I’m so excited you stopped by today! I’m sharing the fruit of one of the great passions of my heart … prayer … more specifically praying for our children.
If you lack confidence in praying, which many women do, this post is for you! I want you to know that all God needs to engage with us in prayer is a willing heart. He does the rest. Anyone who knows and loves Jesus can pray!!
Praying for our children is a form of intercessory prayer and one of the greatest gifts we can give our children. In fact, our Abba Father invites us to do just that:
“Rise during the night and cry out. Pour out your hearts like water to the Lord. Lift up your hands to him in prayer, pleading for your children.” Lamentations 2:19 (NLT)
He also makes a great promise as we offer prayers for our children:
“The prayer of a righteous [woman] is powerful and effective.” James 5:16b (NIV)
The key to the powerful and effective prayers James speaks of is praying God’s Word. Why? Because we’re laying God’s promises before Him and appropriating them for our children. Hebrews 4:12 tells us that when we pray the Scriptures, we’re praying God’s living and active Word into our children. It’s like we’re planting living, active, penetrating seeds that God then activates to do His Kingdom work in their lives.
I’ve created a prayer model for you, and you can find it here. But, let it be just that. A model. Use it and make it your own. Ask God to help you personalize it. Open your Bible and allow Him to lead you through the Scriptures. Sit, soak and listen. When you pinpoint the Scriptures that speak to you, pray them back to God. I know it sounds complicated, but it’s really not.
Below is an excerpt from the prayer I’ve written for you. You’ll see how easy it is.
Father, I pray ______________ will know how extravagantly and unconditionally You love her, that You will never leave her or forsake her, and that You gave Your Son so she could have life forever with You.
Father, I pray _______________ will call upon Your Son, Jesus, and confess Him as Lord and Savior of her life and desire to have a personal relationship with Him.
Father, thank You that You created _____________ with a specific plan and purpose for his life. Thank You that he is valuable and precious in Your sight. Father, give him the mind of Christ that is his in You and help him to fully know and love who he is in You and this great plan You have for him.
Father, I pray _____________ will treasure Your Word above all else. Give her a hunger to read, learn, and love it and live her life according to it.
Father, I pray _____________ will honor his body as Your temple and keep himself pure in every way. Instill in him the truth that he is created in Your image, worthy of Your highest and best for his life.
Father, may Your Truth reign supreme in __________________’s heart and mind. May she live according to Your Word, not the lies of this world. Daily renew her mind with Truth and keep her thoughts centered on whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, excellent, and worthy of praise.
Father, teach ______________ to trust You with all his heart, lean not on his own understanding, and in all his ways acknowledge You so that You will direct his path. Protect _______________ from being a people pleaser. May he stand confidently in who he is in You! Guard his mind so he doesn’t throw away his confidence because it’s his confidence You richly reward.
Father, plant Your love, Your presence, and Your Word deep within ____________’s heart. May Your Word reach into the marrow of her bones and ignite an unquenchable passion. Cause her to love You with all her heart, soul, mind, and strength and let NOTHING override that passion because when she knows, loves and lives Your truth, it changes everything.
Father, just as Jesus grew, grow my children in wisdom and stature and favor with You and with man. Grow my child to be person of character, integrity, honesty and a good name. Thank You in advance for all You will do in and through my prayers. I ask this in the powerful name of Jesus Christ our Lord! Amen.
I’ve included lots of examples here because I want you to see how many ways you can pray for your children. I simply took a truth or promise of Scripture and incorporated it in a sentence with a place to insert your child’s name.
Sweet friend, praying this way for your children will build your faith and your prayer life. Pray BOLDLY and CONFIDENTLY because you’re praying the mind and will of God as revealed in His Word.
You can use this same method to pray for your husband, friends, family and anyone else for whom you feel led to pray.
As we close our time together, I would LOVE for you to share a verse of Scripture or a prayer in the comments that you pray for your children. How wonderful it will be to plaster this page with Scripture we can pray for our kids!! And don’t forget to print out your copy of this prayer here. Feel free to share it!!
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Thank you, Wendy!
I pray for my son (18) as well as the children in our church bus ministry. We scoop them up each Sunday from their broken homes, pray, hug, feed and love them to and from church. I’m praying for our kids as well as my ministry team.
Lord, thank You for not giving us in this church bus ministry a Spirit of fear and intimidation but of Love, Power and Sound Mind. Almighty Father, please anoint each of us to proclaim the good news of hope and love to the poor and broken!
Send us with courage and wisdom to bind up the brokenhearted, to boldly proclaim freedom for their captives and release from darkness for the prisoners of drug abuse and bad lifestyles, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and then day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all children who struggle with daily heartbreak and reoccurring nightmares, to those who mourn, and provide assistance for all the moms, dads, grandparents and caregivers who struggle and try so hard to make ends meet in Meadville – to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.
Open their shattered hearts, Father God! Our sweet kids will one day stand tall and be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of His splendor! They will rebuild the ancient ruins of their shattered families and restore places long devastated, they will renew the city of Meadville, Lord, that have been devastated for generations!
Equip us to be Your loving and gracious Son to each of them. Continue to keep us safe as we visit homes during the week. Thank you for the honor of serving You! When this ministry gets overwhelming, help us to focus on You and refresh our hearts and Spirit. We love You and praise You. In Your Son’s Mighty Name, Amen.
