Testimony Tuesday: Praying for the Kids

If you have read my blog for very long, I hope that you have noticed that God has given me a passion for prayer.  I think it is one of the best gifts you can give anyone!  Today I am going to talk a little about different ways to pray for your children using some of the tools that I use to pray for mine.  You do not have to use any of them or you can use all of them. This post is ONLY meant to share with you some tools that people have shared with me that I have found useful. 

1.  31 days of prayer for your children (see link below).  This is a GREAT tool. I got it during a bible study and use it every. single. day. It will cover most things--if you don't know where to start--this is where I started and LOVE LOVE LOVE this. This Calendar of 31 things to Pray for Your Children. You can click on it and print the calendar. 

I made these prayer cards as a gift for my sister-in-law.  I just used each day from the calendar...but I made it cute...cause I love it.  I uploaded the printable so you can make them to if you want.  They are just typed--nothing fancy--and they are set to print on 4x12 (just take a 12x12 sheet of scrapbook paper and cut it into three 4 inch strips--it just prints better that way.)  (Again--it is FREE--you don't have to sign up for anything.  Just his download and wait for it to pop up.)

Oh, and I also pray these things for their future spouses.  And for Matt and I.  (: 


2.  Make a list.  A lady from our church came to talk to us about parenting and she told us to begin with the end in mind. Think about who we wanted our children to be when they grow up. What character qualities do we want for them? Make a list and then pray those things for your children.
Some examples include (all these examples are from Gina Franske):

• A deep, abiding love for God and His Word
• A thankful and obedient heart that overflows with His indescribable joy
• They will be spiritual leaders among their friends

[A little digressing...Our list has also helped me keep my parenting in perspective. Is this an issue that is going to affect their character or is it just them being their age?? It also helps to be intentional in teaching the things that are important and on that list. A bonus idea--In our discipleship we were told to make a list of things we wanted our kids to know before they left the house so that we could be intentional to teach those things, too.]


3. Scriptures that you want to declare for your children. God has really been teaching me to pray His Scripture for our family, friends, and just different situations. A couple of scriptures I like to pray include:

• Colossians 1:9-10 That God would give them complete knowledge of His will and spiritual understanding so that the way they live will always honor and please Him. That they will produce every kind of good spiritual fruit all the while growing as they learn to know Him better and better.
• Romans 16:17 That they would have a heart that runs after things that are holy and pleasing to God and a heart that will run just as quickly from evil and ungodliness.
• Proverbs 4:23 That they would guard their heart above all else, for it determines the course of their lives.

There are TONS of good scriptures to pray for yourself, your spouse, and your children.  A lady came to MOPS and gave us a great list of scriptures to pray over and declare for your children and if I can find it--I will share it too! 

4.  Day to day prayers.  Sometimes it is just, "Lord, help Reid to stop when he hears my voice today and listen."  Or, "Lord I am in a mood--please help me."  Or, "Please let me see the importance of stopping and listening to Lilly's 700th story today even though I need to be doing 48 million other things."  Ha! 

I just want to encourage each of you to become prayer warriors for your children.  I truly believe that it is the BEST gift we can give our children.  It doesn't have to look like the above--that is just a few options of tools you can use--it won't work for everyone.  But however it works for you, I urge you to pray without ceasing for your children. 

I am also curious to know...do you guys have any prayer tools?  What do you like to pray for your children?  Favorite scriptures to pray?  I would love to hear about them!!