Prayer For Young Men
First, oh Lord, forgive us for the times when we have misplaced our priorities so that we haven't been available to model a strong relationship with You in front of our kids. Help us to understand the power of our influence in our children's lives and to reorder our schedule so that we can be available to both directly and indirectly offer the godly influence that our sons desperately need.
Second, while we do pray that our sons would be protected from negative influences, we also pray that you would surround them with friendships and mentor-type relationships that portray what it means to have an authentic relationship with Christ. In turn, we pray that you would raise our sons up to be the influencers of the next generation. We pray that you would allow godliness and righteousness to dwell in their hearts so richly that these evidences of your truth spill out of them and to every person they encounter.
Through it all, we pray that they would not be prone to laziness or complacency, but that they would believe that even a single candle burning in the dark makes a difference and would boldly stand up for truth, even when it's unpopular.
Dear Lord, on this day that we celebrate ________'s birth, I pray for blessings and joy over ________. You knew everything about him before his birth and You have a plan of prosperity and hope for his life! Let him feel confident and ready for the year ahead knowing that You have an order to his steps and a purpose for his life. Help him to find joy in every circumstance in life, knowing that You work all things out for good. I thank You for ________, for loving him with unconditional love, and for the promises You have spoken over his life. In Jesus Name, Amen.
Dear Jesus, we weep with you over the number of our kids who are buying into the lie that sexual pleasure is something to experiment with. We pray that our sons would treasure their sexuality as a true gift from You, and that they would honor that gift by saving it as a precious treasure to give their future spouse. We ask that you would help them to be strong in the face of their own desires and that they would choose purity in the face of temptation.
Lord we also ask that you'd protect our sons from the idea that they must do anything and everything (including abusing their bodies through eating disorders, drug abuse, or other harmful behaviors) in order to attaining a preferred shape or figure. We pray you'd protect our sons from that kind of destructive thinking, and that if they're tempted to take these kind of drastic measures, that you'd send someone in their lives to stop them. Help them to remember over and over that their identity is not in how they look on the outside but what you see as their potential and worth on the inside.
We pray that our children would treasure their health as a gift from God and that they would have a passion to eat nutritious food and to stay active in order to do their part to take care of this treasure.
Dear Jesus, help my son know that we are all born as sinners and separated from God because of our wicked hearts. However, at an early age, him grasp the life-transforming concept that he does not have to live as a sinner under that condemnation.
Teach my son that he has the opportunity to accept a new, beautiful identity that is called good, not because of what he has done or what he looks like, but because he is secure in who YOU say they are: treasured, delightful, known and protected. Let him not place their self-worth in accomplishments he may or may not achieve, but let him discover these deeper truths about who You believe he is and build every decision he makes on that sure foundation.
Lord, I pray that You will create in my son a clean heart and that You would constantly renew a right spirit within him, keeping his thoughts and actions pure and motivated by love. Guard him from temptation, and let him know You are always faithful to give him a way out and help to endure. May the words of his mouth and the meditations of his heart always please you and edify others.
Lord, I pray Your emotional, physical, and spiritual protection over my son. Keep evil far from him, and help him to trust You as his refuge and strength. I pray You will guard his mind from harmful instruction, and grant him discernment to recognize truth. I pray You will make him strong and courageous in the presence of danger, recognizing that You have overcome and will set right all injustice and wrong one day. Help him to find rest in Your shadow, as he lives in the spiritual shelter You provide for him. Let him know that the only safe place is in Jesus,and that his home on earth is only temporary.
Heavenly Father, help us to model a healthy example of how to handle possessions and money. Help us to work hard, but to not wear ourselves out in order to get rich so that our children can witness a positive, godly view of hard work and the pursuit of success.
We pray that our sons would persevere in whatever vocation you give them and that they would work with cheerful hearts as if they were serving you directly.
We pray that our sons would see at an early age that money and possessions are a gift from You and thus must be always held with an open hand so that You can use those gifts to bless others.
We ask that our sons would find their value in their true identity as a child of You, not in the possessions they do or do not have. We pray for contentment and gratefulness in whatever situation they're givenrich or poor. We pray they would have a steadfast commitment to work hard with the talents you've given them so that they could support themselves, their families and use their money as a way to bless others in need.
Ultimately, we pray that they would discover that the greatest wealth they could possess would be in relationships, especially in a relationship with You. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Father we lift up the young men of our nation to You for no matter their race, creed, color, family origin, life experiences or socioeconomic background, they need You.
For those who have no hope, help them to understand that there is a glorious hope they can have in Christ Jesus.
For those who feel unloved, let them know that you love them enough to have sent Your only begotten Son, Jesus Christ to die for them that they may have a relationship with You.
For those who have no father, or an absent father, help them to know that You are a Father to the fatherless and You will always be there for them.
For those who feel rejected and like no one cares, help them to know that if they come to you through Christ You will accept them in the Beloved.
For those who are bound by addictions and destructive habits, help them to know there is power in the Name of Jesus to break every chain in their lives and set them free.
For those who are angry and full of rage, help them to understand that under it all they are really hurting and brokenhearted and Jesus came to heal the brokenhearted.
For those who have suffered wrong and whose hearts are full of revenge, help them to know that You are the Righteous Judge and vengeance belongs to You, not to them.
Father stem the tide of bloodshed in our nation for even as Abel's blood cried out from the ground, the blood of our young men is crying out from the ground.
Restore unto our young men the value and sanctity of life.
Cause them to know that You and You alone give life and they do not have a right to just take it away.
Open the eyes of our young men and help them to see that there are better ways to resolve issues than violence and murder.
Draw them unto You by the power of Your Holy Spirit and break up the hardness in their hearts.
Father help them to know and understand that in spite of the poor examples many of us who name Your Name have set, it does not change the fact that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life and they need Him.
Father forgive us, Your people, for the many ways we have brought reproach to Your Name and become a stumbling block in their eyes.
Cause us to see ourselves as we truly are and to humble ourselves and pray and seek Your face.
Help us to sincerely repent of our sins and turn from our wicked ways, the ways that we know are displeasing to You and that violate the principles of Your Word for then You shall hear from heaven and heal our land.
Father the enemy has come in, but like a flood, we ask You to raise up a standard against him like only You can.
Have mercy upon us O God and touch the young men of our nation.
We ask and pray these things in Jesus' Name.
Amen.