How to Pray for Your Child, pt.2

Pray your child would know God, learn his will, and desire to do his will. Easier said than done, right?! So, if it is truly easier said than done, then let’s say it, in prayer!

Isaiah 15:16 says, “Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O Lord, God of hosts.”

If we want our children to eat God’s words, and be nourished by them, and for that activity to become a satisfying joy and delight to them, Isaiah says first thing’s first, God’s words must be “found.” Meaning, as parents, we must present the word to our kids, give them daily opportunities to read and discover God’s word. Do not just ask that God give them a hunger for his word, let God use you to create that hunger in them!

When they find his word, they partake, devouring his truths, and when they “eat” his words, they become nourishment to their souls, and a spiritually nourished soul finds joy and delight with the Chef. God has cooked up a full course meal for our children, let us be the servers who present them with this delicacy and encourage them to eat, so that their hearts would be delighted and joyful in God, and that delight transfer into pursuing God’s will and desire for their obedience.

The reason God’s word is enjoyable to us is because we are “called by [his] name.” So this must be part of our prayer, not just that God would develop in our children a hunger to know God and his word, and that his word would create a desire for them to do his will, but that God would also call them by name to be his. Only then will they truly find the fullest nourishment from God’s smorgasbord of truth in his word.