3 Prayers for Your Child’s Future Spouse

How much time do you spend offering prayers for your children? Praying over your child is something you do throughout every day, isn’t it? So many occasions call for a moment with the Lord—prayers for your child’s happiness, health, and for Him to light the way in His intended path for them.

“You’ll understand when you become a parent,” they said.

They were SO right.

I surely didn’t expect it to happen the instant I became a mother, but it did. All it took was one little look at my firstborn’s sweet face for my heart to be flooded with appreciation and my head to be filled with understanding. I had never felt such awe, such gratitude, such fear, such love.

Who was I to steward such an amazing gift? I wanted to hop off that delivery table, grab my husband’s hand, and get on my knees and pray. “Lord, help us!”

That baby girl is a teenager now, and her little brother is a tween. The years have been full of prayers for them and pleas for wisdom in parenting.

God has truly been gracious in answering those pleas. He hasn’t just shown me how to pray for my children; He has also shown me who else to pray for. I pray for the people who have influence in their daily lives...their friends, their teachers, their coaches, and their youth leaders. But I also pray for the people who will have the most influence in their lives. Although nameless and faceless to me right now, I earnestly pray for my children's future spouses, because one day, they will be my children, too.

What if we joined together as a body and committed to praying for the most influential people in our children’s future? Here are three Scriptures that offer guidance on how to pray for your child's future spouse:

1. Pray for them to develop a strong personal relationship with Jesus.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding; in all your ways know him, and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6 CSB

Father, thank You for wooing me to Your heart, just as a husband woos his bride. I pray that my child’s spouse will sense your unconditional love for them and realize their need for You at a young age. Make them a person after Your own heart. Put people in their life who will share the good news of the Gospel with them and model for them what a life led by Christ looks like. Give them the desire to follow You and the courage to say yes to You all the days of their life. May their relationship with You grow stronger day-by-day. Help them to trust You wholeheartedly and to always put You first, even after marriage. Amen.

2. Pray for them to be able to resist temptation so they can stay pure for their spouse.

God is faithful; he will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation he will also provide a way out so that you may be able to bear it. I Corinthians 10:13 CSB

Father, thank you for the intricate way you have knitted us together in our mother’s womb. You made every part of us with the ability to relate to You and to others. Help my child’s spouse to keep their entire self pure—their body, their mind, and their spirit—as a gift to my child in marriage. Put peers in their lives who value purity and will hold them accountable. Give them role models who are living a life that honors You and honors their spouse. Help them to learn how to rely on You to resist temptation. Show them the way out when it seems too hard to say no. Amen.

3. Pray for them to experience Your redeeming love.

Above all, maintain constant love for one another, since love covers a multitude of sins. I Peter 4:8 CSB

Father, thank you for creating us with the capacity to love deeply. We know that relationships begin with the feeling of love, but we know that relationships flourish only by acting in love. You showed us the greatest act of love by sending Jesus to die for our sins. I pray that my child’s spouse is experiencing Your great love at this very moment. Help them to receive Your redeeming love in a very personal way. Give them a heart that is full of love and ready and willing to forgive the mistakes that will happen in their marriage. Show them what it looks like for love to win. Amen.

What a gift we can give to our children by praying for their spouses before we ever meet them. Share these prayers with your circle of friends, and let’s get on our knees together—as believers, as mothers, as mothers-in-law—covering our children in a blanket of prayer well before they say, “I do.” And why not go one step further? Let’s record our prayers in a beautiful journal and give it to our children as a gift on their wedding day.

Looking for more inspiration? Browse our entire Devotional Library and sign up for our e-newsletter to receive free articles, updates from our Ecard Studio as well as exclusive deals.