How to Better Pray for Your Children

(Last Updated On: March 31, 2020)

Of course, you want to pray for your children. But maybe, you struggle with being as intentional about it as you want to be. I found some ideas that help me better pray for my child. Hopefully, these ideas will help you, too.

I made praying a bigger part of my life a few years ago, but deliberately am trying to grow in this area daily. The more I make prayer a dedicated part of my life, the more I’ve seen God answer my prayers.

I’ve spent years writing down every prayer for my husband or keeping a prayer journal of all the prayer requests I have.

But this year, I have made praying for my daughter something I am intentionally doing daily, multiple times in multiple ways. I’ve always prayed for her, but sometimes when my days start going a million miles an hour and don’t slow down until bedtime, taking time to be deliberate in my prayers for her hasn’t happened.

The most important thing I can do as a parent is pray.

Praying for her not only helps her, but also me. Prayer softens my heart for her, which is especially important when we’re in a rough parenting season. It also her helps me be more intentional with my attitude. God brings to mind verses that encourage or convict during prayer.

One thing a parent can always do for their children is pray. No matter if they are 5 mos. or 5 decades old, prayer matters. #PrayerWorks #ChristianParenting #PrayingMoms #ChristianBlogger #Sheblogs #SheWritesTruth Click To Tweet

My parenting is better focused on discipling my child when I cover her in prayer. My goal is parent her for Heaven, not Harvard. Not that I don’t want her to be educated (even at Harvard), but that I don’t want MY focus to be on the things of this world over her eternal future.

Plan to be intentional about prayer!

Think about ways you can ensure you take time to pray for your children daily. Set a reminder alarm on your phone. You can use a prayer app. I don’t have a personal recommendation, but I saw several different Christian prayer apps that would be fun to use.

Using visual reminders helps me be more intentional

Because I struggle with my mind going a thousand different directions before I’ve even had any caffeine, I decided I needed some hands-on reminders around the house.

One of the easiest things I did was purchase a The Power of a Praying Parent by Stormie O’Martian perpetual calendar.

I keep it on my vanity so I see the reminder to pray first thing each day. Not every message resonates with where we are on this day, but all of the prayers and scriptures are excellent. The prayers are general enough to pray for any child, from infant to adulthood.

Even if the exact words she uses don’t quite fit, I appreciate having a direction for my prayers.

The prayers include praying for your child’s heart towards God, for your child to have a church home that is an edifying body of believers, for your child’s friendships, for your child’s faith. Today’s prayer about a teachable spirit was especially timely as we finish our homeschool year.

Start each day in prayer

Praying for my daughter at the beginning of the day has become really important to me. I find praying for her focuses my heart on God’s will for her life over my desires. Prayer helps me fight the worldly pressures about my parenting. I really want to focus on raising her to be a Godly woman.

For young children, When I Pray for You is a great book to show them how much you love them and pray for them. It also reminds me of all the times I can pray for my child. Since being on the launch team for the book, I’ve sent it to people for baby shower gifts. It’s just the loveliest, sweetest book with some solid truths and playful images.

Even at nine, my daughter loves to snuggle up in my lap as I read When I Pray for You. I can see her unfurl and relax from her worries as she delights in being loved and prayed over.

Ideas of how to pray for your children

Pray for:

• your child to grow in his/her faith
• to love God and seek His wisdom daily
• to be generous and kind
• your child to grow in his/her understanding of God’s word
• to be humble and teachable always
• to be a loyal and loving friend
• your child’s prayer life
• to choose friends wisely
• to grow in the fruit of of the Spirit
• for physical protection, safety, and health
• to pursue only relationships that honor God
• ending or continuation of specific behaviors
• to be more obedient
• to grow in maturity and responsibility
• for his/her future spouse and children
• for God to use whatever means necessary for their salvation
• to protect them from your failures as a parent
• for their lives as adults, even in middle/senior ages

Pray the scriptures! Praying meaningful verses over your children honors God and at the same time, pray powerful messages over your children.

Pray with your child! We’ve been struggling with anxiety and have started taking time to pray together everyday.

Pray with your spouse. Praying together is a great way to bond with each other, and also helps you bring your parenting fears and concerns before God together. You can hear each other express the deep desires of your hearts as parents. Not only does the Bible tell us to pray together, it might help you be more connected and unified as parents.

Matthew 18:19 ESV Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.

Set aside time daily to pray together as parents.

Keep a prayer journal when you pray for your children

I bought two different journals in which to write my prayers for my husband and daughter. I don’t write in them everyday. But when I have five minutes of quiet or feel a pressing need for deep prayer, I like to write those prayers down.

For my daughter, I bought this journal to store my prayers for her. I love the image of God covering her with His feathers. I picture my prayers as feathers of God’s protection for her heart, life, and faith.

My daughter loves knowing that I write down my prayers for her. She knows what that journal is for and gets very quiet when I’m writing in it. She says it makes her feel so loved to see me actively praying for her. I didn’t know how important that would be to her or how special she would feel just seeing me praying for her.

I write down each day’s date and my prayer. Someday, she and I both will be able to look back and remember the challenges and celebrations of her childhood.

Pray for your Spouse, too

The journal I bought for my husband is a beautiful leather bound notebook. Each page has room for a date and the journal has a ribbon place marker.

While this post is about how to better pray for your children, our marriages and spouses are a large part of parenting. Parenting is about discipleship and your spouse plays a large role. I pray for his heart for his daughter. I pray for him as my husband and friend. And I pray for his salvation and faith.

Praying for him is just as important, because I also remember to respect his views on parenting, listen to his ideas, and respect the different ways he does things. I need to let him be her dad.

Pray for the adult you want your child to be.

No matter how lovingly or intentionally we parent, how we parent doesn’t guarantee results, but we can pray for our children to be amazing adults in the body of Christ someday. We can pray over their futures because God is already there with them.

Covering your child’s life in prayer is one way to love them and guide them as you disciple them in faith.