6 Prayers Every Parent Should Say For Their Children

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Every Christian parent wants their child to grow closer to God and have a personal relationship with Him. They want their child to become an adult who walks fearlessly in the light of God and knows Jesus as their savior. Raising a child to meet those standards, however, is not always easy. The world offers endless opportunities for children to stray from the straight and narrow path as well as for parents to inadvertently pass on the wrong message. As such, Christian parents are aware that they can use all the help they can get with any and every aspect of raising their children to become good Christian adults. So, Christian parents tend to have active prayer lives as they ask God to guide them and guide their children as they grow.

There are millions of prayers out there, many of which market themselves as being exactly what a person needs. Are those the right prayers to say? Should parents be asking God for general help or should they seek His intervention only in specific matters? The answer, of course, is both. God knows what each of His children need and acts accordingly. That said, it cannot hurt to ask for some extra help in areas where you know you and your child are either struggling or that are especially important. Here are six prayers every parent should say for their child.

Prayer For Compassion

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Compassion and generosity are essential for Christians to have at any age. These are not, however, skills that are always easily learned. People of all ages, races and backgrounds like to believe that they are naturally compassionate. That said, you still need to learn how to have compassion toward those who are driving you crazy as well as those that you love. Children usually learn this from their parents and through their own interactions. Parents teach their children how to be compassionate when they practice it themselves. Children then practice it and learn further compassion when they interact with friends, other family members and classmates. As your child learns and practices compassion, pray that they will never run out of it. Ask God to give your child a kind and generous heart but to make sure that they are never harmed or taken advantage of because of their compassion.

Prayer For Strength

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Strength comes in a wide variety of forms. There is the physical strength required to do certain jobs or achieve success in athletic activities. There is the emotional strength that is essential for bouncing back from a shattered relationship, lost opportunity or painful rejection. Then, there is the spiritual strength to stand firm and follow God’s will even when it is unpopular.

Christians face persecution all over the world. In some places, Christians can be tortured or killed for their beliefs. In others, the actions taken against the faithful are not so extreme. Instead, Christians face subtle discrimination that makes it clear that their opinions and beliefs are not welcome. Pray that your child has the strength to hold firm to their faith instead of caving to the culture of this world. Refusing to compromise their integrity might one day cost them a job or relationship, but pray to God that they will have the strength to go through with it anyway rather than betray their religion.

Prayer That They Will Know God

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Christianity focuses in large part on each person developing a personal relationship with God. As such, Christians achieve this relationship in a variety of different ways. Some people feel closest to Christ when they are reading their Bible. So, they end up spending a great deal of time with Scripture. Others find their connections to God in song, and they often sing in the church choir Still others have extremely active prayer lives because they feel that prayer is the best way for them to reach out to God. What will work for your child may end up being very different from what you practice. There is not anything wrong with that. All it means is that your child is a unique individual. Frankly, it should be more worrisome if they connect with God in the exact same way you do. That implies that they are not forming their own relationship but simply borrowing the structure of yours. Pray that this does not happen to your children, and that they are able to find a loving, personal relationship with God.

Prayer That They’ll Answer When God Calls

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As a general rule, Christians believe that God has a special and unique plan for each and every one of them. Some people seem to have an easier time recognizing and following that path than others. That does not mean that those who sometimes struggle to hear God’s call are bad people. Pray, however, that your child will hear God loud and clear and let Him guide them as they make their way through life. Ask God to make sure your child is always listening and request that He speak loudly when He calls for your child. Also, pray that your child will not just hear God’s call but that they will answer it as well. Hearing God speak to you does you no good if you completely ignore who is speaking.

Following a call is not always easy. Many people have been called to work in ministries but been reluctant to leave their current day job in order to begin preaching. Pray that when your child is faced with choosing between their plan and God’s plan that they listen and obey God first and foremost.

Pray For Patience

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Patience is probably the thing that adults pray for the most. They ask God to help them become more patient when they say their prayers at night. They pray that they will become more patient when they are stuck in traffic and battling road rage. They toss a prayer for patience upstairs while the rice is cooking, and they are hungry. Children and teens need patience too. The ability to be patient with events, other people and yourself is not something that is only important in grown-ups or after you reach a certain age. You need patience at every stage in your life. That important skill, however, is not something that everyone possesses. As a parent, ask God to grant your son or daughter patience. Do not, however, then be angry when your child seems frustrated often. Each moment of unexpected anger is just a chance for your child to practice the patience you prayed they would receive.

Pray They Will Find Love

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Love is arguably the greatest emotion you will ever feel. Understandably, parents want their children to know love throughout their lives. Parents want to show love to their children when they are little so that love forms the bedrock of a child’s existence. When children become older, parental affection is less desired, but friends and classmates pour into your child’s life and end up filling that hole. As children grow even further, a spouse of their own and children of their own become their main source of love Parents, understandably, want that for their children. So, say a prayer to God asking that your children find someone who truly loves them and who they love themselves. People pray about their love lives all the time, but there is something special about parents praying their child will meet the person who will one day take them away from home entirely.