Hi Regina, thank you for sharing your heartfelt prayers for the children and families of your community. I am very interested in your church bus ministry! How did you start it up and what does it all entail? Something like this would be a great asset to the small community I live in as well. Thanks!
Andrea, you are very welcome!
Our bus ministry started consistently in the fall of 2013 with a small bus going into one development to get one family. We were contracted thru our local public transportation service. God provided the money to purchase a small school bus of our own. One small bus went into one small development then a couple more families were interested.
Then God blessed us with a full-sized school bus…and we stopped in to a couple more developments as well as homes along the way. Last year He blessed us with yet another full-size school bus. We now have 2 routes that we run on Sunday morning.
Each bus gets about 50 kids! We pick them up, feed them breakfast, visit and pray with them, sing songs – just love on them 🙂 by then we are at church (we meet in a large movie theater out of town).
Inside the theater, we have the kids divided up into age groups: nursery (baby-2ish), pre-k (2ish-6) and big kids (6-12). We usually have older kids that go to the adult service. All the while we have a great crew of loving (and certified) adults to teach Jesus to them. Then we load all of our kids back onto their buses and take them home. We have a generous team that prepares bagged lunches ahead of time for them. When we drop the kids off – they are given a nice bagged lunch.
What makes this ministry successful is that we make home visits during the week. Because most of these precious ones live in very broken homes we feel that not only does God want us to love them on Sundays but make sure they are ok during the week. We take an evening or two (sometimes 3) each week to have eyes on our kids. Ask them how school is going, help with homework if needed, help with food in the home if needed. Lately we have been bringing in the women’s ministry to help moms and that has been a huge blessing to them.
None of this would be possible without the amazing team God has given us. God has really blessed this ministry and I’m so excited to see where He is going to take us next. Our church has recently purchased a 47,000 square foot building IN TOWN. This is so exciting!
Regina, thank you for sharing and such a beautiful prayer. I will also pray this prayer for you and others in ministry touching the lives of the brokenhearted that their spirits will soar. God Bless.
Thank you for the prayers for our children. Each day I pray that my husband and sons open their hearts to Jesus’ light and love. The scripture that i just prayed was Matthew 22:37, “Love the Lord your God with all you heart, with all your soul and with all your mind.”
Thank you for this post Wendy! I remember reading a similar one years ago and it is one that truly shaped and impacted my prayer life. I still remember one of the first verses I prayed for my daughter – Proverbs 29:25 which says, “Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is kept safe.” She was probably 5 and fear of others really wasn’t yet an issue, but it always had been for me and I didn’t want that for my children. It truly is a blessing to see her, now at almost 14, walk with confidence (well most of the time and way more than I did at that time!)
Over a year ago, I started a new specific journal for prayers just like this. I have a section for each of my children, my husband, myself and a few others. When God puts a verse on my heart for that indvidual I jot it down. I know God hears and answers the prayers and it’s a faith-building exercise for me to re-read it from time to time.
A current verse I’m praying for some of us is Psalm 119:37-38 – Turn away ( ) eyes from looking at worthless things and revive us in your way. Establish your word in your servants who are devoted to fearing you.
Yes! Amen 🙂 One Scripture I pray for my children is 3 John 2:
Father, “I pray that in all respects [my children] may prosper and be in good health, just as [their souls] prosper.”
I pray over my children and family every morning and evening…I cover them in the blood of Jesus and I pray for favor and sweet sleep and I pray that Jesus would talk to them personally.
I pray the spiritual warfare prayer every morning too.
Thank you for the model prayer…it will help me more than you think.
God Bless!
Wendy, thank you for this beautiful prayer to lift up for our children. It is one I will definitely use in my prayer time.
One of the scriptures I pray for my prodigal children is Ephesians 3:14-21. I insert their names into the scripture and pray that regularly for them.
Thank you so much for these prayers today! The print outs are beautiful and precious! I have prayed them over my kids and grandkids today!
Thank you for all you do for us and His Kingdom!
Thank you so very much Wendy, for this prayer. My husband and I do not have children of our own but many young people in our life, both family and close friend’s children, that are so important to us. I pray for them regularly. Some have drifted away from the Lord or do not know Him at all. One prayer I like to say is based on Mark 10:27 ” Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.” Heavenly Father, I lift (child’s name) up to You today. I pray that she/he will come to know Jesus in a personal way as their Lord and Savior. At times Lord, I feel like this may be impossible in this world today, but I know that Your Word teaches us that nothing is impossible for You. I pray that you will work in (child’s name) heart and break down all barriers that separate them from You. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.
Hi Wendy! Thank you for always pointing our focus toward God and His word. I pray Psalm 28:9 for my girls: “Save your people and bless your inheritance; be their shepherd and carry them forever.”
Wendy, thank you for this life-giving post. I remember once when I asked you how you dealt with a particular parenting issue and you said “My friends and I prayed the attitude right out of my child.” Thanks to your encouragement, I’m learning to fight with the right weapons!
I pray that my daughter, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that she may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
I love you my dear friend!
Thank you for thos srticle Wendy. Indeed we sll should have prayers for our children.
Thabk yoy for such beautif prayers.
God blesd you and love you lots!
Alda from Malaysia.