5 Verses to Pray Over Your Children

Hello friends!

I'm so glad to be back here with you again. This month on The Unfolding Co we are talking about all things motherhood, and today I want to share 5 verses you can pray with or over your children daily.

I find myself often praying for the same things: safety, health, faith, growth. There is nothing wrong with that. The Lord works and grows in us whether we pray using specific words or not. However there are times when your heart desires something you can't quite find the words for. That's when praying scripture comes in. We are to pray in God's will, but we don't always know what that is. The Bible is God's will. If you find a characteristic, a quality, or even something someone else prayed in the Bible, it is okay to pray it for yourself too. I think that it is powerful and good to pray scripture. I've recently begun praying out loud over my children. Not a simple bedtime or mealtime prayer, but having them sit on my lap as I pray for their obedience, their learning, their heart. I pray for myself out loud with them too so they can see into my heart and my desire to raise them well. Not only is it a special time together, they are hearing what is sounds like to genuinely pray to the Lord, to pray for ourselves.

I wanted to share these 5 verses with you to pray over your children. Maybe you don't know how to pray for them or you just want to get into the rhythm of praying out loud for them. You can start with these 5!

1 // Psalm 119:133

Keep steady my steps according to your promise,

and let no iniquity get dominion over me.

Pray this with your children, that the Lord would guide their steps and way, and they would have victory over their sin. Their future is so uncertain, but you can pray that the Lord would help them walk in His will and way.

2 // Psalm 4:8

In peace I will both lie down and sleep;

for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.

Pray that the Lord would keep your children safe and give them sound sleep. This is particularly relevant when you have little ones.!

3 // 2 Peter 3:18

But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

Pray that your children would come to know Jesus as their personal savior. There is nothing a mother desires for her children more than that know who the Lord is. As we show and teach them about who the Lord is, we must also pray that their hearts are soft and open to the Lord.

4 // Romans 15:13

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

Pray that the Holy Spirit would fill your children with joy and peace and hope. The world is so dark, and the Devil is constantly trying to take our children. We must cover them in prayer so that instead of darkness and sin they are filled with the joy and peace and hope of Jesus.

5 // Psalm 29:11

May the Lord give strength to his people!

May the Lord bless his people with peace!

Pray that the Lord would strengthen you children and bless them with peace. One day they will face the world just as you do, and they will need strength to endure and holdfast to their faith.

5 Verses to Memorize on Self-Worth

The number in our bank account.

The amount of things we cross off our to do list.

Bachelor degrees, master degrees, and doctorates.

Marriage.

Children.

Job titles.

Home square footage and value.

Car models.

Friend groups.

These are the things the world wants to measure our worth by. In 2023, it is all to easy to compare and contrast our lives with others’ online. We see their photos, stories, and videos, and even if we wake up feeling confident in who we are, it can be instantly crushed. This person just built their “dream” home. Another finished their doctoral dissertation. Another just announced another pregnancy. Another shares about their promotion. Here we sit, thinking, “What have I even been doing with my life?” and instantly begin thinking less of ourselves based on the accomplishments of others.

Oh friend, I am right there with you! I’ve been digging myself out of the same pit of self doubt for the past couple of months. While I compare much less without Instagram, I have quickly learned that comparison is still something I fall into if I'm looking around too much. The issue with this self-doubt is that we start measuring our value and worth and children of God by earthly standards. We will fall short, because no one person is perfect and very few walk the same paths. We all get where we are going in different ways, and success is different for each individual. For some success is monetary, and for another it may be defined as simply getting through the day in one piece. We are not meant to find our value in earthly things once we have the Holy Spirit in our lives. Yet, we more often than not find ourselves feeling less than.

Today I want to share with you a few verses for us to memorize. These verses talk about where our worth is rooted, and that is in God and who He created us to be. When we place our value as a human in the hands of God, we know that our value is always the same because God never changes. If you are in the same boat as me, let’s memorize these verses over the next few weeks to bury in our hearts the truth of where our value lies.

Philippians 2:13

for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

When we are evaluating our worth based on our own works, we will always fall short and feel less than. When we are our worth based on the fact that God is working in us for His goodness, we can feel confident in HIS ability to do well in us.

Matthew 6:26

Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?

God cares about every aspect of His creation. Even creatures in desolate places, like polar bears in the Arctic, are fed and taken care of. He cares so much more about the humans whom He has created that actually have the ability to serve and praise and spread His name. Base your worth not on the accomplishments you have but on the fact that you ARE.

1 Corinthians 6:20

for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

How easy it is to forget that our souls were bought with the blood of Christ. He suffered and died for us. If that does not remind you of your worth and value, nothing will.

Philippians 3:8

Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ

Accolades, accomplishments, degrees, money in the bank, these are all good things. However there is nothing compared to knowing Jesus. If you know Jesus, you have all and more than you will ever need in this life.

