How to Pray for Your Adult Children – 8 Powerful Prayers
A mother’s love never ends. A mother’s prayers for her adult children should not end either.
Her heart is like a kaleidoscope of emotions changing with every circumstance and stage of her children’s lives.
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Prayers for your adult children – releasing your child to God
As moms, we have spent our children’s lives working hard to protect them and teach them right from wrong.
We can become like momma bears when we think our children are threatened.
Well, believe me, just as God has a plan for their lives, so does the enemy. He wants nothing more than to destroy our adult children.
We need a prayer strategy and incorporate scripture into our war room prayers. Using Bible verses to pray over our children from an early age can help them live in a manner worthy of the Lord, especially as they grow into young adults.
We must release them to God at this time in their lives. After all, He is our Father, the only perfect parent ever so that we can trust our adult children to Him.
God knows better than we do how to protect our adult children. He knows better than we do how to use every circumstance in their lives for their good.
Pray that God will help you to release your adult child into His care. God is good and only wants what is good for our adult children.
Foundation of Faith
I was told I could never have kids. I have 5. I gave birth to all of them. Each child is an answered prayer.
The Bible has a beautiful story of faith in Hannah’s life. Like many, she was faced with the possibility of never having children.
But Hannah prayed. When her rival made fun of her and made her cry, she prayed. When she was disappointed year after year, she prayed.
Hannah put all of her faith in God so that He could perform a miracle in her life. I believe she prayed powerful prayers because they were filled with faith.
She trusted God to do what only God could do. And God was good!
Before Hannah ever had children, she had a strong faith in God. She believed that God could not only give her a child but that God would use that child.
Hannah’s foundation of faith prepared her to be a mom. Her story is an inspiring example of the power of praying to our Heavenly Father and trusting His will.
Just like Hannah dedicated Samuel to the Lord when he was born, the Bible tells us in Proverbs 22:6, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” (KJV)
We must start learning about God and training our children in His way. We want our children to have a healthy fear of the Lord.
But what if you did not do that? Maybe you weren’t saved or didn’t realize its importance. There is still hope. God has good things in store for you and your children.
Our God is a redeemer! It is not too late if you did not raise your children to know God for whatever reason.
Pray for God to forgive you and be the redeemer for your adult children.
God’s plan for their life
When our kids are born, we start thinking about our child’s life and what they will become as adults.
We imagine doctors, lawyers, teachers, and other amazing things for them.
As parents of adult children, we want them to make good choices, especially in difficult circumstances.
A mother’s love never ends, and her prayers for her adult children shouldn’t either. God’s arm is not too short to reach our children and His love knows no end. #warriorwomenblog
TweetGod has a plan for every person that is born. So, likewise, God has a plan for your child! Let His Word be a great encouragement to you as you lift heartfelt prayers on behalf of your children.
He knows every decision they will ever make and already has a plan.
Jeremiah 1:5 “I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb . . .”
Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
God has a plan for our adult children. He knew them before we did! God loves our children even more than we do. God’s perfect love pursues their hearts. Pray for them to have knowledge of the Lord.
That is hard for me to imagine as a mom. But I know how much I love my children, and to think that God loves them even more than I do is very comforting.
Jesus said in Matthew 22:37-39, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.”
We want our children to make the right decisions for their lives, and the best way to ensure that happens is for them to follow these two commandments.
Pray that your adult children will surrender to God’s will for their lives and seek His wisdom.
When they make the wrong decisions
Have you ever been disappointed in your adult children? Maybe you disagree with their friends, lifestyle, job, or spouse choices.
It is difficult for a mom to know when her adult child is making a mistake, but they will not listen.
We all want to protect our kids. We want their lives to be easier, better, and more peaceful and happy than we have had. I remember when our oldest son started stretching his wings for the first time. I did not always approve of his decisions, but I prayed the Word of God over him and trusted God to be faithful to His promises. The prayer method I have chosen is turning my daily scripture into prayers over my children and grandchildren, both now and for all time. Sweet friend, God is not limited by time like we are. I believe my prayers today can still have a positive impact on the lives of my great-grandchildren I will never meet.
