Parenting is one of the toughest but most rewarding journeys you will experience. God designed the family unit at the very beginning of creation! Even though relationship struggles are real, we can grow into our full purpose as we strengthen each other. One of the best ways to grow closer to each other and closer to God is through praying for your family!
When trials and challenges come to test your patience, forgiveness, and faith, you can turn to prayer as your weapon. James 5:16 tells us that “The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective”. Whether you are seeking prayer for your wayward child, an ailing parent, or a strained extended family relationship, we have provided several of our favorite prayers for family that can help guide your prayer time. Allow the Holy Spirit to direct your thoughts and make these prayers personal toward your own needs.
16 Prayers for Family, Children, and Parents
Start today! Bring your family before the throne of God as you seek His peace, protection, and healing over those you love.
A Prayer for Your Family
Dear Jesus Christ, I want to live an awesome life. And I want to have an awesome family. I know I won’t have either if I just live for myself. So today I give myself to you. As for me and my house, we’re going to serve the Lord. I want my family to be a place of play and fun, not just work and negativity. I want my family to be a place where we encourage each other to grow constantly. I want to be a family that is a shelter in the storm, a safe haven, a refuge. Help me to protect my family — not just their bodies but also their minds. I want my family to serve you by serving others. Help us to find our family mission, our purpose, what you shaped our family to do. Help me to teach my kids to be generous by modeling generosity to God and to others. Help me to have a bifocal vision to not just care about my family but to teach them to care about the whole world. May we model dedication and service and generosity and prayer. I can’t do this on my own, Lord. So I ask you to come into my life and take complete control of every area and give me the power to do the right thing. In your name I pray. Amen. - Rick Warren, Daily Hope
Scripture Prayers for Your Family
Create in _______ a pure heart O, God and renew a steadfast spirit within ________. Restore to ______ the joy of his/her salvation and grant _______ a willing spirit to sustain him/her. Psalms 51:10 & 12
Restore _______, O God Almighty; make Your face shine upon _______ that he/she may be saved. Psalm 80:7
Lord, in your great love, revive _______ so she/he will obey Your every word. Psalm 119:88
May You, Lord, the God of all grace, restore _______ and make him/her strong, firm and steadfast. I Peter 5:10
- Adrian Rogers, Love Worth Finding
Prayer for Unity
Dear God, we ask that you fill us with your Spirit of live and unity. We pray for our families, for every relationship most dear to us, that you would guard our time, and our lives together. We ask for your ability to quickly forgive hurts, for a renewed heart of compassion, for love and faithfulness to be evident in every decision and action. We ask for your help to set aside our differences and help us to truly live a life of love. Amen. - Debbie McDaniel
Bless Our Family
Thank You for reminding us of Your mercy, compassion, and love for us. Thank You for the family we embrace today, whether it be estranged or at peace. Thank You for the hearts that raised us, whether blood related or called to step in. Thank You for each day of life that we wake reminded of Your purpose, charge, and call to pass down the hope of Jesus.
Many of us embrace a family life that is broken, blended, duck taped together, or hanging on by a thread. Thank You for meeting us where we are in life and blessing us anyway. May Your just hand be over new or changing circumstances with peace and understanding. Bless our families to honor and glorify You, regardless of their make-up. In Jesus’ Name, amen. - Meg Bucher
For Protection and Safety
Lord, I pray Your emotional, physical, and spiritual protection over my kids (grandkids). Keep evil far from them, and help them to trust You as their refuge and strength. I pray You will guard their minds from harmful instruction, and grant them discernment to recognize truth. I pray You will make them strong and courageous in the presence of danger, recognizing that You have overcome and will set right all injustice and wrong one day. Help them to find rest in Your shadow, as they live in the spiritual shelter You provide for them. Let them know that the only safe place is in Jesus, and that their home on earth is only temporary. - Rebecca Barlow Jordan
For Children’s Protection
Lord, I pray for my children, that you will fill them with a spiritual understanding of you. I ask for the Holy Spirit to move powerfully in their lives. Surround them with spiritual influences. Give them a thirst for your Spirit. I pray for tender hearts to hear and receive your word. Grow them into mighty men and women of God who share your love and mission with the world. May they seek first your kingdom. Protect them from following after an earthly kingdom and the pleasures of this world. In Jesus’ name, Amen. - - Sue Schlesman
To Be a Peace Maker
Dear Heavenly Father, help me to be a peacemaker. Help me have a peaceful relationship with those whom I am struggling with. Also, help me to build bridges between others who are not at peace with each other. Equip me for this task because I cannot do it without You. May You receive all the glory for this. Thank You Jesus! Amen.
