A Surrendered Marriage Challenge has taken a break for this year. We hope to resume in 2014.
Marriage is hard work. It requires more of you than just about anything else can. However, marriage belongs to God and exists for His glory. It is a picture example of Christ and His Church. Our marriage identity must be found in Jesus Christ. We do this by surrendering our marriage.
What is A Surrendered Marriage?
A surrendered marriage is one that daily applies the gospel of grace and lives in the hope of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ who takes selfish, divided, proud men and women and patiently forges gospel relationships. He does it all for His glory and for our good. No matter where we find our marriages today, we have hope because of what God has done and is doing and will do. He is even more committed to our marriages than we are.
What is the Surrendered Marriage Challenge?
I am passionate about seeing your marriage transformed for the glory of God. As a result, I am partnering with Mark from Chasing Leadership, Nikki from Christian Mommy Blogger, and Jami from Young Wife’s Guide to lead you in surrendering your marriages to God through prayer. Praying for our marriages helps to ensure that we are fulfilling God’s purpose for our marriage by keeping us joined together in unity. Prayer is the one habit that your marriage cannot do without.
The Surrendered Marriage Challenge is based on the FREE ebook, A Surrendered Marriage: A Guide to Intentional Conversations, which was created to help facilitate and encourage intentional conversations in our marriages. The Surrendered Marriage Challenge is what takes place between each intentional conversation – we pray for God’s hand in our marriages.
The Surrendered Marriage Challenge will be a community event that will hopefully gather men and women from all over the world together in praying for their marriages. The Surrendered Marriage Challenge exists to encourage one another and keep one another accountable as we work to develop the habit of praying scripture for our marriages.
The reminders I received in my email have been just the thing I needed to remember to lift my spouse up in prayer on a regular basis. And the specificity of the prayer prompts have encouraged me to pray for him in ways I never did before. Thanks to these prompts, I see my prayers for my husband (and my attitude towards him) shifting away from things I want from him towards things I want for him. A wonderful blessing! – Rachel [email group]
When is the Surrendered Marriage Challenge?
Our first session will begin April 16th, and it will run through June 1st! The challenge will take place five days a week for seven straight weeks. We think this will be long enough to create the habit and then solidify the habit.
How Does Surrendered Marriage Challenge Work?
Registration is now closed for A Surrendered Marriage Challenge.
The Surrendered Marriage Challenge will be a daily check in via social media with your assigned prayer group. Being a part of a prayer group gives not only accountability, but encouragement as you take part in the conversations of people surrendering their marriages to God through prayer. When you register, you will choose which method you prefer for checking in – Facebook, Twitter, or Email.
I love to pray…but I tend to “forget” what to really pray for. Myself? My needs? That is pretty easy. My Spouse? His needs? That is more challenging. I tend to look at his needs through the tinted lens of my “wants”…rather than praying for what the Lord wants and needs of my spouse. This group has helped me change my focus from ME to the LORD. Putting His desires before my own – the result? My prayer life is more effective than ever and I see my husband through a brand new light! This prayer group has single handedly brought me closer to the Lord and my husband! – Nikki from Christian Mommy Blogger [Facebook group]
What If I Want To Do My Own Group Instead of Having One Assigned?
You are welcome to organize your own group for the Surrendered Marriage Challenge. Simply invite all of your group members to register for the challenge, but be sure to check the box on the form indicating for us to NOT assign you a group. This is a great option for those who want to do the Surrendered Marriage Challenge with their friends, church group or even just their spouse. Not to mention, you’ll be free to choose other ways to check in (e.g., text message, phone calls, etc.). Just be sure everyone registers, so we can provide the appropriate resources and inspiration. Just remember, you will be responsible for making sure your group knows how and where they will connect with one another.
This prayer group has been a huge blessing to me. Mostly because it reminds me daily to pray for my husband and gives me ideas of what to pray for so I am not always praying the same thing day after day. My life is crazy most days, so taking a few minutes to pray specifically for my husband, although very doable, is something I didn’t often do before this prayer group. Thanks for the encouragement! - Marcie [email group]
Will You Provide Prayer Prompts For Us to Pray?
Yes. At the start of each session, we will email you a FREE prayer prompt ebook. It will contain daily scripture and sample prayers for you to pray each day of the challenge.
What a great reminder to surrender the day, your marriage and your husband to the Lord! - Gail [Facebook group]
How can I register for the Challenge?
Registration is now closed for our first session!
How Can I Help?
We need volunteers to be Prayer Captains {PC}. PC’s will be the ones who are committed to checking in each day of the week. They will be the point person for each group. They will provide the daily prompts to remind their group members to surrender their marriages to God for the day. In addition, they will be responsible for checking in with those who haven’t made an appearance in a few days. This will bring in the level of accountability needed to make our efforts a habit!
Prayer in the midst of a busy life can seem overwhelming. You ask yourself the question “Where do I start?” and often fumble through disjointed, unfocused prayer. I found the marriage prayer prompts a useful tool to focus my thoughts and heart upon a specific topic related to my spouse, allowing for less jumbled and more focused intercessory prayer for our marriage. – Jeremy from The Corner of Birch and Divine [email group]
Would You Share About the Surrendered Marriage Challenge?
We would love for you to share our challenge with your family, friends, and churches! We want to see more marriages surrendered to God’s awesome plan for His glory! Feel free to use the button below on your website, Tweet, Facebook, Email, and Pin this post to help get the word out. You can find us tweeting at #surrenderedmarriage!
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Who Thought of All of This?
The Surrendered Marriage Challenge is a team effort! You can take a peek behind the scenes here to see everyone involved in making this possible.
Questions?
If you have further questions, we’re here to answer them! Feel free to email us intentionalbygrace {at} gmail {dot} com.
Now why don’t you just surrender already and join us?
[...] is HUGE…and she isn’t going it alone, she has gathered her helpers for this challenge. Me, her husband Mark, and Jami. ….and let’s not forget about the prayer captains (ahem, that could be you….feel [...]