Most elders already pray for their relatives every day. The prayers are often general: “Lord, bless the children and provide for them.” That prayer is sincere, but it is hard to recognise an answer to it. A child who needs a pair of black shoes by Monday, a term’s fees by the end of the month, or a lunch to carry in the morning gives you something specific to ask for and something specific to watch.
This article sets out a repeatable habit for how to pray for your family’s school needs: name one need, ask for it from Scripture, wait with open hands, and record what God does.
Why God invites you to ask Him for the ordinary needs of a school child
Nothing in Scripture treats a child’s daily needs as too small for God. Philippians 4:6 says, “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.” The words “every thing” include a school bag, a set of exercise books and a shirt that fits.
James 4:2 states the other side plainly: “ye have not, because ye ask not.” Some needs go unmet because they were never brought to God in words. General prayer leaves a child’s actual lack unmentioned, while specific prayer lays it before the Father who already knows it.
Asking is also an act of faith. When you name a need aloud, you admit that you cannot supply it by yourself and that you expect God to.
Name the need exactly: uniform, school fees, books, daily meals
Before you pray, find out what the need is. Write one line for each of the child’s schooling needs, as exact as you can make it:
- Uniform: which item is missing (shirt, trousers, skirt, shoes, sweater) and the size, if you know it.
- School fees: the amount due and the date it is due, as the school has stated it.
- Books and supplies: which books, which exercise books, which pens or instruments the teacher has asked for.
- Daily food: whether the child leaves home without breakfast or goes without a midday meal, and on which days.
- Health: any illness, medicine or clinic visit that keeps the child from class.
Ask the parent, the guardian or the child, and ask the school office if need be. Do not guess at figures, because a prayer built on a guess cannot be checked against the answer.
Then choose one need only. A single named request such as “Lord, this child has no school shoes” can be followed from asking to answer. Five requests prayed together blur into the same general prayer you were trying to leave.
Pray with the promises God has actually given
Your prayer rests on what God has said, not on how strongly you feel. Three passages fit this kind of request.
Matthew 6:11. “Give us this day our daily bread.” Christ taught His followers to ask for today’s food, and this verse covers the child’s lunch directly. It also sets the pattern of asking for one day’s supply at a time.
Matthew 7:7 to 11. “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” Christ then reasons from fathers on earth: “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?” You may ask for a child’s good things because the Father is more willing to give than any human father.
Philippians 4:19. “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” Paul wrote this to a congregation that had given generously to his work, so the promise belongs to God’s people who are themselves giving what they can. It speaks of need, which is a narrower thing than want, and a child’s uniform and daily meal are clearly need.
A prayer built from these verses can be short:
Heavenly Father, You have taught us to ask for daily bread, and You have promised to supply every need through Christ Jesus. My grandson has no school shoes, and his term begins on Monday. I ask You to provide a pair that fits him. I will wait on You, and I will do what my hands can do. Amen.
Say your own words in your own way. The structure is what matters: the need named, the promise cited, the request made, and the willingness to act stated.
Keep asking like the friend at midnight, and keep your hands open to be the answer
In Luke 11:5 to 8, Christ tells of a man who goes to a friend at midnight to ask for three loaves, and the friend rises and gives “as many as he needeth” because of the man’s importunity, his persistent asking. Christ then repeats His teaching to ask, seek and knock, and in verse 13 gives the reason: the Father gives good things to those who ask Him. Luke 18:1 adds that “men ought always to pray, and not to faint.”
So set a fixed time each day and bring the same named need to God again. Waiting does not mean God has refused. It is the period in which He often answers, whether through a gift, an open door or a person He moves to help.
Prayer is also joined with work. James 2:15 and 16 describes a brother or sister who is “destitute of daily food,” and says it profits nothing to say “be ye warmed and filled” without giving what the body needs. You may be the means of the answer. If you have a small amount of your pension to give toward the shoes, give it and say so in your prayer. The piece on how to use your retirement income for ministry is written for that decision. If you have nothing to give, you still have the prayer, and you can still tell others of the need if they are able to help, which is a further way of using your hands.
Keep this balance in view. Prayer does not excuse a man from doing what he can, and effort does not excuse him from asking. The two belong together.
How to pray when the relative is sick and the school year is already moving on
When a parent or child is ill, school does not pause. Fees fall due, classes continue, and the sick person may be unable to follow up on any of it. Several things can be done in this season.
- Ask first for the sick person. Pray for healing and for strength, and name the illness if you know it. Then pray for the schooling need as a separate request, so that neither is forgotten.
- Find the nearest deadline. Ask the school what is due and by what date. Pray about that item first, not the whole year’s costs at once.
- Ask God to send a helper. Pray by name for the teacher, the neighbour, the church member or the relative who might act. God often answers through people already near the child.
- Take the next small step yourself. A visit, a message to the school, or a conversation with the congregation about the need is part of your obedience. If a church wishes to help, the article on how a congregation can receive and quietly give out school uniforms describes a quiet way to do it.
1 Peter 5:7 says, “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.” You cannot make a sick relative well, and you cannot make a school wait. You can place both before the Lord each day and continue to do the next thing within reach.
If your own health limits what you can do, remember that praying from a chair or a bed is real service. The piece on serving God when you are sick says more on that.
Record each answer and tell the child what God has done
Make a simple page for each request with these lines:
- The date you began to pray
- The exact need, in one sentence
- The promise you prayed from (for example, Matthew 7:7 to 11)
- What you did with your own hands
- The date and manner of the answer, when it comes
The record serves two purposes. It keeps you from forgetting what God has given, and it shows you how He tends to answer, sometimes in a way or at a time you did not expect. If an answer differs from what you asked, write that down too and thank God for what He did give. The method for keeping such a record is laid out in Write It Down While You Remember.
Then tell the child. Psalm 78:4 speaks of “shewing to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done.” When shoes arrive after weeks of asking, say to the child, “We asked the Lord for these, and He supplied them.” A child who hears that learns where provision comes from, and learns it from someone who prayed for him by name.
If you want a form of daily prayer to pair with this habit, a daily prayer for the preacher who also keeps watch at a sickbed can be said alongside the request you are carrying.
Begin this week
Choose one relative and one school need this week. Write the prayer in plain words: the need, the promise, the request and what you will do with your hands. Then set a time each day to bring it before the Lord, and write down the date the answer comes.
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