The world can be a scary place. The toughest, strongest person isn’t immune to an occasional bout with fear. It stands to reason that it can be extremely difficult for a child. What can you do to help your child navigate the scariest parts of life?
Can I Protect My Children?
How do I protect my child from the scariest parts of this world? The answer is: the older they get the more difficult that becomes, and there comes a day when you simply can’t. There are many things you can do to equip them for life. That is certainly important. However, one easy thing you can do is pray for them – every day!
Praying the Scriptures over your children does not guarantee they won’t experience pain and heartache, but it does guarantee that the Lord will be with them through it.
Forever Parents
I was enjoying coffee and homemade chocolate chip cookies with an elderly woman in my church. I was visiting her because she was recovering from an illness that had taken her away from church for a few months.
As we talked we made our way to the subject of her children. She began to cry softly, explaining that her son was going through a divorce and it was tearing her apart. I prayed with her and tried to offer some words of comfort.
As I pulled my car out of her driveway, it hit me – this woman was 84 years old, and the son she was weeping for was 60. That’s when I realized the truth – when it comes to our children – it never ends. I will be their father until the day I die. I will rejoice with them in the good times and I will suffer with them in the fire.
This parenting gig never ends – which means it’s never too late to start praying for them!
Six Psalms to Pray
The world is changing at dizzying speeds. The acceleration of change makes the world an increasingly difficult place for your children and grandchildren to navigate (even your adult children). Here are six psalms you can pray over your children and grandchildren.
Psalm 121
A Song for Protection
1 I look up to the mountains; does my strength come from mountains? 2 No, my strength comes from God, who made heaven, and earth, and mountains.
3 He won’t let you stumble, your Guardian God won’t fall asleep. 4 Not on your life! Israel’s Guardian will never doze or sleep.
5 God’s your Guardian, right at your side to protect you – 6 Shielding you from sunstroke, sheltering you from moonstroke.
7 God guards you from every evil, he guards your very life. 8 He guards you when you leave and when you return, he guards you now, he guards you always.
[from The Message Version]
Psalm 46
A Song of Power
1 God is a safe place to hide, ready to help when we need him. 2 We stand fearless at the cliff-edge of doom, courageous in seastorm and earthquake, 3 Before the rush and roar of oceans, the tremors that shift mountains.
Jacob-wrestling God fights for us, God of angel armies protects us.
4 River fountains splash joy, cooling God’s city, this sacred haunt of the Most High. 5 God lives here, the streets are safe, God at your service from crack of dawn. 6 Godless nations rant and rave, kings and kingdoms threaten, but Earth does anything he says.
7 Jacob-wrestling God fights for us, God of angel armies protects us.
8 Attention, all! See the marvels of God! He plants flowers and trees all over the earth, 9 Bans war from pole to pole, breaks all the weapons across his knee. 10 “Step out of the traffic! Take a long, loving look at me, your High God, above politics, above everything.”
11 Jacob-wrestling God fights for us, God of angel armies protects us.
[from The Message Version]
Psalm 91
A Song for Protection
(verses 1-7; 11-16)
1 Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. 2 I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” 3 Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence.
4 He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. 5 You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, 6 nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday.
7 A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. 11 For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; 12 they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
13 You will tread on the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent. 14 “Because he loves me,” says the LORD, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
15 He will call on me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. 16 With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.”
[from The New International Version]
Psalm 100
A Song for Grateful Praise
1 Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. 2 Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.
3 Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. 5 For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations
[from the New International Version]
Psalm 139
A Song of His Presence
(Verses 1-14)
1 Lord, you have examined me and you know me. 2 You know everything I do; from far away you understand all my thoughts. 3 You see me, whether I am working or resting; you know all my actions.
4 Even before I speak, you already know what I will say. 5 You are all around me on every side; you protect me with your power. 6 Your knowledge of me is too deep; it is beyond my understanding.
7 Where could I go to escape from you? Where could I get away from your presence? 8 If I went up to heaven, you would be there; if I lay down in the world of the dead, you would be there. 9 If I flew away beyond the east or lived in the farthest place in the west, 10 you would be there to lead me, you would be there to help me.
11 I could ask the darkness to hide me or the light around me to turn into night, 12 but even darkness is not dark for you, and the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are the same to you.
13 You created every part of me; you put me together in my mother’s womb. 14 I praise you because you are to be feared; all you do is strange and wonderful. I know it with all my heart.
[from the New American Standard Version]
Psalm 23
A Psalm of Promise
1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. 3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me
5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
[The King James Version]
Do you have your favorite Scriptures that you pray over your children? Whatever they are – make a habit of doing it every day.
The world is an increasingly difficult place for our children to navigate. Call on God’s angels to cover your children!
