Lessons learned from a simple request from a child.

Mummy, Can You Pray For Me?


This is the question my son asked me recently, when he was in the throes of a serious asthma attack. Our son has been diagnosed with chronic asthma. We have our seasons with this illness and most recently we were going through a time where he started off wheezing but then the coughing quickly progressed to bronchitis. For a child, this can be very traumatic, as it becomes very difficult to breathe.

My spirit was quickened as I granted his request. Sometimes as parents, we get discouraged and often wonder if anything we do makes a difference in our children's lives. Upon reflection, I thought it was a great testimony, because it means:

My child knows the power of prayer. At a young age he knows that pray changes things. After going to doctors and taking a regimen of medicines he recognizes that when there’s nothing left, there’s prayer. He knows that God hears our prays.

My child recognizes the beauty of a praying parent. Under normal circumstances my husband and I pray for our children on a regular basis. In other cultures, particularly the Jewish culture it is a treasured custom for parents to bless their children with spiritual and material success. While we do not often pray for material success, we do call each of them by name and ask the Lord’s blessings on their lives. We pray for spiritual direction and awareness. We believe the most important thing in their lives is having a relationship with the Lord - Matt 6:33, and we pray this on them. We also pray for the little things – doing well on tests, making peace with friends, telling a friend about Jesus, not being vain and self centered. We feel that there is nothing so inconsequential that it’s not worthy of prayer.

My child is proving the Lord. He’s learning how to trust. He’s learning the importance of intercessory prayer. "If I can’t do it myself, I can let someone who cares for me and loves me, intercede on my behalf."

Also, I can’t prove this yet, but I believe praying for children makes them feel special. My girlfriend recently told me how one night she was so tired, she just muttered a one-line prayer over her son and said Amen. Her son said, "Aw man – I thought you were going to pray longer for me!"

A child's spirit is quickened knowing that his parents love and care for him so deeply that they are able to bring them before the Almighty. I think children recognize this, more than anything else as true love.

When teaching our children to pray, they oftentimes don't have that level of spontaneity that we'd like to see. On the flip side, sometimes they are so exuberant, they pray for things that we as adults think they shouldn't be praying about! But God doesn't censor our prayers, and we shouldn't either. We should guide them based on the Word. Our guidance is only as good as our relationship with the Lord. Praying may be hard for children at first because they have not yet cultivated that relationship. Children recognize that praying isn't always easy (because it's not for them initially), but yet their parents pray for them.

I don’t view myself as some great prayer warrior. Prayer may be the responsibility of a caring parent, but this is one responsibility that won’t weigh me down. Lamentations 2:19 encourages us to, "Lift up your hands to Him for the lives of your children".
Prayer lifts me up. Prayer stops me from worrying. Once I pray, especially if I’m worried, after saying "Amen" there’s a switch in me that won’t allow me to worry any more. Worries disappear because I pray. When I don’t pray, worries multiply. Prayer takes a load off. Prayer stops wrinkles! Prayer changes things. Parents reach their greatest holiness when they are praying for their children.

Well, I prayed for him. I laid my hands on him and I earnestly prayed, asking the Lord to touch his body, to heal and to grant peace. While praying, I believed that the Lord was able. Able to do more than I thought. Able to work quicker, better, faster than all the medications he was taking. Able. And He did.

I’m so glad my son asked me to pray for him, and I was glad to oblige.