"If My people who are called by My name, will humble themselves, and pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land, [says the Lord]. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to [their] prayer…" 2 Chronicles 7:14-16 NKJV

It is clear to virtually everyone living in America that we are in an age of great urgency. It is believed by many that there has never been a time in our history as a nation that has been in such a need for prayer as there is now! Our future, the future of our families, and the future of our country stands on the edge of a precipice!

Mark and I, having both grown-up in strong Christian homes, were raised being taught the importance of daily seeking God through prayer, so it was no strange thought that at the start of our courtship, we would begin and end each day praying together. Growing-up, I (Mark) heard my parents speak of their discussion of whose parents they would first tell about their marriage engagement. They decided the first parent they would tell would be their Heavenly Father. Laura and I also decided to do this…kneeling on the lawn together under a tree where I had just proposed; we dedicated our pending marriage, our future children, and the future of our family to His care and service.

As Christians we have our own prayer life and our individual experiences with Jesus during our prayer times, but how many of us Christian couples share the unity, agreement, and power that comes by praying together as a couple? There is something uniquely different and dynamic about prayer as a couple, even beyond unified group prayer. Marriage, being a spiritual mystery of Christ and His Church, not only brings the presence of Jesus into the prayer circle, but also seems to carry the symbolic and spiritual significance of the entire Church, made one with Jesus Christ, petitioning the Father on our behalf.

"…If two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst of them, and whatever you ask in My name shall be granted." Mt 18:19b-20 RSV

The website further states, "Related studies consistently tell us there is very little difference in the divorce rate among Christian married couples and the national average divorce rate." Unfortunately, "Research indicators suggest that remarkably few Christian couples do, in fact, pray together on a daily basis. Although virtually all of us live on overdrive, where even our high-speed Internet is too slow, a lack of time was not a major obstacle that the great majority of couples surveyed expressed. The two principle reasons given by local Christian couples who do not pray together on a regular basis when asked why they do not do so, were: ‘We don’t know how,’ and, ‘We don’t feel safe being that vulnerable.’ While praying together may seem at first awkward and uncomfortable to couples thinking about trying it for the first time, learning to pray together safely and consistently, simply requires an honest desire to grow closer to each other and to God. Praying together is what God created us to do, and the one thing we can do on earth that we will do forever in heaven. This commitment is the one place that we discover our most whole and genuine marriage relationship, where we realize everything that God envisions our marriage to be. This connection is our one and absolutely- authentic home!" It begins with our marriage, our children, and our families…the domestic church! The future of the world and of the Church passes through the family!

Mark and I feel blessed to have been invited to attend the very first Couple Prayer Workshop Series, a couple of years ago, for married and/or engaged couples, (an interdenominational para-church ministry program designed to teach the importance and ideas on how to pray together). Since then, these Series have run in many churches across the Detroit area. The series seeks to respond to the compelling need within the Body of Christ to strengthen marriages, by discipling couples in a daily way of life that will dramatically enhance their faith, their personal relationship, and the faith and well-being of their children and families. The six-week Couple Prayer Series runs 2-hours per-evening, one-evening-per-week. We highly recommend that you consider attending one of the upcoming series! If you can’t make it to one of these listed below, there will be more to come, any further dates available from the website.

The Blessings of Couple Prayer Workshop Series will be held at: