Whatever you do bathe your son or daughter in prayer. Here are 10 Scriptural truths of prayer to encourage and guide your prayer life for your children:

• It is a sin not to pray for them:

“As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by

failing to pray for you. And I will teach you the way that is good and

right.” (I Samuel 12:23)

• You should not grow weary or give up in prayer: persevere:

“Then Jesus told His disciples a parable to show them that they should

always pray and not give up.”  (Luke 18:1f)

• When you pray for your child, try to clear your mind from clutter and your heart from selfishness ( or those passions and sins that are so often uncontrolled in our lives):

“The end of all things is near. Therefore, be clear minded and self-

controlled so that you can pray.”  (I Peter 4:7)

• You should pray with faith and trust that God will answer you:

“I prayed for this child and the Lord has granted me what I asked of

Him.” (I Samuel 1:27)

• As busy parents, you can pray at any time for your child: when changing diapers, watching ball games, being a chauffer, etc. However, you should also schedule a regular, hopefully, uninterrupted, quiet time to pray for them:

“Pray at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.”

(Ephesians 6:18)

• Prayer changes things for good for your children and you:

“The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.”

(James 5:16)

• Your character is developed and reflected in and by your prayer life:

“Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.”

(Romans 12:1-12, see especially vs. 12)

• Do whatever it takes to keep your prayers unhindered before God:

“If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.”   (Psalm 66:18)

• Since you are passionate about your children, your prayers will

become quite passionate as well; yet always remember who God is

and submit reverently to Him:

“During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, He offered up prayers and

petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save Him

from death, and He was heard because of His reverent submission.”

(Hebrews 5:7)

“Not my will, but Yours be done.” (Luke 22:42)

• In all your prayers remember that your tireless interceder in God’s presence is the Lord Jesus who sympathizes with your weaknesses, has been tempted like you, but without sin:

“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with

our weaknesses, but we have One who has been tempted in every

way, just as we are—yet was without sin. Let us then approach the

throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and

find grace to help us in our time of need.” (Hebrews 4:15-16)

I pray that these Scriptural truths will motivate and encourage you to pray for the children God has entrusted to you. By the enabling of the Holy Spirit, may these passages warn you about the enemy, your feelings of frustration and weariness, and your attitude in what you may perceive as God’s silence or lack of answers: at least the answers you expect on your time schedule. God’s answers may be different than what you want or not when you desire them. But will a loving Father give His child a snake or a scorpion? Or will He give him what He knows is best? (Luke 11:11-13) No matter the circumstances, persevere like the widow in Luke 18. You will not regret your perseverance when you stand before the Lord in heaven. When God says to a parent, “Well done, good and faithful servant,” it will most likely be the case that He will turn and say the same to the children He placed in your care: for they will be there with you!

The most important matter for which we must pray is our child’s salvation. Because of the atoning sacrifice of Jesus for our sins (John 3), our child could be born again at an early age, as was apparently true of Jeremiah and John the Baptist in their mothers’ wombs (Jeremiah 1:3, Luke 1:39-45). It is possible our child may not know or remember a day he or she did not know Jesus as his or her Lord and Savior.

Other children may not profess Jesus as their Lord and Savior and live as though He is until they are older. As parents, our responsibility is to pray the following for our children, persevering in our prayers as we anticipate seeing God’s work manifested in the fruit of their lives:

• salvation
• conviction and repentance of sin
• a heart of flesh and not of stone that is tender toward God
• public profession of faith: confessing Christ before men
• living witness that bears testimony of the Lordship of Christ

Too frequently, our prayers are general and lack careful thought or Biblical arguments. “Lord, bless Johnny and keep him safe today. In Jesus’ name, Amen.” There is nothing wrong with praying for God’s blessing on our son or daughter or asking God to protect him or her. However, our prayers often stop there. They lack specificity that should arise from our loving and careful observation of our children. They also lack our intentional and meditative consideration of the particular traits that are part of who our child is and is becoming. What are his or her struggles, strengths, and weaknesses? We need to be as dedicated to prayer as an attorney is to the case that he desires to win. As we earnestly come before our Heavenly Father, He helps us know what and how to pray for our children. We want to consider what He would say about our child and ourselves. As we pray with the Bible open before us God speaks to us through His Word. We will in this manner increase our knowledge of Him, ourselves and our children. Jesus knew firsthand the necessity of prayer. We need to know it as well.

