6 Things to Pray for Your Kids Every Day

I don’t think it’s possible to overstate the impact of a parent’s prayers in the life of her child.

At the very beginning of my parenting journey, God drew my attention to the biblical account of Hannah in 1 Samuel 1-2.

She was a praying woman, a praying mom who devoted her son to the Lord quite literally, sending him to the temple to live and work when he was very young.

But the temple was a wicked place during that time, and Samuel was surrounded by immorality. Yet from his boyhood and throughout his whole life, God spoke to Samuel powerfully, using him to speak his truth to multitudes of people, including multiple kings.

I am convinced that God’s blessing on Samuel was at least in part due to the prayers of his mother.

Praying for Your Kids

There are countless things you could pray for your kids, but what should you pray? And in particular, what should you pray for them every day?

I asked the Lord for wisdom about this a couple of years ago, and He pointed me to Paul’s prayer for the Philippian believers. It turns out that the six requests in this passage are power-packed for your kids and mine, succinctly covering a wide range of what Christian parents desire for their children.

What’s especially awesome is the power that accompanies praying the Scriptures. When a prayer is recorded in God’s own Word, we know with certainty that it reflects the desires of His heart, which means we can pray in faith, knowing He will grant our requests (John 14:13; 1 John 5:14-15).

And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. (Philippians 1:9-11)

6 Things to Pray For Your Kids Every Day

1. Abounding love

Ask God to give your kids a love for Him that is so overflowing that it can’t help but splash onto the people He has placed their lives.

2. Knowledge and discernment

Pray that God would draw your children into a close relationship with Him, not just knowing about Him mentally, but that they would know Him relationally. Then pray that they would grow in wisdom and discernment.

3. Excellence

Ask God to give your kids a desire for excellence, rejecting the mediocrity that is so prevalent in our culture and instead striving to give their best and seek the best in all things.

4. Purity

Ask the Lord to protect your child’s purity. Pray that He would give you wisdom about safeguarding her purity while she is young, and about guiding her toward taking on that responsibility for herself as she grows. Ask that her heart would be receptive to your teaching and to His leading.

5. Fruitfulness

This is a difficult prayer, but invite the Lord’s pruning in your kids’ lives, knowing that they ultimately belong Him and trusting that He loves them even more than you ever could. Pray that God would keep them from pursuing busyness, and would instead help them to be purposeful and intentional in living fruitful lives for His Kingdom.

6. A life that glorifies God

Pray that God would grant your children humble hearts, and that He would help them avoid wrong motives and desires. Ask Him to bring glory to Himself as they steward well His blessings in their lives.

Covering our children in prayer is a both a privilege and a responsibility. By God’s grace, we can spend our prayer time each day with confidence in God’s answers, knowing that time invested praying for our children will result in a harvest, both for them and for us.

A Guide to Praying the Scriptures

Philippians 1:9-11 is just one of Paul’s prayers. His letters are filled with them!

If you’re looking for a handy guide to using Paul’s prayers as a model for your own, download a digital copy of Praying with Paul: A Family Prayer Guide.