Our children and grandchildren desperately need prayer

I’ll never forget the day I dropped my oldest daughter off for her first day at our large public high school. Our son had gone before her, but somehow it felt different for my daughter. She seemed small and frail (even at almost 5’8 as a high school freshman) walking in among the throngs of students. Even though we had always had a “no cellphone till driving rule” (that was back in the mid-2000’s), I drove immediately to the phone store and bought her her first flip phone. I also upped my prayers for her and all of my children as I thought of all of the struggles they would face each day at school. The reality is that a cellphone could help her reach me if she had a problem during the day, but what she needed most was the help of the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.

Maybe that’s why the beginning of the school year seems like a good time to revisit our prayers for our children and grandchildren. I keep a page in my prayer journal for prayers for my children and their spouses. It’s a simple piece of thick notebook paper (I use Tul from Office Depot, no affiliate), with their names and what I’m praying for them. You could use a piece of paper, a prayer card, or just keep it in your head (if your memory is better than mine). Even if you don’t have children or grandchildren, consider walking through this exercise for a child you know and love, maybe a niece or nephew or a child at church or a foster child. 

If you’d like a one-page template for writing out the answers to the questions and with a space for the final prayer, be sure to subscribe for this free printable resource and a new one every month. 

Step 1: Consider their story.

First, consider their story, how God has exquisitely designed them—gifts, strengths, passions, how sin has uniquely affected them—their sin struggles as well as the impacts of sin on them. The following questions will guide you to discover more of their story:

1. What is their personality like?

2. What do they enjoy?

3. What gifts, passions, and strengths do they have?

4. What unique struggles with faith might their personality present?

5. What current struggles are they facing?

6. What are their desires and longings?

7. What are their needs?

8. What struggles do you have in parenting or grand parenting this child? 

Step 2: Find Scripture to pray.

I usually update my prayer sheet for my kids about once a month or once every other month. I often write at the top a general concept that I am praying for them. Here are some examples:

That they would “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18).

That God would do “far more abundantly than we all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us” (Ephesians 3:20).

That they would be “rooted and grounded in love” (Ephesians 3:17).

That God would “create in [them] a clean heart…and renew a right spirit within [them]” (Psalm 51:10). 

If you want to write a verse at the top of your card or sheet, consider the following (more verses on the template:

Psalm 51:10 (freedom from sin)

Psalm 86:11 (learning to walk with God)

Isaiah 43:1-7 (knowing that they are precious to God) (Again, can be broken up.)

Ephesians 6:1 (learning obedience)

Step 3: Write your prayer sheet or prayer card.

(If you’d like a template for the prayer sheet or prayer card, be sure to sign up for this and other free resources.)

I like to have five areas on my prayer sheet, but you can add more.

1. Praise: What are you thanking God for in your child’s life?

2. Protection: What protections does your child need right now?

3. Petition: What desires does your child have? Pray that God would grant the desires that would be good for your child or reshape them for their good and his glory.

4. Provision: What needs does your child have? Again, ask that God would provide

5. Parenting: What needs and desires do you have as this child’s parent? 

Step 4: Pray.

Once you’ve created your prayer sheet or card, go through different aspects of it every day. If you do this intentional preparation, you will find that you don’t have to have the sheet or card in front of you every day. You will be able to pray intentionally for your children as they come to mind throughout the day. 

A Prayer for Praying for Our Children

Dear Heavenly Father,

We admit that as parents we often think we need to fix our children’s problems or that they need to change their ways, and fast. When we become anxious or angry, frightened or frustrated, help us to press pause on our thoughts and press into praying. Make us more intentional about our prayers for our children that they may grow in grace and the knowledge of your surpassing love. In Jesus’ tender name we pray. Amen.