5 Powerful Prayers that Will Help Your Family Flourish
Do you pray for your family?
Most of us can say that we pray casually for our families.
We ask God to bless them and keep them safe or to help them in a time of need.
But I believe we can take prayer for our families a step further.
I have found that being specific and strategic in my prayers for my family can have a greater impact.
Several years ago I began praying and declaring scripture over myself and my family.
At first, it seemed a little…..legalistic.
I had my list written out and every day I prayed through it.
Until one day I had the thought that maybe my repetitive prayers weren’t really “doing” anything. The idea crossed my mind that perhaps I was just being redundant and just maybe God was tired of hearing these same prayers for my family.
I’ll never forget His response as I spent time talking with Him about it.
“You have no idea how powerful it is when you pray and declare My Word.”
As I’ve continued to have strategic prayers for my family over the years, I can’t count the number of specific requests that have been answered.
When we pray specifically, our faith grows.
We see the hand of God move on behalf of the request that we make.
It builds our trust in Him, knowing that He answers us.
Perhaps this is a new concept to you. No worries…
Today I’m sharing a few prayers I use to pray specifically and strategically for my family.
5 Powerful Prayers for My Family to Flourish
Prayer to Have a Heart for God
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. Mark 12:30 NIV
Above all else, I pray that my kids will do this one thing….to love the Lord with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength.
Their relationship with God is most important.
We teach our kids the Bible, spend time as a family reading and praying, but at some point, they have to have their own relationship with God.
As my children get older, I realize how hard it is to let them walk this relationship out. When they aren’t reading their Bibles or spending time with God, I want to “make” them do it. But as they become adults, they have to have the “want” to do it on their own.
So what do I do?
I pray…..
Prayer for My Family to Have a Heart for God
Father, thank you for each one of my precious children. Lord, you know their hearts. You know their strengths, their weaknesses and every tiny detail about them. God, I pray that You draw them closer to You. Show them who You are. Let them see their need for you, Lord. Capture their hearts and fill them with Your Spirit. Lord, I pray that they would seek You above all else. That as they wake up in the morning and go to sleep at night, You would be on their minds and hearts. That everywhere they go and in everything they do, they would see You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Prayer for Unity
How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity! It is like precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard, running down on Aaron’s beard, down on the collar of his robe. It is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount Zion. For there the Lord bestows his blessing, even life forevermore. Psalm 133 NIV
As the new year began, I felt God planting the word unity in my heart….specifically for my family. This scripture from the Psalms came to my mind. The ending really grabbed my attention.
The blessing of the Lord dwells in unity.
When we are united as one, there’s nothing that can’t be accomplished.
Remember the tower of Babel?
At that point in history, the people of the world spoke the same language. A certain group had come together and decided to build a city in Babylonia. However, they were building it for their own fleshly desires. But even in the midst of their carnality God had this to say about them and their efforts:
The people are united, and they all speak the same language. After this, nothing they set out to do will be impossible for them! Genesis 11:6 NLT
This is what I want for my family. I want us to be united, speak the same language, and have the same values. Because when we do, nothing will be impossible for us! We will fulfill everything God has for us.
Prayer for Unity
Father, we thank You for Your blessing over our family. Help us to be unified. Help us to speak the same language and share the same vision that You have for us. Lord, guide us and keep us on the right path. I pray that NO weapon formed against my family will prosper. No plot, ploy or scheme from the enemy will divide us or cause dissension in our house. Help us to stand in unity…preferring one another over ourselves and loving You above all else. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Prayer to Fulfill God’s Purpose for My Family
The Bible clearly shows us that God has a purpose for us.
But did you know God has a purpose for your family as well?
Think about your ministry, your business, or even your church. God has a plan for each one of those organizations, right?
So why wouldn’t He have a plan for your family?
He carefully chose each person for each family and handcrafted the personalities, gifts, and abilities that each person would have to complete that family.
My prayer is that we would discover His purpose for our family and walk it out daily.
