Carlie K.: 0:02

Hello, friends. Welcome back to another episode of the Praying Couple Podcast. We are your hosts, Mike and Carly Kirchhoff. Today we're going to be praying a prayer that we know many of you will benefit from because it's something, it's a topic I would say that you and I have received hundreds and hundreds of emails about over the years. And that is a prayer for your unequally yoked marriage. Today's prayer is going to be based off of 2 Corinthians 6.14, which reads, Do not be unequally bound together with unbelievers. Do not make mismatched alliances with them, inconsistent with your faith. For what partnership can righteousness have with lawlessness? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? Now, this is a verse that we are going to talk about before we pray because we want to be clear about some of the reasons that this can be tough in a marriage.

SPEAKER_00: 1:07

Yes. So one of the things to think about when you hear read the scripture is we're going to be talking about being unequally yoked, which really means the driving force, which is the Holy Spirit. Us as believers, the Holy Spirit is the one that helps us to look at it from God's perspective. Whereas the other spouse that might not be equally yoked, they tend to just look at things through rationalization. In other words, agreement, there's a lack of agreement. You love each other, but there's a lack of agreement, but it's all because the Holy Spirit is not the driving force on both from both couples if they're unequally yoked.

Carlie K.: 1:55

Yeah, it's true. Because when there's no agreement, you know, if you read down further in 2 Corinthians 6 below that, you know, it talks about how, you know, what fellowship can light have with darkness. Yeah. Right. It talks about how what things do we have in common with unbelievers, or what kind of harmony can there be between Satan and Jesus? So the good news is this although you may be in a marriage that is unequally yoked, the word is also very clear. We know that it says that wives can win over their husbands. And I believe the same is true for husbands, that if you walk with integrity in Jesus, like Michael said, the Holy Spirit inside of you is the driving force, it's gonna win your wife over. So we want to give you encouragement today that this prayer is to be certain that God's word is literally the deciding factor in your life as a believer. So if you're the believing spouse, just know that God's word is true. And as we pray, it just continues to his will continues to be done.

SPEAKER_00: 3:08

Yes, and along with what Carly's saying, in other words, don't give up, don't lose hope, continue doing what you're supposed to do, continually pray, continually speak God's word, knowing if God can do it for you, he can also do it for your spouse.

Carlie K.: 3:26

And he wants to because marriage was designed to honor and glorify his name, his kingdom, to to be literally an illustration of us and him, yes, in the flesh. And so another thing we want to make very clear though, we have never we've always spoken out against abuse in marriage. We are not talking about you praying for your unequally yoked spouse who is physically abusing you, verbally abusing you, financially abusing you, or spiritually abusing you. Those things, you know, people do make choices. This is really aimed at those who have a marriage that they know can be better. They see things because we all have sinned. I mean, hey, we might be the believer, but we sin every day. That's right. So the grace, you know, that abounds in your life and is extended to your spouse's life, but you want them, like Michael said earlier, to be in agreement with the Holy Spirit because that is what God's design for marriage is. Yes. Okay, so today we are gonna go ahead and pray. And we just want to remind you that if you come into agreement with God's word, watch and see what he will do. He is faithful to perform it. Father God, we just praise you, we worship you, we honor you, we glorify your name. Yes, you are good, you are holy, you are perfect, you are pure, and we're so grateful that your word can show us exactly what we need to be praying. We know that your word is your will. We know that when we pray your will, do you not only do you hear us, God, but your word says that you answer our prayers. Father, right now, in the name of Jesus, I am lifting up to you every unsaved spouse who has a spouse standing in the gap who is listening here right now. I'm praying for all of their unsaved spouses, yes, that they would come into agreement with the spirit of God and accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and their savior. Yes. I want to come against conflict in marriages because light and darkness are in constant battle. So, Father God, I just thank you right now that there are people who are listening to this prayer, who are praying alongside us, believing what your word says, that we are coming into agreement with their prayers for salvation for their spouse. I thank you, Father God, that there are unequally yoked marriages right now that will write in and tell us that as they continue to pray and speak your word, as they continue to come into agreement with what your word says, not what people say, not what they feel, not what their spouse says, God, but literally what your word says. And as they come into agreement with you, God, I thank you that we're gonna get emails that are telling us, hey, Mike, hey, Carly, look at what God has done. Yes. So we are praying these things with a great expectancy, Father, for unequally yoked marriages to become equally yoked marriages. I thank you that your design for marriage is clear. We are here to glorify your name. We are here to build your kingdom on earth as it is in heaven, and we are here to just just to glorify your name. So, God, I just pray for hope to overtake the spouse who is believing, believing you for their spouse's salvation. I'm praying right now, Father God, that you would just strengthen them, that you would give them hope, that you would give them the love that they need from their heavenly father in order to keep going strong.

