Week 19: Marriages and Sexual Dysfunction

Please join us in praying this week for marriages dealing with sexual dysfunction.  Whether the sexual dysfunction is the immediate problem of the husband or the wife, it will ultimately be a problem for both.  The causes of sexual dysfunction are numerous.  The genesis of the dysfunction can be physical, emotional, or psychological.  It can be rooted in the past or its cause can be very current.  Regardless of the origin, the effects of sexual dysfunction on a marriage can be severe.  The inability to “perform” or respond sexually can lead to feelings of inadequacy, failure, humiliation, unattractiveness and frustration.  In order to avoid experiencing painful failure, couples may start to avoid intimacy altogether.  In turn, this avoidance can be devastating to the self-esteem of both husband and wife.  It is not unusual for the cause of the dysfunction to be misidentified and for blame to be assumed by a spouse or assigned to a spouse improperly.  Finally, sexual dysfunction can easily rob the couple of the joy their Creator intended for sex within a marriage.

Please pray that couples dealing with sexual dysfunction will

• Communicate quickly, openly and fully about this issue when it first occurs
• Commit anew to their vow of being true to one another in “sickness and in health”
• Seek professional help in determining the cause and finding an effective treatment
• Seek the help of a counselor to assist them through the emotional, psychological and spiritual issues that so often accompany sexual dysfunction
• Avoid the temptation of having their sexual needs met outside their marriage
• Maintain emotional, spiritual and physical intimacy during this time, even though their physical intimacy may not be as complete as they both would desire
• Be protected from the evil one, who would use this problem as a weapon to destroy their marriage