Praying for Your Child From Head to ToeEsimerkki

Lavish Love

Some pray as though trying to pry God’s blessings out of a stingy, relenting hand. Oh friend, He’s not hoarding His favor, waiting for us to say the right words. Prayer is simply opening the storehouse of heaven for lavish blessings He already wants to give.

Scripture describes His love and His blessings as being “lavished” on us (Ephesians 1:7–8). John wrote, “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God” (1 John 3:1a). He didn’t simply use the word given but lavished. The root word, lavish, means to superabound, be in excess, be superfluous. There’s nothing stingy about that.

While God longs to lavish us with His goodness, He often waits for us to ask. Jesus tells us that the Father knows what we need before we ask (see Matthew 6:8), yet He waits for us to pray and ask before meeting the need (see Matthew 7:7–8). James reminds us, “You do not have because you do not ask God” (James 4:2b).

We don’t need to understand it fully. Prayer is simply the way God chose to engineer the flow of His power and activity from the spiritual realm into the physical realm. Prayer is the conduit through which God’s power is released and His will is brought to earth as it is in heaven.

James wrote “The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective” (James 5:16b). And if you know Jesus as Savior and Lord, then you are righteous and holy because ofwhat He has done for you and in you (see 1 Corinthians 1:30). Your prayers for your child are powerful and effective!

Pray the following verses over your child:

Mouth—The words they speak: Psalm 19:14

Neck—The decisions that turn their heads: Proverbs 4:10–13

Shoulders—Their burdens and worries: Deuteronomy 31:8