I believe that because Scripture teaches us that God is the Sovereign Lord of the Universe. I believe praying for others is paramount because the Bible gives us example after example of people interceding on behalf of others–and of God responding. Time after time the Lord listens when His people cry out and call on His name. Jesus answers the cries of those seeking Him in the gospels. Prayer matters because the God of the Bible is real, almighty, and able.
That’s why it’s important to pray for girls. All of them. Not just your girls. Pray for the girl next door and the one at your church making poor choices too.
I love praying Scripture over my kids. After all, praying for them is one of the most important ways I can love them, and I want the things I pray for them to be Scriptural and intentional.
How to Pray for Girls
I’d like to thank Bethany House and Cross Focused Reviews for providing me with a copy of Praying for Girls in return for my honest opinion.
Teri Lynne Underwood, author of the online community Prayers for Girls, is a Bible teacher, speaker, and worship leader’s wife. She’s also the mother of a daughter. Her book Praying for Girls: Asking God for the Things They Need Most (Bethany House, 2017) is a structured approach to praying for your daughter.
I’m going to be really honest. I always hold my breath when I first open a new book on prayer. I really want to recommend books on prayer here on the site, and I’m always excited when a new one comes out. But books on prayer that aren’t written by trusted old dead guys don’t always pan out for me. Here’s why: modern books on prayer often talk about releasing God to act, speaking reality into being, positive confession, or claiming God’s promises. I can’t recommend those books.
We’re to take our concerns and requests humbly to the God of the Universe and lay them at His feet. We have an open audience before the King–how cool is that?–and we can trust that if we’re praying for His will, He will give us the desires of our hearts. We can also trust that if we’re outside His will in our desires and we belong to Him, He will change the desires of our hearts. All things are ordained by our Lord for our sanctification and for His glory. Normally I’d go through and give a bunch of Scriptural references and explain this further for you, but this post is about praying for your girls, so I don’t have space to do that here.
I was not only relieved but overjoyed to find that not once does Praying for Girls talk about confessing, claiming, or releasing anything. This is a book about praying to the Lord for our girls’ godly character. Hooray!
Five Prayers for Girls
So what should we pray for when praying for girls? When praying for girls, Teri Lynne Underwood suggests we focus on five different areas of life. She breaks each of those areas further down into four sub-areas.
When praying for your daughter, pray for:
- Her Identity
- Her Heart
- Her Mind
- Her Relationships
- Her Purpose
I agree with Mrs. Underwood. Those are incredibly important ways to pray for girls.
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How Praying for Girls is Structured
There are 23 chapters in this 205-page book. Each chapter is structured the same way (which I appreciate).
Mrs. Underwood has broken the ways we should pray for girls into a story and several biblical lessons related to each prayer focus.
Then she has a section with prayers. These prayers are a short sentence or two, with space left to add your daughter’s name. After each short prayer is the biblical reference. Here’s an example from the section on praying for Her Identity, with the sub-section Image-Bearer: “Lord, may _______ know her identity is found in You and rest in the knowledge that she is made in Your image. (Genesis 1:27)” (Praying for Girls, pg. 21)
Next, you’ll find a section title Just for Moms, which discusses a short discussion of the topic in our own lives and a longer prayer for moms to consider praying for ourselves.
Last, Mrs. Underwood has included a Girl Talk section which is broken into three sections: For Little Girls, For Middle Girls, and For Big Girls. Each section has a suggested object lesson or discussion to use with your girls.
Bible Resources for Your Kids
Bible Road Trip™ CurriculumLearn More HereStarter BundleLearn More HereBible Road Trip™ Memory Verse CardsLearn More HereBible Road Trip™ Notebooking JournalsLearn More HereHelp Your Kids Learn and Love the BibleLearn More Here
Ways to Use Praying for Girls
I love Praying for Girls. It’s a great book, and I really enjoyed it. Here are some ways I suggest using Praying for Girls.
- Read it. It’s well-written, and you may find some great thoughts that hadn’t occurred to you. I love biblical mentorship, and reading Praying for Girls was like having coffee with a friend who spends time in the Word. I walked away from each chapter feel encouraged, with something new to consider.
- Write out the prayers. Use study cards on a binder ring, index cards, a prayer journal, or the cards and bookmarks from the Prayer Card Set for Moms. Just don’t leave the prayers sitting in the book. Pull them out and consider them throughout the day. Then use them as springboards to pray for your daughter.
- Tell your girls you’re praying for them. Leave little notes telling them what you’re praying. Pray for them before bed in the evening, and switch it up. Pray for a different focus each night. You don’t have to take your index cards into their bedrooms with you, but there’s no harm in looking them over before you go in.
- Add to the prayers Mrs. Underwood wrote. As you read through your Bible, write down new prayers for your girls as you come across a Scripture that inspires you to pray over your daughter. You can do this while you’re going through Bible Road Trip™ with your family!
- Work through the object lessons and discussions in the Girl Talk section with your family. There’s value in discussing these issues with your daughters, and you can use the suggestions in Praying for Girls verbatim, or just a spring board.
Purchase Praying for Girls
I think Praying for Girls is a valuable addition to a Christian family’s library. Don’t just leave it sitting on the shelf–use it as the tool that it is!
Praying for Girls: Asking God for the Things They Need Most
Or purchase at ChristianBook.com: Praying for Girls
Bible Resources for Your Kids
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Help Your Kids Learn and Love the Bible
You want your kids to learn and love the Bible.
You want to teach the Bible…
As parents, we deeply desire the best for our kids. We look for the right schools, we make them eat right and exercise, and we get them involved in extracurricular activities. We take our job as parents seriously.
But are we also putting our time and energy into
teaching them the Bible? Giving them the life-changing, soul-nourishing words of Scripture is not only doable, it’s an essential part of parenting kids for Jesus. And the good news is, studying God’s Word as a family doesn’t have to be difficult!
2 Timothy 2:15, ESV, says:
Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved,
a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.
Our job, as parents who love Jesus, is to help our kids become approved workers, unashamed and rightly handling the word of truth.
The good news? Teaching the Bible isn’t hard. Your family can learn the Bible together.
…and you can!
A Crash Course in Teaching the Bible to Your Kids
Danika Cooley’s book, Help Your Kids Learn and Love the Bible, will give you the tools and confidence to study the Bible as a family. It will help you identify and overcome your objections and fears, give you a crash course in what the Bible is all about and how to teach it, and provide the guidance you need to set up a family Bible study habit.
You will finish this book feeling encouraged and empowered to initiate and strengthen your child’s relationship with the Lord through His Word.
Help Your Kids Learn and Love the Bible will equip you with everything you need to know to teach the Bible to your kids!
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