Weathering these storms is much easier if we have a strong faith foundation.
Because of the storms of life I have weathered, I know God can and will be with my adult children through their storms.
It is hard on a mom’s heart when her kids go through hard times and make poor decisions. We must allow them to make their own choices, but we can cover them in prayer, praying for them to have the spirit of wisdom in making those decisions. We can also pray they will have a greater knowledge of Jesus through those decisions.
It is more challenging when our adult children don’t have that foundation of faith to lean on. However, we can pray on behalf of our children for the eyes of their hearts to be open to the deep love of our heavenly Father.
Like Hannah, you must trust God to do what only God can. Nothing is impossible for God, and the Holy Spirit’s power can soften even the hardest heart.
Pray our adult children’s hearts will be receptive to the convicting power of the Holy Spirit.
I pray daily for the Holy Spirit to turn my children’s thoughts, hearts, and ways toward the Lord. I ask God to lead, guide, and direct their steps.
Pray that God will protect them from harm and the enemy’s evil plans and make wise choices.
Freedom from evil plans
During these times, we have to get into our ninja mom mode. We must get determined and intentional in our prayers. The immeasurable greatness of His power cannot be underestimated.
I heard Priscilla Shrier talking about the enemy and how he works. She said it is one thing for the enemy to attack her, but when she knows he has been scheming against her kids, that is another ballgame.
You can rest assured, Mom, that if the enemy has weapons formed against you, he certainly has weapons formed against your adult children. But the power of a praying mom, who is praying on behalf of her children, is not easily discouraged.
We have prayed for these children. We have spent countless hours praying over them. We have loved, cried, and worried over these children.
When our adult children take a different path than how we have raised them and are now walking down a slippery slope, we must be ready to fight on their behalf in prayer.
I believe with all my heart that as long as God and I are in this together, the gates of hell cannot prevail against my adult children. No weapon formed against them will prosper. This is when we put on the full armor of God and pray in specific ways on behalf of our kids.
James 5:16 says, “The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.” (NLT)
When I pray in faith and believe God to be God and do what only He can do, I align myself with His power.
The name of God is above all other names. He is the King of kings, the Lord of lords, and our strong and mighty tower.
Now is the time to align our hearts with God’s and pray like never before for our adult children.
We have all heard of Mothers Against Drunk Drivers. We need to start a mom’s movement to get on our knees and pray for our adult children!
Moms must pray against the enemy and his evil plan for our adult children.
The Bible says that Jesus and the Holy Spirit intercede for us with the Father.
Now, if Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and a determined mom on her knees are all praying for our adult children, then the devil will flee!
Freedom from addiction
Sometimes, there is family bondage of addiction. This can have terrible and long-lasting effects on our children.
Even if there is no family history of addiction, our adult children can make poor choices due to temptation or peer pressure.
Addiction can tear a family apart. It can leave them in financial ruin, destroy their marriage, and hurt their relationships with family members and friends.
The enemy loves to use any weapon to destroy our adult children, and addiction is one way he destroys lives.
Matthew 26:41 says, “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
1 Corinthians 10:13 “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.”
We must pray that our children of all ages will be protected from the temptation of drugs and alcohol. Pray for them to have good physical health and be strengthened mentally to help fight against the temptation of alcohol and drugs.
If our children have already fallen prey to these addictions, we need to pray fervently that God will deliver them from them and that they will be redeemed and restored.
We need to pray that our adult children will have a desire to be delivered from these addictions. God will not force His ways on us and gives everyone free will.
Feeling loved and accepted
We all long to be loved and accepted; our adult children are no exception. Pray in Jesus’ name for them to have good relationships with the right people who will encourage them in their walk with God.
Let’s face it: growing up was hard for us, especially in our teenage years. I can’t imagine being a teenager now with social media.
Cyberbullying and social media make it much easier to make you feel like you are not enough.
Even though you did everything you could to make your child feel loved and accepted growing up, you don’t know everything they may have heard from others.
Also, events in their lives may have scared them more than we realize. They may have a broken heart over events we are not aware of.
