Guest Post by Rebekah of Surviving Toddlerhood
If you are like me, busy momma, then there are things that you want to work on in your relationship with both Christ and your children.
Over the past year, I have realized that one of the areas that needs the most work in my relationship with the Lord is my prayer life.
While I do pray daily, it tends to be prayers like: “Thank you God for our food and that our morning went well. Please help me to be patient with the boys. Please help the boys to get well. Amen.”
And while there is nothing wrong with those types of prayers, they don’t even scratch the surface of all that our prayers can do.
Through a prayer of faith, we have the power to move mountains, bind up demons, resist the devil, and affect all types of situations.
Our prayers are one of the most important weapons we have in our arsenal as Christians and what better thing to do as parents than to lift up our children in prayer?
So I’ve set out to find how we can pray for our children that goes beyond “Help Jimmy to learn his lessons in school and help him to show Your love.” Here are five new ways that you can pray for your children.
* See Also: 5 Powerful Prayers Every Wife Should Pray Over Her Husband
1. That the Devil Would Not Outwit Them
In 2 Corinthians 2:11, it says: “So that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.”
We need to pray that our children would have eyes open to see the designs of the devil. That they would realize that he comes as a wolf disguised as a sheep and that he is scheming ways to entrap them. We need to pray that they would see the devil’s work for what it is and that they would not be outwitted by him.
2. That They Would Use Their Armor Effectively
In Ephesians 6, Paul writes to the Ephesians about their spiritual armor. This armor is something that everyone who is in Christ will have. If your child is a disciple of Christ then they have this armor at their disposal. But like any soldier, they must learn to use their armor effectively in order to survive battle with the least amount of injury.
3. That They Would Keep the Faith
When I think of shipwrecks, I think of the Titanic. It seemed unsinkable. In fact one of the selling points for passage was that is WAS unsinkable. People bought their tickets based on this “fact.” The fear that there must have been when the unsinkable ship sunk!
Teaching our children about our faith and how to stand strong in the face of adversity is the most important job that we have as parents. Helping them to live out their faith and to have a good conscience at the end of the day is possibly the second most important job.
No Christian is unsinkable. It doesn’t matter how strong our faith looks to others. It doesn’t matter how good our lives may look to outsiders. What matters is that we are taking time to build our ship, to reinforce the seam, to patch the leaks and to replace the rotting logs so that we don’t end up dashed against the rocks of worldliness and unbelief.
*Related: Three Ways to Help Your Children Make Their Faith Their Own
4. For Our Unsaved Children, that the Father Would Gently Woo Them to His Side
Pray that God would make Himself visible to our unsaved children. That one day they would respond to his daily calling and come to know the joy and peace that can be found in him.
*See Also: How Can I Get My Kids Excited About Church?
5. That We Would Set a Positive Example
I’m not sure about you, but I fail daily, in many ways. One of my hopes is that through me my children would see God’s redemption and love, but I also fear at times that what they see in me may chase them away. The world will call it hypocrisy; I call it sinning. Those times when I speak out so loudly and fervently against something yet then go and do the exact same thing.
I pray that my children would see God’s mercy, grace and forgiveness played out in my own life and would not be hardened by my human struggles.
These are some of the new ways that I will be praying for my children over the years. As I draw closer to the Father in prayer I hope that I will find many more ways every year to best pray for my children; I also hope that you have found these five ways to pray for your children inspiring and maybe as convicting as I have.
Want to Get in the Habit of Praying Deep Prayers for Your Children? Learn how to make your own mini prayer book below!
How to Make Your Own Mini Prayer Book
Materials Needed:
- Prayer Card Printables (see below)
- Hole punch
- Pretty Ribbon
Instructions:
1. Print out the Prayer Card Printables or write your own if you’d rather. Writing your own is a great way to personalize your prayers for your individual family’s needs. But… then you also run the risk of not knowing what to write, procrastinating and not really doing it. If you grab the pretty ones I’ve already made–you’re far more likely to actually USE them. 🙂
2. Cut out each card and stack them neatly, all facing the same way.
3. Use a hole punch to cut a small hole in the very upper left-hand corner. Don’t have one? A pencil, pushpin, pair of scissors or kitchen knife could also be used in a pinch.
4. Thread pretty ribbon through the hole and tie to secure.
That’s it! Simply toss your mini prayer book in your purse, on your nightstand or in your car, so you can make praying deep prayers for your children a regular part of your everyday life!
Do you regularly pray for your children? What do you pray for?
Rebekah Thompson blogs at Surviving Toddlerhood. She has been married for six years to her one and only and together they have three little boys. Rebekah likes coffee, chocolate, running and learning about birth. Besides her work as a wife and mother she also fills her time with teaching music lessons and birthwork as a pregnancy and postpartum doula. Her blog covers motherhood, toddlerhood, health and fitness and allergen-free cooking. You can find her on Instagram and Pinterest.
These are fantastic ideas of things to pray for our kids! I prayed them as I read and will continue to! Thank you. 🙂
I agree praying for are kids is so important and these are 5 great tips 🙂
I pray the blood of JESUS over my family our children and our grandchildren and I also Pray that THE LORD will bring my family to him
.Amen
Thank you for sharing with us..God Bless you
It is amazing how when your looking to renew your own faith and you feel like your the only one who falls short of living up to christen life that God let’s you know your not the only one thank you so much these prayers and your writing made me feel better about how it’s a constant battle and sometimes we all fall short thanks be to GOD in Jesus name Amen
You are definitely not alone! This is a journey and we are all just doing the best we can. Thank goodness Jesus doesn’t expect us to be perfect!
I firmly believe in praying for your kids, and know that personalizing and praying Scripture has helped me grow in my faith. I’ve listed these scriptures on my blog if you’re interested in specific prayers https://mamahenprays.wordpress.com/
Thanks for sharing!
This is a great list, I love the point about using their armor effectively! I posted a list from Revive our Hearts of 30 things to be praying for our kids, I would love you to check it out!