Prayer for Expecting Parents
We were reading through Luke 1 last night where the birth of John the Baptist was being announced to Zechariah in the temple. I had never read this text through the eyes of an expectant father before since my wife is pregnant with our first. Though by no means the main point of the text, I realized that Gabriel's descriptive words about the life of the baby was a helpful platform for all expectant parents to pray for their children.
- As parents, you can pray for that you would be righteous before God & your children, walking blamelessly in all the commandments like Zechariah & Elizabeth (Luke 1:6)
- If you find yourself without child after trying & desiring, you can call on the Lord, & He will hear you...He may choose to grant your request (Luke 1:7, 13)
- Pray that there will be joy & gladness at the child's coming, not the fear & anxiety that can fall when you don't know what to expect or when you don't know how you'll provide. Pray that many would rejoice at his birth (Luke 1:14)
- Pray that he would be great before the Lord (Luke 1:15)
- Pray that he would be filled with the Spirit from the earliest age possible (Luke 1:15)
- Pray that the Lord would use him to turn the hearts of unbelievers to God (Luke 1:16)
- Pray that God would go before your child in spirit & in power that your child would be used, exemplifying wisdom & justice to prepare a people for the Lord (Luke 1:17)
And then keep in mind that if your baby grown into a man or a woman who does all these things, he will still be desperately in need of redemption & atonement by the Christ that the baby above came to prepare the way for.