SPEAKER_00: 7:01

Yes.

Carlie K.: 7:02

But I also pray, God, that you would convict the hearts of their unequally yoked spouses, those who have not yet said yes to you, that you will convict them of their sin, that you will show them your love and your grace, and that they will receive the offer of Jesus Christ and the gift of salvation that he brought to this earth. God, we love you and we praise you in Jesus' name.

SPEAKER_00: 7:25

God, I just stand in agreement. I pray, God, that you will continually strengthen uh the marriages out there, those that are specifically unequally yoked. I pray, God, for the believer, the believing spouse that believes in Jesus Christ. I pray, God, for more grace, more mercy. God, use them as the driving, as the vessel to minister to their unequally yoked spouse, by the way that they conduct themselves, by their character, by the words that they speak. God, I just pray, God, that you will use them to draw the them, their unequally yoked spouse, to you, God. God, I just pray, God, that you will give them hope, that you will give them peace, that you will give them direction. God, we apply the blood of Jesus over their marriage. And we thank you, God, that you're calling them forth so they can be equally yoked. God, I just thank you, God, that your name, Jesus, is being glorified. God, I just thank you, God, that as people hear this prayer, that you will help them build their faith in you. I thank you, God, for breakthrough. I thank you, God, for grace and mercy. God, I thank you, God, that they're equally yoked by faith. God, we thank you that you're the God that's able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ask, think, or even imagine. So, God, as they're standing in the gap, God help them to not lose hope, not to give up, to know that you're you don't change, even though circumstances may be around them. There could be hurts and pains, but God, you're able to go in the darkest places and make them whole. You're able to give us strength. So, God, I just pray that you will strengthen marriages to bring them to being equally yoked in you. And God, we ask this in Jesus' name.

Carlie K.: 9:11

Amen. Amen. Amen. This is awesome. Now, we want to challenge you today, if you're feeling frustrated, to grab hold of a scripture, find a verse, whatever verse God may have given you in the past. If you're looking for Bible verses, um, you can just Google them. You can go on your Bible app. I mean, there's so many different places on one of our websites. Um, actually, it's called welcometothefamily table.com. We have a lot of scriptures over there that people can use for confession this and just to align themselves, to come into agreement with God's word over their marriages. So we want to encourage you to find a verse, to stand on it, and to not grow weary and well-doing. We know the Bible tells us that not to grow weary and well-doing, because if we keep doing what we're supposed to do, I'm paraphrasing, and we faint not, that's right, that we will literally be strengthened. He will lift us up in due time, we will reap the harvest that we have sown. So keep sowing seeds of righteousness. Yes. Keep sowing seeds of love, keep sowing seeds of faith and hope, and keep being the light of Christ. God is so faithful and so good. He will do exactly what his word was sent here to do. And we just want to encourage you in that. Now we're gonna come back next week for another episode, and we hope that you will join us there.

SPEAKER_00: 10:34

Yes, definitely join us there, and we look forward to talking to you later.