“I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.” 3 John 1:4
I love being a mom. And like most moms, I’ve always wanted what’s best for my children. I remember not long after I became a Christian all I could think of was how desperately I wanted to see them have hearts that longed for the Living God.
In 3 John 1:4, John’s joy overflowed as he watched his beloved Gaius living out loud for God. He may have been talking about his spiritual children, but I believe John’s words echo in the heart of every Christian mother who desperately desires to see her children walking in the truth.
There are so many things we can try to do to see them come to know Christ at an early age – to see them grow in Word – to see them become men and women of God. We can take them to church, get them involved in Christian activities, teach them right from wrong and we even try to instill a Biblical world view in their hearts.
But our greatest work as a mother is to incessantly intercede on behalf of our children.
If you’re just starting your journey as a mother, you have the blessing of bathing your child in prayer from the beginning. But no matter how old they may be now, it’s never too late to start praying for your children.
Here are a few ideas to help you intentionally and strategically pray for your children:
Pray Always: Maintain a heart of continual prayer for your children no matter where you are or what you are doing. “Never stop praying.” 1 Thes 5:17 (NLT)
Pray With Scripture: There is an unequalled element of faith when God’s children pray God’s Word back to Him because they trust Him. Insert your children’s names in the precious promises of God and acknowledge that you are believing He will fulfill His Word.
Last Thursday, Teri Lynne showed us how to pray through Scripture. Do that same thing. Only pray through each verse for your children as well as yourself.
♥ Ask God to help your children to love Him with all their heart, soul, mind and strength. (Mark 12:30)
♥ Ask the Lord to give your children the spirit of wisdom and revelation so that they would know Him better. That their eyes would be enlightened that they would know the hope of His calling. (Eph 1:17-18)
♥ Intercede for your child’s character. Ask that they would be humble and willing to put the needs of others before their own. (Phil 2:3-5)
God’s Word is chock-full of verses to pray for your children. As you read through the Bible during your quiet time, keep your eyes open for new waysto pray for your child. There is no substitute for praying God’s Word back to Him.
Pray With Urgency: We have no idea what tomorrow holds for us or for our children. So pray now. Fervently pray for your children. Pray that God would be their Shield and Defender and let your prayers become road blocks for the enemy.
Pray With Wisdom: So often we don’t know how to deal with certain circumstances in our children’s lives…but God does. Ask Him for wisdom and then pray for your children according to the wisdom He gives you. If you see an area of weakness in their lives, begin to intercede for victory in that area and wisdom to know how to parent them through it.
Pray For Their Spiritual Needs: Salvation is their primary need, so passionately pray for it. Pray for protection, direction and a heart after God. Pray they will always have eyes to see, ears to hear and a heart to believe. Pray they will be strong in the spirit and in the power of His might.
Pray For Their Emotional Needs: Pray for their emotional well being. Pray they will be strong without being hard; that they will be tender, without being weak; that they will understand their value in the sight of God; that they will not be quickly angered; that they will not hold grudges; that they will love well.
Pray For Their Physical Needs: Pray for their health. Pray for their eating and exercise habits. Pray they would not have addictive behaviors.
Pray For Their Friends: Pray God would surround them with people who will strengthen their faith, encourage their walk with God and hold them accountable.
Pray For Their Parents: Yes, pray for yourself. That you would be the parent(s) to your children that God calls you to be. That you would understand them, see their weaknesses and their needs, and would know how to walk them through each season of their childhood.
Pray For Their Future Spouse: Pray for the one God is preparing for your child. Pray for their salvation, their character and that they would truly love your child and be a godly and faithful spouse.
Pray For Your Prodigal: Please hear my heart on this, dear one. Your heart may be breaking because your children are far from God and everything they know to be right and good. I know how hard this unwanted journey is and I want to encourage you with everything I have to keep praying. Don’t give up; don’t grow weary; don’t be angry; don’t lose faith; don’t lose heart…keep praying. Drag that child’s heart to the altar of the Living God every day – lay them at the feet of the Savior – claim God’s Word over their lives. You pray like no one else will.
You can’t quit! I know it’s hard. I know you’re frustrated and I know your heart hurts like crazy. But God is a miracle working God and His arm is not slack that it cannot save. He alone is able to make beauty out of the ashes of your prodigal’s life. Hold on in prayer, my sister and live your life face down in intercession for your children. Because if you won’t – who will?
And mother-to-mother I want you to know I pray your children will live out loud for the Living God because we all know…there is no greater joy than to see our children walk in the truth.
Resourses:
Stormie Omartian – The Power of a Praying Parent, The Power of Praying for Your Adult Children
Do you have specific ways in which you pray for your children? Do you struggle with knowing how to pray for them?
I’ve just recently found this blog, and I can’t even tell you how happy I am to have found it. I am scribbling notes and learning so much more about praying more effectively! Thank you!
Emily ~ It’s funny, but it doesn’t matter how long we’ve been a Christian, there’s so much more to learn. I love how obvious it is that you heart longs to know Him more! So glad you’re digging with us. :-)
Kat at inspiredtoaction.com has two great prayer calendars – how to pray for your husband, and how to pray for your children. I use these every day to pray for my husband and our daughter.
Lori ~ Thank you so much for sharing that resource with us! I checked it out and WOW…what a great resource it is! I’m going to print it out. Thanks again!
I have started using both of those calendars!! They’re great!
Great reminders! Thanks so much. My prayer journal is still evolving, so these posts have been very timely.
