Your marriage and family are worth saving. They are worth the sacrifice, the all-out effort, the investment of all your resources to save. So don't give up. Don't accept the devil's lies that you're better off to get a divorce.

The first and best thing you can do to rebuild and restore your marriage is to PRAY.

• Pray for your home.
• Pray for your mate.
• Pray with faith.
• Pray with boldness.
• Pray with persistence.

You must come against the devil who is influencing your mate. Remember, you don't have the power over your mate, but you do have power over the devil. Pray and take authority over the spirits that are driving your mate away from God.

Don't preach to your mate. Often this only antagonizes and irritates. Instead, live a godly life before your mate. Refuse to give up, even it if seems to be taking too much time. Give God time to act.

Let me suggest two scriptures you can use in praying over your mate. Second Timothy 2:26 talks about delivering people that Satan has snared and held captive. Second Corinthians 4:3-6 tells how Satan has blinded the minds of many who need to see the glorious light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

You can apply these scriptures as you pray for your mate, that he or she will come to their senses. The devil takes people captive to do his will, but you can demand of him to release your mate in the Name of Jesus.

If you pray, if you are persistent, I believe your mate will come to know the Lord. You can have a blessed and beautiful marriage.

Let God Do the Changing
This same principle also works and applies to couples who may not be facing divorce, but do have room for improvement. You may not be pleased with all that your mate is doing. There may be things that are wrong in your mate's life and you've tried to call them to his or her attention, but your words seems to fall on deaf ears.

Quit nagging and start praying! Pray that God will touch your mate's heart. If you pray, God will do the changing. Don't try to change your mate by yourself. Let God do it. You do what you know to do. The change begins in you. You make the changes you need to make in yourself. Then start praying that God will work on your mate.

Remember, God's will is for your marriage to be blessed. God has a perfect plan for your marriage and the devil is trying to thwart that plan. But I believe you are going to detect Satan's lies, his plans, and his schemes, and you're going to drive him out of your life.

Let's pray together:

Father, I thank You that on the cross Jesus bore all of our rejection. He bore all of our hurts, our wounds, and our pain. So right now we claim the healing provided in the atonement and ask You to do a work in this life.

Father, I thank You that You are doing surgery in the spirit to remove the anger and bitterness! I thank You for healing this broken heart and for binding up these wounds, in the Name of Jesus.

Now devil, I command you to take your hands off this friend. You'll not torment them any longer in the Name of Jesus. You will not torment them with hurtful memories. Set this dear one free in the Name of Jesus.

Now Father, I ask that You will give this person a supernatural love for their mate in the Name of Jesus. I pray that this love will begin to rise up and get deeper and greater every day. Give this friend the vision You want them to have.

Let them see themselves and their mate together - happily married, serving You, Father. Put that vision into this heart, even now. Oh, Father, I thank You for working out every situation and every little detail of this marital situation.

Source: Six Lies the Devil Uses to Destroy Marriages by Lisa Comes
Excerpt permission granted by Lakewood Church