Week 287: Marriages and Pornography Addiction

We are asking this week that you pray for marriages dealing with the issue of pornography.

Most frequently husbands have a more difficult time with pornography addiction than wives. They often see it as a personal issue that does not affect their marriage partner. But this attitude is far from the truth.

Pornography easily creates unrealistic expectations no wife can meet. The husband will come to the marriage bed looking to re-experience something he has seen, giving little thought to the needs and desires of his spouse. Sex can become a cold, performance-driven encounter instead of the warm, intimate relational union it should be. One too-frequent result of this impersonal sex is infidelity.

If the wife becomes aware of her husband’s addiction, it can create in her a feeling of inferiority and of being just another of his sexual playthings. She can feel she is no longer the one unique and special person in his life and thus the one-

ness of the marriage can be broken.

In marriages where couples dabble together in pornography to spice up their sex life, intimacy can actually be fractured as they attempt to re-create a sterile act instead of enjoying the presence, the touch and the emotional bond of their God-given spouse.

As you pray for marriages in this life situation, pray that

• Spouses will be freed from the addiction of pornography
• They will not be too embarrassed to seek counseling
• They will realize pornography addiction can have a devastating effect their spouse
• The spouse who discovers the addiction of the other will be forgiving and supportive as the addicted spouse seeks to escape pornography’s hold
• The loving care of our God will heal those who have suffered emotional hurt because of the addiction of a spouse
• Marriages at the point of dissolving will be preserved and regain the oneness our Lord intends for them