Considering the couple of posts I wrote on prayer ideas for parents and for unsaved children, I thought I’d round out the topic with a few ideas for prayer for our believing children. Of course, specific needs and ideas will be endless. This is just a sample of thinking out how to pray according to Paul’s example or praying through a passage about how to suffer well, especially for those children who deal with others who offend them. We could all use that kind of prayer at some points in life.
Praying passages like these can be very encouraging for the pray-er, also. I find that it reminds me of truths about my own position in Christ or convicts me that I need to apply it in a particular situation. Passages make great guidelines for praying for friends and family.
I’ve been especially impressed by how often in his epistles Paul thanked God for fellow believers, so I started with that. Adapt them according to the gender and situation.
- Thanksgiving to the Lord for the child and his faith in Christ
- That he will grow in understanding that having been justified by faith, he has peace with God through Jesus, that by faith he stands in God’s grace. That he will exult in hope of the glory of God and in trials, knowing that the trial rightly handled builds in him the character of Christ. (Rom. 5:1-5)
- That he would honor and obey you, his parents, from the heart, that it may be well with him throughout his life (Eph. 6:1-3)
- That he would apply James 1:2-16 to his life:
- Considering it joy when he encounters trials because they will prove that his faith is genuine,
- Asking God for wisdom,
- Refusing the temptations to self-pity or to be proud that he is better-behaved than his difficult sibling,
- Persevering in love for the Lord,
- Remembering his own vulnerabilities to sin.
- That God will motivate him to long for the salvation of his sibling(s) (Rom 10:1)
- That he will discipline himself for godliness (1 Tim. 4:7-8)