Parenting · Prayers
Five prayers for my children
Say these out loud, using their names. They belong in the Ask step of the morning, and they work whether your children are asleep down the hall, at their other parent's house, grown and distant, or not biologically yours at all. Where a prayer says my child, put the name of the person you are actually carrying — the stepchild, the grandchild you are raising, the one you gave birth to, the one who arrived at twelve with a suitcase.
1. For a child who is afraid
For the first day at a new school, the night terrors, the hospital appointment, the thing they will not name.
God, my child is frightened and I cannot fix it. You promise to keep them going out and coming in, and I am holding you to that promise this morning. Guard them where I cannot follow — the classroom, the group chat, the inside of their own head. Put one kind person in their day. And where fear has become bigger than a child can carry, show me who to ask for help, and make me humble enough to ask. Amen.
The LORD will guard you from all evil; He will preserve your soul. The LORD will watch over your coming and going, both now and forevermore.
Salmo 121:7-8, BSB
2. For who they are becoming
This is the long prayer, the one whose answer you may not see. Pray it on ordinary mornings when nothing is wrong.
Father, fill my child with the knowledge of what you want, and with real understanding of it. Let their life grow into something good — not impressive, good. Make them the kind of person who notices other people. Grow their kindness faster than their confidence. And when they are choosing who to become, let them want the things that are actually worth wanting. Amen.
For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord and may please Him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God,
Colossians 1:9-10, BSB
3. For a child who has walked away
For the adult child who no longer believes, no longer speaks to you, or no longer comes. Say their name out loud; it matters that the name is spoken.
God, you promised a people that their children would be taught by you directly, and that peace would be great for those children. I am asking for that, because my teaching is finished and I cannot reach them. Teach them yourself, by routes that have nothing to do with me. Keep them safe in the meantime. Take my anxiety about them, which helps nobody. And do not let my love be something they experience as pressure. Amen.
Then all your sons will be taught by the LORD, and great will be their prosperity.
Isaiah 54:13, BSB
4. For the morning I got it wrong
For after you shouted, or checked out, or said the sentence you heard from your own parents and swore you never would.
Lord, I was not the parent I meant to be this morning. You are described as having compassion on your children the way a good parent does, and I need that description to be true of you today, because I did not manage it. Forgive me. Help me go and say sorry to a person half my size without making excuses. Heal what I put there. And give me one better morning tomorrow. Amen.
As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him.
Salmo 103:13, BSB
5. For wisdom I do not have
For the decision you have been going round in circles on — the school, the diagnosis, the phone, the boundary you cannot decide whether to hold.
God, I am out of my depth. You say that anyone who lacks wisdom can ask you for it, and that you give it without making them feel stupid for asking. So I am asking. Show me the next step, not the whole map. Make me willing to take advice from people who know more than I do. And where I need a doctor, a teacher or a counsellor rather than another opinion, make that obvious to me. Amen.
Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.
James 1:5, BSB
This is prayer, not professional advice. If your child is in danger, or you are frightened of what is happening at home, ask for real help today as well as praying — the two are not in competition.
Scripture quoted from the Berean Standard Bible. Public domain (CC0)
In this category: Parenting