Authority to Pray for Your Children
"For the unbelieving husband is made holy because of his wife... Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy." — 1 Corinthians 7:14
An Elderly Father at a Kitchen Table
Consider a man whose adult son had lived in his house for fifteen years, unable to afford a home of his own.
The son's career had started strongly in his mid-twenties — a multiple six-figure income. Then, through no fault of his own, he was forced to change jobs and joined a large corporation. A year later he was fired over internal politics, and from that point he never recovered financially.
He and his family eventually sold their home and moved across the country to live with his parents. For the next fifteen years he could not get ahead. Despite following God faithfully for over twenty-five years, something kept blocking him. He was consistently paid well below his skill level. Life felt like it had passed him by.
His elderly father was encouraged to pray this prayer on his son's behalf. He was not sure how, so he was led through it word for word, right there at the kitchen table. The whole prayer took ten minutes.
Within three weeks the son received an unexpectedly large raise — nearly doubling his salary.
Three weeks after that, because of the increased income, he and his wife bought a house and began moving out.
Several months later he was receiving recognition at work and being asked to speak at national and international events.
Fifteen years of blockage. Ten minutes of prayer, prayed by his father.
The Principle
Because of spiritual laws of authority, parents have authority to intercede for and repent on behalf of their children — even adult children.
This is not a loophole. It follows from the structure you have been learning all along. If iniquity comes down a family line through inheritance, then someone in that line has standing over what is inherited. A parent stands upstream of a child in that structure.
Scripture is full of parents interceding effectively. A father brought his convulsing son to Jesus and said "have compassion on us and help us" — us, not him — and the boy was freed (Mark 9:22-27). A Canaanite mother pleaded for her daughter, who was healed without ever being present (Matthew 15:22-28).
You will not always see it work as dramatically. But you have standing, and standing that is never used accomplishes nothing.
Point to Ponder
Your children may be carrying something they cannot identify and cannot deal with. You stand upstream of it.
Verse to Remember
"Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy." — 1 Corinthians 7:14
Question to Consider
Which of my children is struggling with something that has never made sense?
Today's Practice
Pray for your children. If you have none, pray for someone in your line — a grandchild, a niece, a nephew.
For each child, one at a time, by name:
"Father, in the name of Jesus, I come as [name]'s parent, and I stand in the authority You gave me over my household.
I repent on behalf of ________ for every sin they have committed, known and unknown. I repent for my own sins that have affected them — what I did, what I failed to do, what I passed to them.
I repent of and renounce every agreement in our family line that has given anything a right to torment them.
I break every legal right operating against ________ and I command every spirit of discipline attached to them to leave, in the name of Jesus.
Father, restore what has been taken from them. Amen."
Then watch. And write down what you observe over the coming weeks — behavioral changes in young children have been reported almost immediately, and doors have opened for adult children within weeks.
Prayer
Father, thank You that I am not powerless over what my children carry.
I repent for what I have handed them — the things I did in front of them, the things I did to them, and the things that came down my line without my ever knowing.
I stand in the authority You gave me and I break every right operating against them.
Set them free. Even the ones who are grown. Even the ones who would never ask for this. In the name of Jesus. Amen.
Fifteen years of blockage. Ten minutes at a kitchen table, prayed by an elderly father.