Praying for your husband is a privilege, a joy, and sometimes a challenge. I have found it helpful to pray Scriptures for my husband, especially when I run out of words OR when I’ve run out of patience for the man I dearly love (or when his runs out for me!).
The Struggle to Pray
When I was single, I prayed daily that God would provide me a husband, a soulmate, a person who would love me and live a great adventure for God alongside me into our old age. I never struggled for words.
While we were dating, engaged, and then early in our marriage, my prayers were full of thanksgiving for him. Every day I had no problem expressing gratitude and joy that God had answered my prayers and provided this Jesus-loving man to love me and share life with me.
At some point, life and marriage got real. We didn’t always agree. We weren’t always tracking spiritually. Work, children, ministry, and friends sometimes filled every moment, and those demands created periods of distance and exhaustion. I realized in the middle of marriage that I needed to pray more than, “Please change him,” or “Lord, help us,” or “Forgive me, again, for getting impatient, Father.” (Although those are perfectly acceptable prayers.) That’s when I turned to God’s Word.
Reasons to Pray God’s Word over Your Husband
Praying Scriptures for my husband became a regular practice. The advantage of praying Scripture is:
- My focus remains squared on God’s desires and not my own, which can be selfish or fickle.
- The Bible provides words when my weary, overburdened mind runs out, and they are words that are tested and true.
- God’s Word never returns empty (Isaiah 55:11) “but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it” (ESV).
Now, into our 38th year of marriage, I regularly pray God’s word for my husband. Sometimes I read the Scriptures aloud and ask God to hear this as my prayer for my husband. Other times, I simply insert my husband’s name into the Scripture as prayer for him. As I pray God’s Words over and over, they become part of the way I think about my husband. I often memorize these verses and then am able to pray them even in tense moments because God’s Word is in my mind and on my heart for my husband.
Here Are Ten Scriptures to Pray over Your Husband
1. Ephesians 3:14-19: As Paul prayed, we can bow our knees before our Father God from whom every family is named and ask for our husbands “that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” I pray this prayer daily for myself, my husband, our children, our grandchildren, and our church family.
2. Philippians 1:9-11: Similarly, as Paul prayed for the Philippians, it is wonderful to pray for your husband, “that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.”
3. 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24: This benediction makes a lovely prayer for your husband. “Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.”
4. Ephesians 1:17-23: When we know our husband needs wisdom and faith for leading and decision-making, these verses from Ephesians make a wonderful prayer. I usually begin, “Lord, I pray for my husband, and use his name throughout, “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.”
5. Psalm 90:12,14, and 17: Based on these verses from Moses’s psalm, I pray, “Father, teach my husband to number his days so he may get a heart of wisdom. Satisfy him daily with Your steadfast love that he may rejoice and be glad all his days. Let Your favor be upon him and establish the work of his hands.”
6. Psalm 91:1-16: Psalm 91 is a psalm of faith in God’s protection. Whenever you are anxious about your husband’s safety, praying this long psalm can provide you peace and give you confidence that God loves to hear these words:
He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust.”
For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler
and from the deadly pestilence.
He will cover you with his pinions,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.
You will not fear the terror of the night,
nor the arrow that flies by day,
nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness,
nor the destruction that wastes at noonday.
A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you.
You will only look with your eyes
and see the recompense of the wicked.
Because you have made the Lord your dwelling place—
the Most High, who is my refuge—
no evil shall be allowed to befall you,
no plague come near your tent.
For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways.
On their hands they will bear you up,
lest you strike your foot against a stone.
You will tread on the lion and the adder;
the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot.
“Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him;
I will protect him, because he knows my name.
When he calls to me, I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble;
I will rescue him and honor him.
With long life I will satisfy him
and show him my salvation.”
7. 1 Chronicles 1:10: Of course, many people have prayed the prayer it’s recorded that a man names Jabez prayed. “Jabez called upon the God of Israel, saying, “Oh that you would bless me and enlarge my border, and that your hand might be with me, and that you would keep me from harm so that it might not bring me pain!” And God granted what he asked.” Using that Scripture you might pray for your husband, “Father, please bless my husband and increase him godly influence. May your hand be upon him and may you keep him from all harm.”
8. Matthew 6:9-13: It is always good to pray as Jesus taught us to pray using His Words from Matthew on behalf of our husbands:
“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.”
9. 1 Thessalonians 1:2-3: No matter how long we’ve been married or what our relationship looks like on any given day, it is always good to give thanks for our husbands. Based on Paul’s words to the Thessalonians, we can pray, “I give thanks to God always for all my husband and I remember him, Lord, to You in prayer. I remember before You, our God and Father, my husband’s work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.”
10. Colossians 1:9-12: Finally, Paul’s prayer for the Colossians is full of beautiful words to pray for every one of our husbands. “ And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.”
As we pray Scripture over our husbands, we are doing more than asking God to bless the men we love. We are inviting His Word to shape our prayers, steady our hearts, and strengthen our marriages. If you are not sure how to pray for your husband today, begin with one of these passages and trust the Lord to use His Word in both his life and yours.
Photo credit: ©GettyImages/Bohdan Bevz
This article is part of our prayer resources meant to inspire and encourage your prayer life when you face uncertain times. Remember, the Holy Spirit intercedes for us, and God knows your heart even if you can't find the words to pray.
Prayers for Healing
Morning Prayers
Prayers for Family
Prayers for Surgery
Prayers for Strength
Night Prayers Before Bed
Prayers for Protection
The Lord's Prayer: Our Father
