The following prayer requests are offered to guide the believing spouse in how to pray for their beloved unbelievers. These requests will enable you to seek God for the help, strength, and power you need to deal with this situation. Those who know believers that are in this situation can also use these requests. They can take these requests and use them in their intercession for their beloved.
Pray for:
• Pray for the salvation of the unbelieving spouse. (John 3:15-16, 14:6; 1 Timothy 1:15)
• Ask that God would give the believing spouse hope and peace in what appears to be a hopeless situation. (Philippians 4:7)
• Plead that God would protect the believing spouse from depression and despair. (Proverbs 17:22)
• Pray that the believing spouse will live a godly life before the unbelieving spouse. (1 Peter 3:1)
• Ask that God would enable the believing spouse to see that he or she can depend on God for everything (Proverbs 18:10). The believing spouse often feels alone in this situation. Yet, this believer must come to understand that in his or her personal relationship to God, he or she has everything that is needed to face any situation. Knowing God personally and walking with Him daily provides all the power, blessing, hope, and strength that a person needs to cope.
• Pray that they will be true friends to each other (Proverbs 17:17, 18:24; John 15:13; 1 Peter 3:8). Even though they do not share spiritual realities, those involved in this kind of marriage need to share everything else. This friendship could lead to the opportunity to share the gospel with the unbelieving spouse.
• Ask that the believing spouse will do what he or she can to please the unbelieving spouse. (Proverbs 12:4)
Also:
• Pray that God would enable the believing spouse to show his or her disapproval of the unbelieving spouse’s sinful lifestyle. Also include words, or actions without being condemning and judgmental (Proverbs 31:26). The previous and current prayer requests provide a balance. On the one hand, the believing spouse needs to do everything possible to please the unbelieving spouse. This is a matter of kindness and love. Yet, this cannot be allowed to develop into a spirit of compromise. The believing spouse needs to know how to please the unbelieving spouse. At the same time, he or she needs wisdom to show disapproval of those things that are contradictory to the Word of God.
• Ask that God would enable the believing spouse to be faithful in her or her relationship to God and His church (Matthew 22:36-38; Hebrews 10:25). The believing spouse must continue to maintain his or her relationship to God even though the other spouse sees no need for this.
• Pray that God would enable the believing spouse to provide spiritual leadership and guidance for the children (Deuteronomy 11:18-19, 32:45-46). This request is especially needed when the believer is a woman. The man is to be the spiritual leader of the home. Yet, when the man is an unbeliever, the believing wife needs strength and wisdom to provide spiritual leadership and guidance for the children. Because the man will not do this, the responsibility falls to believing wife. She needs wisdom and insight for this. If the believer is a man, pray that God will give him insight on how to lead his home in a godly way.
Plus:
• Plead that God would give the believing spouse the wisdom to know when to share the gospel and when not to share the gospel. (James 1:5; Proverbs 17:27-28; Matthew 7:6)
• Ask that the believing spouse will honor and respect the unbelieving spouse. (Proverbs 31:12)
• Pray that the believing spouse will confess and repent of disobeying God (1 John 1:9). If the believing spouse disobeyed God and willfully married an unbeliever, this has to be dealt with by confession and repentance. There can be no spiritual power and blessing in an unequally yoked marriage until the believer deals with this sin.
