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How to pray for your marriage every day, and why daily prayer is non-negotiable for couples facing trials, temptation, and spiritual warfare. In week 22 of our marriage devotional series, Aaron and Jennifer Smith explain that prayer is not a genie lamp for getting what we want but the way husbands and wives align their hearts with God's will and grow in unity. We look at the threefold cord of Ecclesiastes 4:12, Elisha praying for his servant's eyes to be opened in 2 Kings 6, and Elijah in James 5, a man with a nature like ours. We also share...

How to pray for your spouse, and why praying for them deepens intimacy and unity in marriage. In week 21 of our marriage devotional series, Aaron and Jennifer Smith build on the one-flesh passages of Genesis 2:24, Mark 10, and Ephesians 5 to show that praying for your spouse is also praying for yourself. We share the simple habit of leaning over and asking, "How can I pray for you?", talk honestly about the awkwardness of praying out loud, including with an unbelieving spouse, and warn against using prayer to manipulate or belittle. Instead, we encourage couples to pray for...

How to love your spouse biblically, starting at home. Aaron sits down with Casey and Meygan Caston, founders of Marriage365 and authors of The Marriage Habit, to talk about Jesus' command to love God and love others and why your spouse is your first and daily opportunity to live it out. The Castons share how they nearly divorced within three years of marriage after growing up with twelve failed marriages between their parents, and how things began to change when Meygan started working on herself. They explain their weekly marriage business meeting, the power of an unsolicited apology, and why...

Is it selfish to pray for yourself? In week 20 of our marriage devotional series, Aaron and Jennifer Smith explain why personal prayer is vital for every husband and wife, and why neglecting it leaves us spiritually starved, like holding our breath. Using the airplane oxygen-mask picture, we look at how Jesus regularly withdrew to desolate places to pray, even while grieving John the Baptist before feeding the 5,000. We talk about what it means to pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17), how the Holy Spirit intercedes for us (Romans 8:26), and approaching God boldly (Hebrews 4). We also share...

What does it mean to live with purpose in your marriage? In week 19 of our marriage devotional series, Aaron and Jennifer Smith unpack the biblical meaning of calling: purpose, belonging, and being called out, just as Jesus called His disciples. Using 1 Corinthians 1:26-29 and Ephesians 2:10, we see that God uses the weak and lowly right where they are, and that every believer shares two core callings: to be holy and set apart, and to love God and others. Through the stories of Moses, David, and the man set free in Mark 5, we show that no one...

How to build a resilient marriage that gets back up after trials. In week 18 of our marriage devotional series, Aaron and Jennifer Smith define resilience as the ability to recover, and remind couples that every marriage will face hardship, just as Jesus said we will have tribulation but can take heart because He has overcome the world (John 16:33). We lean on 2 Corinthians 4, afflicted but not crushed, Romans 8 on present sufferings and coming glory, and 2 Peter 1:3 to fight lies of weakness and failure with God's word. Then we turn to the power of words:...

What does godly wisdom look like in marriage? In week 17 of our marriage devotional series, Aaron and Jennifer Smith explain that wisdom begins with the fear of the Lord and is more than knowing what is right; it is doing it. Foolishness is knowing the truth yet not acting on it, as Eve's story shows. We look at wisdom personified in Proverbs 8, Job 28, and James 3's contrast between worldly wisdom rooted in jealousy and selfish ambition and the wisdom from above that is pure and peaceable. We also talk about asking God for wisdom (James 1:5), Solomon's...

What are the biblical roles of a husband and wife, and why do they matter? In week 16 of our marriage devotional series, Aaron and Jennifer Smith walk through Ephesians 5:22-33: the husband's call to love his wife sacrificially as Christ loved the church, and the wife's call to respect and submit to her own husband. We explain why neither role depends on the other spouse going first, define love through 1 Corinthians 13 as daily action rather than feeling, and ground submission in Jesus' own submission to the Father in Gethsemane and God's order in 1 Corinthians 11:3. We...

How to talk about sex and intimacy in Christian marriage, even when it feels awkward. Aaron sits down with J. Parker, author of The Higher Desire Wife and creator of the Hot, Holy & Humorous blog, to talk about why the church often stays silent on sex and how that silence leaves couples feeling alone. J. shares how she began writing anonymously about sexual intimacy, explains the difference between responsive and spontaneous desire, and reframes mismatched sex drives, including marriages where the wife has the higher desire, as a "we problem." They talk about letting values lead feelings, the damage...

How to handle anger and fear in marriage before they damage your relationship. In week 15 of our marriage devotional series, Aaron and Jennifer Smith get honest about their own struggles, Aaron with anger, especially when he feels disrespected, and Jennifer with fear and anxiety, and how the two can fuel each other. We look at how God models righteous anger paired with mercy and is slow to anger, and at Scripture's call to self-control in Ephesians 4:26, Proverbs 29:11, and James 1:19-20. We also talk about when anger can be rightly directed at sin and injustice, how fear can...