Someone once said that the greatest gifts we can give to each other are praying for one another and praying for your family. This is most especially true in our families – the closest people we have in this life. There is no one more constant and more reliable person to receive prayers from than the people who we interact with the most because they know our season and the happenings of our daily lives.
There was a family who experienced the power of prayer and this family has a habit of regularly praying for one another, together and separately. But there came a season when the husband became a little too busy at work that they were not able to pray together any longer. The wife felt their need to strengthen their prayer habits once again as worries, temptations and confusions arise during this time.
We know that the Holy Spirit is the One who ultimately guides us and the Lord Jesus who intercedes on our behalf, but we must also acknowledge the importance of our role in praying for our family. Next to Jesus himself, ideally, it is our family members who ought to know what exactly to pray for about us.
One powerful way of praying for our family is with Scripture declaration. When we declare the truth of the Word in the life of our loved ones, the Word of God will definitely not come back to Him empty and void but will accomplish its purpose in our lives (Isaiah 55:11). We are not merely hoping against all odds when we declare Scriptures, we are holding on by faith that just as it is written so it will happen in our lives too.
Scripture Declaration for Spouse
4 Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children, 5 to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.
Titus 2:4-5
22 Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.
Ephesians 5:22-27
These instructions from Paul on marriage are one of the best sources for Scripture declarations for you and your spouse. These are the ways one can honor God in their marriage: to be faithful, to be selfless, to submit to one another, to respect one another, to love unconditionally, and to be pure and blameless. These are difficult tasks especially when one is bombarded with worldly things. But when the spouse continually prays for his or her partner, the spouse’s soul is all the more strengthened to honor God in their marriage.
Scripture Declaration for Children
6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.
Deuteronomy 6:6-7
4 Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.
Ephesians 6:4
The children in every family are the next generation who will pass on the faith of their fathers and mothers. It is the parents’ role to instruct in line with the Word. And just as the Word has promised that once we teach these young ones the way of the Lord, it will not depart them until they grow old. One of the parents’ ways to do so is to kneel in prayer for their children, that just as they live out their faith and show it to their children, they must also be able to help them commune with God through prayer, Bible study and meditation.
Parents know that there are a lot of things to pray for their children, but the most important prayer concern is to be able to dedicate their lives unto the Lord and that one day, they would also have a personal encounter with the One true God who will lead their paths to righteousness and Truth.
Scripture Declaration for Protection
If you say, “The Lord is my refuge,”
and you make the Most High your dwelling,
10 no harm will overtake you,
no disaster will come near your tent.
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.
Psalm 91:9-12
We are surrounded by danger on a daily basis because the world is not a safe place ever since the fall of man. It is important that we keep a habit of praying for protection for our family and loved ones. When we pray a prayer of protection, we acknowledge God’s sovereign hands wherever we are even when we are far apart from each other.
Scripture Declaration for Family’s Faithfulness to God
15 But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”
Joshua 24:15
This Scripture from the book of Joshua was his declaration before the people of Israel that he and his family would choose to honor and serve the One true God. Some Israelites in the time of Joshua had the option or even chose to serve the false gods of their forefathers and of their current time, but Joshua urged the people to make the right choice of worshiping the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob because He is the True God who has helped them in all their battles as they claim the Promise Land.
Prayer for Family’s Salvation
For some readers, these Scripture declarations may seem far-fetched because your family is everything but a believer. So if there is one prayer you could offer for them, it is the prayer of salvation. The jailer in Acts 16:31-34 is a classic example of this declaration, he received what the apostle told him that as he believes in the Lord Jesus, he and his household shall be saved. True enough, he was filled with joy as he came to believe in God-he and his whole household. This declaration is God’s desire for every believer: that our active faith must continue to influence others around us and must result in being saved from their sins and to have eternal life. It takes a simple prayer to spark the fire to reach out to our families and share who Jesus is one loved one at a time.
Surrender, Hope, and Joy
Whenever we pray for our family, God is honored and pleased. This is because He has instructed us to love one another, and prayer is an act of love for our family. When we pray according to His will, we surrender our own desires for our loved ones and instead acknowledge God’s will to be done in their lives. We hope for the good in the bad situations: we don’t see a bad ending but we speak life that God is continually at work in our loved one’s life. Ultimately, we experience abounding joy because we have given something to our family that no amount of money could ever give or buy.
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