Praying God’s Word for Your Children

As many of you know, I have taken a new role with an organization, a ministry called Million Praying Moms. I'm excited to be in this new role with this organization, and want to share my why. I was fortunate enough to come into contact with this ministry a little way into my motherhood journey, when I really needed some encouragement and hope.

I interviewed Brooke McLaughlin, founder of Million Praying Moms, on the Choosing Cheer podcast a couple of years ago. I remember that it was one of the first days that Josie had a tantrum: fallen out on the floor, flailing arms, kicking feet—the whole nine yards. So, I was at home, getting ready to go to the recording, trying to get dressed, when Josie had a huge meltdown. And I remember looking down at her, taking a deep breath, and then looking up at heaven and going, Lord, I don't know what to do.

And then I came into the studio and recorded a podcast with Brooke McLaughlin. I had read a little bit about her ministry, so I knew what her ministry was about, but hadn't completely dived in. A dear friend of mine had recommended her to me. In our conversation that day, I was so inspired by her story of learning to pray Scripture over her children. When she was a young mom, she had experienced the same thing that I had experienced that morning, but with her two boys.

I went home immediately after we wrapped up the recording that day, and I downloaded her guide, "How to Pray God's Word for Your Children." I followed that guide, step by step, as she had laid it out. She said, "We're not going to focus on the negative. We're going to focus on the positive." She recommends praying for your children by taking note of qualities about them that you're observing. That morning, I was seeing tantrums, frustration, and anger in my daughter. Then, she encourages parents to take the opposite of that, and to list what they want to see in their child. The opposite of anger, frustration, and throwing might be peace, joy, and self-control.

And so I took my Bible and I went to the back, to the concordance. You can also perform a search in your Bible app. I made a list of the things that I wanted to see in Josie, the fruit of the Spirit I desired her to have in her life. Then, I looked up scriptures that had that word in them.

For instance, I would look up the scriptures that contained the word 'joy' and flip to one that mentioned it. Then, I would write out that Scripture in my journal. Next, I wrote out all the scriptures I found about self-control, and then I wrote out scriptures about peace.

As I read through them, some scriptures really spoke to me. Over the next couple of days, I took those scriptures and I crafted them into a prayer that I typed out and taped to my daughter's bedroom door. I began to pray that prayer over her every morning and every night.

I experienced the same thing that Brooke had described in her journey. As I prayed that over and over again, I was the one who began to change. The prayer didn't necessarily change Josie overnight, but it did change my heart towards her immediately. What did it look like for me to have self-control? What did it look like to show patience in a moment of frustration? How could she know those things if I didn't model them for her?

Whether you are a parent or not, or have kids still in the house or not, you can take this principle and apply it to so many areas of your life. You can pray for these things in your marriage, for your spouse, or in your relationship. You can pray this way over your career, your job, or if you're seeking healing in your life.

I am very excited about being a part of the Million Praying Moms ministry and how I will be able to share even more fabulous resources with all of you. Our prayer life is directly connected to our joy and cheer. As we grow in prayer, we are sure to grow in joy. As we talk to God and spend time with him, we are able to receive his good gifts. He is the joy-giver!