A Guide to Spiritual Intimacy With Your Spouse

What Spiritual Intimacy Offers

Spiritual connection with your spouse is the most basic and essential form of intimacy that the church and our families deeply need, but too often this is an area that many couples don't acknowledge in their marriage. Often, many couples will say that they have trouble connecting with their spouse. This is because the two are not in the same place spiritually. While spending time with God's Word is an element of spiritual intimacy, it's really about deeply connecting with your spouse through faith. One of the main ways we can grow in spiritual intimacy is through prayer, praying daily for your spouse and your relationship. Here are four ways to grow in spiritual intimacy with your spouse based on the book "Praying Together: A Simple Path to Spiritual Intimacy for Couples" by Sam and Vicki Ingrassia.

Allow God to Unpack Your Emotional Baggage

Your wedding day vows enroll you in the University of One Flesh. Sam and Vicki Ingrassia explain that this is an amazing opportunity to achieve freedom in knowing your spouse and yourself. In the midst of this, we are also allowing God to unpack our emotional mess. Sometimes, this form of instruction includes using your spouse as an object lesson. Through this, God reveals in you and frees you from your incorrect belief systems that you've formed along the way. Through the process, He will insert Himself and the truths of His Word. Over time, this can change your feelings and make your spiritual intimacy grow stronger.

Pray Together (And For Each Other)

Praying with your spouse is a central component of spiritual intimacy. Sam and Vicki Ingrassia explain that there are three steps for praying the word together. The first is reading. You and your partner can start by reading a reasonable number of verses out loud. Read those verses slowly, and together so that the words will sink in. The next is observing. IT's important that once we read a passage, we sit for some moments, so that we have a chance to really think about what we've read and the Holy Spirit can speak to our hearts. Finally, we pray. Allow the Holy Spirit to guide these prayers. Go back and forth reading out loud, and go wherever you feel led.

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