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Welcome to Week 9 of our Raising Boys series. If you’d like to read previous posts, you can catch up at Raising Boys!
Praying for your son can be daunting at times. You only really, as a mother, have your own life’s experiences, as well as those of close friends, to draw from. So what if you want to pray a lot more for your son, than you were prayed for as a child? What if you don’t know how to pray, or WHAT to pray? Praying can feel aimless and overwhelming; there is so much to pray for – where do you as a mother, start?!
While browsing through Stormie Omartian’s book called The Power of a Praying Parent, I found these tips and quotes (all in italics) really helpful:
5 Areas To Pray Into For Your Son
Identifying God-given gifts and talents
From the earliest days of our sons lives, we can pick up on natural talents, and pray for our sons to grow into and use those talents!
“What gifts and talents has God planted in YOUR child? Every child has them. They are there, whether you can see them or not. The Bile says, “Each one has his own gift from God, one in this manner and another in that” (1 Corinthians 7:7). Sometimes it takes prayer to uncover them. When God gives you a glimpse of your child’s potential for greatness, love and pray him into being that…
Pray that your child will develop and excel in the gifts and talents God has given him, and let him know he has a unique purpose and significance in this world.”
Being the person God created
Encouraging your son to develop into, and be, the best HIM he can be, is powerful! Help him figure out who he is, and pray into it too.
“One of the devil’s plans for young people is to get them to compare themselves with others, judge themselves as deficient, and then seek to be someone they were not created to be… I’ve known far too many young people who, by the time they reach their teens, long to be someone other than who they are. Instead of appreciating who God made them to be and spending their energies trying to be their best at that, they strive and strain to be something they can’t be, doing something that will never fulfill them. Our prayers can block this plan of the enemy and give our children a clear vision of themselves and their future.”
Attracting Godly friends and role models
Proverbs 12:26 says “The righteous should chose his friends carefully, for the way of the wicked leads them astray”
“One of the greatest influences in our children’s lives will be their friends and role models. How can we NOT pray about them?”
Praying for our son’s friends, trusting our gut instincts as to who and what we like or dislike in our son’s friends, and helping them choose friends, all play a powerful role in making sure the influences in our son’s lives are positive ones.
Honoring parents and resisting rebellion
Teaching our sons to honor us as parents, to honor God in who we are and HOW we are in our homes, is powerful.
” It seems odd to require someone to honor us, doesn’t it? If it’s really honor, shouldn’t they do it without being told? Well, this may be true concerning other people in our lives, but not our children. They must be taught. The Bible says, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise: that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth” (Ephesians 6:1-3)…
“Rebellion will surface in your child at one time or another. Be ready to meet the challenge with prayer and the Word of God, along with correction, discipline and teaching.”
Instilling the desire to learn
This has got to be one of my favorite areas to pray into for my small children! How powerful if put in place early, making a great foundation for a life of learning and growth.
“A child’s ability and desire to learn cannot be taken for granted. Even while our child is still in the womb we can pray, “Lord, let this child be knit perfectly together with a good, strong, healthy mind and body and be taught by You forever.” The earlier we start praying the better, of course, but no matter what age your child is, your prayers will make a positive and permanent difference.”
If you’re a Christian mom looking for a great book full of different prayers for all areas of a child’s life, I’d encourage you to get Stormie’s book on Amazon or at your local Christian bookstore. It has 31 chapters, each of which has a short story/ reflection, and a prayer. It’s a great book to start you on a prayer life for your son, or to add to your current one!
<< Last Week: 5 Stages of Mommy Burnout
>> Next Week: Conserving That Competitive Streak
Recommended reading as mentioned in the Raising Boys Series.
- Bringing Up Boys
- Raising Boys: Why Boys Are Different – and How to Help Them Become Happy and Well-Balanced Men
- Bringing Up Boys ~ Parent Workbook
- The 5 Love Languages of Children
- Wild at Heart: Discovering the Secret of a Man’s Soul
- Your Brain on Childhood: The Unexpected Side Effects of Classrooms, Ballparks, Family Rooms, and the Minivan
- Boundaries with Kids: How Healthy Choices Grow Healthy Children
- Building Confidence in Your Child
- Parenting Isn’t for Cowards: The ‘You Can Do It’ Guide for Hassled Parents from America’s Best-Loved Family Advocate
- The Power of a Praying® Parent (Power of Praying)
JDaniel4's Mom says
I am hoping and praying that my son will be strong in each of these areas!