Week 76: Marriages and the Salvation of One Spouse

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Please join us this week in praying for marriages in which one of the spouses has become a believer in our Lord Jesus Christ.  The difficulties a marriage can experience when entered into by a believer and a non-believer are many.  All of these and more can be present in marriage begun by two non-believers when only one comes to faith in Jesus Christ.

The new believer can find being faithful difficult because the very one s/he is joined to in marriage is at the least not supportive and at the most hostile.  The non-believing spouse, even without intention, can tempt the new believer into situations that would violate his/her new relationship to Christ.  These situations can strike at the heart of companionship and cause the non-believer to think s/he is no longer good enough for the believing spouse.

Non-believing friends of the “unequally yoked” couple can drive a wedge between the two by siding with the unbeliever when disagreements arise.  On the other hand, as the believing spouse builds a new circle of Christian friends and spends time with them in worship and fellowship, the non-believing spouse can feel abandoned and, in a metaphorical sense, assaulted by an onslaught of “holier-than-thous”.  This danger is particularly likely if this new circle of friends takes sides and does not express the truth of the gospel in love.

Pray this week that couples in this life situation will
  • Be protected by the Holy Spirit
  • Seek to understand each other
  • Keep their lines of communication open
  • Guard their marriages against the hurtful actions and words of friends, even well-meaning ones

Pray that the new believer will
  • Pray for his/her spouse
  • Speak the truth in love
  • Be wise in knowing when to speak and when to let God do the speaking
  • Be patient, not abandoning the unbelieving spouse or assuming he/she can be shamed into the kingdom of God
  • Be strong against temptation without demonizing the unbelieving spouse

Pray that the unbelieving spouse will
  • Be tender to the gospel
  • Recognize the remarkable change that Jesus is making in the life of his/her spouse
  • Be restrained from tempting the new believer into behavior contrary to the gospel
  • Be willing to listen to and examine what the new believer says has changed his/her life

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