Praying Over Your Children (Part 2)

While attending a Promise Keepers event in 2005, I heard another powerful prayer for children that spoke to my heart. As I shared in my last post, I'd already been praying the Priestly Blessing (Numbers 6:24-26) over Amanda every night before she went to sleep. The theme of the event was unleashing the raw power of your heart and that this is done when we willingly and joyfully serve others in love in His name.

Serving our families is the place where this begins for God's man. Our greatest godly desire for our children is that Our Heavenly Father would pour out his blessing upon them. The prayer I heard that night, which Amanda has heard every night since, is this: Lord, protect her from evil. Cover her with Christ's blood. Fulfill your purpose in her life.

Our hardwired fatherly instinct is to protect our children. This prayer asks the One who overcame evil to protect her from the source of all evil. This prayer asks for the reality of the Gospel to not only provide the foundation of her life, but permeate every single part of it. This prayer asks that when people see her, they see a child of God who loves Him with all of her heart, soul, mind and strength. This prayer asks God to take the gifts and talents that He was written on her heart and to use them to advance His Kingdom and to allow her to fulfill His purpose in her generation (Acts 13:36).

Praying over our children is serious business. It is our God-given responsibility. It is our great privilege. It is our chance to impact the next generation. It is our opportunity to unleash the raw power of God in their lives.