This mothering thing sometimes makes me wonder if I’m messing up. My own sweet mother wants to know why I let my son pierce his ear or why on earth I’d help my daughter dye her hair red. My son wants to know why he can’t get a tattoo.
My husband and I both wonder what kind of lasting spiritual impact we’re leaving on our children.
Last week I wrote about encouraging life-long faith in our kids. In six months, we’ll send our son off to college, and we wonder how he’ll live out his beliefs without us. I try to be the best parent I can be, but sometimes I don’t know what to do. So many questions and decisions.
I do know this.
The most powerful thing a parent can do is pray.
When my kids were little, I prayed for them every night as I tucked them into bed. I still do that when I can manage to stay up later than they do! Now we pray together at breakfast. I also keep their names on my prayer list. Lately, God has sparked me to jot down a specific request to pray for them each day of the week.
Today I’m sharing seven things I’m asking God for on behalf of my children.
7 Ways to Pray for Our Kids
Sunday: Relationship with God
Lord, I pray that your presence would be real to my kids. Make your home in their hearts. Fill them with your Holy Spirit and with a deep sense of your love for them.
Monday: Love for God’s Word
Lord, I pray that my kids would love your Word, that they would read it, hear your voice through it, and seek to live it out.
Tuesday: Self Esteem
Heavenly Father, give my kids a sense of being fearfully and wonderfully made. May they know that in Christ, they bear your stamp of approval. Give my husband and I grace to communicate unconditional love and worth to them.
Wednesday: God First
Over any relationship, hobby, or technological gadget, may my children give you first place in their hearts, Jesus. May pleasing you be more important to them than pleasing their friends.
Thursday: Integrity
Father, help them live with integrity based on obedience to your Word. Give them soft, repentant hearts, and make them transparent when they fail.
Friday: Equipped to Follow God’s Call
Lord, would you give my children a clear sense of your call on their lives as they grow and develop? Would you use their studies to equip them to follow and serve you?
Saturday: Godly Friends and a Christian Spouse
Father, bless my kids with friends who will influence them positively, and make my children an encouragement to others as well. Give them Christian mates who will encourage their faith.
Will you join me this week in praying for our kids? We may not have this mothering thing down. We might mess up sometimes, but that’s okay. Prayer is the most powerful thing a parent can do.
Now it’s your turn: What do you ask God for when you pray for your children?
Linking up today with Holly Barrett’s #TestimonyTuesday, Kelly Balarie’s #RaRaLinkup, Holley Gerth’s Coffee for your Heart, and Jennifer Dukes Lee’s Tell His Story. and Meredith Bernard’s #Woman2Woman.
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Love your seven day prayers to God for your children. I pray for the same things as you but mostly that both my sons allow God to always be their center as they move forward in their journeys. I am blessed beyond measure that God is so important to both of them. I will be praying with you as you send your son off to college. I understand how your momma’s heart will feel! May your day be filled with God’s presence and peace.
Thanks, Mary. I appreciate your prayer for God’s presence and peace. I like that prayer for God to be the center of our kids’ lives.
Love the idea of praying specific things for the kids each day.
Thanks for stopping by, Kathryn.
Betsy, I have been so burdened lately to make sure I am praying for my kids every day. I am going to print out your list and use this as a guide. It’s perfect, thank you!!
Yes, Kristine, God has been convicting me on this. What is funny is that now I can’t FIND my prayer booklet with my weekly prayer list! I want to jot these down on it, so I’ll have it with my lists for each day.
Although I have never had physical children, I have a step-son, an ‘adopted’ daughter from Australia, and nephews. I pray each day for them to love Jesus more than I did at their age, and to follow hard after Him now. I spray for their future spouses, that they would be strong Jesus followers who encourage these young people follow Him more. I love your list, Betsy. Your neighbor at #RaRalinkup!
Those are wonderful prayers, Leah. Thanks for stopping by here today. I want my kids to love Jesus more than I do now even! 🙂
Those are specifics I pray for my grandchildren but I like having a topic a day to concentrate on in my prayers. Thanks, Betsy.
BTW. I have complete confidence that your children will rise up and call you blessed. You are a great Mom.
Thank you Sandy! I know that your grandchildren will rise up and call you blessed too.
Hi Betsy! Sending your first to college is a huge thing. I will be praying for your heart and your son’s success.
I used to pray that my children would find good mates in marriage. I think he was very faithful in that. Now I pray that they will be good parents to their children, and for the health and safety of the two new grandchildren growing inside their mothers! I am at a different space in my life than you are, but I COMPLETELY relate to your prayers, and to the questions from parents. Sigh…
Hang in there. It seems to me like you are doing a great job.
