How to Pray for My Son: 10 Prayers From Scripture
In this post: How do I pray for my son? · 10 Scripture prayers for your son · Praying when he is far from God · A short prayer for my son
The best way to pray for your son is to pray God's own words over his life, specifically and consistently. You do not need eloquent language. You need a few clear prayers rooted in Scripture that you can return to every day, whether he is two or twenty-two.
As a dad of four, I have learned that my prayers for my kids get stronger when they get more specific. "God, bless my son" is a good start. "God, give my son courage to stand for what is right this week" is a prayer you can watch Him answer.
The insistent prayer of a righteous person is powerfully effective.
James 5:16, World English Bible
10 Prayers for Your Son
1. That he would know Jesus for himself
Everything else flows from this. Pray that your son's faith would not be borrowed from you but would become his own.
All your children will be taught by Yahweh; and your children's peace will be great.
Isaiah 54:13
Pray: "Lord, teach my son Yourself. Let him hear Your voice and know You as his own Father."
2. That he would grow like Jesus grew
Jesus grew in four directions: in His mind, His body, His walk with God and His relationships with people. That is a full picture of a healthy son.
And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.
Luke 2:52
Pray: "God, let my son grow in wisdom, in strength, in favor with You and in favor with the people around him."
3. For courage
Boys face pressure to prove themselves. Pray that his strength would come from God's presence, not from performance.
Be strong and courageous. Don't be afraid. Don't be dismayed, for Yahweh your God is with you wherever you go.
Joshua 1:9
Pray: "Lord, make my son brave. When he is afraid, remind him that You are with him wherever he goes."
4. For strength that is shaped by love
God wants our sons strong, and He wants that strength to serve others.
Watch! Stand firm in the faith! Be courageous! Be strong! Let all that you do be done in love.
1 Corinthians 16:13-14
Pray: "Father, make my son a man who stands firm and who uses his strength to protect and serve, always in love."
5. For a guarded heart and a pure life
Our sons are growing up in a world that is aggressive about what it puts in front of their eyes. Pray for purity early and often.
Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it is the wellspring of life.
Proverbs 4:23
Flee from youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
2 Timothy 2:22
Pray: "Lord, guard my son's heart and his eyes. Give him the strength to run from what would harm him and toward what is good."
6. For good friends
Notice the end of that verse: "with those who call on the Lord." The friends your son chooses will shape the man he becomes.
Pray: "God, surround my son with friends who love You, and make him that kind of friend to others."
7. For wisdom and a renewed mind
Don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good, well-pleasing, and perfect will of God.
Romans 12:2
Pray: "Holy Spirit, renew my son's mind. Help him think clearly, choose wisely and recognize Your will."
8. For his calling and his work
Pray that your son would discover what God made him to do and would work at it with faithfulness.
...that you may walk worthily of the Lord, to please him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God.
Colossians 1:10
Pray: "Lord, show my son the good works You prepared for him. Let his life bear fruit."
9. For protection
For he will put his angels in charge of you, to guard you in all your ways.
Psalm 91:11
Pray: "Father, guard my son in his going out and his coming in. Protect his body, his mind and his spirit."
10. For his future family
If God leads him to marriage, pray now for his future wife and for the kind of husband and father he will be.
Pray: "God, prepare my son to love a family the way Christ loves the church, and prepare the one he will one day love."
How to Pray When Your Son Is Far From God
Some of you are reading this with a heavy heart because your son has walked away. Keep praying. Jesus told the story of a father whose son left home, and the father never stopped watching the road.
But while he was still far off, his father saw him, and was moved with compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.
Luke 15:20
Pray for his eyes to be opened. Pray for the right people to cross his path. Pray that God would keep the door of your home and your heart open. And hold on to this promise:
He who began a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.
Philippians 1:6
A Short Prayer for My Son
Father, thank You for my son. He is Your gift to me, and I give him back to You. Let him know You for himself. Let him grow in wisdom and stature and in favor with You and with people. Make him courageous and kind, strong and pure. Guard his heart and his eyes. Give him good friends and a clear sense of the work You made him for. Protect him wherever he goes. And when he wanders, bring him home. In Jesus' name, amen.
Make It a Family Rhythm
Do not keep these prayers only in your quiet time. Pray them out loud over your son at bedtime, in the car and at the dinner table. Scripture pictures faith passed on in the ordinary moments of a home:
You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up.
Deuteronomy 6:7
One simple way to start is the priestly blessing from Numbers 6. I walk through it in The Blessing Prayer. You might also want How to Pray for My Daughter and What Is Intercessory Prayer?
Go deeper. Our free Bible App plan Family Matters: Eight Days in Ephesians walks through how the gospel shapes your home, and Stand covers Paul's words to parents and children in Ephesians 6. If you are in Atlanta, BuckCity Kids meets every Sunday, and we would love to see your family at 11am in Buckhead.
Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible (public domain).
