Prayer for Family

Families come in all different sizes. Most often we think in terms of mom, dad, and the kids, but families include couples without children and single folks. And each family has its own set of joys and setbacks; successes and failures; ups and downs. No family escapes the pressures of life. Some seem to have more pressures than others, but each family has its own unique difficulties and joys. Tonight we will spend time in prayer for our families. Bombarded as we are, we need all the prayer we can get. You have been handed slips of paper for you to write your prayer request on. As we go through our devotional time together, perhaps you will want to jot something down.

Biblical Models of Family Prayer

There are a number of instances in Scripture in which people prayed for their families. Each prayer is a bit different.

In Job 1:4–5, we have the prayer of Job on behalf of his children. Concern for the spiritual welfare of his children, he would sacrifice for them following a time of feasting. We shouldn’t read into this that some type of debauchery was taking place. Job’s desire was that his children remain close to the Lord. He wanted to insure their spiritual walk with God. The last sentence of verse 5 is telling: “this was Job’s regular custom.” We cannot pray for our children’s spiritual development enough. You may never have thought about it, but we need to pray for our spouse’s spiritual development as well. Asking God to bring things about so that our children and spouse become more dependent upon God is one of the things we can do for our families.

In Genesis 24:12–15, Abraham sends his trusted servant to find a wife for Isaac. In what is an interesting scene, the servant is at a well waiting to water his camels. He prays for God to bring Isaac’s potential spouse to the well. He even prays that a certain scenario will take place so that he knows this is God’s choice. That prayer is interesting for a discussion about signs in prayer, but the point is that the servant prays for a spouse for his master’s son. I don’t think it is a stretch that Abraham prayed for his son to have a spouse which would bring honor to his family. We should do no less. Don’t wait until your child begins to date, pray now. The person your child will marry is already in this world being raised by people who you probably don’t know. That is a scary thought. We should pray for our children and the spouse they will marry.

Proverbs 31:28 brings us to the end of this long characterization of a godly wife, where the writer states that her family arise and call her blessed. They praise her for the kind of person she is. For most of us we had a mother who helped us to mature. We had parents who nurtured and loved us into adulthood. Expressing thanks for godly parents is appropriate. If you haven’t thanked your own parents, then you are encouraged to do that as well.

In John 17:15, Jesus prays for his disciples and asks that they would be protected from the evil one. Notice he didn’t pray that they would be isolated from the world, but that God would protect them in his absence. In fact, by his statement that he didn’t want God to take them out of this world, Jesus is saying that being in the world is important. We must protect our children, our spouse, and our marriage. We must protect that which is for us and us alone. But we cannot isolate ourselves from others. Thus, the prayer for our families to protect us from the evil one is an appropriate prayer.

In Luke 15:20, we find ourselves in the middle of the famous parable about the two brothers, or the Lost Son. Here we have a picture of the father which is insightful. You know the story well. The younger son, intent upon his independence, left home with a small fortune. He couldn’t wait to leave. For a time life was good. He had lots of friends, food, and fun. But then the money ran out. He finds himself in a state of moral and physical depravity. He returns home wanting nothing more than the security of being in his father’s household again. He is willing to give up his sonship for a place of security.

Verse 20 tells us that the father sees the son in the distance and runs out to meet the boy. The father welcomes his son home with the full rights of sonship being restored. I don’t know how you picture that scene, but I can’t help but see a father who comes out every morning, sits in his favorite rocking chair, quietly rocks and prays for his son’s return. That isn’t close to the actual means of the first century and perhaps it is too romantic of a picture. But there is no doubt in my mind that this father prayed for the return of his son.

This parable comes at the end of three parables in which Jesus has made the point that God is pleased when that which was lost is found. God is interested in the spiritual health of all. If God is interested in that, then as his disciples we ought to be interested in the spiritual health of others as well. We need to pray for our children, our spouse, and extended members of our family that they would come to know God better.

A Time of Prayer

Take the slips of paper and write your request. It may be a prayer of thanksgiving; a prayer for our children to choose the right mate; a prayer for spiritual health; a prayer for protection from evil; or a prayer for our children to love God; or a prayer for something else which concerns your family. Take the time now to write those down. As you finish, one of our prayer leaders will come around and take those. We will sing a few songs while we wait for our prayer leaders to prepare to lead us in prayer.

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