Nothing breaks a Christian parent’s heart like a child who walks away from the faith of his youth.

The first time they tell you: “I don’t want to go to church anymore.”

The day they say: “I don’t believe in your God.”

That moment they refuse to join the family in saying grace but instead stares ahead, wide-eyed and defiant.

You used to tell them Bible stories and pray with them every night. You have prayed for them, even over them as they slept. You took them to church from birth and enrolled them in Sunday School when they were old enough.

Now they cannot be forced, they will not be nagged, they are seemingly immovable when it comes to all things related to the faith.

But we are not without help or hope. Philippians 4:6-7 reminds us that in every situation, especially the desperate ones, there is prayer. We have a God who will not only listen but who will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus so that anxiety may not seize us.

There is power in prayer. James 4:2b tells us that we have not because, first and foremost, we ask not. Jesus Himself encourages us to “ask in My name” (John 14:13-14).

Here are 7 prayers you can pray for your prodigal and their return to the God of their youth.

1. Pray in faith

Without faith, it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). As you travail for your child’s eternity, have faith.

There may be no guarantee that just because a child is born into a Christian family, he will embrace the faith. You may even have been told: “God has no grandchildren.”

But know this: When you pray for the salvation of your prodigal, you are praying God’s will. He wants them to come to Him as well (1 Timothy 2:3-4 and 2 Peter 3:9). When we pray His will be done, we can be confident that “He hears us” and if He hears us, then “we know that we have what we asked of Him” (1 John 5:14-15).

2. Pray for God’s grace and mercy

Paul reminds us that it is because God has great love for us and is rich in mercy that we are “made alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions” (Ephesians 2:4-5). He adds that our salvation is the work of His grace, requiring merely our response in faith (Ephesians 2:8-9).

So ask for God’s grace and mercy to be upon on our children that they might be saved.

3. Pray against the enemy’s hold and lies

This is spiritual warfare.

Those who refuse to acknowledge God and accept salvation through Jesus are not neutral free-thinkers. They are under the power of sin. Romans 6:20 says: “When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness.” 

So pray that Satan will not have a foothold over our children (Ephesians 4:27), that His lies will not take hold in their hearts and minds, and that the Word you have sown into their lives will not be snatched away (Matthew 13:19).

4. Pray for protection against the world

When they are out there in the world, they are vulnerable to the views and values of the world. They are also open to influences from worldly people (1 Corinthians 15:33-34). Pray for protection against these. Ask God for godly friends to surround your child.

5. Pray Scripture

There are several prayers and appeals in the Bible that you can pray for your child. God has given these to us so we never run of things to pray for our prodigal.

Pray Acts 26:18 that God will “open their eyes in order to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith”.

Pray Ephesians 1:18-21: “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in His holy people, and His incomparably great power for us who believe.”

6. Pray for God encounters

Some children of Christian parents turn away from the faith because of disappointments in God or in the way they think their parents are living out their beliefs. They may also walk away because they either have a wrong perception of God or no personal experience of Him.

What they need is not more head knowledge but more real encounters. When you have a God encounter, you cannot help but be won over.

Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1-10) was a chief tax collector. He was probably hated and shunned by his countrymen because he sided with the Romans against them and profited from their poverty. There was an allusion to his dishonesty as well because he mentioned the possibility that he might have cheated people (Luke 19:8b).

Yet when he encountered Jesus, when he was seen and heard by the Lord, he repented and made right the wrongs in his life.

Ask God to give your children real, transformative encounters with Him.

7. Pray for love and wisdom for yourself

Your child may not see God or acknowledge Him, but they can see you. Ask God to give you grace and love to be “imitators of Him” (Ephesians 5:1) so that your children can see Christ through you and be won over.

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