The Power of a
Praying Parent
Based on the teachings of Stormie Omartian — a practical guide to praying specifically and faithfully over your children at every stage of life.
The Foundation: Relinquishing Control
Every parent knows the feeling — the overwhelming weight of responsibility for a life you love but cannot fully protect. Stormie Omartian’s foundational teaching begins right there, in that helplessness, and offers a way through it. The answer is not better parenting techniques or tighter rules. The answer is prayer.
Omartian is direct: parents aren’t perfect, and we were never meant to be. We cannot be everywhere at once. But God can. Prayer is not a last resort when everything else fails — it is the first and most powerful weapon available to any parent. It is a spiritual hedge, built around your child through consistent, faithful intercession, that no amount of good intention or human effort can replicate.
The shift she calls parents to make is profound: stop trying to fix your children, and start partnering with God to do what only He can do in their hearts.
Five Areas to Always Cover in Prayer
How to Pray: Practical Wisdom
Be specific, not general. Omartian urges parents away from vague petitions like “Lord, bless my child.” God already knows what you mean — but you need the discipline of naming the real fear, the real struggle, the real hope. Pray about the friendship that worries you. Pray about the subject they’re failing. Pray about the fear they carry to bed every night.
Pray the Word. The most powerful prayers are built from scripture. When you take God’s own promises and pray them back to Him over your child, something shifts — in the spiritual atmosphere around them, and in your own heart. The verses throughout this guide are not decorations; they are weapons. Use them.
Be persistent. Prayer over a child is a long-term investment. Do not measure it in days or even months. You are building something that may not be visible for years. The parent who does not give up is the parent who sees God move.
The Praying Parent’s Own Heart
Omartian does not let parents off the hook. She teaches that to pray effectively for a child, a parent must first tend to their own spiritual life. This means coming to prayer with a clean heart — confessing your own failures and faults before God. It means refusing to pray out of anger, manipulation, or a desire for your own convenience. And it means learning, perhaps the hardest lesson of all, to trust God’s timing — especially when a child is wandering, struggling, or seemingly beyond reach.
This is not passive surrender. It is the most active, courageous thing a parent can do: to bring a child before the throne of God, day after day, and believe that the same God who made them is also working in them.
“It doesn’t matter how old your children are… it’s never too late to start, and it’s never the wrong time to pray.”— Stormie Omartian
Prayers by Life Stage — What’s Ahead
The prayers that follow are organized by the season of your child’s life. Each stage brings different needs, different fears, and different battlegrounds. Whether your child is in the crib or the boardroom, there is a prayer here for where they are right now.
Infants & Babies
Before they can speak or understand, your prayers are already building a foundation around them. This is the season of covering — of establishing a spiritual atmosphere over their life before they even know they need it.
Lord, I place this precious child in Your hands. I ask for a hedge of protection over their body, their breath, and their developing mind. Let Your angels guard them through every night and every quiet moment. Shield them from illness and from harm that we cannot see.
Father, I ask that every system of this child's body would develop exactly as You designed it. I pray over their brain, their senses, their hearing and sight. Let them grow strong and healthy. Where any development lags, I ask for Your healing touch and for wisdom for the parents and doctors who care for them.
God, let this child feel safe and loved. I pray against colic, night terrors, and any spirit of restlessness. Let their home be an atmosphere of peace. Strengthen the bond between this child and their parents, and let Your love flow through every touch and every lullaby.
Toddlers
Toddlerhood is where personality ignites. These little ones are discovering their own will for the first time — and so are you. Pray for a teachable spirit, safety as they explore, and the early seeds of faith to take root.
Lord, I ask that You would give this child a heart that is soft toward instruction. Before rebellion has a chance to take root, plant in them a love for learning and a willingness to be guided. Let correction feel like love to them, not rejection.
Father, this child is brave before they are wise — they will climb, run, and explore without knowing the danger. I ask for guardian angels to be stationed around them. Protect them from serious falls, from accidents, and from the thousand small risks of a curious child in a big world.
God, as they learn to speak, shape their little tongue. I pray that from their earliest words they would grow in the habit of kindness. I pray against tantrums rooted in fear or frustration. Give them — and their parents — the grace to navigate big emotions in a small body.
Early Childhood
These are the years that build the foundation. What a child learns about themselves, about God, and about the world in these early years will echo for a lifetime. Pray for their character, their friendships, and the seeds of faith to become something real to them — not just inherited belief, but their own.
Father, I pray for the development of honesty, kindness, and courage in this child. Let them be known as someone who tells the truth even when it's hard. Build in them a tender conscience that is quick to feel conviction and quick to make things right. Shape their character now, when the clay is still soft.
