You Can Feel Close Again

Written by Harold and Bette Gillogly

Alone at last! The kids are in bed, tomorrow’s lunches are packed, the dishes are done, and the tricycle wheel is fixed. You gaze into each other’s eyes, “You look very familiar, but do I know you?” A wail erupts from one of the kids’ bedrooms. Getting close will have to wait.

It’s hard to feel close when you are being pulled in so many different directions, isn’t it? Time and energy are limited, yet the demands are unlimited. What’s a couple to do? We have good news! You can feel close again — and keep getting closer for the rest of your lives. How? By reading the Bible and praying together regularly.

Say What?

LifeWay Recommends 15 Minute Devotions for Couples Everything in our busy world today seems aimed at pulling marriages apart. But 15 minutes spent together in devotion and prayer each day will strengthen a marriage like nothing else. With encouragement and grace, each short devotion draws a couple together as they grow in relationship with each other and the Lord.

Sounds too simple, doesn’t it? Can such a simple practice make a revolutionary difference in your marriage? Yes! We know it can.

Read Together

We know it because God commands it. He says to let His Word “dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom” (Colossians 3:16). What a great way for you to grow together in the Lord! Not by bashing each other over the head with Bible verses, but by talking about Scripture and how it applies to your lives.

Pray Together

We know it because Jesus said, “If two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them (Matthew 18:19–20). In some mysterious way, when the two of you pray together, you are promised more power than when you pray alone. Jesus and His power are there with you. What a promise!

If you have never prayed together, you may feel awkward at first. Begin by holding hands and praying silently. This will help you move toward praying aloud together.

It Works!

We know that reading the Bible and praying together can make a difference, because we have experienced it. During our 34 years of marriage, we have raised 3 children, moved 20 times, fought cancer, faced financial failure, and grieved the deaths of loved ones; but through all of these life experiences we have grown closer. How? From the beginning of our marriage, we have read God’s Word and have prayed together as a regular habit.

Will it be easy to find time to build this habit into your marriage? Of course not! You will need to schedule it and have a definite plan. And you will have to make yourselves accountable to each other to make the plan work. But if you can find time to watch television together for an hour a week, then you can find time to read and pray together for 15 minutes at least four times a week. If you can do this, we know it will be worth your time and effort.

Harold and Bette Gillogly are conference leaders and the authors of Experiencing Oneness, an interactive Bible study on marriage. You can visit their Web site at GTO Family Ministries. 

This article is courtesy of ParentLife.

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