A Prayer to Heal and Restore Broken Relationships
Thank you for my family. It can be messy, it can be wonderful, it can be challenging, and it can be life-giving to be part of my family, and today, I surrender these precious relationships to you. I pray that you would be at work in my family, moving among us and creating deeper bonds between us in a way that gives you glory, honor, and praise. I thank you for the family members who have come to know and love you, and praise you for the ways they encourage and uplift me in my own faith. I also pray for the family members who do not yet know you, Lord, and I ask that you would be moving and working in their lives, opening their eyes and their hearts to who you are and how you love them.
In the places of brokenness in my family, I pray you would bring healing and restoration. In the places of anger, I pray you would bring your peace. In the places of hurt, I pray you would bring comfort. Thank you for the moments of joy, the sweet celebrations, the deep love, and the connections between us. Thank you for the memories we share, and for all the ways you have shown your deep love and endless faithfulness to us.
We pray you would continue to protect, guide, strengthen, and encourage our family, Jesus. We give you the glory today and ask that your plans would be done in each of us. Amen. Rachel Dawson
Prayer for Aging Parents
Father God...I pray for your continuing providence in my parent’s life.
Lord God, I know Your care for my parent is beyond anything I can offer, for every good gift comes from You. I pray my parent will keep on leaning on You, the Rock of strength and righteousness. Spread your protection over my parent, because You are the ultimate Refuge.
Show me how to meet my parent’s needs in ways that will please You, Lord. Equip me to be a good steward in my loved one’s care. There is much I can do, but You are the Great Provider. Thank you for your willingness to supply my parent’s needs for Your glory and my loved one’s joy. I pray my parent will be made holy through Your grace and receive Your good favor.
As strength declines, I pray for a greater sense of Your presence and power. You are mighty, Father, and our strength is in You alone. In times of need, help my parent lean on your sufficiency and everlasting and when life feels so impossible, remind my loved one that nothing is impossible with You.
I ask You to give my parent a trusting and thankful heart, especially as days grow more difficult. Help my aging parent take every disappointment to You. Preserve from any bitterness or spirit of discontent. I pray the Holy Spirit will teach and comfort, guide, and calm and that my parent will not become discouraged in aging.
Father, I thank you for Jesus, who makes possible our God-honoring transition from this world to everlasting glory. As I pray these things for my parent, I pray them for myself as well. I pray we all will someday hear Your “well done.” Amen! - Dawn Wilson
Prayer for Wayward Child
Create in _________________ a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within her (Psalm 51:10). Though you have made ______________ see troubles, many and bitter, you will restore her life again; from the depths of the earth you will again bring her up. You will increase ________________'s honor and comfort her once again (Psalm 71:20-21). Thank You that Your word says I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate ___________ from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen. - Cindi McMenamin
When Family Hurts You
Hurt within families can destroy relationships permanently. But with Your guidance, anything, and anyone, can be restored. You are our Healer. In You, we find peace. Our hope lies in You. And our faith can pull us across any divide when we let go and let You determine the way. Luke tells us “when these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is near” (Luke 21:5-28). Jesus is coming. There’s no doubt about that. We want to follow Him fast and focused until He returns to take us home, or we arrive home in heaven to Him.
In the midst of conflict and hurt, it’s easy to be bitter. Misunderstanding can breed justification for cutting off a relationship like a dead tree branch. Payback and comebacks replay in our minds. Vindication runs on repeat. But God, You tell us to focus on You (Colossians 2:19). Let the world explain away, but let us listen to You first.
God, You are there in the pain we cannot bear, do not understand, and want to run from. Hold us and help us. Help us to endure long silences until we are sure You have inspired our choice of words. Quicken our hearts to forgive, and to pray for those on the other side of disagreements. Bless those who hurt us, and help us to be a blessing that shines bright in Your Name. In Jesus’ Name, Amen. - Meg Bucher
For the Grieving Family
You are Immanuel, God with me. Thank You for being with me now as I mourn this loss. You are the God of all Comfort and I willingly receive Your comfort now. I do not know what Your comfort will look like or feel like, but I trust it even so.
