5 Ways to Pray for your Child's School year

As a parent with my first child entering kindergarten, I understand the nerves and uncertainty that can come along with this new season of life.

How will they do? Will they make friends? Will people be kind to them? Will they enjoy it and be happy? Will they actually learn what they need to learn? What effect will this have on them intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually?

So many thoughts and questions race through our minds. We wish we could stay with them the entire time—but we can’t.

Thankfully, as believers, although we can’t be with them, our prayers can go where we can’t! We have direct access to the very throne of God. When we drop them off and watch them walk through those doors, we can entrust them to the One who goes with them.

Whether you are a parent of a first-time student or a returning student, a grandparent, guardian, or simply someone who loves a young person, I wanted to give you five ways you can pray for your loved one throughout this school year.

Obviously, this is not an exhaustive list. Instead, I hope these five things will simply provide a starting point—an encouragement to pray and a foundation you can build upon throughout the year.

Every child’s school setting looks a little different, so whether they attend a Christian school, public school, or are homeschooled, we encourage you to adapt these prayer points to their particular setting and needs.

1. Pray for their Safety

"The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore." - Ps. 121:8

• ^{This is a big one. In a world with so much uncertainty, hatred, and sin, we should never underestimate the importance of praying for God’s protection over our children. Pray that the Lord would protect your loved one physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. Ask God to keep those who would seek to do harm away from their school. Pray for protection as they travel to and from school, as they participate in activities, and throughout the normal course of each day. Ultimately, remember that while we cannot see everything our children will encounter, God can. Entrust them daily into His care.}

2. Pray for Healthy Friends & Influences

"He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed." - Prov. 13:20

• ^{Influence is a big deal, regardless of the age of our children. Pray that God would put the right influences around them and keep the wrong influences away. Those influences may come through teachers, classmates, coaches, staff members, or others they interact with throughout the day. Pray especially for their friendships. Ask God to give them wisdom in choosing the people they allow to become close influences in their lives. Pray for friends who will encourage what is right rather than pull them toward what is wrong. The people our children walk with will have an influence on the direction they walk.}

3. Pray for Them to Be the Right Friend & Influence

"Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity." - 1 Tim. 4:12

• ^{It is easy to pray that our children will find the right friends. But we should also pray that they will be the right friend. Pray that your child will be kind when others are unkind. Pray that they will have courage to do right when others are doing wrong. Pray that they will notice the student who feels left out, stand for truth without being ashamed, and treat others in a way that reflects Christ. Rather than only praying, “Lord, put good influences around my child,” perhaps we should also pray, “Lord, make my child a godly influence on those around them.” Their school is not only a place where others will influence them; it is also a place where they have an opportunity to influence others.}

4. Pray for Their Chapel Services

"My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways." - Prov. 23:26

• ^{If your loved one attends a Christian school where there are devotions, Bible classes, or chapel services, don't allow the familiarity of those opportunities to cause you to underestimate their importance. Pray that God would speak to them in a real and personal way. Pray that during those times especially, they would be free from distractions and have a clear mind and an open heart. Pray for those who will teach and preach to them, that God would give them the right message at the right time. Most importantly, pray that Jesus Christ would be magnified in the heart of that young person. I personally pray that my son would place his heart in God's hands, and that God's heart would become his desire. More than simply knowing Bible facts, I want him to know, love, and follow the Lord for himself.}

5. Pray for Their Teachers

"If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." - Jas. 1:5

• ^{Your child's teachers will spend a significant amount of time with them throughout the school year. Pray for them! Pray that God would give them wisdom, patience, discernment, and strength. Teaching carries responsibilities and pressures that we as parents may never fully see. Pray for their personal lives and families. Pray that they would genuinely care for the students entrusted to them and have wisdom to recognize when a child may be struggling. If they are Christian teachers, pray that their lives would consistently point their students toward Christ. Pray that what they teach with their lips would be supported by how they live their lives. And don't just pray about your child's teacher—look for opportunities to encourage them. A kind word, a note of appreciation, or simply letting them know that you are praying for them may mean more than you realize.}

Keep Praying

There are certainly many more things we could add to this list. We can pray for our children's education, their decisions, their attitudes, their health, their testimony, their spiritual growth, and so much more.

But perhaps the most important thing is simply this: pray.

Don't let prayer for your children become something reserved only for moments of fear, difficulty, or crisis. Pray for them on the ordinary Monday morning. Pray as you drop them off. Pray when you pack their lunch. Pray when you see their backpack by the door. Pray when they tell you about their day.

We cannot go everywhere our children go. We cannot see everything they will face. We cannot control every influence that will come into their lives.

But we can pray to the God who sees them, knows them, loves them, and is able to work in their lives in ways that we cannot.

As this school year begins, may the backpacks, buses, classrooms, homework, and busy schedules serve as reminders to us: pray for our children.

"Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you." - 1 Pet. 5:7

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In Christ's love,
Br. Mikey

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_{Published by Northeast Vision | Strengthening • Supporting • Starting Churches}