My son is 12 yrs old. I am a single parent. My son’s father has been in prison since I was 8 months pregnant with him.
My son has been acting out since he was 2 yrs old. He has always been hyper and misunderstood, he has now become increasingly defiant and disrespectful to teachers throughout his childhood and now, me.
I do my best with him but nothing seems to get through. Please pray for my child to calm down and be at peace. Let him see that a change is needed.
He has such a sweet, good heart, but he is so troubled. I try and try. I don’t want to lose him to prison or the grave. Please pray also for me.
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by Cherry Grace G. Alday (Pasay City, Philippines)
Dear Lord, you have witnessed the rebelliousness of youth since the very beginnings of time. You understand a parent’s anguish and helplessness over the actions of his child. Please help us to transform our anger and frustration into loving care for our child who has gone astray. Help us begin to mend our broken fences and heal our broken hearts. Bless our child and also help him to mend the error of his ways. Help and bless us all to do right in Your name and restore us to peace and tranquility. Amen.
“Forgive the rebellious sins of youth …” Psalm 25:7
Return to Prayers for Children
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Parents of adult children need to pray powerful prayers when they pray for their children, when their son or daughter goes through a problem or a life crisis such as marriage problems, divorce, unemployment, job problems, child custody issues, a crisis of faith, depression, addiction, family quarrels or other stressful situations. Here is a prayer for the restoration of grown sons and daughters that parents of adult children can pray using Bible verses from Isaiah 49:8-18. (NIV)
Dear Heavenly Father, I come to you as a fellow parent, knowing that you understand how my heart breaks for __________________(name) my grown child’s situation. I am praying now for your help and hope to be reborn in all of us as I pray the words of Isaiah over them.
This is what the Lord says;
“In the time of my favor I will answer you, and in the day of salvation I will help you; I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people, to restore the land and to reassign its desolate inheritance, to say to the captives, ‘Come out,’ and to those in darkness, ‘Be free!’
I claim this prayer time as the day of favor for my child. I thank you that you have promised to help us. I thank you that you have promised to restore the lost and broken parts. Here are some specific things that need restoration in my child’s life __________________________________
I thank you that you promise to be my child’s keeper. Here are the things that I can’t do for them that I place into your keeping _____________________________________
I thank you that you promise that you will set them free. Here are things from which my child needs to be set free today _________________________________________________________________
They will feed beside the roads and find pasture on every barren hill. They will neither hunger nor thirst, nor will the desert heat or the sun beat upon them. He who has compassion will guide them and lead them besides springs of water. I will turn all my mountains into roads and my highways will be raised up. See, they will come from afar – some from the north, some from the west, some from the region of Aswan.
I thank you that you can provide for the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of my child today. Here are some of the most pressing needs they have___________________________________________
I thank you that you feel deep compassion for them, that you want to see them well and whole and joyous and in good relationships with others and with yourself. Here are some things that break my heart and worry me about my child’s situation_________________________________________
I pray that you will guide my child to the help they need. I pray that you will give them rest and give them the strength for the journey back to stability. Here are the issues on which my child needs your guidance today_____________________________________________________________
Shout for joy, O heavens; rejoice, O earth; burst into song, O mountains! For the Lord comforts his people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones.
I praise you now for the comfort you are bringing me that you are with us all and that you care deeply.
But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me.” “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will never forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me. Your sons hasten back, and those who laid you waste depart from you. Lift up your eyes and look around; all your sons gather and come to you. As surely as I live,” declares the lord, “You will wear them all as ornaments, you will put them on like a bride.”
Dear Father, help my child to not feel alone and forgotten by the world or by you. Instead, help them turn to you that they may be healed and helped. Help them to know the deep love I have for them as a parent. I ask for your guidance on how to express my deep love for my child in a way that they will accept and understand. Please give me one specific thought or idea now____________________________
Help me to trust you totally, knowing that you have not forgotten me or my child. Help me to stand in your presence, knowing that you always see me. I pray against the following things that have laid waste to my child. May these things depart from them by your power_______________________________
I now end my prayer, lifting my eyes toward you, believing that you are at work in ways I will soon see. I thank you for the gathering back in of my child to you and to our family. May our family’s beautiful love and joy together be apparent for all to see.
I pray these things in the strong and loving name of Jesus Christ, God’s only son. Amen
Helpful Links:
Praying for those who can’t pray for themselves using standing in the gap prayers
Travailing in prayer over big problems
Losing hope prayer that restores hope through personal prayer
Praying about romantic relationships concerns for a family member
Praying about child custody problems
Prayer for children and grandchildren with problems and difficulties
Grieving child prayer for adults helping a child after someone they love dies
Copyright Karen Barber 2013. All rights reserved
prayerideas.org
Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. John 14:1
In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world. John 16:33
Dear Lord Jesus, yesterday’s troubling stories shape today’s morning prayer. I went to bed late last night, wearied with woes of good friends. I arise today hungry with hope in you—our great and gracious Savior.
Thank you for being honest with us about life this side of the new heaven and new earth. We are a broken people in a broken world; and you’re not an on-demand bellhop or genie, promising the elimination hardships and heartaches. But you are a very present help and Redeemer—pledging your presence in every circumstance and trial. Troubling news doesn’t have to cripple our hearts. Indeed, may it carry our hearts to you today, for you are ever so trustworthy, Lord Jesus.
For our friends stunned with heartbreaking health news, we declare our trust in you, Jesus. How we long for the day when words like cancer, dementia and heart disease will no longer appear in our vocabulary. Until that day, we unabashedly and earnestly pray for healing, and we trust you for all-surpassing peace and more-than-sufficient grace.
For our friends saddened with heart-ripping issues with their children, we declare our trust in you, Jesus. Few troubling reports carry more power to dishearten than those related to our children. Whether they’ve been vandalized by others’ darkness or victimized by their own foolish choices, it hurts real bad and real deep. We appeal to your covenant faithfulness and your powerful reach. Capture the hearts of our children, Jesus, and help us love them well in the chaos and the crisis.
For our friends saddled with heart-wrenching financial burdens, we declare our trust in you, Jesus. There’s a growing number among us who have more month left over at the end of the check. Even though the Dow is up, the hope of many is down, and the possibility of losing homes still looms.
But things that are impossible with man are possible with you, Lord Jesus. We pray, not only for your provision but for our generosity with one another. May the law of love be fulfilled as we bear one another’s burdens—spiritually, emotionally, physically, and financially. Freely we have received, freely let us give to one another.
Jesus, as you state so clearly in these Scriptures, we can trust in you as we trust in God, for you are God—the Son of God and God the Son. We can “take heart” because you have taken our hearts unto yourself, and you have already overcome the world for us. Give us eyes to see how you are actively at work in all things for your glory and our good.
In the world we will have tribulation; but in you we find all the peace we need. So very Amen we pray, in your kind and overcoming name.
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