Today’s post is titled- 7 Ways to Pray for Your Children for 7 Days. Over the past few weeks, I received two different emails from readers, one regarding the 7 Ways to Praise Your Husband for 7 Days and one regarding 7 Ways to Praise Your Children for 7 Days. And both emails were so sincere and kind and sweet, but both asked the same question:
What do I do when I can’t find anything to praise?
Truly, that’s a TOUGH question. Sometimes a person’s choices seem to be continually wrong, at least in our eyes or maybe even according to God’s Word, and we just simply can’t find anything legitimate to praise. The best advice I can offer you on this question stems from Luke 6:28:
Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you. – NLT
Bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. – NIV
bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. – ESV
I wanted you to see the wording for three of the translations because each of them shed a little different light on those we pray for. When your children are young and they consistently disobey, it hurts as a parent. When you have children who are tweens and teens and they disobey, the hurt runs differently- it’s easy to feel mistreated when they are disrespectful. And when you have grown children, the disobedience may feel more like abuse.
No matter the child, no matter the circumstance, we are to pray. To help us remember that sometimes our praise begins with prayer and sometimes our prayer begins with praise, today I’m giving you an acrostic for 7 Ways to Pray For Your Children for 7 Days: PETITION.
Day 1- P- Pray first to confess your own sin- not your child’s.
Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. James 5:16
When you’ve made a mistake, don’t be afraid to admit it. Your child will respect you more when you do. You’ve then set the example for them!
Day 2- E- Earnestly seek God for His answer about the issue.
Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. Prov 3:6 NLT
As the parent, sometimes what I want doesn’t line up with God’s plan. I need to be close enough to Him that I will easily recognize the difference.
Day 3 – T- Take time to pray for your child in place of worry.
And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? Matt. 6:27
It’s so easy to worry all the time. We first think about a problem, then we think about it some more, then we have ourselves all worked up about in with a flurry of thoughts before we know it. In place of worrying, let’s stop before we even get started and pray!
Day 4- I- Implore to God on behalf of your child.
Give attention to the sound of my cry, my King and my God, for to you do I pray. Psalm 5:2
One of the definitions of implore is to “get down on your knees.” Our very posture during prayer can often reveal how important the prayer matter is.
Day 5 – T- Tarry in your prayer.
O LORD, I cry out to you. I will keep on pleading day by day. Psalm 88:13 NLT
Sometimes we pray popcorn prayers that pop out and then we never visit them again. I love that David told God he wasn’t going to stop praying for the problem. Maybe this is the day to set aside time to pray until you have fully emptied your heart with nothing remaining. Then tell God you’ll be back tomorrow. 🙂
Day 6 – I – Investigate your child’s feelings and pray over them.
Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. Gal. 6:2
Perhaps your child has feelings that you cannot understand or cannot explain. Feelings are not always something that can be explained. This day I’m daring you to ask your child how they feel about the problem WITHOUT correcting or instructing, just simply listening to their feelings. Then take your child’s burdens and pray over them.
Day 7 – O- Observe any changes you see and thank God for them.
give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. I Thess. 5:17
What if you don’t see any changes yet? Thank God for who He is and how you are trusting Him to take care of your children because He loves them even more than you do. And His Word promises it!
BONUS- N-Never give up on praying for your child!
Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. Mark 11:24
Lord Jesus, I pray for all those who read this post. We trust you for eternal salvation- may we trust you with everyday solutions. One of those solutions would be to pray for our children, no matter their age or stage in life. Be with us in this endeavor. Amen.
Do you have any tips on praying for your children? I’d love to read them in the comments below.
God surely uses you, Rachel, in your writings. This is an article I’ll want to share as I counsel women. I’ve been asked that question, too, and your steps of prayer answers the question simply yet profoundly.
Joyfully,
Pamela
Bless you, Pamela! Thank you for your comment. I’ve been praying over what to say to women when they ask this difficult question for a couple weeks. Praise Jesus it makes sense! 🙂
Encouragement “Read your Bible” as a prayer and as important words of wisdom to our children.
I just need to say about today’s reading: I am so thankful for Jesus dying on the cross. His blood that covers my sin and leprosy and anything else that plagues me and my house.
Interesting, Nancy- I’ve been thinking all week about how tedious the leprosy law was in Leviticus and how much we have to be cleansed from sin. I’m still sorting this through the Scripture and my own mind, but oh the depth of the covering of the blood of Jesus. Amen!! Thank you for sharing this!
I found encouragement with the verse Hebrews 9:22 in the Amplified, and the Lord led me to look up the word remission in the dictionary. It is rich with meaning and expands on the word purified and my understanding of the word forgiveness and remission. I found myself appreciating even more what Christ’s blood and sacrifice for us really did/does for us.
These are absolutely wonderful ideas and sadly, the use to be the norm for many families. Thanks for sharing and I am sharing your ideas 🙂 God Bless!
Thank you so much for your ministry! When I pray for my children, I ask God to show me the best way to represent (His love for all of His children) in my love for them. I ask for guidance in helping them love Him with all of their hearts. If they love the Lord with all of their hearts, then surely it will take care of everything else! They will respect me, respect themselves, and most importantly share that love with others!
What a blessing to read this! I have recently taken in my teenage grandson. I’ve always prayed for my children (obviously grown now) and my grandchildren. But having one live with me and be my responsibility physically, mentally, and spiritually is on a different level. It’s funny how ‘parenting’ as a grandparent is so different from normal ‘parenting’. The generational difference has some pros but also some cons. I want so badly to help this wonderful young man with the opportunity I have to guide him into a productive Christian lifestyle. Thank you so much for this very relevant advice. I feel my prayers will be more specific and directed to the problems that are here now and will come in the future.
Bless you Sindie!! I can’t imagine your adjustment, yet opportunity. Bless you for your wisdom and trust in God.