Rooted: How Your Personal Prayer Life Grows Your Marriage
Rooted: How Your Personal Prayer Life Grows Your Marriage
By Bradley Bennett
There are few things more important to the growth of your marriage than a powerful personal prayer life.
At first glance, these two things may seem unrelated. Your prayer life is a personal thing that often doesn’t even include your spouse. But there is an undeniable connection between the depth of your personal prayer life and the richness of the fruit produced within your marriage.
When understood, this connection is profound… A thriving personal prayer life causes us to become rooted in God. When this happens we enter into a relationship where He changes us, altars what we desire, and builds trust in Him to move within our marriage.
It’s through being rooted in God that we are filled with what we need to love as He commands. When we don’t have this type of prayer life, it leaves us anemic and without the very things that empower us to love well within our marriage.
Do you want to have a better marriage? The answer isn’t to “try” harder in your own strength. It’s actually to grow roots deeper into God’s presence through a powerful prayer life and allow Him to move through you.
Lasting Fruits Come From Deep Roots
As far as I know, no one enters into marriage with the hoping that it’s only a short term gig. It’s every newlywed’s dream for the love within their marriage to last a lifetime.
It that’s the hope, then why is it so common for couples who show so much love on the wedding day to end up in a broken marriage without any love just a few years later? Many divorced, but others simply holding on by a thread?
I believe we see the answer within the words of Jesus in Luke 8:13-14,
“Those on the rocky ground are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away. 14 The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature.”
The key to having a marriage that produces rich fruit of love long after the wedding lies in having deep roots. When we don’t have these roots, it’s easy for the troubles of this world to choke out the love we have for each other.
A deep, powerful personal prayer life provides a space for us to lay our worries at the feet of Jesus. When the troubles come, we are not fighting them by ourself. We are standing in the strength, peace, and joy of Jesus Christ.
Just like a tree with deep roots can’t be moved by the wind, our roots established through prayer will anchor us from being moved when life’s troubles begin to blow.
Being Rooted Redefines Success
How do you define success in your marriage?
- Likes on an Instagram picture?
- Having people tell you that your marriage is #relationshipgoals?
- Is it making a certain amount of money together?
- A big house?
There are many ways we CAN define success in our marriage, but that doesn’t make them the RIGHT definition of success.
When you are rooted in an alive prayer life with Christ, He begins to change your priorities and redefine how you see success within your marriage. You begin to care less about what others think and care more about what He has called you to be within your union.
What is God’s idea of a successful union?
- Becoming one in all ways
- Living in unity and on mission
- Loving each other sacrificially like Christ
These are not the most glamorous markers of success. They won’t get you the most likes on an Instagram photo, but they will produce the most fruit in your marriage. When you submit your marriage to what God has called it to, it allows Him to move in amazing ways.
You will no longer be a captive to the comparison trap. You’ll no longer care what others think about how your marriage looks on the outside, for God will have turned your attention to cherishing the fruit being produced within.
This change in focus will produce a full love that is powerful.
Being Rooted Builds Trust and Reliance On God
No matter how wonderful your marriage may be, there will be times when you simply have to trust and rely on God.
In these moments, we will either trust that God is the one building our marriage or we will feel like we have to do it in our own strength.
This is no surprise, but each time I’ve decided to try and do things in my own strength I’ve fallen on my face.
You see, no marriage enrichment course, no counseling session, and no 30-day challenge are more powerful than God showing up in your marriage in a miraculous way. Don’t get me wrong, all those things are great and should be utilized. But the most powerful thing you can do for your marriage is to daily ask God to move within it.
A strong personal prayer life roots us firmly into trust and reliance on God. Through this prayer life, we intercede for our marriage and trust God to move. As we pray more, He shows us that He is a good father that cares for us. We find that we have no need to worry or stress because He is in control.
Become Rooted In Christ
Developing a deep, regular personal prayer life is the absolute best thing you can do for your marriage. It’s through this prayer life that God builds the roots in you that will allow you to produce rich fruit in your marriage.
This process takes time and diligence, but it is more worth it than I can ever explain.
It may seem counter to logic, but changing your marriage may not start with your spouse or your situation. It may simply begin by developing a strong personal prayer life that will grow roots in God, which will, in turn, grow your marriage.
As you become more rooted in God you will watch your marriage begin to grow and change. Your definition of success will change, you will find lasting fruit, and God will move in miraculous ways.
But it all starts with committing to pray. To grow personally in God and know Him better. To become rooted.