One Heart and One Way
In honor of Valentine’s Day, and in honor of all married couples who are reading this, here’s a great verse you can pray for your marriage: I will give them a heart to know Me, for I am the LORD; and they will be My people, and I will be their God, for they will return to Me with their whole heart (NASB).
Susie and I discovered the power of this promise when we were in college. We were in a particularly difficult season in our relationship. I wasn’t sure if we should continue dating. I wanted to know if our relationship had the potential to become a great marriage. I remember sitting on my bed late one night and randomly opening my Bible. It fell open to Jeremiah Chapter 24. Verse seven immediately jumped off the page at me. What struck me about this great promise to the nation of Israel was the single form of the word heart used by Jeremiah. Given that God was speaking to a nation, to a multitude of people, I would have expected the text to say hearts, not heart. But God was promising to resurrect his people from exile, and to seal and mark them with his presence. They would be his people and he would be there God. As a nation, they would have one heart and one soul.
That profound concept—that a group of people could have one heart—grabbed my attention. I immediately sensed that God was offering this promise to Susie and me. If we would be his people—if we would seek him, honor him and serve him—then he would be our God. He would guide us as a couple and would give us one heart for him. That day I started praying Jeremiah 24:7 for our relationship. I shared the verse with Susie and she began praying it as well. Together, I know we’ve asked God on thousands of occasions to give us one heart for him.
Over the years, Susie and I have grown more and more unified in our commitments to Christ. We’ve watched each other settle into our respective walks with Jesus, and that has had a profound impact on how we relate as a couple. Susie and I have the privilege (by God’s grace) of relating on a level that many couples never choose to experience. It’s not that they can’t; it’s just that they don’t. The level of intimacy that Susie and I enjoy most is available to every Christian couple who will seek it from God. It’s a gift of God’s grace and the fruit of years of Jeremiah 24:7-type praying. It’s the intimacy that happens between two humans on a spiritual level–the intimacy between two human souls.
What if you started praying Jeremiah 24:7 for your marriage right now? How might your marriage look this time next year if every day between now and then you asked God to give you and your spouse one heart for him?
What in the world do you have to lose?
Give your marriage a great Valentine’s gift: Learn to Pray Big for Your Marriage.
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