Being a Christian in today’s world is very much a challenge, especially with all of the pressures from society and the temptations that arise from the fleshly-desires awakened within us. Now combine being a Christian and being single; it makes things even more challenging, right?

As a single Christian, it can get pretty discouraging at times when you have a standard for the type of person you want to marry and the type of marriage you want to have. You resolve to honor God in your relationship pursuits, but you may find the longer and longer it takes to find love, the harder and harder it is to keep that promise.

Well, for those facing this hurdle, I have a quick question…

Have you ever prayed this prayer before?

God, can you send my future spouse?

In no way am I judging you for praying this prayer because, you better believe, I prayed this SAME EXACT prayer when I was single. It was then that God told me to stop asking Him for my spouse, and He told me to pray another prayer…..

 Lord, PREPARE ME for my future spouse.

This prayer CHANGED the game for me in every way possible because it took me on a serious journey to LEARNING ME.

And, I can tell you now I wasn’t ready to be honest with how unprepared I really was for marriage.

I stopped playing games with my single season, got rid of all the BAGGAGE (soul ties) and started to focus on me. It is so much easier to just sit back and believe that one day your future spouse will walk up to your door and say, “Here I am” than it is to put the work in now to prepare yourself to be found by that person.

This was not an easy process, but it truly made me assess my legitimate desire for marriage. Did I want it just because I was lonely and enjoyed the thought of having someone to call mine? Or, was I ready to sacrifice my needs and truly serve my spouse every day of the week no matter what? This is what the preparation phase of your single season will do to you.

If you are serious about your future marriage, then don’t ask God to send your spouse but rather ask Him to prepare you for your future spouse.

The greatest way to love your future spouse now is to become fully ready for when he or she finds you.

I met Natasha (my beautiful and amazing wife) a couple years after I got serious about preparing myself for marriage, and our marriage is AMAZING because of the season I spent intentionally preparing myself.

Don’t let people around you who have sour marriages make you think marriage is the hardest thing in the world (and don’t get me wrong; marriages are work, but it should be enjoyable work). When you say those two covenant binding words to one another on your wedding day after doing the necessary things to prepare you for that moment, then you will be able to start your marriage off strong from day one. I don’t believe marriages go bad, but rather they start bad. Start your marriage off right by preparing for it even before it begins.

BMWK, have you prepared yourself for marriage?