Today, focus on God’s work in your child’s life during this difficult time:
Father God, You alone are the Lord,
You have made the heavens, with all their host, the earth and everything on it, the seas and all that is in them, and You preserve them all. Surely, Lord, You are concerned for our children, for You have said, “Leave your fatherless children, I will preserve them alive; and let your widows trust in me.”
Lord, preserve ____________________ from trouble and surround him with songs of deliverance. Do not withhold Your mercies from my child, but let Your loving kindness and Your truth continually preserve him. Preserve him and keep him alive, and may he be blessed on the earth.
Preserve my child from all evil; preserve his soul. Preserve his going out and his coming in from this time forth. Protect and preserve his life; bless him in the land and do not surrender him to the desire of the enemy. Turn his eyes away from worthless things and preserve his life according to Your word. Preserve his life in Your righteousness. Preserve his life according to Your love. Preserve his life according to Your laws. Preserve his life according to Your promise.
Teach him that wisdom and knowledge are pleasant to his soul, that discretion will preserve him, that understanding will keep him, to deliver him from the way of evil, from those who speak perverse things.
Sanctify my child completely; may his whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Deliver him from every evil work and preserve him for Your heavenly kingdom. To You be glory forever and ever. Amen!
(Adapted from Nehemiah 9:6; Jeremiah 49:11; Psalms 32:7; 40:11; 41:2; 121:7–8; 41:2; 119:37,40,88,149,154; Proverbs 2:10–12; 1 Thessalonians 5:23; 2 Timothy 4:18.)
In this context, preserve means to keep safe from injury, harm, or destruction; to keep alive, intact, or free from decay.