Praying for Your Husband and Children

Photo by Juliane Liebermann on Unsplash

One of the most powerful ways to pray is to pray the promises and truths of God over other people and ourselves. This way, we know we are praying in God’s will and when we pray in agreement with God’s will, we know He hears us.

Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full. John 16:23-24

We must be careful with this! God is not a genie who gives us everything we ask for. But when we are walking in the power of the Spirit, in obedience to the Lord, and we are abiding in Him and His Word is abiding in us, we pray according to God’s will.  That is what it means to ask for things in Jesus’ Name. We are praying according to His will and for the purposes of His kingdom. Our prayers are powerful and effective if we are walking in the righteousness of Christ (James 5:16).

To get ready to pray for other people, or ourselves, we’ll want to:

  1. Have a saving relationship with Jesus ourselves.
  2. Confess and repent of any sin in our own lives.
  3. Praise God for His amazing character.
  4. Thank God for His goodness and His good gifts in our lives.

In this prayer, I am assuming your husband is a believer. But even if he is not, it’s fine to pray for him like this, asking God that he might become a believer in Christ and that he might be completely transformed by the abundant new Life Jesus has prepared for him.

  • First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people,  or kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 1 Tim. 2:1-4

It is our sacred responsibility and honor to stand in the gap for our husbands, knowing that they are under constant spiritual attack as the leaders of our homes. Who better to pray for them than their wives?The things we are praying together, we declare out loud in faith that God is bringing these things about according to His Word and His will.

Pray with me, inserting the name of your husband (most of these things you can also pray for your children and yourself, as well):

Lord,

We thank and praise You that in Jesus Christ, my husband, _________________, is:

  • The head and not the tail. (Deut. 28:13)
  • More than a conqueror. (Rom. 8:37)
  • Seated in the heavenlies with Jesus. (Eph. 2:6)
  • Able to walk in the power and holiness of Jesus. (Eph. 6:10, 2 Tim. 1:7)
  • The priest and leader of our family. (1 Cor. 11:3,  1 Pet. 2:5)
  • A beautiful representation of the love, humility, leadership, and sacrifice of Jesus in our family. (Eph. 5:22-33)
  • Able to see the God-given way out of any temptation. (1 Cor. 10:13)
  • Able to hear God’s voice clearly and to obey Him. (John 10:27)
  • Able to experience the victory of Christ every day over sin and this world. (Deut. 20:4, Rom. 6:14, Rom. 8:31)
  • Being conformed into the image of Jesus for the glory of God. (Rom. 8:28-29)
  • Held firmly in the loving hand of Jesus and protected by God the Father. (John 17:11)
  • Able to find and live out his God-given calling, spiritual gifts, and ministry. (1 Cor. 12:7)
  • Fruitful for the kingdom of Christ. (John 15:5, Gal. 5:22-23)
  • Filled to overflowing with the Living Water of Christ. (John 7:38)

 

I can even take a passage of Scripture and personalize it to my husband or my children (like the Beatitudes in Matthew 5:3-10):

Lord,

I thank and praise You that my husband is blessed to be able to:

  • Humble himself before You, recognizing how great and exalted You are and how lowly he is.
  • Mourn before You over his own sin and over sin and injustice in this world and that You will comfort him.
  • Hunger and thirst for righteousness and he will be filled!
  • Be merciful so that he will be shown mercy.
  • Be pure in heart for He will see God.
  • Be a peacemaker and a child of God.
  • Be persecuted in this world because of righteousness.
  • Be a citizen of heaven.

Amen!

Or I can pray the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23) over my family members and myself:

Lord,

I thank and praise You that Your Spirit is working mightily in my husband, children, and myself to produce heavenly, eternal fruit in us. You are bringing forth unconditional love, divine joy, supernatural peace, godly patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control in us. Thank You, Lord!

Amen!

I can pray Romans 8 over us:

Lord,

I thank and praise You that we now have the mind of Christ and are no longer under the control of the flesh! Our minds are now life and peace in Jesus! We have the power of the Spirit to put to death the misdeeds of the body. We don’t have a spirit of fear but a Spirit of sonship with Christ Jesus! Thank You that we are all co-heirs with Christ! Thank You that if we share in His sufferings, we can also share in His glory! Thank You that Your Spirit intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 

Thank You that You use all things – good and bad – to accomplish Your good purposes in our lives. That You will cause everything to work for our ultimate good and Your glory. Thank You that You are conforming us to the image of Jesus through all that is happening around us and to us. We receive all that You want to do in our lives. Thank You that we are predestined to be Your children. We are called. We are justified by the blood of Jesus. We will be glorified with You in heaven!

Thank You for Your incredible generosity in providing Jesus for our salvation and that You will provide all that we need here in this life and in eternity! Thank You that nothing can separate us from the love of God through Jesus. Thank You that we are more than conquerors through Christ!

Amen!

Or I could pray the prayers of Paul. Or pray through some of the Psalms. Or the promises of Scripture for believers.

 

This is a great way to pray for our children, others, and ourselves, as well!

PRAYER

Lord,

Teach us to walk in Your righteousness, in obedience, and in holiness as we begin to truly grasp the depths of Your love and provision for us. Teach us to pray powerfully and effectively to help birth Your will and Your purposes in our lives and in the lives of those all around us for Your glory! Thank You for the honor and high privilege of prayer that You have given us. Help us to appreciate and value this incredible gift and how You have decided to allow us to be part of Your work on earth.

Amen!

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What are some ways you love to pray for others and for yourself? We’d love to hear about it.