A Prayer for Fulfilling God’s Purpose for My Family
Father, thank you for creating our family with a purpose. We know that you have plans for each of us individually and for our family as a whole. Lord, I pray that you would reveal this purpose to each one of us and help us to walk it out daily. Help us to have an appreciation for each other’s personalities, gifts, and even our weaknesses. Lord, teach us and guide us in all that we do, that we may glorify You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Prayer for Godly Friendships
As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend. Proverbs 27:17 NLT
Friendship is so important.
Not just for us individually, but for our family as a whole.
We have several family friends. The kids get along, and so do we as parents.
There’s something special about having another family over where everyone connects.
This is one area that I want our family to continue to grow.
Prayer for Godly Friendships
Father, thank You for the family friends that You’ve given us. Lord, we are so grateful that You’ve knit us together with other families to do life with. Lord help us to always be reminded of how blessed we are to have them. We pray blessing over these relationships. That no weapon from the enemy could cause division between us. Lord, we ask that You give us more relationships like these. Connect us with like-minded families that will sharpen us and bring us to a new level of faith in You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Prayer for a Heart to Serve Others
A few summers ago, our family and some friends arranged a retreat with a wonderful organization called Family-iD. The founder, Greg Gunn took us through an exercise to discover what our core values are as a family.
Each family member was given a list of values and we were to select our top 30. After we were finished, we met as a family and circles all the ones that we all had in common.
One of the values that emerged was LEADERSHIP.
Our family loves to serve others.
My husband and I know the value of investing in others and we were thrilled to find out that our children felt the same way.
As a family, we want to be the hands and feet of Jesus.
My prayer for my family is that we would continue to have a heart for serving others.
Prayer for A Heart to Serve Others
Father, thank You for the opportunity to serve others. I pray that You would continue to instill this value into us and our children. Help us to see others the way You see them. Lord, we pray that You show us the needs of those around us. Help us to be others-focused and in tune with Your Spirit, so that we can help those that are hurting. Lord, give us the grace to serve when it’s hard. Give us the strength to keep going when we are worn out from our own situations. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
What do you pray over your family?
Do you have specific prayers that you pray?
Feel free to share them in the comments below.
**If this is an area where you are struggling, I’ve included a printable bookmark of the prayers for you to store in your Bible. Simply click on the links graphics above and you can download them and print them out.***
Those bookmarks are so cute! I tweeted, and pinned this post to share with our Living Our Priorities community. Stopping by from Salt and Light Link Up!
I love this! I remember many years ago reading “The Power of a Praying Wife” for the first time. I wrote out prayer cards for so many things and prayed them diligently for many years!
Eventually, other issues became so consuming that I let those prayers go. You have inspired me to find those cards (I know they’re around here somewhere) or make new ones and start this valuable habit back up!
Because you are absolutely right, there is SO MUCH POWER in our prayers, especially when they declare the Word of God within them and speak His truth into life.
Thanks again for featuring my post too! May God bless you and your ministry greatly my friend!
Just wow! I am reading, well just getting back to Power of a praying wife, and together this post and your comment has giving me to push to FINISH the book. I felt the last prayer personally. His grant ME the strength to go on when I feel worn out from my own situations. Thank you and the author of the post.
Love these Biblically based prayers. Every family must remained covered in prayer, and this is definitely the right way to do it. #Salt&Light
The timing of reading your post was perfect. I had just finished my time with God, and I felt at a loss as to my words to pray for my family. Your words were perfect, and so are the lovely bookmarks. Thank you! Sharing and pinning.
Thank you, Maree Dee!!! I love when God provides just what I need when I need it. It’s such a testimony of His goodness and faithfulness! ❤️
Great as I find peace in God so us my family.Be blessed
My quiet time yesterday was on Eph. 4:4-6 that speaks of the unity and oneness with have with Christ and His body, Alisa, so I’m resonating with your wise advice here today! I’ve pinned to my prayers board! Thanks for the inspiration!