My heart is broken but You are near. My spirit is crushed, but You are my rescuer. Your Word is my hope. It revives me and comforts me in especially now. My soul faints, but you are the breath of life within me. You are my help, the One who sustains me. I am weak but You are strong. You bless those who mourn, and I trust You to bless me and my family with all that we need. You will rescue me from this dark cloud of despair because You delight in me. In Jesus’ Name, Amen. - Jennifer O. White
Prayer to Break Generational Curses
Generational curses are no match for the power of the One True God. You are mighty to save, faithful, and abounding in love for Your family. In Christ, we are no longer who we were without You but are adopted into Your family. We become workers for the Kingdom of God and look forward to eternity in Heaven. Jesus, the hope of Your return to right all wrongs and relieve all pain lifts our countenance and reminds us how loved we are. Thank You for loving us for who we are, right where we are at. We meet You here in this place today, God, and know undoubtedly nothing this world can throw at us is more powerful than You. No person, or thing, can stop the plan You have for our lives. You tell us not to worry. Increase our trust in You. In a world throwing us curveballs …keep us alert and focused on You at all times.
Jesus, You came for all of us, and You chose us. Forgive us for our sins and soften our hearts to Your Word. We believe in You, Jesus. Thank You for embracing us when we thought curses and sins would surely kill us. Continue to rescue us from the pain of this world. Savior, God. We love you. Protect us from the tendencies and strongholds of sin we struggle with. Help us to name them, look at them head-on, and do the work to turn from them to You. We lift the burden and weight of them up to You. We know You are able to crush our enemy and sustain us through unbearable circumstances. The temporary pain of this world will one day pass, but Jesus, our Savior, You reign forever. Humbled are we to call you Savior, Lord, and friend. In Jesus’ name, Amen. - Meg Bucher
For Loved Ones Far from God
Dear God, We’re thankful that you know our hearts, you hear our prayers, and you care about all that concerns us. Thank you that you understand these burdens we carry and how we want, more than anything, to see our loved ones come to you. Help us to remember that you love them more than we ever could. And that you desire to extend your great love and forgiveness to the deepest part of their soul. We are forever grateful for your healing power, for your gift of mercy, and your message of hope.
Father, we ask that you would stop every plan of the enemy over those we love as we bring them before you right now. We pray that you demolish his schemes and that your plans for good, for a future and hope, would prevail. Please open up blind eyes that they might see your truth. We believe in you to rescue those walking in darkness, and to heal the deep wounds of all who have been hurt. We pray for the miraculous intervention of your Spirit to draw them to yourself, to work strongly on behalf of our loved ones who are lost and wandering.
Lord, forgive our unbelief. Please forgive the times we’ve doubted that you could ever change a distant heart. Forgive our hard-heartedness, our weariness, or forgetfulness to pray continually. And thank you God, that you never give up on us. Remind us again of how you’ve changed our own hearts; how your miracle of life and hope has sprung up deep within our souls.
We love you Lord; we need you today and every day. We thank you that you hear our prayers and believe that you are at work even now. Powerfully. Faithfully. And miraculously. Doing what only You can do.
Thank you again for the most wonderful gift of our Savior, God with us. Thank you for your great goodness and love. In Jesus’ Name, Amen. - Debbie McDaniel
For Your Children’s Future
Father, You are powerful to hold the future in Your hands. The direction of our lives is no more predictable to us than our children’s lives. We trust You with all of it, and praise You for the perfect way You have designed each human life.
We praise You for blessing us with motherhood, and the intentional way it matures our faith in You. Your all-knowing hand pulls families together in Your time and will, which is perfect and unchanging. There is no love that is an accident or outside Your will, because You are love. Each child, each person was created on purpose with purpose. Praise You that we get to take part in the greatest love story of all time.
Thank you for our children. They bless us in ways that our hearts know but our heads cannot make sense of. The forgiving grace in our hearts for our children is only a thread of the love You have for us… and them. Help us to remember that You loved our babies before we did and infinitely more than we do. We can trust You with their lives, and ask the strength of Your Holy Spirit to help us lead them to Your loving arms.
Send Your Spirit to help us remember Your Word, and applicably pull it from the tucked-in places of our hearts, to point our children in the right direction. In Jesus’ Name, Amen. - Meg Bucher
Prayer for Your Adult Children
Father, thank you for the privilege of being a parent to my children. Thank you for guiding the time I had with them as children. Today, I release them as adults to your care and guidance. You will fight for them and delight in them (Zephaniah 3:17). Bless them and keep them. Let your face shine upon them.
Dear Lord, fill my children with the maturity and confidence to step into adulthood. Help them face the unknowns and expectations ahead with maturity and discernment. Guide them to put away things of their youth that do not benefit them in their adulthood and take up the things that make them caring, productive adults. - Tamela Turbeville
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Praying for Your Adult Children
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