We have been discussing 5 Ways to Reach Our Children’s Hearts and going deeper with practical tips for each area.  First we talked about Keeping Distractions at Bay which includes some great preventative measures to help keep our children from getting distracted from their relationship with God.  

Second, we discussed the next two: Building an Awareness of Sin and Teaching Confession and Forgiveness in the blog How to Deal with Our Kids’ Sin.   When kids understand the importance of confession and asking the Lord for forgiveness, their hearts will soften.

Last we talked about 3 Ways to Help our Kids Depend on God, as the more they rely on the Lord, the more their heart will become humble and open to following Jesus.

Now we will discuss another way to reach our children’s hearts and that is through prayer. In Acts we learn that the early disciples devoted themselves to prayer. (Acts 2:42)  We also know that the prayer of a righteous (mom) is powerful and affective, so praying for our children’s hearts is arguably the most important thing we can do.

Here are three important prayers for our kids.

“For in Christ Jesus you are all sons/daughters of God, through faith.”  Galatians 3:26

  1. Pray they know Jesus and their identity in Him.  This prayer is so crucial because we are praying for their salvation here-that they would understand the gospel and who they are apart from Christ and with Christ.  Then once they trust in Jesus, we can ask the Lord to help them grow in knowing who they are in Christ.  Knowing who they are in Christ is one of the biggest ways the enemy attacks our kids by whispering lies through the culture, peers, and self doubt that they are not enough and that they don’t have a purpose.  We can pray over them out loud and in our quiet prayer time as well that they will come to know Jesus and understand all the great spiritual blessings they have as believers. 

“Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.”  James 4:8

2.  Pray that they grow in their relationship with God.  Living the Christian life is all about a RELATIONSHIP with God, and if our kids can experience that in a personal way, then they are learning to walk the Christian faith on their own.  Pray that they would want to spend personal quiet time with God, talk with Him, and hear from Him through His Word and the Holy Spirit.  The more they can experience his, the more their relationship with God will become their own.

“And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” Matthew  6:13

3.  Pray protection from evil one. The enemy wants nothing more than to deceive our kids and draw them away from the Lord.  God’s Word says our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the spiritual forces of the heavenly realms.  His truth goes on to tell us to pray in all occasions as the way to combat spiritual warfare, so praying for protection from the enemy and for our kids not to be led into temptation is key to the battle warring around them. (Ephesians 6:12)

Praying for our kids is one of the most important things we can do as parents.  The Lord hears our prayers and will give us wisdom and peace as we intercede for them with humble hearts! I would encourage you to write down these prayers and others you feel led to pray and find a time during the day to lift your kids up to the Lord.  It’s our job to pray and be obedient to His leading, it’s the Lord’s job to do the spiritual work.