For AYoung Married Couple Just Starting Out

"Father, Your Name be praised for engineering circumstances in bringing them together, in revealing Your will that they marry, and showing such grace and favor to sustain them to this day (Prov. 27:1). Thank You, too, for the privilege of seeking Your face on their behalf, for Your blessed Spirit's transcendance of distance in accomplishing Your will. For, who can stay Your hand, or thwart Your sovereign movement high King of Heaven? Praise to Your holy Name!

From this the beginning of their marital days, Father, cause them to determine to have You first in their every decision, Your Word determining their course and priorities. As deep as is their love for each other, Father, may it pale compared to their love for You and Your truth. May they settle it now to obey Your Word through whatever life may bring, in order to bring honor to You.

Through Your Word, Father, speak powerfully to his heart, convicting and convincing him to be a man after Your own heart. May he be a man of steel and velvet, walking daily filled by and with Your Spirit, sensitive to Your still, small voice, eager to act upon what he hears. May Your Word and wisdom sink roots deep into the soil of his soul, that he may not drift away from You in the trying times to come. May You always be his first love, that she may rest securely as his second.

Speak to her heart as well, Father, that, as enraptured as she is with him, You will always be her soul's preeminent desire, wisely aware that only You can fulfill her strongest longings, meeting her deepest needs. May You continually whet her appetite for Your Word by the sweet stirring work of Your blessed Spirit, that her life may be a fragrant aroma of the knowledge of You in every place. And should You grant them children, gracious Father, may they be nurtured and admonished by Your faithful Word, according to Your perfect will, as Your Holy Spirit reveals the Lord Jesus in all His saving power.

May theirs be a winsome home of consistent witness to Your goodness & grace. Be pleased to honor Your Name through their daily habits, furnishings, lifestyle, conversations, attitudes, and laughter. Be their distinctive, O Father, that all will see Jesus in them, and be drawn to Him. May they be ever teachable, in humility always ready to acknowledge fault to one another, graciously forgiving when wronged, being more & more conformed to the image of Your dear Son.

And when it comes time to bid this life farewell, may they have no regrets, nothing of which to be ashamed, nothing undone, eager to see You in all Your glory! All praise and credit to You, great God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for bringing to pass the joining of these two in matrimony for a brief time before eternity... may Your smile be upon them to the uttermost!

In the Lord Jesus' Name I pray,

Amen."