5 Ideas for Making Time to Pray for Your Children

Praying Scripture out loud over your family is your biggest weapon against the enemy of discouragement, sickness, worry, protection and favor.

Though we know that we are called to “pray continually” 1 Thessalonians 5:17 (NIV), our busy schedules and the growing demands of parenthood require our prayers to be quick and done on the go. Here are five ideas for you to try to incorporate quick and powerful prayers for your children.

1. Drive-through prayer

We have drive-through banks, restaurants, and pharmacies. Why not drive-through prayer? When you drive through your neighborhood, past schools and friends’ homes, you can pray for kids and their families. Or praying in the car on the way to school or to places creates an atmosphere of discussion, prayer habit and blessing over your family.

Think about it: even though the time spent praying every time you drop your child off at school may be less than a minute, if you pray several times a week over the course of several years, that amounts to a lot of prayer!

2. Write it down

Like grocery shopping without a list, you will likely have a hard time remembering what to pray about without writing it down. The hustle and bustle of parenting may make it easy to forget about specific things to pray about for your kids.

In addition to writing it down as a list, add specific prayers with a verse to claim the Lord’s promise.

Try to keep a notebook or use a note app on your phone to remind yourself of how you can specifically pray for your kids’ needs. There are also many apps that allow you to record yourself and even transcribe your words that make it easy to quickly jot down specific prayers throughout the day. Then at the end of the day, you can pull out these prayer notes.

3. Pray with friends

Committing to pray with friends with children can be a great source of motivation and accountability. Commitments with friends— “I’ll pray for your kids if you’ll pray for mine”—can be motivating.

Find friends with children with whom you can make a commitment— “I’ll pray for your kids if you’ll pray for mine.” You can agree to pray for a particular length of time, such as a school year or sport season. Knowing that your friend is counting on you can encourage you to keep praying.

4. By the book

“Pray-as-you-read” is another great method. Reading about Daniel facing the lions will naturally cause you to seek God for that kind of courageous faith for your children.

Browse the Psalms for specific prayers: “Your word is a lamp to (child’s name)’s feet and a light for his/her path” Psalm 119:105 (NIV) or “Teach (child’s name) O LORD, to follow your decrees; then (he or she) will keep them to the end” Psalm 119:33 (NIV).

5. In the moment

Sometimes we do our best praying while we do our daily rounds: walking the dog, driving to work, preparing dinner.

Try to maintain a mindset of prayerfulness as you go through your daily routines, no matter how trivial they may seem. Thank Jesus for the opportunity to teach your child skills for life. Ask the Holy Spirit to give you patience on your commute. Rest in the presence of your Father in heaven when you feel overwhelmed.

Adapted from “Quick and Powerful Prayers for Our Children” by Letitia Suk, Copyright © 2009 in Pray!, a publication of NavPress and The Navigators. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved.