I pretty much adore the “tween” in my house.
She’s fun and helpful, thoughtful and sensitive.
Oh, and she cooks for me almost every day!
I’m sometimes struck with painful awareness that my time with her in my home is growing limited.
Most likely, she’s more than halfway to the spreading-her-wings-and-flying-the-coop stage of life.
And while I could wallow in how much I’ll miss her (and her chili), or how many times I’ve failed her…
or I could panic about whether she’ll stay close to the Lord, or whether she’ll be safe in these evil days…
on my best days, I choose to pray for her.
She’s not really mine, after all.
She has always been and will forever be His.
And so when I make a choice to forsake worry and turn to Him instead for a little chat about our girl…
well, I know for sure that the time I spend praying for her is never wasted.
The same is true for the tween or teen in your life, friend. Pray for him. Lift her to the Lord. We serve a God who is strong enough to intervene on their behalf, and kind enough to want to.
I invite you to join me in praying the Scriptures for your teen or “tween.”
Prayers for Teens (& Tweens!)
Pray that he would love God’s Word, meditating on it all the day and trusting it as a lamp to his feet and a light to his path (Psalm 119:97,105).
Ask the Lord to grant her the grace to flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart (2 Timothy 2:22).
Acknowledge to God that all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. Pray that she would continue in what she has learned and has firmly believed, knowing from whom she learned it and how from childhood she has known the Scriptures, which are able to make her wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus (2 Timothy 3:12-16).
Pray that he would walk with the wise, and would thus become wise himself. Ask that God would keep him from having fools for companions, which can bring him harm (Proverbs 13:20).
Ask the Lord to help him love God and keep His commands, Claim on his behalf the promise that he who loves Jesus will be loved by the Father, and that Jesus will love him and manifest Himself to him (John 14:21).
Implore the Lord to give her a love for others, in the same way she has been loved by God (John 13:34-35).
Beg God that she would never be deceived about the state of her heart before Him. Pray that her faith in God would be evidenced by good fruit in her life (Matthew 7:21).
Pray that he would grown in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man (Luke 2:52). Lift every aspect of his life – physical, mental, spiritual, emotional, and social – to the Lord in prayer.
Ask God to implant a strong sense of her identity in Christ as a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17) and part of a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and a people for His own possession. Pray that she would be aware that her identity wasn’t secured only for her own sake, but so that she may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called her out of darkness into His marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9)
Acknowledge to God that where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing. Pray that God would keep these things from taking root in his life. Ask the Lord to grant him wisdom from above that is pure, peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, and without hypocrisy (James 3:16-17).
Pray that she would follow God closely and be sensitive to His leading. Ask Him to help her not be like a horse running ahead of God, or like a mule lagging behind. Pray that she would keep in step with Him always (Psalm 32:9).
Ask the Lord to keep him from loving the world and the things in the world (I John 2:15), and that he would instead set his mind on things that are above (Colossians 3:2).
Dear Heavenly Father, thank You so much for my child – this young person on the verge of adulthood, anticipating the wonderful adventures You have in store for her life. I pray, Lord, that Your name and Your glory would be the desire of her heart all the days of her life. I ask that she would find fullness of joy in Your presence, and unmatched pleasures at Your right hand. Any other way You choose to bless her would just be icing on the cake. It’s in the name of my Savior, Jesus Christ, that I pray. Amen.
