A Wedding Prayer

This past Saturday Jill and I had the privilege of attending the wedding of Ben Witter and Emily Farmer. It was not only a delight to watch Ben and Emily declare their wedding vows to one another, but also heart warming for us to watch our friends Mike & Robin Witter, and Andy & Jill Farmer marry off their children. Seeing the joy on Ben and Emily’s face, as well as the joy evident in their parent’s lives made Jill and me aware that we were seeing the effect of God answering many, many prayers As you would know, the need for prayer doesn’t end on our wedding day though, it continues well beyond the “altar.” That’s why I was so grateful for the prayer Dave Harvey prayed over Ben and Emily near the end of the ceremony. Dave prayed the “Puritan Wedding Prayer” and as I listened to the words it seemed to be a prayer that not only served this newly married couple, but one that can be prayed by any couple regardless of how long you have been married. So read it below, make it your own, and more importantly pray it to our good God who is eager to bless your marriage.

The Puritan Wedding Prayer

"Oh, God of love, you have established marriage for the welfare and happiness of mankind. Yours was the plan and only with You can we work it out with joy. You have said that it is not good for man to be alone, I will make a helpmate for him. Now our joys are doubled since the happiness of one is the happiness of the other. Our burdens are now halved, when we share them, we divide the load. Dear Father, we would ask that you would bless ______. Bless his as a provider of nourishment and raiment and sustain him in all the expectations and pressures of his battle for bread. May his strength be her protection, his character be her boast and her pride and may he so live that she will find in him the haven for which the heart of a woman truly longs.
And dear heavenly Father, we would ask you to bless ______. Give her tenderness that will make her great, a deep sense of understanding and a great faith in You. Give her inner beauty of soul that never fades. That eternal youth that is found in holding fast the things that never age. Teach them that marriage is not living merely for each other, it is two uniting and joining hands to serve You. Give them a great spiritual purpose in life. May they seek the kingdom of God and Your righteousness and the other things shall certainly be added unto them. Loving You best they shall love each other the more and faithful unto You, faithful unto each other they will be. May they not expect that perfection of each other that belongs alone to You. May they minimize each other’s weaknesses, be swift to praise and magnify each other’s points of comeliness and strength and see each other through a lover’s kind and patient eyes. Now make such assignments to them on the scroll of Your will as will bless them and develop their characters as they walk together. Give them a little something to forgive every day that they may grow in the grace of longsuffering. Give them enough tears to keep them tender, enough hurts to keep them human, enough failures to keep their hands clenched tightly in Yours and enough success to make them sure they walk with God. May they never take each other’s love for granted but always experience that breathless wonder that exclaims ‘out of all this world, you have chosen me.’ When life is done and the sun is setting may they be found then as now, hand in hand still thanking God for each other. May they serve You happily, faithfully together until at last one shall lay the other into the arms of Jesus. This we ask through Jesus Christ the great Lover of our souls. Amen."