As a parent, it seems I always have some pressing concern for my children—those concerns which keep me up at night and follow me around like a shadow all throughout the day. Sometimes, it’s an unanswered question about parenting for which I’m desperate to know what to do. Or I may have a difficult decision to make regarding one of my kids and don’t know which way to turn. It seems I always have worries and cares for them that I long to see resolved like those regarding their health, relationships, education, or their future.
I imagine you have concerns and cares for your children as well. In my book, Like Our Father: How God Parents Us and Why That Matters for Our Parenting, I look to our Father in heaven for wisdom and guidance about all those concerns, questions, and cares we have for our children. I look at the ways he perfectly parents us and what we can learn from him in parenting our own children.
One of the things I encourage readers to do is to bring all their cares to their Father in heaven. At the end of each chapter, I provide a prayer for parents to pray. So what are your concerns for your children today? What questions loom at the front of your mind each day? What burdens do you bear regarding your children? Your Father in heaven invites you to bring all those cares before him in prayer.
A Parent’s Prayer
Father in heaven,
What a privilege it is to come before you in prayer! It means I am your child and you are my Father. I am your beloved and an heir of your kingdom. I am no longer an orphan but have been brought into your family and given a forever home with you. Your word tells me that you know all the cares of my heart before I even do, yet you invite me to bring them to you in prayer. I can’t help but think of my own children coming to me, asking for my help, and how glad I am to help them and provide for their needs.
You are my perfect Father, loving me before time began. You show me what a parent does for his or her children. You provide for all my needs. You set boundaries for me and teach me the way of righteousness. You discipline me for my good. You are patient and kind with me. You are consistent in all your ways toward me. In all these ways and more, you care for me as your child. Help me to learn from you what it looks like to raise my own children. As I parent them, I pray they would see you through my actions and responses. I pray my parenting would show them who you are as their perfect Father.
Forgive me for putting me hope and trust in parenting methods and strategies to make my parenting “work.” While these strategies can be and often are helpful, when I trust in them instead of you, my heart turns from you. I yield my heart to those lesser things, looking for them to make my life better, instead of you—my source of life. Forgive me for not loving my family the way you have loved me. I am easily frustrated and impatient. I am prone to expect things of my children I wouldn’t even expect of myself. Forgive me for forgetting that my children need the same grace I need—the grace you’ve provided through Jesus Christ. Help me to keep the gospel at the forefront of my mind and heart as I parent my children.
The Bible tells me you are the source of all wisdom. I come to you with many questions about raising my children. How do I…? Every day there are decisions to be made. I often feel ill-equipped in my parenting and just don’t know what to do. I need your wisdom to know how to raise my children—what to teach them, how to correct them, the best ways to respond to them, and how to love them well. Father, please help me as I seek to raise them in a way that honors you. Grant me the wisdom only you can give.
I long for my children to know you as their Father. I know you love them more than I ever could; you love them with a perfect love. Help me to trust you and your work in their lives. May they never know a day when they did not know Jesus as their Lord and Savior. May they grow and mature into godly young adults who live for you and your glory. Protect their minds and hearts from evil all their days.
Please hear this prayer for my parenting. I cling to your promise in 2 Peter 1, that you given me “all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence” (v.3). Grant me all I need to parent for your glory.
In Jesus’ name, amen.
*Photo by Bethany Beck on Unsplash
