Praying with Paul for Your Children

Recently, I have been encouraged by our local church’s Wednesday night Bible study through the prayers of Paul.

Our pastors have shown and explained Paul’s beautiful variety of thanksgiving, praise, petition, supplication, and intercession to God on behalf of those he loves. This is instructive for us as Christians in general, but I think it also has a wonderful application for those of us who are fathers.

Below, guided by the prayers of Paul, I’ve simply prayed on paper for our children. These are paraphrases and reflections on ten prayer-related passages from Paul’s letters. What a blessing it is to us and to our children that we can bring them before our Maker and Redeemer.

I trust that these humble prayers will serve to prompt your own prayers for the young ones that God has entrusted to your care.

Romans 1:8-12

Father, we thank you for the truth of the gospel that you have made known in Jesus Christ. He is the foundation of our faith and our access to you in prayer. For our children who believe, we give thanks to you for the gift of faith that you have given them and the ways that it is being displayed in our home and outside it. For those who do not believe, we ask that you would grant them repentance and faith so that they would become our brothers and sisters in Christ. May we and our children glorify your name together, united in Christ, sharing mutual encouragement and harmonious praise for your Name’s sake.

1 Corinthians 1:4–9

We give thanks to you for the grace that you have given them, enriching them with spiritual gifting for your glory. We rest in you, O Faithful Father, who have called us into the fellowship of your Son. We ask that you would call our children into this fellowship, and help them to rest in Jesus. In him alone they will be sustained to the end and declared guiltless in the day of the Lord Jesus Christ.

2 Corinthians 1:3–7

We praise you as the merciful Father and comforting God. We trust that as you bring affliction to our children, that you will comfort them in their affliction. Please do this so that they may comfort others who suffer. As our children partake in a multitude of sufferings for Christ, give them an even greater magnitude of your comfort.

Ephesians 1:15–23

Father, we ask that you would pour out the Holy Spirit to open the eyes of our children’s hearts. We desire that they would know and stand strong in the hope that you have called them to. Make them know the rich blessing of being a part of your prized possession. Help them to depend, not on their own strength, but on your great power that is at work in them. We ask that they would see that the resurrection, ascension, and session of Christ are the demonstration of that very same power with which you are working in them. Would you help them to rejoice and rest in the current and future reign of Christ over every power and person in every age and place, and to praise him as the eternal head of the church.

Philippians 1:3–11

Thank you, Father, for the work that you are doing in our children. We praise you, for you accomplish all that you decree. You have begun a good work in our children, and your purpose to complete it will not fail. On the day of Jesus Christ, you will finish what you started. For our children who have not yet entered into partnership in the gospel with us, we pray that you would turn their hearts to be partakers of grace. We ask that all of our children would abound in love for Jesus and for his church. We ask that their love would be grounded in knowledge and wisdom in righteousness, so that they pursue what is good. Guide them to follow your work and word into holiness, yielding abundant spiritual fruit for your glory.

Colossians 4:3–4

Father, we ask that you would open doors of gospel opportunity for our children, and that you would make them eager and zealous to pray for the same. When they have opportunities to share the gospel, give them boldness and clarity.

1 Thessalonians 5:23–24

Please keep our children. Hold them fast. We praise you as the God of peace who will bring them to full sanctification with perfect preservation. You will bring this to pass until and at the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. We rejoice and rest in your faithfulness to do this.

2 Thessalonians 1:3–12

Father, we thank you for the spiritual growth that you are working in our children. We praise you that they are not what they once were. We thank you, not only for their physical and emotional maturation, but for their spiritual progress. This comes only by the work of your blessed Holy Spirit. We boast of them before you because it is you who receives all credit and honor for every good thing in them. Let us not be hasty or harsh with them. Let us not be frustrated by their weaknesses. Rather, help us as fathers to teach them what it is to suffer for Jesus and to grow in his love. Help us to teach them that you will set all things right. Help us to proclaim the judgment of Jesus to them so that our children who believe will be comforted and our children who do not yet believe will be warned. Make our children worthy of your calling that they may all be among the saints in whom Jesus will be glorified and among whom he will be marveled at. Bless the work of our children for your kingdom. Establish every desire and effort that they have for good, so that Jesus would be glorified in our children and our children would be glorified in Jesus.

1 Timothy 2:1–3

Father, we thank you for the current and future leaders that you will set over our children. Whether kings, congressmen, presidents, monarchs, or tyrants, we ask that you would save them from their sins, help them to lead well, and turn their hearts to serve your purposes. Help our children to live under these men and women, whether godly or ungodly, in a way that glorifies you. Provide a peaceful, quiet, godly, and dignified life for our sons and daughters as they live in your world under the authorities that you establish.

Philemon 4-7, 25

Thank you for the seeds of faith and love that you have planted, watered, grown, and rooted in the hearts of our children. For our sons and daughters that are not reconciled to you, would you make the sharing of our faith effective for their salvation and for the knowledge of every spiritual blessing in Christ. Thank you for their love for you and for your people. Thank you for the truths they confess and the godly friendships they enjoy from your hand. We pray that you would bring them to mature knowledge of Jesus Christ through your inerrant, infallible Word and your errant, fallible saints. We thank you for the comfort and joy that you have blessed us with because of the spiritual good you have wrought in them. We praise your holy Name for every good thing that you have shared with them. May your grace go with them, so that they love you with all their hearts for all their days. We bring all these prayers to you in the Name of your Son and our Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.