Thank you, Beth! Ephesians has been one of my books of study lately too! So much richness in His Word!
Thank you for the family prayers it so needed in times we’re in. Prayer has been a part of my Christian walk for many years. I remember also reading The Power Of A Praying Wife it helped me in my marriage; now married for 23 years. God has through that time grown me in my prayer life. I love anything to do with prayer.
Thank you so much for sharing. As a newish mom, I’ve had such a desire to be a powerfully praying one but have yet to figure out how to do this and feel effective. I’m looking forward to applying these thoughts to my prayer time!
These are great prayers to pray over my family! These would be a great addition to my Echo app 🙂 Thank you!
This is beautiful, Alisa
Great prayers! I need to add these to my Echo App. Thank you 🙂
gorgeous bookmarks!! any chance you have them in a smaller version… that would use less pages and actually fit in a Bible? 😉 im not a “bigbookmark” person… but would love them smaller. i have no idea how to do this myself….
I love these prayers! Thank you so much! One small snafu… when I click on the Prayer to Have a Heart for God bookmark link, it comes up Prayer for Fulfilling God’s Purpose in My Family. Would you be able to change this? I would love to print the Heart for God Prayer. Thanks & God Bless.
Hey Melissa! Let me check on that! Thank you for stopping by today! I’m so glad you enjoyed these prayers!
These are great prayers, and the bookmarks you created are breathtaking. 🙂
Thanks for this resource!
Love this, Alisa! Prayer is SO powerful, but especially so when we declare His Word!
I love the idea that God not only has a plan for us individually, but also for our family! I have believed this to be so, and it makes me excited just thinking about it!
Beautiful bookmarks too!
Thanks Rachel! Declarations are something I LOVE to do. So much power in specifically praying Gods Word!
Thank you for sharing! I have such a hard time finding the words for specific prayer. These are so great and wonderful! I am excited to see the change in my family and myself as I pray these daily. <3
Thank you so much for the book marks! These will be of great value when Praying for my Family!
I was able to tap on all of them and print them out- except the one about having a Heart for God. I tried several ways and it just gave me the next book mark instead.
I’d love to have the one regarding the Heart of God…how I/we need that.
Again, thank you for putting these out there for us. I so appreciate it!
These Bookmarks are a must for every Christian home! Thank you so much for these wonderful tools.
I like this, I will pray unity for them.
Hey Alisa,
I absolutely love this post! Prayer is so important and it’s incredibly easy to put off praying or stop for a while because you don’t know what to say or what to pray for. Therefore, something like this is extremely helpful. I’m going to save this page and come back for inspiration if I need it before prayer.
Thank you so much for this,
-Ariel Shanelle
I love your prayers, especially “have a heart for God”.
I thank you because I haven’t prayed “prayerfully” for my kids. Yes, I pray, but not with the consistency and perseverance that I should put into it. And, as they are growing up, I notice some thinking, position that I felt guilty about, especially that I am divorced from their mom.
So, I will pray more deeply for them from now on.
Thank you very much.
Wonderful prayers. All the prayers are important for a united family. Thanx for sharing.
Please pray that God will provide all resources needed to build our christian orphans school,Camp David Green Academy in Kenya.
These prayer items are a must for every Christian home! Thanks so much for giving us direction on how to pray.
I LIKE TO CAME HERE WAN I THINK THAT THE IS NO HOPE AGAIN FOR ME TO MAKE IT IN LIFE BUT AFTER READING THE PRAYER HERE I WILL SEE HELP AND I WILL BE CAME HAPPY AGAIN THANK YOU JESUS JESUS FOR REMEMBERING ME AGAIN AND MY FAMILY WE THANK YOU.
Thank you for sharing such amazing prayers! I’m will start saying these prayers daily with more intentions and perseverance!
Hi Alisa! Your words… “We see the hand of God move on behalf of the request that we make” left an impression on me. Praying that we will all see God’s hand moving in our lives today and everyday!