8 Life-Changing Prayers for Your Kids
As I sit with my Bible and prayer journal, I look down at the names of my children. I wrote my kids’ names on the front of my prayer journal as a reminder to pray for them every day. Much to my frustration, I often stare at my kids’ names and draw a complete blank. If you’re like me, you want to pray powerful prayers for your kids, but sometimes you get stuck.
How to Pray Life-Changing Prayers for Your Kids
When I feel stuck, I pull out this list of 8 life-changing prayers, and I pray from it.
I originally wrote these Bible-based prayers at the start of a new school year, but now I pray them all year long. I return to this list every time I feel stuck when it comes to praying for my kids.
8 Life-Changing Prayers for Your Kids
Whether your children are seven or 57, whether they’re heading into first grade or into another year of undergraduate study, your prayers hold the power to shape their lives.
Here are eight powerful prayers for your kids, no matter where they are in life:
1. Pray for life’s struggles to lead your children to find their hope in Christ and not in external circumstances.
Above all else, I want my kids to find their hope in Christ. My first prayer for them every single day is that their trials will lead them closer to Christ. I pray they will learn how to find hope in him and not merely in their circumstances.
Let’s pray for our children to lean into the One who will never forsake them.
The Lord your God is the one who goes with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. Deuteronomy 31:6
Above all else, I want my kids to find their hope in Christ. My first prayer for them every single day is that their trials will lead them closer to Christ. #prayersforkids Click To Tweet2. Pray for your children to find their joy and strength in the Lord.
I want my kids to place their hope in Emmanuel – the God who is always with them. I also want them to find their joy and strength in him.
Let’s pray for our kids to find their strength in the joy of the Lord. Pray they will not rely on their own strength as they go about life. Pray they will find deep joy in the Lord – joy that goes beyond circumstantial happiness.
The joy of the Lord is your strength. Nehemiah 8:10
3. Pray for strength to stand against temptation.
When I pray for my kids to stand against temptation, I claim the promise in this powerful Scripture: God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it. 1 Corinthians 10:13
4. Pray that the Lord will provide like-minded friends who will encourage your children in their faith.
By the grace of God, he has answered this prayer for our oldest child. I trust him to answer it for our younger two sons as well. This is no small request in today’s world, but God is able.
Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? 2 Corinthians 6:14
5. Pray that the Lord will draw the hearts of your child’s friends (and, if applicable, their teachers) into closer intimacy with him.
Pray he will direct their footsteps, inspire their words, and fill them with strength for whatever is set before them. I love praying for my kids’ teachers.
This kind of prayer also softens my heart and opens my eyes to the deeper needs of my children’s teachers. It equips me to live out the gospel as I encourage these hard-working public servants.
Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. James 4:8
6. Pray for the light of Christ to shine through your child and your family.
Pray for the words, attitudes, and actions of your family as you connect within your sphere of influence. Ask God to help you glorify Christ as you reach out into the world.
You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Matthew 5:14
7. Pray for God to unite your heart with your child’s heart.
Ask God for a sensitive and discerning spirit to speak truth into your child’s unspoken and hidden struggles. Pray your children will see you as a constant ally and an ongoing source of support amid a chaotic world.
Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ. Galatians 6:2
8. Pray for your child to find his or her identity in Christ alone.
Ask God to help your children find their worth in the single fact that they are the beloved of Christ. Pray for freedom from the desires to conform to the world, prove themselves to others, or live from achievement-based identities.
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8
This post was written before the global pandemic changed the way some of us do school and life.
To read a post with four powerful prayers for these uncertain times, join me here.
A Free Devotional Book to Help You Pray Powerful Prayers for Your Kids:
Do you want to be more consistent in praying for your kids? Would you like tools to help you prioritize prayer? I have a gift for you today. Check out my free online devotional Change Your World Through Prayer. You’ll find printable prayer charts, Scripture-based prayers, and an awesome idea you can use to create a prayer-filled Bible for each of your children. Click here, and I will send this free resource to your email inbox. 
These two books are free on Kindle Unlimited or available to purchase in print:
God wants to work in your life to accomplish what you’ve been unable to do through willpower alone. Lean Into Grace: Let God’s Grace Heal Your Heart, Refresh Your Soul, and Set You Free shares practical ways to experience God’s freedom, healing, power, and presence in your life. Find this life-changing book for free on the Kindle Unlimited plan or for 12.99 in print right here. This book will transform your life and revitalize your relationship with the Lord!
Calling all mothers and daughters!
Additionally, my 12-year-old daughter, Bekah, and I wrote a mother-daughter devotional book to help mothers and daughters grow closer together while connecting with God. Girl to Girl: 60 Mother-Daughter Devotions for a Closer Relationship and Deeper Faith includes 60 devotions with Scripture, commentaries from both of us, conversation starters, and even a shared journaling section. Multitudes of mothers, daughters, mentors, and younger women are being transformed by this book! You can find your free Kindle Unlimited eBook or buy it in print for just 11.99 right here.