Since everyone is different, we need to pray our adult children will feel and believe in God’s love for them in the way they perceive the best.
John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
Now that is love! We need to pray that our adult children understand that God loves them more than we love them.
Pray for your adult children that they will experience God’s love first. Second, we must pray that our adult children will have a relationship with Him.
Our children may be adults, but they still want to be accepted. So pray that God will give them close Christian friends and mentors who care about and accept them for who they are.
We know the will of God is for them to understand His great love for them, so we can pray they will accept His will.
Having a sound mind
Thanks to social media and people being more open about their lives and struggles, mental illness does not have the stigma it once did.
We must pray that our adult children will be protected from mental illness and have sound minds.
Moms need to pray for our adult children to be free from the torment of the lies that the enemy whispers to them.
Mark 7:21-23 tells us, “From within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: all these evil things proceed from within, and defile the man.”
Since the enemy always tries to get us to believe his lies, all evil and sin begin in the mind and then go to the heart.
Our adult children must take control of their minds, or the devil will.
In 2 Timothy 1:7, we are assured: “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”
Fear comes from the enemy and is not of God. It causes us not to believe in God, which opens the door to dangerous thinking.
Our adult children are bombarded with negativity and lies every day. Unfortunately, these lies can overtake their thinking, and they begin believing them.
We must pray over our grown children that the enemy’s lies will be exposed and the truth of God’s love and word will penetrate their minds.
Moms have power in prayer. God blessed us with these children. I believe God expects us to pray over our children from the time we find out about them throughout our days. One way we can do this is to pray God’s word over their lives.
We see many people with bad attitudes, who are hateful, resentful, hostile, tear others down, selfish, and uncaring.
Pray, momma, pray for the love of God to penetrate the hearts of your adult children.
Pray for those lies of the enemy to be held up to the light of God’s truth and exposed.
Pray for the enemy’s strongholds on your adult children to be broken down, and they will turn their hearts and minds to Christ, be saved, and live for Him.
Their hearts and minds
Just as we need to be on our knees pleading the blood of Jesus over our adult children, praying for protection, healing, deliverance, and leading them into the lives God has for them, we need to be praying for our hearts and minds.
Have you ever noticed how easy it is to focus on the faults of others?
It instantly makes us feel better about ourselves. We don’t have to look at the mess in the corners of our hearts and minds when we focus on the mess in someone else’s life.
Pray for your heart and mind to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
Pray that God will lead you in His light and show you what you need to pray for your adult children.
Lean on His guidance and believe Him to lead you in your prayers.
When we are utterly dependent on God and surrender to His will, the enemy cannot stop us.
When you pray for your adult children, thank God for the work He has already done and for what He is doing now.
My experience has been that God never shows me the big picture. Instead, he grows my faith in Him when I trust Him.
When I pray and petition the Lord for something or on someone’s behalf, trust Him to work, and depend on Him, I see answers to my prayers.
It may only take a few minutes, which is fantastic, or it may take years.
But I know, because the Bible says it is true, that when I pray according to His will, He hears my prayers and gives me the desires of my heart.
When our heart desires God’s will to be done, we are assured that God hears our prayers.
God’s will is for our adult children to be saved and to live their lives in His power according to His will.
We know that God has a plan for our adult children, and it is for their good.
So pray, momma! When your adult kids live for God, praise and thank Him, asking for protection so they will continue.
When your children don’t know the Lord, pray for their salvation. It is not God’s will that anyone should perish but that everyone would be saved.
When your child is headed in the wrong direction or through tough times, pray for God’s intervention and leadership to turn their lives around.
We know the enemy will attack our adult children in any area of their lives so that he can destroy them and their witnesses.
Pray for Freedom from addiction, and pray for your adult children to have a sound mind so they can readily identify the enemy’s lies and not fall prey to them.
Finally, pray for yourself. Thank God for blessing you with these children and helping you raise them to adulthood.
Ask for God’s protection of you and your mind as well. The enemy will find any way to get to you.
Put on your armor and pray, trusting God to answer your prayers regardless of how long it takes because God is faithful to His word!
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