Prayer for our Children

Dear Lord,

I come before You today and I pray that You would protect my children. Build a hedge around them and guard them physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Block their paths so that they cannot move toward activities and relationships that would harm them. Deliver them from evil and rescue them from a destructive lifestyle. Restore them to their senses and bring them home from the land of the enemy. Guide each of them into truth. Teach them Lord, to recognize deceptive ideas and thoughts. Make them alert to the lies of the enemy, and teach them how to resist the devil by faith. Give my son and my daughters the courage to be honest with themselves and with You. Spirit of God, please convict them of sin and their need for You. Don't allow my children to blame others for troubles in their lives. Show them that they alone are responsible to their choices. Lord, thank You for drawing my children with love and tenderness to Your side, even in their desert place. Show each of them that You are with them, You delight in them. Amid the clamor for their attention and affections, may they hear Your voice calling them and respond to Your deep, deep love. Cause my children to call out to You in their distress and confusion. Cause them to seek You with abandon. Thank You for promising to answer them. Lord, please remove my children's heart of stone and replace it with a new, soft heart. Make this heart into a bed of fertile soil so that the seed of truth that is sown into it will grow deep roots and bring forth a rich crop of life. Reveal to my children that lasting refreshment and satisfaction can only be found in You. In You they will find an abundant life. Lord, lead my children to friends who will graciously point them to You. Cause them to be attracted to those who are attracted to You. Scatter like chaff in the wind any friends or relationships that will bring them harm. Give them the courage to please only You, and not man. Produce in my children a humble spirit that is yielded only to You. Teach them how to live in You, and show them that apart from You they can do nothing. Lord, please reveal to my children how valuable and significant their life is. Give them a vision for their purpose in the world, and show them the possibilities for their future. Through You, they can do all things. Help them to see that they do not need to condemn themselves.Show them that they can experience complete forgiveness through the work You have already finished on their behalf. Give them the grace to repent of and let go of the past. Thank You Lord for offering hope and comfort to my children. Thank You for restoring all the years the locusts have eaten and bestowing on each of my children a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of despair. Teach each of my children that following You is not about following rules. Show them that You long for a genuine relationship with them. Lord, please cause my children to grow up in You, maturing into an oak of righteousness for the display of Your splendor. Help them to grow in wisdom and stature, and in favor with You and with man. Teach them to live in freedom, animated and motivated by Your Spirit and in step with Him. Teach them to walk by faith. Help them to see beyond their circumstances and trust You with every part of their lives. Impress on my children the need to protect their mind, guarding its purity through the choices they makes about what they look at, listen to, and think about. Lord, in this fast paced world of instant gratification, plant in my children the perseverance they need to succeed. Cause them to be still and wait patiently before You. Help them to rest in Your power. Establish the work of their hands. Turn my children's focus away from themselves and onto You. May they allow Your power to flow through them to others. Teach them to love others as themselves. Cause my children to love You with all of their heart, all their soul, and all their mind. May they live all their days in love with and rejoicing only in You.
I ask this according to Your good and perfect will,
In Jesus Holy name,
Amen



(2005 B.J. Reinhard)