RESOURCES

Verses about Prayer

How Can I Be Sure I Am Praying According to the Will of God?  by www.gotquestions.org

What Did Jesus Mean When He Said, “Ask and You Shall Receive?” by www.gotquestions.org

What Is the Key to Effective Prayer? by www.gotquestions.org

A Prayer to Change the Spiritual Atmosphere in Our Homes by Radiant

My Posts about Prayer

E.M. Bounds book “The Necessity of Prayer” – free download

 

11 comments

  1. Thank you April, I will be using these prayers. Thank you for the examples as I sometimes don’t know how to pray. Kind of embarrassing to admit since I’m a long time believer but I tend to freeze up when praying out loud especially. I wonder if it’s a spiritual attack.

    1. Cara,

      The enemy would love to keep us from praying. Or to encourage us to pray with wrong motives. That is why I love the power of praying the truth, promises, and prayers of Scripture. I’m so glad this is a blessing.

      If you do freeze up, speak praises to God out loud. Yield yourself to the Lord. Sing praise songs. Invite His Spirit to be welcome there with you. You can even, if you feel you need to, speak out loud and say something like, “Satan has no authority here, I am under the authority of Jesus Christ, alone! In the Name and power of Jesus, all demons must flee because only Jesus is welcome here!”

      But honestly, as you praise and thank God, demons won’t feel welcome there. They will flee. As we focus on praising and worshipping the Lord and speaking His truth, His Spirit moves powerfully in us and through us.

      Much love!

  2. Hi April,
    Years ago, I completely lost my faith in God by praying for my family. A close friend of mine has recently lost her faith in God by praying for her husband.

    This is the kind of advice we followed in praying for our families that led to the destruction of our faith.

    – Mop your entire house with holy water.
    – Sprinkle blessed salt around your house.
    – Smear blessed oil around your bed.
    – Say novenas (a catholic tradition of saying the same prayer every day for 9 days). I bought a book of novena prayers and each one said at the bottom “This is a very powerful novena that has never been known to fail”. I said novena after novena expecting and hoping for some change and things only got worse and worse.
    – Go to a particular bookstore and buy a particular cross and take the cross to a particular monk to get it blessed. Then place that cross over your front door and say the “Our Father” before it daily.
    – Go to mass daily and confession weekly.

    The more I prayed and performed these gimmicks, the worse things in my family got and I ended up completely hurt, bitter and angry at God. I hated God and wanted nothing to do with him for almost 10 years…until I had a stranger approached me on a beach and led me to pray and give my life to Christ.

    My friend had the same experience. The more she prayed and performed these gimmicks, the worse her marriage got and now she’s filing for divorce and wants nothing to do with God. She reacts with anger when her friends offer to pray for her because she’s been so emotionally and spiritually burned by these gimmicks.

    Losing your faith in God through following gimmicks is not isolated among Catholics. I know many Protestants who lost their faith in God through gimmicks like sending “seed money” to particular TV-evangelists or to their minister or by “naming and claiming things in the name of Jesus”.

    Can you possibly do an article about how to discern between genuine prayer and gimmicks?

    1. By the way, even after I came back to Christ, I was so terrified of getting burnt by gimmicks that I shied away from praying for my family for a long time. I didn’t want to get my hopes up that my prayers would be answered and then heartbroken, devastated and disappointed afterwards. I don’t want to lose my faith in God ever again. Now when I pray for my family, I try to hold the outcome of my prayers loosely so I don’t go through that again.

    2. Nikki,

      Oh, goodness! That is terrible. What you are describing is much more of an attempt at something like a “magic spell” than prayer. The person’s faith is in themselves, the
      “magic words,” or the “holy water” or whatever else is being used to try to force one’s own will.

      Prayer is about relationship with God. It is about surrendering our will to His and trusting HIM. It is about two way communication and it is about waiting on Him and knowing His wisdom is infinitely greater than our own.

      Some key red flags are things like:

      – If we want our prayer request more than we want God. (idolatry)
      – If we trust the prayer itself or the rituals we are doing more than we trust God.
      – If we are trying to manipulate God to make Him submit to us.
      – If we treat God like some cosmic Genie and think that if we do/say the “right words” He has to give us what we want regardless of any sinful motives on our part or whether we are praying in His will.

      Real prayer involves:
      – Humility before God.
      – The understanding that God is in charge, not me.
      – Praying according to God’s will as revealed in His Word.
      – Faith that God will do what is ultimately best.
      – The understanding that God chooses to use our trials to help us grow in spiritual maturity and the willingness to submit to hardships and difficulties and to seek to learn what God desires us to learn in those times.
      – Dying to self, giving up our will and seeking God’s will far above everything else.
      – Depending on the Holy Spirit to move and change people rather than me trying to take the place of the Holy Spirit or force my way.

      I am planning to take a break for the next three weeks. But I will prayerfully consider such a post. How tragic that people believe this line of teaching and think that it is prayer!

      1. Hi April,
        I agree with you completely. It really felt like I was performing a series of magic tricks and spells and forcing God to do what I wanted Him to do. It looks like witchcraft to me now. It has nothing to do with prayer at all.

        I have learned a lot about prayer since I came back to Christ and through reading this blog. The motives behind your prayer and the condition of your heart matter more than anything else. Just yesterday I read a post on “Can you pray too much for your marriage?” and it reinforced my understanding of prayer.

        I’m so happy that I know this now so I will be able to teach my son what prayer is really about so he can have a real relationship with God.

        Thanks so much for all that you do. Your ministry is powerfully leading people into a right relationship with Christ.

        1. Nikki,

          I’m so thankful that you know now that this approach was not prayer. No wonder it didn’t work. God will not be manipulated like that.

          How I praise God for what He is showing you and how you are growing!

          You are also welcome to search my blog for “prayer day” where I have a number of posts that talk about different aspects of prayer.

          Much love!

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