With the arrival of Valentine’s Day, pray this week for the issues of marriage, singleness, and divorce in China. As Chinese society changes and develops, issues surrounding marriage weigh heavily on many people’s minds. Pray for the church to be a powerful, loving, and encouraging voice in the midst of a society looking for guidance on the topic.
How to pray:
– Pray for those searching for a husband or wife. Because traditional Chinese society expects people to marry before thirty, dating and singleness involve a lot of pressure. For men, pray that they will find a good spouse given China’s extreme gender imbalance. For women, pray for the difficulties educated and successful women often face in finding a spouse.
– Pray for the church to have a robust theology and appreciation of singleness. Pray that the church will take seriously its call to be a family, especially to those unable to find a spouse. Pray that the church will meet people in their loneliness and point them to the love of Christ and the fellowship of the saints. Pray also for sexual purity for those within the church.
– Pray for marriages in China. Pray against infidelity, abuse, and strife. Pray for harmony over issues related to parents, children, work, and finances. Pray for love to blossom between husbands and wives. Pray for reconciliation in marriages that are suffering.
– Pray for the church to uphold and protect marriage. Pray that it would be known in Chinese society as a place that exhibits healthy marriages and offers assistance for those needing it. Pray for pastors’ and church leaders’ marriages to be strong. Pray for the church to know how to lovingly hold people accountable in their marriages.
– Pray against those things which attack and harm marriage. Among China’s younger generations, rates of living together before marriage, living separately across long distances in pursuit of different career paths, and divorce are all climbing. It is not uncommon for men to maintain multiple families in separate cities. Pray against these things in the name of Jesus. Pray for the church to be at work in these areas and that the gospel would speak powerfully to those hurting from divorce or infidelity, offering hope to those dealing with sexual brokenness.
