Praying Proverbs Over Your Child: Week 5

Welcome to our Summer 2025 Book Club-Style Bible Study! This summer, we’ll be walking through Hey Mama! Pray: Praying Proverbs Over Your Child—a powerful, prayerful guide for parents seeking to raise their children in the wisdom and love of Jesus.

Join us every Tuesday morning, June 3 – July 29, at 9:00 AM right here on the blog. Can’t make it then? No worries—jump in whenever it works for you! 

Get your copy of the book on Amazon or download the printable version from Etsy.

Why this study matters:
Praying Proverbs over your child is more than a devotional practice—it’s a powerful parenting tool. As Christian parents, we’ve been entrusted with the sacred responsibility of guiding our children to know, love, and follow Jesus Christ.

That calling comes with challenges, especially in a world full of distractions and opposing voices. But we’re not alone. God, in His great wisdom, has given us the book of Proverbs—a rich source of truth, character-building guidance, and daily encouragement.

Let’s lean into His Word together this summer and cover our children in Scripture-rooted prayer.

"The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself brings shame to his mother....Discipline your son, and he will give you rest; he will give delight to your heart." Proverbs 29:15, 17

Why Proverbs?
While there are countless parenting books out there, none compare to the timeless, wisdom-packed truths found in the book of Proverbs. This divinely inspired book serves as God’s blueprint for raising children who grow into wise, godly adults. When we read, study, teach—and most importantly, pray—the truths of Proverbs over our children, we invite God’s Word to shape their hearts and minds from the inside out.

Proverbs offers practical instruction on essential character traits like honesty, diligence, kindness, self-control, humility, and a reverent fear of the Lord. It highlights the value of wisdom and the dangers of foolishness, equipping our children with the discernment they need to navigate the challenges of life with grace and strength.

Let’s commit to this journey together, friend—because there is no greater gift we can give our children than the life-shaping power of prayer and God’s Word.

As we pray through Proverbs over our children this summer, we’ll journey through an A-to-Z list of important life topics—from dealing with fear to developing a strong work ethic. Each week, we’ll focus on a few key issues, along with supporting Scripture to guide our prayers. Let’s get started and invite God to do a powerful work in our children’s hearts!

LAZINESS, LYING, MONEY MANAGEMENT, and NOSEY

LAZINESS
Being prepared takes effort. Whether it’s being prepared for the day, for our job, for dinner, or whatever the situation, if we’re not prepared, in the end we will “have nothing.”
 
This same concept applies to our kiddos as well. Whether it’s being prepared for a test at school, snack time, sports practice, or whatever the situation if they’re not prepared, in the end they will “have nothing.”
 
“The sluggard does not plow in the autumn; he will seek at harvest and have nothing.” Proverbs 20:4
 
I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be that one looking for the harvest and finding nothing.
 
“The desire of the sluggard kills him, for his hands refuse to labor.” Proverbs 21:25
 
Refusing to labor is a detriment to our character and way of life. We see this as adults every day. We don’t want our children to grow up lazy so we must pray and model a way of life that values a good day’s work.
 
LYING 
“There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.” Proverbs 6:16-19
 
God hates a lying tongue. A false witness is an abomination. Lying is a serious offense! There have to be consequences for a lying tongue, even at an early age.
 
Today mama, let’s pray that our children embrace the value of labor, finding joy in their work. Also, let’s pray that honesty would be a character trait they strive for.


MONEY MANAGEMENT
I recently read a quote by Baba Dioum, a Senegalese forestry engineer, that goes like this: “In the end, we will conserve only what we love, we will love only what we understand, and we will understand only what we are taught."
 
I believe that quote not only applies to forestry but also to spiritual values and practical life lessons as well.
 
Money management is certainly a practical life lesson that we can pass on to our kiddos, but we have to have a good grip on the concept ourselves to do so.
 
Proverbs 6:1-8 is full of wisdom, warnings, and life lessons when it comes to managing your money.
 
“My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor, have given your pledge for a stranger, if you are snared in the words of your mouth, caught in the words of your mouth, then do this, my son, and save yourself, for you have come into the hand of your neighbor: go, hasten, and plead urgently with your neighbor. Give your eyes no sleep and your eyelids no slumber; save yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the hand of the fowler. Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise. Without having any chief, officer, or ruler, she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest.”
 
Our children need to see us managing our money, and our household, in a wise and practical way. If we find ourselves in the snare of debt this passage tells us to hurry and be vigilant about getting out of that position. It’s an urgent situation! Meet it with urgency. “Give your eyes no sleep and your eyelids no slumber; save yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the hand of the fowler.” And then we have the example of the ant—a wise worker who is always prepared. Let’s pray today, mama, that our children will be like this and that they will see this example in us.

​NOSEY
Have you ever heard one of your kiddos say to another, “Mind your own business?” Maybe someone has even said those words to you—hopefully not one of your children!
 
We used to refer to people who meddle in other people’s business as busybodies. You don’t hear that word used so often anymore.
 
To an extent we have to, as parents, be involved in our children’s business. But to what extent? And to what extent are we involved in other people’s business?
 
Where do we draw the line, and where do we help our children draw that line?
 
“Whoever meddles in a quarrel not his own is like one who takes a passing dog by the ears.” Proverbs 26:17
 
Being nosey can be a good and a bad thing. There are times when we as parents need to be nosey. We may need to do a little meddling from time to time.
 
But Proverbs warns us that meddling too much, or at the wrong time, can be dangerous!
 
We need wisdom, even about a little, seemingly insignificant, thing like being nosey. Our children need this kind of wisdom too.
 
Sometimes, they may even want to step in and do good, but this comes off as nosey or meddling. Nosiness or meddling at the wrong times can ruin relationships, and can even bring us bodily harm as Proverbs 26:17 describes for us.
 
Today, mama let’s pray that we, and our children, will have God’s wisdom to know when to step in and when to step out of a situation that could cause us to be nosier than we should be.

How might consistently praying specific Proverbs over your child not only shape their character, but also transform your own heart and perspective as a parent?

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