John 6:63

It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.

Our worth is not found within ourselves. It is the Holy Spirit who blooms life in us, and the works of our flesh cannot accomplish this. Remember this when you feel like you have failed: the Spirit is working in you, and He will not stop, and He will not fail. He is life.

I pray that you would take some time to tuck these verses into you heart as you begin finding your worth and value in Jesus and who He made YOU to be.

Talk to you soon.

3 Questions to Ask About Your Social Media Use

Hello Friends, Welcome Here!

The topic of conversation in February has been social media. I recently decided to take a 6 month hiatus from Facebook + Instagram. I am 2.5 months in now, and it has made a huge difference in my life. If you want to hear more about that decision, you can check out the most recent podcast episode here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3xiqnuchJic5r7O4G8L3Dv?si=529c32d7f3874f4a

This topic is heavy on my heart and I don’t think I’m done sharing what the Lord has been laying on my heart just yet. Today we will be talk about social media and how it affects our faith. Maybe you share the same conviction as me, and maybe you don’t, nevertheless you should be evaluating how social media is affecting your walk with Jesus. In short: does it bring you close to Him or farther from Him? My personal answer to this question was, try as I might, social media was not improving my walk with Jesus whatsoever.

Today we are going to look at 1 John 2:15-17 and use it as the basis for 3 questions to ask yourself in regards to how you approach not social media but any area of your life that could be taking priority over your walk with Jesus.

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

1 John 2:15-17

Do you love it more than Jesus? (Verse 15)

This is probably the most difficult question to ask yourself in any area of life. None of us wants to say yes, I love this more than I love Jesus, but the truth is we do. We are humans with a sinful nature, and unfortunately it can be harder to love Jesus more. How do you know if you love social media more than Jesus? Because it is just social media, it can’t be that important to you right? The first thing you can consider is the amount of time you spend on social media + when you get on it. Check your screen time, how much time is spent on Tiktok? 1 hour? 2? 5? How much time do you spend in God’s word or in prayer? There is no requirement that says you have to spend two hours with Jesus before you do anything in your day. However, if you are saying, “it’s just so hard to find time to read my Bible!” but you can sit and scroll through Instagram, something needs to change. If you love Jesus more than your phone, you will at the very least spend time with Jesus.

Another thing to consider is when you are on social media. Do you open it before your feet hit the floor in the morning? 2 months ago, that was me. I wouldn’t even go to the bathroom before I rolled over and opened my phone to scroll. If this is the case for you, something definitely needs to change. The first thing you do in the morning is one of the most important things, because clearly it’s what your mind is on when you wake up.

Lastly, are you willing to remove this (social media or other) from your life? Things that we love are hard to give up. If you can’t relinquish your social media to the Lord, then you love it more than Him. If you can’t delete the app for even a bit, it’s time to evaluate and ask the Lord to show you what changes need to be made in your life. It’s time to ask Him help you love Him more.

Is Social Media Affecting the Big Three? (Verse 16)

In verse 16, we see the Big Three: the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life. These three are the root of every sin. In this world they are unavoidable in completion, but if you are willingly letting social media influence you toward these things of the world, it’s time to take a break.

Where are your desires? Social media slowly manipulates our desires to a point that maybe we don’t even notice it. What are you currently desiring, coveting? Is it a person? A lifestyle? A vehicle? Are you growing discontent with your life? This is not drawing you closer as we are called to be content with whatever we have.

Where is your pride at? Do you feel more important or better than people on Social Media? Do you find yourself judging, critiquing others’ lives? Perhaps you feel less when you are scrolling and don’t feel worthy.

If you experience any of these things, social media is not benefiting your walk with Jesus even if you do follow “Christian” accounts or influencers.

Are You Doing God’s Will? (Verse 17)

The last question is short but complicated: are you in God’s Will?

For a long time I was fighting God’s call to me to leave social media behind. I didn’t want to give it up, I didn’t want to sacrifice that for Him. Once I did let it go, a weight was lifted off of my shoulders. Maybe social media isn’t your stumbling block, but maybe there is another thing in your life consuming you and keeping you from God’s will. I urge you to pray about this and ask the Lord to show you. He is patient and He will wait for you to come to terms with letting it go, but I promise the sooner you let go the lighter and freer you will feel.

As an encouragement, the author reminds us that whatever is in the world that has capture our love and focus is temporary. One day, social media will not exist and no one will care how many followers or views you get. One day the alcohol will no longer stifle your depression. One day the fancy, expensive couch you covet will be in a landfill deteriorating. The things of the world are temporary, but when we walk in God’s will and love HIM the effects are eternal.

Will you choose today to pray about the areas of your life you can let go of in order to walk closer with Jesus? I promise it is worthwhile.