Natalie ~ So glad you’re digging with us! I have really loved this month’s focus on prayer, as well. I’m learning so much from these other ladies. Glad Scripture Dig is helping us all in our journey.
love these reminders! i wasn’t diligent in prayer for mine. i got way off track. i have two prodigals now and it is hard not to give up. i don’t even recognize them. was looking back through old pictures today and remembering that they ARE my precious children for whom i must not lose hope. then i saw your tweet…aint God grand??
also, wanted to share a resource i’ve used in the past….it’s awesome and you can print out the prayer guide and place in your bible. gonna hit print right now and get to work :)
http://www.wallofprayer.net/guides.php
Marci ~ Thank you for your willingness to so transparently share your heart. While there’s no greater joy than to see our children walk in the truth, there’s no greater pain than when they don’t. I will join you in prayer for your prodigals. God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all we ask or think! Praying with you, my sister.
Thanks Stephanie for the words of wisdom today. Especially for your words of encouragement about praying for prodigals. We know our God is a miracle-worker!
Thanks for the encouragement and you know I’m counting on it! :-)
Love this! I appreciate your encouragement for moms of prodigals too. And as a mom of boys, I’m praying hard for their future wives! :)
Sandra ~ I’m the mom of boys too, so I completely get the “praying hard for their future wives” part. ;-) Glad we’re digging together!
Thank you so much for sharing your heart on this, Stephanie. Being in the diapers and picture book stage is so consuming… I so appreciate encouragement and advice from mothers who are farther along the journey than I am.
I have this 31 day prayer guide that I use some months with my children – definitely helps focus my heart: http://www.scribd.com/doc/11942792/Prayer-for-Children
Kristi ~ Great resource! A few of the moms are leaving links to resources I wish were in existence when my children were younger. Keep praying. :-)
I love what you said about letting our momma prayers be roadblocks for the enemy. I pray that ol’ stinker will have plenty of “ROAD CLOSED” signs as a result of this timely teaching! Thank you!
Lee ~ Thanks for joining us today at the Dig. We are mommas on a mission to leave no room for the enemy in our children’s lives. Keep praying sister…keep praying. God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all we ask or think – in our lives and in our children’s lives! :-)
Funny to read this today after this being my last post http://melissanesdahl.blogspot.com/2010/08/shes-in-room-next-to-me-coughing.html
I’m so thankful that through our prayer each night and teaching the girls that God loves them and wants to hear their voice that a number one concern in their tiny toddler minds is that they pray.
We will continue to instill this so that they know the Love of their Savior!
Melissa ~ I LOVED your post! Keep praying and filling her heart with the knowledge and love of Jesus…and that’s what will come out! :-)
This is so timely for me as my kids started back to school this week. Thanks for the helpful reminders, Stephanie!
Julie ~ I always loved when school started up. It certainly expanded my prayer life for my children. I hope you all have a wonderful year!
Stephanie, I absolutely love this post! I have a prayer calendar that I use based on Stormie’s books for both my kids and my husband. As a Mom, some days I feel there is so much to cover in prayer that I could spend all day praying for them!
Brooke over at http://www.brookemcglothlin.com does a twitter get-together on Tuesday nights called #warriorprayers. They are scriptures she prays over her boys. I’ve told her I frequently crash the party because I have all girls, but the scriptures are fantastic for any child. If you search that hashtag you can see what she has done in the past. I’ve been writing them down in my prayer journal.
I so appreciate your encouragement about praying for prodigals. My oldest, age 20, has decided she just doesn’t have time for God and won’t attend church with the family any more. It totally breaks my heart. I’ve been looking up scripture to pray for that as well.
Thanks for this great post.
Cherie ~ I’ve seen Brooke doing something with the warriorprayers, but didn’t have time to follow up and see what it was. AWESOME!
I struggle with my own prodigal and my heart breaks over who I know he can be…who I raised him to be…and who he is allowing himself to become. I know God is going to bring him back, I just hope he doesn’t get so far that the Lord has to yank his chain before he falls into a pit too deep to dig his way out of.
Please know I’m lifting your prodigal up to the Lord too, my friend.
God has really done a work in my heart regarding prayer over the past 2 years, I am enjoying all the posts on prayer over here at Scripture Dig!! :)
My absolute all time favorite resource for praying for our children is the book Praying the Scriptures For Our Children by Jodie Berndt. I blogged a bit about it here:
http://candacemercyisnew.blogspot.com/2010/01/praying-scriptures-for-your-children.html
I keep it with me all the time now, and am going to start buying this for new mothers too. You can read through the chapters in this book and they are a great encouragement. But the best part is at the end of each chapter there are scriptures typed out with a blank for you to fill in your child’s name…all ready to go!! And each chapter is on a different topic, so you can find scriptures to pray over your children for just about any topic. It is wonderful!!
Candace ~ I’m so glad you’re enjoying Scripture Dig. There’s something very special about women growing in grace together!
I checked out the book you recommended and I loved it. I’m planning on popping over to Amazon and ordering it this week.
Glad we’re diggin’ together!
oh how i am working on this…praying…centering myself to hear His will…to love my children by bathing them in the words of prayer…
and in response to one of your comments…i was a prodigal…a prodigal daughter, a prodigal wife…keep praying, sister friend!…my mom and i wrote a short story about this together on my blog here and it was such a testament of her steadfast faith in trusting God with me:
http://madabella.typepad.com/blog/2010/07/prodigal-sheep-a-mothers-perspective.html
i hope you don’t mind me sharing…
again, thank you for this!
Melissa ~ I love how God’s girls are working on this very same thing in different places. Not only in different locations, but in different seasons, as well.
I want to THANK YOU so much for sharing your blog with us. With tears welling up in my eyes I read your beautiful story. What a wonderful encouragement for the parents of prodigals. I trust that God will bring my own prodigal back soon.
hi, I googled ‘praying for children’ and came across this posts. I just want to say that I really enjoyed reading. and I believe it will help me start praying more consistently for my own children. thank you.