith.
We all have found ourselves from time to time with our priorities out of whack and need a little encouragement to get things back on track. So here are five simple ways to keep your faith and marriage as a priority by maintaining a God-centered marriage.
1) Pray For Your Husband
Praying for your husband takes your focus off you, what you can do to better your marriage, or how you can better help your husband and puts it back on God. By praying for your husband, you are seeking God to do only what He can in and through your husband to strengthen, guide, and cover your husband as the servant-leader in your home.
There have been so many times when I have found myself praying for my husband, Eric, and God has revealed things to me about Eric or our marriage that I would not have known any other way. Praying for your husband, whether he knows you are or not, will bless him and your marriage.
Prayer is something that is so simple and powerful. It can be done anywhere, at any time, and for however long you want. By praying you are not just helping to maintain a God-centered marriage, but also a God-centered life.
2) Pray With Your Husband
There is just something so unifying and grounding about coming together and praying as husband and wife. Coming together to pray for and with each other is one of the most powerful ways to strengthen your marriage and maintain a God-centered marriage.
And when two or three of you are together because of me,
you can be sure that I’ll be there.
Matthew 18:20 (MSG)
Now, if you do not normally pray with your husband, it may be a little awkward or uncomfortable at first. I know for me it was. I often felt like Eric prayed so much better than I did, so I would struggle with praying out loud with him. But over time it will become easier and something you look forward to. You also have to remember that this is not a competition.
Everyone may pray very differently and God wants to hear them all. The more you pray together the more comfortable you will become. While remembering that it is not about how the words sound or the exact words used, but the heart that wants to maintain a God-centered marriage that the words come from.
And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example,
we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit
prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.
Romans 8:26 (NLT)
3) Do A Couples Devotional Together
Doing devotionals is one of my favorite ways to make sure I spend quality quiet time with God daily. Devotionals are a great way to keep you growing in your faith and centered, so why not do the same thing for your marriage.
A couple devotional is a great way for you to read God’s word together while also growing your marriage. They can be as in-depth or a simple as you want. It is not about the length of time you spend doing them. It is about taking time to grow together in your marriage while growing closer to God.
To help get you started, you will find a few marriage devotionals and other books to help transform your marriage here.
4) Join A Marriage Small Group
Finding others who share similar goals and desires for their marriage is so important as well. Joining a marriage group focused on doing marriage God’s way will also help you to maintain a God-centered marriage.
Therefore encourage one another and build one another up,
just as you are doing.
1 Thessalonians 5:11 (ESV)
Eric and I have been members of many different marriage small groups over the years and I cannot tell how much they have blessed and grown us. The Godly advice that is given and the friendships that can be built are priceless.
It is so refreshing and encouraging to know that you are not in this alone and there are others around you working to build and maintain God-centered marriages as well.
5) Surround Yourself With Other Married Couples
Having a strong, loving, and Godly married couples around you is so important to maintaining a God-centered marriage.
When you are struggling, they are there to encourage you and pray for you. They give you sound Godly advice that points you back to God. And when you are thriving, they are there to encourage you, celebrate with you, and are still praying for you pointing still back to God. There is just nothing like having those types of divine friendships.
Marriage is definitely not easy and takes work, but with God at the center it takes some of the load off. Allowing God to not just be at the center, but to also guide your marriage. This will bless you and your husband in ways you could not even imagine. With these five simple steps, you can keep God at the center of your marriage and see it thrive.
I’d love to know how you keep God at the center of your marriage in the comments!
Beautiful and absolutely 100% agreed.
I’m so glad I’m not alone, Sherita. 💕
These are all great ideas! So helpful for people who are married.
Thank you so much, Crystal. 💕
Powerful points. We’ve just started praying together every day and it has been really awesome. We need to find a devotional to do together! We really struggle with consistency!!
That is awesome you can already see the change prayer makes, Nicole. And you are not alone with consistency. My husband and I go through different seasons of when we are on it and others when we are just trying to find our groove.
Great tips! It’s can be easy to forget to pray for our significant other when we see them all the time and try to help them in other ways, but prayer can be so powerful and so important!
Yes it is, Casey. Often the little things we forget mean the most. 💕
Hey question I’m looking for some support. My husband doesn’t follow the Christian faith anymore – we are unequal yoke. I pray for him in my private time but I want to pray with him but idk what do to ?
Have you ever came cross couples who lost their faith or spouses who were born again but their spouse doesn’t know Jesus , what should they do ? I keep reading devotionals about marriages that are equally yoke and the word of God says don’t mix but I’m stuck. My husband lost his way while we are married. I’m fully involved in ministry, our daughters and I attend Sunday school and service and he doesn’t come. Need some supposed because I am at different spiritually place then he is and it’s gets hard sometimes.
I would encourage you to continue to do what you are doing. Keep praying, seeking God, serving in ministry, and taking your daughters to church. As it says in 1 Peter 3:1-2, “In the same way, you wives must accept the authority of your husbands. Then, even if some refuse to obey the Good News, your godly lives will speak to them without any words. They will be won over by observing your pure and reverent lives.” God sees you, knows your heart, and hears your prayers. Allow God to comfort and cover you, while also softening your husband’s heart.
I personally know one woman in your same position and another who’s husband was never a believer. And the beautiful testimony that their lives and faith speak to all those around them is amazing. Your life journey may not be easy, but with God all things are possible. I will definitely pray for you and feel free to drop me a note in my email at ayanna@beyondcommitted.com
I would love to try a devotional with my husband. Thanks for the recommendations!
This is so good! I am not married yet but the idea of praying for my husband is always a great reminder to set the foundation of a good God-centered marriage! Thank you for this!
These are all basic tips but tips that we often get too busy to remember to do consistently. Thank you for the simple reminder!
I like to surround myself with other Godly married couples. Having dinner, bowling, bible studies, and vacations can be fun and relaxing if you are involved with people who have the same beliefs as you do.
These are great tips! I’ve been trying to pray for my husband when I start to get frustrated with him. Instead of just wishing he would change I pray that God will lead him to do the right thing. It’s been so awesome how God is intervening instead of me trying to “fix it” the way I normally would.
Thanks for sharing your insights.
Excellent post with a list of great suggestions! I have found that praying FOR my husband is the most powerful way to not only help him (and us) but also ME! Thank you for the reminders!