• Plead that the believing spouse will be filled with the Holy Spirit and will manifest the fruit of the Spirit. (Ephesians 5:18; Galatians 5:22-23)
• Ask that the believing spouse will do all that he or she can to provide an atmosphere of harmony in the home. (Romans 12:18)
• Pray that the believing spouse will be sympathetic. (1 Peter 3:8)
• Pray that the believing spouse would be kind, tenderhearted, and forgiving. (Ephesians 4:32; 1 Peter 3:8; Mark 11:25)
• Plead that God would grant the believing spouse with the wisdom and strength to respond in a Christlike way when the unbelieving spouse persecutes him or her for his or relationship to Jesus Christ. (Proverbs 20:22, 24:29, 29:22; Romans 12:14)
• Ask that the believing spouse will be humble.(1 Peter 3:8)
• Pray that God would cause the believing spouse to know that He is with him or her and that he or she is not alone in this struggle. (Isaiah 41:13, 43:2)
Furthermore:
• Pray that God would give wisdom and insight to the believing spouse so that he or she would know how to make the needs of the unbelieving spouse a priority without compromising his or her relationship to Jesus Christ. (James 1:5)
• Ask that God would protect the believing spouse if the situation is abusive, whether physically or emotionally. (Psalm 3:7, 145:14)
• Plead that God will surround the believing spouse with godly and faithful friends who will listen, help, and pray for the believing spouse and his or her beloved unbeliever. (Proverbs 17:17)
• Ask that God would give the believing spouse the assurance of his or her salvation. (1 John 5:13)
• Pray that the believing spouse will know that God does care and listens to his or her prayers. (1 Peter 5:7)
• Pray that the children in this situation will be protected emotionally, physically, and spiritually. (Psalm 127:3)
• Ask that God would heal the emotional pain that the believing spouse experiences in this situation. (Psalm 145:14, 147:3; Romans 12:12-15)
Lastly:
• Pray that Satan’s plan to destroy this marriage and family would be defeated by the Holy Spirit through the Word and prayer. (1 Peter 5:8-9)
• Pray that whatever demonic forces have been assigned to this situation would be bound and sent away by Jesus. (Mark 1:21-26)
Dealing with a beloved unbeliever is a difficult and painful process. Yet, don’t give up! Don’t lose heart! E.M. Bounds wrote, “It is hard to wait and press and pray, and hear no voice, but stay till God answers.” Keep praying and cling to the Lord! Remember His promise, “I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined to me, and heard my cry.” (Psalm 40:1)
This article was originally posted on the web site Prayerclosetministries.org. If you would like others to join you in praying for your beloved unbeliever, please contact Dr. Kevin Meador at prayercloset_1998@yahoo.com.
(US) Please, I need encouragement.
Dear weeping. I am praying for God’s peace to come your way. Blessings
(US) Psalm 27:14 Wait for the Lord, be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord. Just continue praying and have patience. God is seeking your spouse.
My unbelieving husband wants a divorce. This list of prayers was very encouraging. I have become overwhelmed by despair. I pray and hear nothing. I’m trying to stay hopeful.
Thanks for the information, this is and will be very helpful because this is exactly what I am facing now.
Thank you, thank you, thank you! Often we seek for prayers for the unbeliever but overlook the much needed prayer for the believer. I find myself in constant anxiety and fear and disappointment and anger with my unbelieving spouse. The constant lies. The constant silence. The constant flip-flopping. The constant disregard for my well-being and needs. The basic marital/relational needs are hardly even met and when they are, the spiritual is still mostly void. These are great prayers, which focuses on the believer and the unbeliever. I appreciate this list and will be including these prayers going forward. Please pray for my unbelieving wife, Melissa. Thank you.
“If the believing spouse disobeyed God and willfully married an unbeliever, this has to be dealt with by confession and repentance. There can be no spiritual power and blessing in an unequally yoked marriage until the believer deals with this sin.”
My question is: how do you repent from marrying an unbeliever.
Thanks.
Please pray for my husband Ubong’s salvation. We are separated and he is in an adulterous relationship. Our children are devastated. I am unhappy with his lies and deceitful behaviour. He has betrayed me several times during our 21 years together.
My story is somewhat different, but similar. After 22 years of co-habitation with an unbeliever, I as a backslidden Christian am being corrected by a loving heavenly Father God…I have been so heavily convicted by the Holy Spirit of my immorality in this relationship, I considered as marriage, even though we were not legally. However, I justified my behaviour with this woman by searching scripture to prove to myself that I was considered married in the eyes of God as per old testament biblical acceptance of marriage…but I was deceived into believing God had accepted my immoral behaviour, just so I could justify my sexual appetite.
Now after many months of celibacy in the relationship, I am confronted with a whole new set of values and tough decisions that must be made. My worldly partner who refuses to get married is levying persecution toward me and I face criticism and persecution… My dilemma is, I know we are not married legally nor in God’s eyes, yet after 22 years I feel a husbandly commitment toward her and want to care for her well being, as we should just as Jesus did for all lost sinners. But man alive it is posing some tough outcomes! We have shared financial and property assets that we are now selling, she is going her own way, and I must flee from sexual immorality for my salvation sake.
I feel confused by what the scripture says in Corinthians, that if a believer is married to an unbeliever they should not divorce, because the unbeliever is sanctified by the believer… I know the issue is marriage and it is not existent, yet I considered myself a committed husband toward her… Aaaaargh!
God has given me a peace about it by making my way forward easy and fleeing the situation, and yet I see the turmoil in my unbelieving partner’s life. I am doing all I can as Jesus and the Holy Spirit is guiding me to do, and am trying to remain friendly toward her, but never the less I must flee my immoral lifestyle. I AM BEING GUIDED TO WORK OUT MY OWN SALVATION, AND GOD WILL NOT BE MOCKED. AMEN.