Power-Packed Prayers

How the Bible can strengthen your prayers for your kids

By Grace Fox

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Wash laundry. Cook meals. Celebrate birthdays. Attend parent-teacher conferences. Chauffeur, chauffeur, chauffeur. Countless tasks fall on a parent's shoulders, but one responsibility rises above the restprayer. And that's powerful stuff!

Yet many of us find ourselves unsure of how to tap into that power. In a recent Focus on the Family article, author Bob Hostetler wrote, "For years I prayed daily for my two children. I prayed for God's blessing and protection throughout their days. I prayed for them to be happy. I asked God to help them through difficult times and to help them make wise choices. My prayers were regular, heartfelt and, for the most part, pedestrian and repetitive."

I can relate. My conversations with God often sounded like a parrot with limited vocabulary: "Dear God, bless my children. Keep them safe. Amen." In my heart I wanted to pray more deeply, but I didn't know how to change. Then the answer came.

After we moved to a new community, a mom introduced herself at the school bus stop. "Would you like to join our Moms in Touch prayer group?" she asked. She explained that several mothers met weekly, praying the words of the Bible for their children and their children's schools.

Praying from the Bible? That's a novel idea, I thought as I accepted her invitation. Little did I know that the experience of praying Scripture would change my life, transforming prayer into an essential part of my faith journey.

In all honesty, the first meeting intimidated me. These women pray so eloquently, I worried. What if I say something wrong? Eager to "do it right," I listened intently and realized that biblical prayer was simpler than I'd thought.

At my second meeting, the leader suggested using Proverbs 2 to pray for our children's growth in wisdom. We opened our Bibles and each used a verse to structure our prayer. I swallowed my self-conscious fears and started us off, saying, "Heavenly Father, make our children's ears attentive to wisdom, incline their hearts to understanding." Another voice interjected, "Please teach them to cry for discernment and lift their voices for understanding. Teach them to seek wisdom as silver and search for her as for hidden treasures."

A third mom added, "God, you've promised that if they do these things, they will discern the fear of the Lord, and discover the knowledge of God. Please fulfill your promise in our children's lives."

Wow! For the first time, I felt as though my prayers echoed the longings of my heart. The concept hooked me.

Obviously, the Bible is packed with wonderful verses to pray for our childrenmore than we could ever find on our own. So it helps to have a specific approach to finding passages to pray, such as praying around the idea of decision-making or friendships.

Praying Head to Toe

One of my favorite ways to use scriptural prayer is to pray for my children from head to toe using the Bible to ask God's blessing on various aspects of their lives. This method works for all children, no matter how old they are or what they're going through. Pray each prayer for a week straight, writing the verse on several index cards and posting them around the house and in the car. Pray the verse whenever you think of your children and in a matter of days, you'll have learned the verse by heart. Just fill in the blanks with your child's name and you're off and praying!

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Originally published in: Christian Parenting Today, Page 46

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