How to Pray for Older Saints
May 5th, 2022 • by Chelsea Stanley
This past week, I received an email from one of my spiritual grandmothers in the faith—someone who has known me all my life and has faithfully prayed for me since before I was born. She once again shared that she’s interceding for me, and my heart was deeply encouraged. What a gift to know that I have been the recipient of this dear woman’s prayers for nearly 35 years!
Typically, I respond to her emails with a quick word of thanks and go about my day, but this time, I felt the Spirit nudging me. Older saints need prayer too. I paused to think through her current life circumstances and realized just how true that is. She’s a mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, wife, friend, and church member in her final lap—transitioning into retirement, caring for her sick husband, dealing with her own aches and pains, passing her faith on to the next generations, and trying to persevere to the very end. Yes, she needs prayer too!
In his Word, God instructs us to “stand up before the gray head and honor the face of an old man” and to encourage older Christian men and women as we would fathers and mothers (Lev. 19:32, 1 Tim. 5:1-2). One way we can both honor and encourage the older saints in our lives is by regularly including them in our prayers.
How should we pray for them? Look to God’s Word! When we use the Bible as our prayer guide, we can feel confident that we’re praying God’s will for those we love. Jesus said, “If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you” (John 15:7).
With that in mind, here are five prayer prompts based in Scripture to get you started:
“When we use the Bible as our prayer guide, we can feel confident that we’re praying God’s will for those we love. ”
1) Pray that God would grant them wisdom.
“Yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding…then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.” (Proverbs 2:3,5).
God gives wisdom to those who seek it out. Pray that the older saints in your life wouldn’t rely on their own insight or the insight of others, but would instead call out to the Lord for wisdom grounded in the fear of him. Pray that as they read God’s Word, they would have open ears and humble hearts that are ready to receive knowledge and understanding.
2) Pray that God would give them purpose.
“Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands!” (Psalm 90:17).
God created us to enjoy and glorify him. Think about the work your spiritual mothers and fathers do each day. Whether they work with their hands at home, sit at a desk, volunteer in retirement, or serve in the church, ask God to make their work fruitful—not for their own personal gain or praise, but for the good of their fellow man and the glory of God.
3) Pray that they would be content.
“But godliness with contentment is great gain” (1 Timothy 6:6).
Think about the older Christians in your life and consider where they might be tempted toward discontentment. Maybe they wish they lived closer to family or they can’t wait to retire. Perhaps their bodies are failing them or they resent needing help. Pray that instead of being consumed by what they don’t have, they would be grateful for what God has already given them—especially the gift of his Son.
“Pray that their meditation would lead them to praise God, confess sin, pursue holiness, and give thanks to the Lord.”
4) Pray that they would delight in God’s Word.
“I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word” (Psalm 119:15-16).
Depending on their stage of life, older believers might find themselves with more time and space to meditate on God’s Word or, conversely, with a reduced ability for memorization and recall. Ask the Spirit to help them hide God’s Word in their hearts and to bring passages to mind throughout their day. Pray that their meditation would lead them to praise God, confess sin, pursue holiness, and give thanks to the Lord.
5) Pray that they would endure to the end.
“...let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us” (Hebrews 12:1).
Pray that the more seasoned runners on your team would lay aside sin, distractions, or anything else that might weigh them down so that they can run the final laps of the race marked out for them by God with gusto! Ask God to grant them stamina as they seek to serve him.
A Prayer of Thanksgiving
God loves the generations—they’re part of his good design! As you intercede for the older saints in your life, don’t forget to praise God for them and thank him for the ways they have encouraged you and sharpened you in your faith. “For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations” (Psalm 100:5). Amen!
Part of this article has been adapted from 5 Things to Pray for Your Parents: Prayers that Change Things for an Older Generation (The Good Book Company, 2021).
Chelsea Stanley is the author of 5 Things to Pray for Your Parents: Prayers that Change Things for an Older Generation. She is a wife, mother, and member of Crossway Community Church in Bristol, Wisconsin, where she serves alongside the women’s ministry teaching team. Connect with her at chelseakstanley.com.
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