Benefits of Couple Prayer Main Article LDS Perspective

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Couples are blessed when they regularly pray together. While serving in the Quorum of the Twelve apostles, Elder Gordon B. Hinckley (1971) taught:

I know of no single practice that will have a more salutary effect upon your lives than the practice of kneeling together as you begin and close each day. Somehow the little storms that seem to afflict every marriage are dissipated when, kneeling before the Lord, you thank him for one another, in the presence of one another, and then together invoke his blessings upon your lives, your home, your loved ones, and your dreams.

God then will be your partner, and your daily conversations with him will bring peace into your hearts and a joy into your lives that can come from no other source. Your companionship will sweeten through the years; your love will strengthen. Your appreciation for one another will grow. (p. 72)

Couples facing challenges in their relationship may be reluctant to take their difficulties to the Lord together in prayer. Yet research shows that couples who pray are more inclined to have their feelings softened, and receive help in dealing with conflicts that emerge as part of being married together. President Thomas S. Monson (1988) recommends to married couples the counsel he and his wife Frances received from their temple sealer, Benjamin Bowring:

May I offer you newlyweds a formula which will ensure that any disagreement you may have will last no longer than one day? Every night kneel by the side of your bed. One night, Brother Monson, you offer the prayer, aloud, on bended knee. The next night you, Sister Monson, offer the prayer, aloud, on bended knee. I can then assure you that any misunderstanding that develops during the day will vanish as you pray. You simply can't pray together and retain any but the best of feelings toward one another. (p. 70)

Similar sentiments are echoed in the words of Elder David B. Haight (1984):

If, as husband and wife, you are having serious misunderstandings or if you feel some strain or tension building up in your marriage, you should humbly get on your knees together and ask God our Father, with a sincere heart and real intent, to lift the darkness that is over your relationship, that you may receive the needed light, see your errors, repent of your wrongs, forgive each other, and receive each unto yourselves as you did in the beginning. I solemnly assure you that God lives and will answer your humble pleas. (p. 14)

References

Haight, D. B. (1984, May). Marriage and divorce. Ensign, 12-14. Retrieved July 2003, from http://library.lds.org/nxt/gateway.dll/Magazines/Ensign/1984.htm/ensign%20may%201984%20.htm/marriage%20and%20divorce.htm?f=templates$fn=document-frame.htm$3.0$q=$x=$nc=3151

Hinckley, G. B. (1971, June). "Except the Lord build the house. . . ." Ensign, 71-72. Retrieved July 2003, from http://library.lds.org/nxt/gateway.dll/Magazines/Ensign/1971.htm/ensign%20june%201971%20.htm/except%20the%20lord%20build%20the%20house%20%20.htm?f=templates$fn=document-frame.htm$3.0$q=$x=$nc=3405

Monson, T. S. (1988, November). Hallmarks of a happy home. Ensign, 69-72. Retrieved July 2003, from http://library.lds.org/nxt/gateway.dll/Magazines/Ensign/1988.htm/ensign%20november%201988.htm/hallmarks%20of%20a%20happy%20home.htm?f=templates$fn=document-frame.htm$3.0$q=$x=$nc=1427