How to Follow God’s Prompting When Praying For Our Children

What does the Bible say about praying for your child?

Praying for our children is probably the most important thing we can do as parents. Praying for your child is a gift and a privilege, one that we should take seriously. 

So what do you do when you feel God prompt your heart to pray?

Here’s How to Follow God’s Prompting When Praying For Our Children

One night I was busy trying to finish many things on my rather long “to do” list when I suddenly felt a prompting from the Lord.  He brought to mind my son Mike, who is in the Philippines as a missionary with his wife, and family.

They are 13 hours ahead of us over there, and I immediately thought of the fact that they would soon be starting their Sunday. Sundays are very busy for Mike, as he is very involved in some of the church ministries.

I felt the Lord was not only telling me to pray for my son, but also to send him a quick e-mail letting him know he was in my prayers.

Being right in the middle of something, I felt like finishing what I was doing or maybe reaching out later, but I really felt I should do it right away. 

I went and emailed this:

“Hey, I was just thinking of you, and wanted to let you know that I’m praying for you! Hope you have a good Sunday.

 Love ya!“

Within a very short time, I received the following reply:

“Thanks, Mom! I need it today.

Your timing is impeccable.”

I know it wasn’t my timing that had anything to do with it. But rather, it was my being in tune to God’s voice encouraging me to pray for him right then. I followed God’s prompting to pray for my child and it was the perfect timing.

You see, I kind of had the thought that he might have been feeling discouraged. I felt he possibly even asked God to show Him that He cared, and that others cared too. 

I’m not sure what the situation was, but I’m very glad I acted when God spoke to me. 

This reminded me of how important it is to being committed to praying for our children daily! Yes even as they get older, or when they are adults. We can’t always be there to help them and we can’t do much to change their circumstances, but we can pray!

However, we know the One who can, and He tells us:  “… concerning the work of my hands command ye me.” Isaiah 45:11b

What better gift can we give to our children, than following God’s prompting to pray for our children?

The gift of faithfully bringing them before God and asking God’s protection and blessing on them?

We may not be able to give our kids all the “things” we might like to, but we can pray.

Many times over the past 38 years of raising our children, I have had times when I was discouraged about what I was seeing in my kids. I would find myself kind of mumbling about how they were acting. Yes, this was despite the fact that we were trying to consistently teach them God’s Word, and build their character.

Every time I got to that point, the Lord would quietly remind me “Kathie, you haven’t been praying for them as you should.” God reminded me that “doing” all the right things as a parent wasn’t enough.

I could never be a perfect parent, but I could be a praying parent. That’s what makes the difference in our children’s lives.

What an awesome opportunity we have to partner with God. We can bring our children and their needs before Him in prayer on a daily basis!