Parents of adult children need to pray powerful prayers when they pray for their children, when their son or daughter goes through a problem or a life crisis such as marriage problems, divorce, unemployment, job problems, child custody issues, a crisis of faith, depression, addiction, family quarrels or other stressful situations.  Here is a prayer for the restoration of grown sons and daughters that parents of adult children can pray using Bible verses from Isaiah 49:8-18.  (NIV)

Prayer for Adult Children with Problems

Dear Heavenly Father, I come to you as a fellow parent, knowing that you understand how my heart breaks for __________________(name) my grown child’s situation.  I am praying now for your help and hope to be reborn in all of us as I pray the words of Isaiah over them.

This is what the Lord says;

“In the time of my favor I will answer you, and in the day of salvation I will help you;  I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people, to restore the land and to reassign its desolate inheritance, to say to the captives, ‘Come out,’ and to those in darkness, ‘Be free!’

I claim this prayer time as the day of favor for my child.  I thank you that you have promised to help us.  I thank you that you have promised to restore the lost and broken parts. Here are some specific things that need restoration in my child’s life __________________________________

I thank you that you promise to be my child’s keeper.  Here are the things that I can’t do for them that I place into your keeping _____________________________________

I thank you that you promise that you will set them free.  Here are things from which my child needs to be set free today _________________________________________________________________

 They will feed beside the roads and find pasture on every barren hill.  They will neither hunger nor thirst, nor will the desert heat or the sun beat upon them.  He who has compassion will guide them and lead them besides springs of water.  I will turn all my mountains into roads and my highways will be raised up.  See, they will come from afar – some from the north, some from the west, some from the region of Aswan. 

I thank you that you can provide for the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of my child today.  Here are some of the most pressing needs they have___________________________________________

I thank you that you feel deep compassion for them, that you want to see them well and whole and joyous and in good relationships with others and with yourself. Here are some things that break my heart and worry me about my child’s situation_________________________________________

I pray that you will guide my child to the help they need.  I pray that you will give them rest and give them the strength for the journey back to stability.  Here are the issues on which my child needs your guidance today_____________________________________________________________

 Shout for joy, O heavens; rejoice, O earth; burst into song, O mountains!  For the Lord comforts his people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones. 

I praise you now for the comfort you are bringing me that you are with us all and that you care deeply.

But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me.”  “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne?  Though she may forget, I will never forget you!  See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me.  Your sons hasten back, and those who laid you waste depart from you.  Lift up your eyes and look around; all your sons gather and come to you.  As surely as I live,” declares the lord, “You will wear them all as ornaments, you will put them on like a bride.”

Dear Father, help my child to not feel alone and forgotten by the world or by you.  Instead, help them turn to you that they may be healed and helped.  Help them to know the deep love I have for them as a parent.  I ask for your guidance on how to express my deep love for my child in a way that they will accept and understand.  Please give me one specific thought or idea now____________________________

Help me to trust you totally, knowing that you have not forgotten me or my child.  Help me to stand in your presence, knowing that you always see me.  I pray against the following things that have laid waste to my child.  May these things depart from them by your power_______________________________

I now end my prayer, lifting my eyes toward you, believing that you are at work in ways I will soon see.  I thank you for the gathering back in of my child to you and to our family.  May our family’s beautiful love and joy together be apparent for all to see.

I pray these things in the strong and loving name of Jesus Christ, God’s only son.  Amen

Helpful Links:

Travailing in Prayer for Yourself and Others

Crisis Praying Using a Prayer Hiding Place

Losing Hope Prayer: Restoring Lost Hope through Personal Prayer

Praying Your Concerns about a Romantic Relationship of a Family Member or Friend

Prayer During Child Custody Issues

Praying for Children and Grandchildren with Problems and Difficulties

Grieving Child Prayer for Adults Helping a Child Grieve the Death of Someone They Love

Copyright Karen Barber 2013.  All rights reserved