Influence your Children through Prayer

Are you separated from your children? When you think about your children, no matter their age, do you worry about them? Perhaps you feel guilt, regrets or deep sadness over being separated from your children. Maybe you feel helpless or powerless to be the parent you always wanted to be. Don’t despair. God has given a wonderful promise. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and wonderful results. The key word in this promise is righteous person. When you are saved for Jesus and clothed in the righteousness of Christ Jesus by faith your prayers for your children are powerful and will influence their life toward Christ Jesus.  God is omniscient and knows everything about your children. He knows where they are physically even if you don’t. God knows the emotional and spiritual issues they may be facing over your choices or their own choices. And God loves your children. You can trust God with your children.

The second key word in this promise from God is earnest prayer. Do you really and truly believe God can and God will answer your prayers? If you feel so much guilt that you can’t believe God would listen to your prayers, then perhaps you need to forgive yourself. Earnest prayer is sincere and confident based on the truth of God’s Written Word. Earnest prayer is persistent and doesn’t give up. Earnest prayer desires God’s will over a situation. Earnest prayer is patient and waiting with expectation. Earnest prayer trusts God for the outcome.

God commands don’t worry but pray about everything with an attitude of thanksgiving. And then God promises to give you peace if you obey. God knows you will worry and stress over things so worry for a minute then trust it to God. Don’t take your prayer back thinking you can handle the situation better and faster than God. Understand that God may not answer in the way you asked or take your advice. But God’s timing is always perfect.

Listen to what God says: “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. If you do this, you will experience God’s peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7)

What is prayer? Prayer is talking to God and listening to God. It is a conversation with the Lord Jesus. Prayer can be spoken a loud or quietly in your thoughts. No one can steal your ability to pray. No one can stop you from praying. But understand you can not manipulate God by elegantly spoken words for show to others who may be listening. Prayer is personal. Prayer is a gift from God to you.

An effective way to pray for your children is to put their name into scripture and pray God’s Word back to Him. In the following examples, put your child’s name into the blank.

Open ______’s eyes and turn him/her from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that he/she may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in Jesus. (Acts 26:18)

Lord, May _______ trust in You with all his/her heart and not depend on his/her own understanding. (Proverbs 3:5)