Blessings,
Ceil
Yes Betsy! Oh how I need to pray more for my children. I love the day-by-day guidelines you offered. Thank you for this. You encourage my heart to love more. Cheering you so hard from the #RaRalinkup at Purposeful Faith; your words are vital to so many. Thank you for following your call (your parents must have prayed!) 😉
I’m not sure how much my parents prayed, but my grandparents prayed for me daily! What a gift. Yes, let’s pray for our kids and for ourselves as parents. More love.
This is beautiful. Had to share with my Twitter friends. So many times I want to control things so my kids turn out “okay.” But as you say, the #1 thing I can do is give up that controlling attitude and pray. They are safer in God’s hands than they are in mine!
Thank you Jenni, for sharing this. Yes, I struggle to give up a controlling attitude. Big time!
Betsy, this is exactly what I need. A blueprint! Thank you, friend. Sometimes when I pray for my kids I feel like I’m floundering around and I know God hears me but these are practical ways I can bring them before him with specific needs. And I love the new look of your blog! Great tagline. 🙂
Yes, I kind of feel like I zone out while I pray for my kids sometimes, so that’s why I made this list for myself. Specific prayer keeps me focused. I’m glad you like the tagline. I’ve had it on my heart for months.
Excellent post, Bets…we are always learning how to pray for our young adult children. My prayers look much like these, definitely not as organized, but this is a good challenge for me. During harder days/seasons, I do find myself so thankful for the “Spirit who intercedes through us with wordless groans.” How often I groan before the Father for our precious gems… And keep making the most of your time with your son. You are! It won’t be easy to send him off, but God will be in it. Living on separate continents from our daughters since they left for university never gets easier, I must confess. But I am so grateful to God for easy ways to communicate, when they are up to it! 😉 love and grace to you, dear friend
Oh, I can imagine living on separate continents is hard, Jules. (You’re one of the few people outside of my family who still call me “Bets.” Love it!) We’re going to Dallas 9 months to be in the same country as Andres, but he’ll most likely be in Austin or Washington. Grace to you too. Yes, I’m grateful for easy ways to communicate too. Love you.
Betsy,
I love this! Even though my children are grown, I still look for ways that I can pray “over” them. What a great guide!!
Blessings,
Bev xx
I’m happy if this encouraged you, Bev.
What beautiful prayers, Betsy! Thanks for sharing. I too pray for my children’s future spousal choices to be holy ones who will help them grow in faith and love.
Yes, after following Jesus, surely the choice of a mate is the most important decision we make!
You brought me close and gave me a wonderful mama hug with this one, Betsy. I love how you’ve broken out the prayers. May I have permission to print yours and use them as well?
What do I pray for concerning my kids? When they were younger it was for salvation at a young age. Now it’s that they’ll hear His voice clearly, that they’ll have a love for His Word, that their faith will be real and steadfast, among others. 🙂
Of course you can print these, Kristi. It sounds like you have a great foundation of prayer for your kids too: love for His word, real faith. Excellent!
I love the way you have intentionally set apart times and themes for praying for your children. Mostly I pray that they deepen their relationship with God and let his will guide their lives. For my youngest, I pray that she recovers from her bout with depression and finds ways to seek help earlier if she ever feels it coming on again.
Oh, I’m praying for your daughter right now, Anita. My daughter struggled with depression two years ago, and it’s been a joy to see her happy, bubbly, and enthusiastic about life again.
I love the days of the week idea! I pray that all of us will love Jesus more and more each day.
Amen, Sarah!
Great reminder of how I need to be more intentional in praying for my kids. I like your idea of praying for something different each day. This year has been a hard one for our family so I have been praying that hard times will make them stronger in their faith not push them away.
So nice to have you drop by today, TJ. I’m sorry your family has had a hard time this year. Although we’re enjoying a respite at present, we’ve been through hard times too, so I know what it’s like. Praying for you right now.
This is printable, Betsy! Just loved it. I pray so many things for my son, but usually at the forefront of my heart is that he honors God in his choices. He’s 11, so the school, friend, and word choices are the ones that I most pray for. Also that God makes evident the choice between right and wrong and that he chooses right. Our kids are faced with so many options today – things that vy for their attention and active parenting is so necessary and so weighty! Thanks for sharing your insight. Blessings.
You have some great insight yourself into parenting, Tiffany. That’s so true that today kids have so many options, can be a good thing, and it can be a BAD thing! Blessings and grace to you as you seek to encourage and pray for your 11 year old.