Lord, I ask that You would sovereignly place good friends in this child's path — children who are kind, who build up rather than tear down. I pray against the influence of any friendship that would pull them toward cruelty, dishonesty, or self-harm. Give them a discerning heart even now.
God, I pray that faith would become real and personal to this child — not just something we do on Sundays, but something they actually feel and believe. Let them have moments where they know You are real. Plant in their heart a love for prayer, for Your Word, and for Your presence that grows with them all their life.
The Middle Years
These are the years when a child begins asking who they are. Peer pressure arrives. Self-doubt arrives. The opinion of friends starts to matter more than the opinion of parents. Pray for their identity to be rooted in God before the world gets a chance to define them.
Lord, I pray that this child would know — deep in their bones — that they are chosen, loved, and valuable before they ever accomplish anything. Let their identity be grounded in You and not in the shifting approval of peers. Guard them against comparison and the lie that they are not enough.
Father, in this age of screens and constant input, I pray for a hedge of protection around their mind and their eyes. Give them a spirit of discernment. I ask that content which would plant seeds of shame, lust, cruelty, or despair would simply not take root. Let the Word of God be louder in them than the noise of the world.
God, You placed gifts and talents in this child that are unique to them alone. I pray that this season would be one of discovery — that they would find the things they love, the things they are made for. Give them at least one area where they feel genuinely capable and called. Let them glimpse their purpose even now.
Teenagers
The teenage years are not just difficult — they are spiritual battleground. Every force in culture is vying for the soul of your teenager. The stakes are high, but so is the power of a persistent, specific, scripture-filled prayer. Don't give up. Don't go quiet. Pray louder.
Lord, I stand against depression, anxiety, and confusion in this teenager's mind. You have not given them a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind. I pray that against every thought that tells them they are worthless, hopeless, or alone. Be their peace when the noise gets unbearable.
Father, the temptations facing teenagers today — substance use, sexual pressure, social media addiction, and the pull of dangerous rebellion — are real and powerful. I ask that You would make a way of escape in every moment of temptation. Give them the strength to walk through that door. Place around them people who make the right path feel possible.
God, I ask that You would carefully and sovereignly curate the community around this teenager. Bring them friends who call out the best in them. I pray against any romantic relationship that would pull them away from You or from their own worth. Let there be at least one adult outside of this family — a mentor, a coach, a youth leader — who speaks into their life with wisdom and love.
Lord, even now, begin to prepare the path ahead. I pray for clarity about what they are called to do and who they are called to be. I ask for divine appointments — the right open door at the right time. Let them feel the pull of purpose stronger than the pull of aimlessness. Give them something to run toward.
Young Adults
When a child leaves home, the temptation is to feel like your influence ends. It doesn't — it just changes form. You can no longer be present, but you can be persistent in prayer. This is the season to release without letting go, to trust God with what you can no longer control.
Father, the decisions made in these years — about career, relationships, values, and faith — will shape the rest of their life. I pray for wisdom beyond their years. When they are at a crossroads, let Your voice be the loudest. Give them the courage to choose the right path even when it is the harder one.
Lord, college campuses and new cities are full of voices challenging everything they grew up believing. I pray that their faith would not be a borrowed faith but their own — tested, chosen, and real. If they wander, hedge their way. Let the prodigal path lead them back to You, and let mercy be waiting when they return.
God, I pray for open doors in this season — the right job, the right opportunity, the right community. I ask that they would experience Your provision firsthand, not just as a story from their childhood but as a living reality in their own life. Let their early adult years build their faith, not break it.
Adult Children
It's never too late to pray for a child, no matter how old they are. When they are fully grown, your role changes from guide to intercessor. You may no longer be able to steer — but you can still stand in the gap. Release them into God's hands. Then keep praying.
Father, if my adult child has wandered from You, from our family, or from themselves — I ask for restoration. I pray against every stronghold that has taken root in their life. Break the chains of addiction, bitterness, or shame that keep them from the life You designed. Let Your kindness lead them to repentance, not condemnation.
Lord, there are things an adult child will receive from a peer or mentor that they may not yet receive from a parent. I ask that You would send those people — a friend of wisdom, a pastor of grace, a mentor of integrity — who can speak into their life in this season. Let them be surrounded by people who point them toward You.
God, I pray that any painful cycle from our family — any pattern of anger, addiction, broken relationships, or unbelief — would stop with this generation and go no further. I declare a new legacy. Let my adult children be the ones who turn the tide and build something new for the children who come after them.
The Three Things to Always Pray
Omartian calls these the "heavy hitters" — the three prayers that belong in every parent's rotation, regardless of a child's age.
“It doesn’t matter how old your children are… it’s never too late to start, and it’s never the wrong time to pray.”— Stormie Omartian
