Heavenly Father,
I lay my desires before you. When the time is right, I’m asking in faith that you would show me who it is that you want me to marry. In obedience to what Jesus taught me, I come to you with my needs. In Matthew 7:7-11, he said:
Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”
You are my good Father. I know you desire what is best for me. So I start by submitting to your will for my life and my relationships. Though I want to be married one day, I fully surrender this desire to you. If you want me single, I will serve you in singleness. If you want me married, I will serve you in marriage. If you want me to have children, I will serve you in parenting. But I know I can’t do any of these things without you empowering me. As Jesus said in John 15:5, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”
With that said, Lord, I do believe you have given me this desire for marriage. As you have taught me through Paul’s teaching in 1 Corinthians 7:7, both singleness and marriage are good gifts from you. However, when I read the Scriptures and examine the desires of my heart, I sense you have called me to marriage. May your will be done here.
Father, if you have called me to marriage, I come to you now with a specific request. I ask that you give me a supernatural clarity about who to marry and when to marry them. I’m not asking you to reveal this to me right now. I’m not asking that you do this in my timing. I’m not even asking that you show me who to marry in the way that I want you to show me. I’m simply asking for clarity when the right time comes. Make it clear to me so I know exactly who it is you want me to marry.
I ask that you would show me who this person is by helping me see the biblical character your word tells me to look for in a spouse. Please show me the right person by helping me see tangible evidence in our relationship with one another that we could fulfill the biblical roles for a husband and wife as outlined in Ephesians 5:22-33, 1 Peter 3:1-7, and throughout the many other places in your word where you speak on marriage.
I also ask that you would show me who this person is by giving me a strong personal desire to want to be with this person. I ask that this person would also have a strong personal desire to be with me. I ask that through our healthy, passionate, loving desires for each other, we would know that you are calling us to get married. I want a biblical marriage. But I also want an emotionally satisfying marriage as your word discusses (1 Corinthians 7:36, Proverbs 5:18, 18:22, Ephesians 5:33).
Additionally, I pray that you would show me who to marry by making the timing extremely clear. I pray that the circumstances in both of our lives would be pointing us towards each other. I ask that we would know we were made for each other because we complement each other’s giftings and passion for you. May we be a couple that can serve you better together than on our own.
Lastly, Father, I know that this process of meeting and marrying the person you have for me will not be without twists and turns. I desire perfect clarity. I want to know who this person is sooner rather than later. But I know that life on this broken planet is often very hard and confusing. So my prayer is that you would use the difficult things ahead to help me and my future spouse identify each other.
May the hurtful relationships in our past, or hurtful relationships that are still to come, be used by you to actually help us find each other. May we learn what we need to learn. May you root out any sin that might be keeping us from seeing each other. May you use the confusion that will occur in our lives to mature us so we can better follow your leading.
In closing, Lord, I want to thank you for having a good plan for my life. I know life will not always turn out the way I think it should turn out. But I also know you care about the desires of my heart. I stand in agreement with Psalm 37:4-5, “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act.”
You are my main delight. When I delight in you, I have what I want. But I also know you have put a desire in me for a spouse. Please help me to use this desire to please you. You are my focus. You are my purpose. You are my God.
In Jesus name I pray, amen.
Related Article: A Prayer to Be Married
