Being part of a family is one of the sweetest gifts that the Lord gives His people. He invented family. He designed it. He is a God of legacy and promises for the generations to come. Family is deeply rooted in the heart of the Father, and for this reason, it should be deeply rooted in ours as well.
For all of us, the family dynamic widely varies. Some of us were raised with both of our parents in the home. Others may have grown up in a single-parent home, and still yet, there are many who were adopted, raised in a foster home, or were forced to raise themselves.
And as for siblings? A lot of us have many, while some may be an only child.
Whatever our family-mix looks like - whether we call our family our best friends, or, our best friends are the ones we call family - one thing is for certain, the Lord has given us our people, and we should pray for them.
I’ve compiled 10 blessings from Scripture to pray over your family: the first five for your immediate family, and the last five for your Kingdom family. I think many of us remember and prioritize praying for our immediate family members, but maybe not so much when it comes to our Kingdom family. Hopefully, this list of blessings encourages you to prioritize prayer for both families on a more consistent basis.
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Immediate Family
1. A Prayer of Spiritual Growth
Here is the first Scripture-based blessing that I pray over my family. I call it the Colossians 1 Prayer. Essentially, it is the entire third paragraph (v.9-14) of the book of Colossians. I pray this set of scriptures over my immediate family as often as I can remember because I want them to be spiritually mature and strengthened. I don’t just want my family members to accept Christ as their Savior, I want them to see the abundant blessings that come on them as a result of growing in their walks with Christ.
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2. A Lifestyle of Worship
Joshua 24:15 says, “As for me and my family, we will worship the Lord.” My daughters, Bailee and Wiloh (pronounced “willow”) are three years and one year old, respectively. They haven’t personally come to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior, yet I declare this over my family daily, in full belief that as they see what a blessing it is for me and my husband to worship the Lord with our lives, they will desire to do the same.
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3. Blessing of Abundance and Provision
Here is another scripture-based blessing that I pray over my family almost daily. Psalm 1:3 reads, “He is like a tree planted beside flowing streams that bears its fruit in its season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.” I pray that they would be prosperous and that the work of their hands would be a success. Part of Kingdom living is walking in the faith of God’s provision. Provision in health, in wisdom, in our finances, and in our family affairs. Christ died to offer us new life in him and live to it in the abundance of his provision and love. I want my family to live in a richness of faith that trusts in the provision and love of their Father in Heaven.
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4. Protection
It’s important to pray and decree blessings of protection over our families. We never know what things they may be dealing with, where they may go throughout their days, and we want to make sure that they are covered and safe. Two of my favorite Scriptures to use to cover my family members are Psalm 28 and Psalm 91. Our families may be dealing with difficult circumstances or situations where the enemy moves against them. When we pray for protection, however, the Lord protects us from so many things we may never be privy to.
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5. Godly Friendships
According to Proverbs 12:26, who we are connected to matters. Those we receive counsel from have the potential to steer us in a Godly direction for our lives, or away from the Lord’s path. I pray often that the Father would send my family members healthy, Godly friendships. To have friends who are wise and loving, and who want to run alongside us as we run after Christ are wonderful blessings and make our lives richer.
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Kingdom Family
1. Identity
There are a lot of people within the body of Christ who don’t walk in the power and authority of the identity they’ve been given. I believe it’s crucial that we do not simply become saved just to go to heaven, but that we walk in our Kingdom identity and answer God’s call for our lives. 1 Peter 2:9 reminds us of our royal DNA as members of God’s family. If we would have the faith to walk in our true identities, cities, states, countries, and nations would be moved.
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2. Healing of the Heart
With the new year in our midst, it’s important that we pray for the healing of our brothers’ and sisters’ hearts. Emotional healing is not always taught from the pulpit, and many of us in the body struggle with anxiety, depression, and emotional sickness and weariness. We should pray and decree Ezekiel 36:26 over the body - that God would give our siblings new hearts and put a new spirit within them.
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3. Manifestation of Spiritual Gifts
Every believer has been given spiritual gifts through the Holy Spirit to use in order to edify and encourage the body (1 Corinthians 12:1-11). If we pray for our brothers and sisters to understand and walk in their spiritual gifts, I believe that we will undoubtedly begin to see more miracles and wonders occurring amongst the body. Pray that believers all over the world would begin to operate in these gifts so that we can be the church God is calling us to be.
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4. Blessing of Endurance
For those of us who have had to press through a difficult trial or season, we know the endurance the Holy Spirit gives us is sometimes the only thing that gets us through to the other side. So many within the body of Christ suffer affliction. 1 Peter 5:9 says we should be aware of the sufferings fellow believers experience all over the world. The trials and sufferings we are aware of, we should pray for. We have no idea how much power our prayers for people we’ve never met (and may never meet until heaven) will have in their ability to endure their current situations.
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5. Blessing of Unity
There is a bond of peace and love that is found whenever unity is present. One of the problems we can all see right now in the body of Christ is the level of disunity. Scripture tells us that the world would know that we are Jesus’ disciples by the love we have for one another (John 13:34-35). This is the church Jesus is coming back for. Let us pray for unity over the entire body of Christ. Let us bind and rebuke any weapon that comes against the unity of the Spirit within our churches, so that the bond of love and peace may be strengthened.
Britnee Bradshaw is a free-spirited, Old Navy-wearin', coffee-shop lovin', wife and momma. She serves in the worship ministry with her husband at their home church in Glendale, AZ and writes with the sole purpose of pointing others to Christ. You can catch up with her on her blog or via social media @b_brdshw!
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Originally published Friday, 18 January 2019.