How To Pray For Your Children’s Salvation

As Christians, God calls us to preach the Gospel to other people. In fact, in Matthew 28:16-20, it is written that Christ commissioned us to go out into the world and make disciples. As we minister and preach the Gospel to others, we must also pray for the hearts of the people to whom we preach the Gospel. If we do this for other people, we should certainly do it for our children. We as parents have a moral obligation and biblical mandate to raise them to know Christ.

Father in heaven, I pray for the grace I need as I disciple my children to become men and women who know You and understand the Gospel of Your Son, Jesus Christ. Help me be a good parent and reflect Your character towards them. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.

Why should I pray for my children’s salvation?

You should pray for your children’s salvation because your sole duty as a parent is to raise them as children who know Christ. Therefore, it is not the sole responsibility of the children’s church or the kids’ ministry of your church to disciple your children and teach them about the Gospel. That is your primary duty and calling as a parent. In Proverbs 22:6, it is written that parents ought to train their children in the right ways to go. That includes teaching them godly values, the Bible, and the Gospel.

In Deuteronomy 6:5-9, it is written that we ought to love the LORD our God with all of our heart, soul, and might. That is also something we should instill in our children. In other words, we should pray for our children’s salvation because we want them to become godly men and women. We pray because we know that in the end, we cannot do it alone and can only depend on God’s grace working in us and trust that God’s grace is also working in them.

Another reason we should pray for our children’s salvation is that salvation is primarily driven by the work of God in our hearts. If we ask ourselves, can we, on our own, without any grace from God, say that we believe the Gospel, will repent, and love our LORD? Just as we needed God’s grace to work in our hearts, enabling us to become the Christians we are right now, our children also need God’s grace to work in their lives. The very same prayer that we pray for adults for them to be saved is the prayer we should say for our children. 

Finally, we should pray for our children’s salvation because we know that in the end, no one can change their hearts but God. While we should preach the Gospel to our children and ensure that they understand why Christ died on the cross, changing them isn’t part of our job. That is up to God. The good thing is that God is the same God yesterday, today, and forever. The same Holy Spirit who worked in the heart of the apostle Paul, a persecutor of the church and a religious Pharisee, is the same Holy Spirit who will work hard in the hearts of our children.

We pray because we depend on God’s power, grace, and mercy.

Father in heaven, as I disciple my children to become godly men and women who know and follow Christ, remind me to always depend on You in prayer. Help me to always rely on Your grace as I teach and preach the Gospel. I also pray that Your Word, which I sow in their hearts, shall grow and bear fruit. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.

What can I pray for my children’s salvation?

There are two things you should pray for your children’s salvation. The first is for their hearts of stone to be turned into hearts of flesh. After the fall of Adam and Eve, we all became sinful. Because of that, our hearts have also become hardened. That is why some people, even if they are the most intelligent person in the world, don’t want to believe and place their trust in Christ. This resistance is because their hearts are hardened.

That is why the Holy Spirit, who works in people’s hearts, can soften them. In ( I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. Ezekiel 36:26),

it is written that God will give us a new heart. He removes our hearts of stone and gives us hearts of flesh. That is why, if anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation, as written in ( Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 2 Corinthians 5:17).

They already have a new heart and their desires and are no longer bound to the sinful flesh, which happened because of the fall.

The second thing you can pray for is for the Holy Spirit to open their spiritual eyes. Again, because of the fall, we all became spiritually blind. That is also why, no matter how much sense the Gospel made, many others couldn’t see it. A good example of this is the account of the man born blind in (He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!” John 9:25).

It wasn’t just the physical eyes of the blind man that were opened, but also his spiritual eyes.

Despite not being able to see the face of Christ, he knew that the One whom he encountered was the Messiah and wanted to meet Him. That is why, when he met Christ and Christ introduced Himself, he worshiped Jesus. The blind man saw his need for a savior and recognized who Christ was in the world. The Pharisees, on the other hand, despite seeing Jesus several times already and having full knowledge of the law, missed out on Him being the Messiah because they were spiritually blind.

That is why, as you continuously preach the Gospel and teach your children about Christ, you must pray for the Holy Spirit to work in their hearts and ask God to soften them and open their spiritual eyes so that they may see and comprehend the grace and mercy of God in the person of Christ.

How can I pray for my children’s salvation?

You can pray for their salvation by praying the two points we have mentioned above, for the Holy Spirit to soften their hearts and open their spiritual eyes. Remember that salvation is a product of the Lord’s work in them; therefore, as you pray, you do so by depending on God and His work in your children’s lives.

Aside from those two points, you can also pray by lifting particular concerns or prayer requests to God regarding the Christian walk of your children. In Philippians 4:6-7, it is written that we are to lift our prayer requests to God. For example, when your children go to Sunday school, you will want them to know more about God, which will result in greater love for Him. You can pray to God that your children will listen and understand the Bible lesson and that the Word that was taught to them shall bear fruit.

In short, you can pray for their salvation by praying the two points we mentioned, along with your other concerns and requests regarding their Christian walk and growth.

Father in heaven, I pray for my children, specifically that You will work in their hearts as I preach the Gospel to them. Holy Spirit, soften their hearts and open their spiritual eyes so that, despite their young age, they will understand the undeniable worth of knowing Christ. I also pray that they will listen to their teachers in Sunday school and that Your Word shall take root in their hearts and bear fruit. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.

No one is too far from the grace and mercy of God. Even young children can become passionate and zealous Christians for the LORD. They can even become more mature Christians, in terms of knowing and understanding the Gospel, than some adults. We should preach the Gospel and pray for them to believe and repent because God’s heart is also ready to care for the next generation.