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Prayer Enhances the Quality of
Romantic and Married Relationships
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“Prayer from the heart can achieve what nothing else can in the world.”
― Mahatma Gandhi, Founder of modern India
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Prayer Improves Relationship Communication and Quality,
As Well As Cardiovascular Health
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A 2014 peer-reviewed article examined romantic couples [1] and married couples [2] to investigate the effect of petitionary prayer on level of their commitment to the relationship. Results for both studies indicated that petitionary prayer was consequential for commitment, also including effects on satisfaction with the relationship.
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Prayer Promotes Forgiveness
and Enhances Relationship Quality
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In a 2017 peer-reviewed article a number of Florida State University faculty explored different facets of the role of prayer in romantic undergraduate and in married couples relationships.[3] Study 1 looked at the romantic partner who was praying and forgiving, Study 2 looked at the married partner who was praying and forgiving and Study 3 looked at the other married partner. Study 1 found that prayer for a romantic partner predicted lower aggressive tendencies and greater forgiveness of partner’s transgressions. Study 2 found that prayer for a spouse predicted self-reports of their forgiveness toward their spouse. Study 3 found that the spouse-prayed-for-and-forgiven did sense the forgiveness from the other spouse.
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Prayer Strengthens Commitment
through Relationship Satisfaction
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Some of the same faculty at Florida State University, in a 2019 study, found that four weeks of daily petitionary prayer had effects on relationship quality and communication, on increased positive perceptions of relationship quality, and on the cardiovascular functioning of the one praying (measured by pulse wave analysis).[4]
Prayer (communication with God) works.
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[1] 316 undergraduate students from a large, Southern university in the US who were in the same exclusive romantic relationship over the course of the study.
[2] 205 married, African-American couples aged 21 to 60 years old.
[3] Undergraduate students who prayed at least occasionally and reported being in a romantic relationship that had a median length of one to two years and married couples recruited from the community through advertisements and flyers.
[4] Participants were married for at least one year, had a history of hypertension, diabetes, or hypercholesterolemia, were comfortable with prayer, and were members of a religious denomination.
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