Week 196: Marriages and the Salvation of One Spouse

-

Please join us this week in praying for marriages in which one of two non-believing 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 those difficulties and more can be present in the marriage of non-believers when one comes to faith in Jesus Christ and the other does not.


The new believer can find being faithful to Christ difficult because the very one s/he is joined to in marriage is at the least not equipped to be supportive and at the most possibly hostile.  The non-believing spouse, even without intention, can tempt the new believer into situations that would violate his/her new relationship with Christ.  These situations can strike at the heart of companionship and cause the couple to doubt the suitability of their relationship.



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, even assaulted by an onslaught of new acquaintances seen as “holier-than-thou.”  This danger is particularly likely if the 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

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Week 329: Marriages and a Workaholic Spouse

-
Please join us this week in praying for marriages dealing with the workaholic tendencies of a spouse. A workaholic is often defined as one who works compulsively. When a workaholic is in a marriage, his/her compulsive tendencies can create serious difficulties. Examples of issues brought about by a workaholic spouse are a low degree of spousal interaction, limited emotional connection, an absence of sexual intimacy and insufficient opportunities to enjoy common interests, all of which can lead to loneliness and isolation. It is no wonder the spouse of a workaholic can become convinced he/she is not cherished or valued by the work-driven spouse. All needs, interests and dreams take second place to the workaholic’s job. When children are involved, stresses increase even more as the workaholic habitually misses significant events and family functions, leaving the spouse to be the children’s sole support and forcing the spouse to explain away the workaholic’...
Read more
-
Well, I have learned a little about Blogger page building, enough to be mostly satisfied with the design. I hopw to start posting again Monday. Thank you for following and mostly for praying for the marriages of the world.
Read more
-
There will be a short, I hope, hiatus in my Praying for Marriages blogs. Blogger has changed quite a bit, and thus I have lost the auto-formatting I have used for years. As soon I figure out how to use this new version of Blogger, I will continue the Praying for Marriages blogs. Thank you for praying for marriages. Just because my blog is taking a break, it does not mean you must take a break. Marriages in all situations need your intercession for them.
Read more