We are promised in Proverbs 22:6: “if we train up a child in the way he should go, when he is old, he will not depart from it.” Chuck Swindoll’s interpretation of “in the way he should go” means more than training our children in spiritual virtues. It means discovering their particular calling or “bent.” What has God placed in our child’s personality? What are his or her abilities? What is the “bent” of his or her heart and mind reflecting his or her peculiar gifts? We as parents need to look for his or her “bent” and pray this into reality, so that when he or she grows older, he or she will answer God’s call and be used for His glory.

God has given us covenant promises concerning our home and our children. A covenant has two parts, blessings and curses. God tells us if we obey His precepts and keep His commandments, He will bless not only us but also our children. However, if we do not obey Him, not only we parents, but also our children and future generations, will be cursed instead of blessed. (Genesis 9:9, 17:7, 18:19, Deuteronomy 6, Psalm 103, Luke 1:50, 72-75, Acts 2:39, 1 Corinthians 7:14)

All parents have had fears about losing their children, as when walking in a crowded mall or their innocently wandering away from home. We have worried about accidents that might potentially affect them and sometimes fear their moving far away. This often arises because we fear that we will not see them or our grandchildren as much as we would like. From the time they are infants, we should pray for God’s will in their lives and that He would use them for His glory. That may mean that He will call them to be missionaries in a foreign country. It may mean that God will choose to call them home to heaven at a young age. In any case, we must remember that they are the Lord’s. Our prayers for them should reflect that truth. We must entrust our children back to God. They can be in no better hands.

It is never too early to begin praying for a godly spouse for your child, a life’s partner who would walk with him or her in the faith and be an encouragement to his or her growth in grace. If God has not called your son or daughter to be single, the most important human relationship he or she will have in life is the one in which Christ’s relationship with His bride, the Church, is to be reflected. Marriage is ideally a testimony of the way Christ loves us and sacrificed Himself for His people (Ephesians 5:21-33). Parents know personally how important the relationship of husband and wife is to every other relationship, and to the joy and fulfillment of life. Earnestly asking God to show your son or daughter the best tools of godly discernment in choosing a marriage partner is a critical element in seeking the righteousness of not only your “child” but also his or her children (Psalm 103:17-18). Our children and their children are a treasured object of God’s covenant promises to believing parents. We parents bear a vital responsibility in the development of our children’s discernment in the choosing of a life’s partner. This partner will be the father or mother of our grandchildren, as well as our “child’s” most intimate companion for his or her life. Our praying for this from conception onward will cause your heart and mind to be attuned at the appropriate times to those specific godly truths you can teach and exemplify in helping them grasp and treasure romance, marriage, and family.

As a parent, our greatest treasure is the child God has entrusted to us. We cannot make a more lasting investment than the spiritual qualities we nurture in our children. No other person holds a more influential key to molding our children than you have as a mother or father. Others may influence our children’s lives for good and for eternity, but God has created in every child a desire to look to his or her parents for love, security, and direction unlike any other people in his or her life. We have been given an amazing power to influence and affect our children. Along with power comes responsibility. God holds you and me accountable for our stewardship of these lives. We should be earnest prayer warriors on their behalf.

Our children have an enemy. He seeks to steal, kill, and destroy the life and the plans that God has for each one of them. This should spur us on to daily lift up our children in prayer to the Father. If you knew that someone was harassing or physically harming your children, you would do everything in your power to protect them. It should be more of our concern to protect their spiritual well-being than their physical health. We parents have the same enemy they do: an enemy who does not want us to pray for our children.

You and I would never send our children out in the cold without a coat. Yet, on a regular basis, we send them out into the world without spiritual armor. In Ephesians 6:10-20, we read about the spiritual armor, which is essential for each member of the body of Christ, regardless of age. I have a dear friend in the Caribbean who never allows his children to leave home without prayerfully placing each piece of armor on them. Because we are often in a rush so we won’t be late, this spiritual exercise sounds a bit tedious. Would you go out or allow your child to leave home naked? The reality of spiritual warfare should cause us to pause and consider the importance of our prayers for our children.