Praying for our children

Shortly after the arrival of our first child, the huge responsibility of raising a child physically, spiritually, and emotionally settled in on me. I knew right away that I would need constant reliance on God to accomplish this task. My own prayer life sky rocketed as my heart overflowed with all the needs of this precious baby. As the birth of our second child approached I knew where my strength came from and found great direction, comfort and even confidence in His working in and through our growing family. Around that time I heard from an older mom of her praying through a different chapter of the Bible for each of her children. I knew this would give further focus to my prayers for my children. Ever since that time, during pregnancy I have chosen a chapter for the coming child. Now, each child has a special chapter in the Bible that I pray through on their behalf each month. It adds meaning, direction, and power to my prayer life.

To start with I had to choose a chapter. For each child God impressed a chapter on my heart during that time, and it became “their” chapter. I have used: Colossians 3, Romans 12, Ephesians 5, Philippians 4, and Psalm 119 (a long one, I know, but so rich in what I desire for my ‘baby.’) Many chapters in both the Old and New Testament would be suited for praying through.

Then I read through the chapter and find 25-30 phrases that jump out at me that I want to ‘pray into’ my child. Look for words like peacemaker, meekness, patience, bearing with others, proclaiming Christ, etc.

I then put mine into a calendar format, print it out and keep it in my Bible for my morning prayer time. Later this week I will post more details about how I have taken the chapter and turned it into a personal prayer calendar.

Update (March 17, 2009): Prayer is just one component of successful parenting. I will be looking more closely at motherhood in a number of posts over the next four to six weeks. I would love for you to join me. And, if you are interested, I am giving away a book for the occasion as well.

(Works for me Wednesday)