So, I had a moment last night.
My husband and I were home alone. After we cleaned up the kitchen from supper, I felt drawn to our older daughter’s bedroom. I went in, sat down on the bed, and started praying for her.
My heart was overwhelmed with several things. First of all, my love for her. Secondly, the reality that just over a year from now, she’ll no longer be living in that room full-time. She won’t be in and out during the day, or returning every night to sleep in her bed. What’s ahead is the next right step, but it didn’t stop the tears from flowing.
I asked God to bless her, to draw her close to Him, to guide and protect her. Then I wrote her a letter, sharing my heart, and left it under her pillow for her to find when she got ready for bed.
All of that coincided with what I heard on the podcast Grit ‘n’ Grace Girls earlier in the day. Co-host Amy Carroll shared an idea she got from the book The Power of Praying for Your Adult Children. She said the author suggested choosing one Bible verse to pray for your children each year. Amy had taken that challenge for her sons, and shared the verses she had chosen.
While my children aren’t adults yet, they’re getting close! I really like this idea. And with the start of a new school year in a couple of weeks, I figured it would be a great time to initiate it. Even if your children are younger, this might be something you’d want to do, too.
For my 17-year-old, I chose Proverbs 3:5-6.
“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”
She has so many decisions to make as she enters her senior year of high school. She needs direction. While I won’t pray these exact words every day, I thought it would be helpful to write out the general idea for my prayer.
Dear God,
Please help our daughter to trust in you with all her heart. Don’t let her lean on her own understanding, but help her to acknowledge you in all her ways. We know that if she does that, you have promised to direct her paths. Your Word assures us that the only way to true joy and happiness is in following your will. May we as her parents encourage her to trust you, and allow you to guide her steps.
For our 15-year-old, I chose Proverbs 4:23.
“Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.”
She’ll be entering her sophomore year of high school. I think this is an age where it’s easy to get caught up in all the high school activity. Time goes into friendships, studying, homework, and extracurricular activities. It’s easy to let the spiritual side slide. Here’s my prayer for her.
Dear God,
Help our daughter keep her heart, and be diligent in protecting it. Give her wisdom and discernment to seek out good influences and run from bad ones. May she realize the importance of what she allows into her life and her mind. May her relationship with you grow and flourish this year.
I realize that I’ve written a lot about praying for our children on the blog! Here are five of my favorite posts on this topic from the past.
5 Prayers to Pray for Your Children Every Day
10 Prayers to Pray for Your Daughter
A Prayer for Wisdom in Parenting My Children
Praying God’s Blessings on My Family
Is there a Bible verse you’d like to pray for your children in the upcoming school year?
Loooooove this idea!!! I want to dig deep on this…
Proverbs 3:5-6 have always been my life verses. ❤️
Yes, you’ve probably noticed that I’ve referred to those verses a lot lately! Always the passage I come back to when I need guidance and direction.
What a great idea! I will have to think about doing this, but I’m not sure the Bible has enough verses for all of my children. 😉
You have a point – not that hard to do with just my two children 😉
Great idea, but how am I to know which verse for each child? My oldest daughter is 36 in a couple weeks; my son is 33 and my youngest daughter is 27. The older two live out of state and the youngest lives in the same town as me. My youngest is the only one who follows Christ.
Thank you.
I would choose one need to pray for each child and find a verse related to that need.
For example, for an unsaved child, I might pray 1 Timothy 2:4. “Who [referring to God] will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” You could pray something like, “God, this verse tells me that it’s your will for all to be saved. I pray that your will would be done in [child’s name]’s life. Have your Holy Spirit convict their heart of their need for a Savior and may they turn to Jesus.”
For a child who’s already following Christ, ask for insight into what to pray for that child. Do they need wisdom for a particular situation? Does their faith/trust in God need to grow? Are they discouraged and need to be encouraged in the Lord? Decide what the need is and find a related verse.
And you can always change the verse from month to month or when you see the Lord answering your prayer and want to pray in another direction.
How blessed your children are to have a mom who prays for them!!