Praying for Teen Boys: Partnering With God for the Heart of Your Sonنموونە

Lord, Open His Eyes

Both of my sons have made a profession of faith, and as I watch them grow and mature, there are things they embrace that I don’t agree with. Both of my kids are walking with the Lord the best way they know how, but sometimes, I’m impatient for them to know Jesus the way I do after a lifetime of walking with Him.

There’s an expression of my faith that I’ve embraced that some other believers don’t. It isn’t a matter of sin but of the freedom we have in Christ to do things differently depending on what God calls us to do. This is an area where I feel personally convicted to act a certain way. My son does not yet feel that conviction.

We’ve studied the issue together. I’ve explained my position from Scripture, and I wish with all my heart that he would choose the same way—and I pray for it—but I have to wait for God to get him there, to mature and develop his faith and show him how He wants him to live. I need to have patience and wait for God to open his eyes, and that can be very hard.

Philippians 3:15–16 says, “Therefore, let all of us who are mature think this way. And if you think differently about anything God will reveal this also to you. In any case, we should live up to whatever truth we have attained.” It struck me that this is exactly what parents experience as they watch their children mature in their relationship with Christ. The process of growth in Christ will take years. We may wish our sons had the same experiential knowledge of Christ and a deeper, mature relationship with Him like ours, but they don’t. It’s good to remember that it isn’t wrong to have only walked with the Lord for a few years and have a long way to go in maturing in Him. Let’s pray that our teenage sons will live up to whatever truth they have attained, and for God to give them (and us) more truth tomorrow.

A prayer based on Philippians 3:15–16:

Lord, mature ____________ in his faith in You. Where he doesn’t see things the way You do, open his eyes and make it clear. In Jesus’s name, amen.

A prayer based on Hebrews 4:12:

Lord, make Your word alive for my son. Draw him to it. Fascinate him with its truth. Cause it to judge the thoughts and intentions of his heart so that he can confess sin and follow You with a pure heart. In Jesus’s name, amen.