Praying the Scriptures with Your Children

The Lord has taken me on a journey with Him these last few years. He has taken me through the valley of depression and comforted my heart through those dark times with His Word.

The book of Psalms became my solace, hope, and eventually, joy. I would read a Psalm each morning, I would write them on index cards, I would carry them with me through my days.

Eventually, those words of the Psalmist became the words to my prayers. Often, when I didn’t have words to speak, the words I would read in God’s Word would echo the cries of my heart.

And now, as my children grow, we face similar anxieties and frustrations and moments of anger with them. I don’t always know what to pray. So, like the moments of despair I felt in my own life, I turned to God’s Word to give me prayers when I didn’t know what to pray.

I want to share with you some of my favorite Scriptures to pray with and over my children! I will list the Scripture reference and then beside each reference, I will write out a simple prayer based on that verse.

Scriptures to Pray with a Fearful Child

• Psalm 23:4  Lord, though we walk through dark valleys, though we don’t always know what is going to happen tomorrow, we don’t have to fear because You are with us. Your rod and your staff, they comfort us.
• Psalm 56:4  God, in You we have put our trust. What can man do to us? Lord, help us to believe this with all our hearts! And when we forget, remind us. We trust in You, we don’t trust and place our hope in man. You alone are trustworthy. You alone are our hope.
• Psalm 61:1-3  Hear my cry, O God; listen to my prayer. From the ends of the earth I cry to You. When my heart is overwhelmed and anxious and fearful, lead me to the rock that is higher than I. You are that rock, God! You have been a shelter for me, a strong tower from the enemy!

Scriptures to Pray with an Angry Child

• Psalm 103:8  Lord, you tell us in Your Word that you are slow to anger and abounding in love. We ask You to do a work in our hearts that can only come from You. Make us more like You, Jesus. Make us slow to anger and abounding in love toward our family, our siblings, our friends, and the world.
• Ephesians 4:26  God, in Your Word we see that You have been righteously angry. You do not tell us not to be angry. What you do tell us is to not sin when we are angry. God, sometimes, this feels impossible. We know we can’t be angry and not sin without Your help. Help us, Jesus. And when we sin against You and others, help us to seek forgiveness and turn back to You and try again. Help us to look more and more like Jesus with each passing day.

Scriptures to Pray to Encourage Your Child

• Psalm 34:1  Lord, we bless You at all times. When we are sad, help us to praise You. When we are afraid, help us to praise You. When we are confused, help us to praise You.
• Psalm 34:4  Lord, we seek You. We look to You. Instead of looking around us at what others are doing or how others are making us upset, we look to You. Help us to fix our eyes on You. God, when we seek You, You tell us in Your Word that You deliver us from all our fears.
• Psalm 34:8-10  God, we see that You are so good! You tell us when we trust You we will be blessed. God, help us to know that in everything You are good. Help us to trust You in all things. We see in Your Word that those who seek You shall not lack any good thing. Sometimes in our humanness, we don’t know what is good for us. Help us to trust that You are always a good and loving Father!

I hope that sharing these verses has helped you to believe that praying the Scriptures doesn’t just need to be for super spiritual people. Praying the Scriptures is for the broken, desperate, messed up mamas…just like me.

Candace is just a messed up mama in need of God’s fresh new mercies daily. She writes at her blog, His Mercy is New, about her struggles with depression and how God has worked miracles in her heart as a result of praying the Scriptures. You can read all her posts on depression here and her posts on Praying the Scriptures here.