Strengthening Your Relationship with God Through Prayer: A Parent’s Journey

Jan 16 min read

Parenting is one of the most rewarding and challenging callings in life. As Christian parents, we can find ourselves pouring out love, energy, and guidance for our children while carrying unresolved struggles from our past or present. But there’s good news: God invites us into a relationship with Him that brings healing, strength, and direction. Prayer is the foundation of this relationship. We limit our ability to be led by the Holy Spirit as we parent our children when we do not pray.

In this post, we will consider how strengthening your relationship with God through prayer positively impacts your parenting.

Prioritise Prayer: Strengthening Your Relationship with God through Prayer

Prayer: A Healing Balm for the Soul

When we approach God in prayer, it’s not just about fulfilling a duty or saying the “right” words. Prayer is an intimate connection with the One who created us, loves us unconditionally, and desires to see us whole. Prayer is our lifeline. It is in the sacred space of prayer that we find healing for our deepest wounds, strength for our struggles, and wisdom for the journey of parenting.

Many parents carry burdens from their past—whether wounds from childhood, insecurities, or regrets about their parenting decisions. Without addressing these through prayer and surrender to God, these burdens can unconsciously affect how we parent. Through prayer, we can release these burdens to God, finding peace and strength to parent effectively. The past can be a long time ago or last week. We need the Holy Spirit's help to raise children for Christ. When we take time to pray and seek God for our own healing and wellbeing, we will find we are better equipped to parent our children.

In Matthew 11:28, Jesus promises:

"Come to me, all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

Think about what it means to bring your heavy load to Jesus in prayer. It is a powerful exchange: when we offer our struggles, He gives us rest.

What Happens When We Parent Without Prayer?

When we try to parent from a place of unresolved hurt or unchecked emotions, it is easy to fall into unhealthy patterns:

Reacting Instead of Responding: Without the guidance and peace that prayer offers, we may react harshly to our children’s mistakes or challenges, driven by our own frustrations or fears.
Projecting Our Pain: Unresolved hurts can cause us to project our insecurities onto our children, expecting them to fulfil needs that only God can truly meet. For example, a parent who struggled with rejection may unknowingly demand constant affirmation from their children.
Perpetuating Cycles: Without intentionally seeking God’s help to break harmful patterns, we may repeat cycles of neglect, control, or harshness we experienced in our own upbringing.

Ephesians 4:31-32 challenges us:

Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamour and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

This transformation of putting away bitterness and anger requires God’s work in our hearts, and prayer is the means through which He shapes us.

We need God's help to identify the root causes of our responses or cycles we keep repeating. But, many times, we first need God to help to show us the existence of issues in the first place. Many ways we respond or think may seem natural and part of our personal, cultural or genetic background. Other times, we may feel so justified in our way of thinking that we do not question whether it is right or wrong.

God is best placed to reveal and heal any hurt we have experienced. As Psalm 139:1-2 reminds us, the One we pray to knows us so well:

O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar.

Proverbs 16:2 tells us that God has the unique ability to weigh our spirit which is the truest measure of who we are:

All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the spirit.

Prayer as a Place of Surrender and Renewal

In prayer, we are invited to lay down our burdens before God. We may not understand why we do some of the things we do, but God does. When we confess our struggles and surrender our past, present and future, God meets us with grace and healing. Psalm 34:18 reminds us:

The Lord is near to the broken-hearted and saves the crushed in spirit.

Through prayer, God doesn’t just help us cope—He transforms us. He replaces bitterness with forgiveness, fear with faith, and anxiety with peace. This renewal is not just for us; it is for our families, too. A parent who prays becomes a channel of God’s love and wisdom, creating an atmosphere of grace in the home.

Prioritise Prayer: Parenting with God at the Centre

Parenting is a weighty responsibility, but God never intended for us to carry it alone. Through prayer, we gain the wisdom to guide our children, the patience to nurture them, and the humility to apologise when we get it wrong. Parenting with prayer allows us to step out of our own strength and into God’s unlimited power. When we live by The PARENT Principle: Prioritise Prayer, we can parent with God at the centre.

Without prayer, we risk parenting from a place of striving and self-reliance, which can leave us burned out and our children burdened. But with prayer, we parent from a place of peace, knowing that God is not only transforming us but also working in the lives of our children.

Making Prayer a Priority in Daily Life

For many of us, some or all of the time, finding time to pray feels impossible amidst the chaos of parenting. But prayer does not require perfection or hours of uninterrupted time; it simply requires a willing heart.

Here are three practical ways to prioritise prayer:

Create a Sacred Space: Choose a quiet area in your home, no matter how small, and designate it as your prayer spot. Keep your Bible, journal, pen and perhaps a small candle or object that reminds you of God’s presence.
Start Small: Do not feel pressured to pray for long periods. You could start with five minutes a day. Open with gratitude, read a scripture, and share your thoughts with God as you would with a trusted friend.
Journal Your Journey: Writing down your prayers can help you process your thoughts and reflect on God’s faithfulness. Keep track of answered prayers and moments of peace to encourage you during challenging seasons.

Overcoming Common Barriers to Prayer

Many parents struggle with distractions or feelings of inadequacy when it comes to prayer. It is easy to feel overwhelmed by life’s demands or unworthy of approaching God.

If you find yourself too busy, try whispering short prayers throughout the day: “Lord, give me patience.” Or when you’re feeling inadequate, remember that God delights in your presence, no matter how simple or broken your words may feel. Romans 8:26 reminds us:

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words."

For more ways to Prioritise Prayer see here or see related posts at the bottom of this page.

Begin Strengthening Your Relationship with God Through Prayer, Today

You can begin strengthening your relationship with God through prayer today! Prayer does not have to be perfect—it just has to be heartfelt and as honest as you know how to be in that moment. By prioritising prayer, you are not only deepening your relationship with God but also equipping yourself to parent from a place of peace and strength. Take the first step today, even if it’s small, and trust that God will meet you where you are.

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