Praying for Your Unborn Child
A friend of mine once told me that, all through one of her pregnancies, she prayed God would give her a beautiful little girl with blue eyes and dark hair.
God granted that request, but the little girl was also quite stubborn. She was so headstrong, in fact, that by the time she was two years old, my friend was wishing she’d spent more of her pregnancy praying for her daughter’s character than for her physical features!
Of course, I don’t think praying for a baby is like ordering off a menu, but I do know that God delights in giving us the desires of our heart (Psalm 37:4-5) — especially when those desires are in line with His own.
While it never occurred to me or my husband to pray for a child’s hair or eye color, or even for a particular sex, we certainly sent up many other heartfelt petitions for our children, beginning from the first moment we learned we were expecting, if not before.
Here are the things for which we most fervently prayed:
Praying for Your Unborn Child
C is for Conscience
Pray that God would give your child a tender conscience and would draw her to faith at an early age. Ask that she would be anointed by the Holy Spirit even in the womb and would know and love the Holy Scriptures from infancy. (1 Timothy 1:5; Luke 18:16-17; Luke 1:14-15; 2 Timothy 3:15)
H is for Health
Pray that, if would please Him, God would give your child good health and a strong body. Recognize that is is He who knits your baby together in her mother’s womb, and ask Him to watch carefully over every stage of her development. (3 John 1:2; Isaiah 40:29; Psalm 139:13-16)
I is for Intellect
Ask God to give your child understanding, so she might learn His commands. Pray that He’d bless her with a sound mind and would grant her wisdom and discernment. Pray that she would love the truth and not be swayed by false teaching. (Psalm 119:73; James 1:5; Proverbs 2:2-11; Ephesians 4:14)
L is for Love
Pray that your child would feel secure both in God’s love and in her parents’ love. Ask God to help her learn to put others first. Pray that she would love the LORD with all her heart, soul, mind, and strength, and would love others as herself. (Romans 8:38-39; 1 John 4:19; Mark 12:30-31; Philippians 2:2-4)
D is for Disposition
Ask God to give your child a happy, cheerful disposition. Pray that He would fill her heart with joy and gratitude. Pray that she would bring hope and encouragement to everyone she meets. (Proverbs 15:13; 1 Thessalonians 5:18; Ephesians 6:7; Romans 15:13; Proverbs 12:25; Hebrews 10:23-25)
“For this child I prayed, and the LORD has granted me what I asked of Him.” (1 Samuel 1:27)
Do you (did you) pray for your babies before they were born? On what things were you most likely to focus your requests?
Parents should never underestimate the power of prayer. Even if you’ve not prayed consistently in the past, you can start now. Here are a couple of our other free printable guides to help you do that:
We invite you to check out our printables page for even more!
UPDATE: Do you already know the sex of your baby? My “Praying for Your Unborn Child” printable was originally written using feminine pronouns, since my last baby had been a girl. But thanks to several reader requests, I’ve created a version with masculine pronouns now, too, as well as one with no pronouns at all (for those who are waiting to be surprised by the baby’s sex at birth). So… take your pick:
- Praying for Your Unborn Baby Girl (feminine pronouns)
- Praying for Your Unborn Baby Boy (masculine pronouns)
- Praying for Your Unborn Baby/ Little One (no pronouns at all)
More Printable Prayer Guides
You will find many more prayer guides you can download individually for free by following this link: Free Printable Prayer Guides.
Or you can save time by investing in a copy of my Pretty Prayer Print Pack and then download a whole bundle of resources in a single click, including all our most popular prayer guides plus prayer lists and diaries, prayer-themed coloring pages, prayer cards, and beautiful printable artwork suitable for framing. Several of the resources in this collection are not available anywhere else.
Oh wow this is so beautiful, we are believing for God to do something impossible. When we were younger in our faith and marriage, we followed suit of culture and my husband got a vasectomy after our third amazing blessing of a child was born. In fact, one of our relatives sent money to get it done. She believed we needed to stop having children, and in our very ignorant state we accepted. 3 years later, the Lord sent conviction, and we learned very quickly what a TRAGIC mistake we made. We have repented wholeheartedly. It has been 3 additional years and we are believing God for a promise of another child. As we do not have the funds for a reversal, we are fully believing for God to do the impossible according to human standards. Just as sure as the Lord sends dew to the barren, dry land, so may He send dew on this womb once more.
What a sad story, Brittney. I know the relative was well-intentioned, but that doesn’t make the tale any less tragic. I am so sorry. But you are right about God still being a God of miracles. I pray He will do in your situation what only He can do and will receive all the glory for having done so!
Would you be able to do a “pray for your child” for those who do not know the sex and so we might use just one for our respect life ministry?
God’s peace,
Robin
It took a little rewording, but I figured out a way to do as you asked, Robin. Anything to help out folks in pro-life ministries! I just sent you a revised PDF directly, but I’ve also now linked it above, for others who might be praying before they know the sex of their little one.
hello, I can’t download the picture 🙂
can you do something about it?
many thanks and God bless you..
when I clicked the image, here is the notice:
404: File Not Found
Thanks so much for letting us know, Donny. I’ve fixed the problem now. To download the prayer guide, follow this link.
Thanks. May I use this in my book God’s secret code in the womb?
Rev Bisi Chukwudile
Sure, Bisi. I’d be happy for you to do that. You’ll just need to credit your source with my name (Jennifer Flanders) and web address (http://lovinglifeathome), and I’d also appreciate it if you’d let your readers know they can find a free printable version of the prayer on my site, as well.
Hello. I love the prayers except for the one on Health. You said if it would please him, God would give your child good health. THAT IS UTTERLY AND ABSOLUTELY WRONG STATEMENT! JESUS died to take away our diseases and sickness away, he went about healing the sick in thousands, and the bible says by his stripes you were healed. IT IS HIS WILL TO GIVE GOOD HEALTH TO EVERYONE! Would you purposefully hurt your child? Yet you’re just human how much more God. God does not make anyone sick to teach them anything. That is A LIE FROM THE PIT OF HELL! GOD IS LOVE AND LOVE DOES NOT AFFLICT.
I would start praying for Love and Disposition.I have to be honest .My son has a little of a temper.
Reblogged this on Call To Grace.
This is beautiful. Love you.
Sent from my iPad
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I prayed for my children to have teachable attitudes that would learn from instruction and other people’s mistakes. That they would love The Lord and have thankful and cheerful hearts. And God answered my prayers.
Teachability is so important, Theresa. That’s something we often pray for ourselves!