The first prayer for the godchildren is the Creed, which is read by the receiver or receiver during the sacrament of baptism. When an adult is baptized, he himself reads this prayer. The receiver, as it were, replaces his future spiritual son or spiritual daughter, is entrusted to God for him. Therefore, it is especially important to comprehend each spoken word. Responsibility is great, the moment is unique. A mistake or a frivolous attitude will adversely affect the subsequent life of the baby, and possibly his eternal life.
Symbol of faith
The church person knows the text of the Articles of Faith by heart, the one who came to the temple to perform the rite on the baby is obliged to learn it. It is advisable to try to parse every word, if there are difficulties, you need to seek help from the priest. You must try to remember the correct arrangement of stresses. Yes, it does not matter to the Lord whether we uttered all the words correctly, but a mistake can cause confusion among the priest who performs the sacrament and those present. This can adversely affect the general mood and bring down the priest, especially the inexperienced. But the most important thing is to put in every pronounced sound the whole heart, all the faith that a person has. You need to try to unite with the baby in spirit and read the article of Faith as if with him.
Godfathers pray for their godchildren all their lives
After the sacrament of baptism is performed, the recipient or recipient begins their work aimed at the proper spiritual education of their ward. A spiritual parent will need help in this difficult work. For her he turns to God. Since the baby cannot pray himself, the direct responsibility of his recipients is to do it instead of him until he can communicate with the Lord on his own. But even after the child began the first attempts to turn to God, spiritual parents pray for him. It is their duty to the end of life, of their own or God-appointed little man. There are several specially designed prayers for the godchildren, but you can read any others for them. It is advisable to remember your spiritual child during personal prayers in the morning and in the evening. Perhaps, for some, the obligation to pray for the godson will become an incentive to establish their own fellowship with God.
Optina Elders Morning Prayer
If services in the Church are held in Church Slavonic, then at home for those who do not know it well enough, prayer for the godson in Russian is appropriate. Many Orthodox Christians include the famous prayer of the Optina elders in their morning rule. It will be wonderful if the spiritual parents begin to read it also for their wards. Speaking the words of any prayers for oneself, one can mentally recall beloved people, relatives, and spiritual children. This can also be considered a remembrance.
Psalm 90
A prayer for the godchildren should include a request for blessing, help and protection for them every day. It will be useful, and reading Psalm 90 before leaving the house, remember the name of the spiritual son or daughter. This psalm is known for numerous cases of miraculous help in mortal danger. Many mothers sewed a sheet with the text of this prayer into the clothes of their children. It is good to have the habit of reading it with the belief that it will protect all those mentioned in it from all evil acting on the soul and threatening bodily health. Thus, a person tunes himself in a peaceful manner, feels protected, calm for himself and close people. It is necessary to help the baby gradually learn several prayers, including this one. For a very small person, it is difficult, and at the age of 9-10 you can try to pronounce the words of the psalm together. If a child develops interest and desire, you need to help him memorize his text.
Special prayers
Some of our saints and elders wrote their special prayers for parents and godparents about children. If there is time and a special desire to invoke God's blessing on a spiritual son or daughter, then it is good to read them at least once a day. Particularly famous are the prayer for the children and godchildren of Father John Krestyankin and the prayers written by St. Ambrose of Optina. It is possible and necessary to turn to God in your own words, but prayers written by holy people are an example of how to express your feelings and thoughts before the Lord. It's about personal prayer. If a person does not know the words by heart, but only remembers the general meaning, it is not a crime to convey it using words that come to mind and heart.
Prayer in your own words
A prayer for the godson for health should contain a request for granting him health not only bodily, but also mental. When compiling it, you need to remember that it is desirable to start with words praising God, continue with words of gratitude, and only then make requests. Most people ask God for earthly blessings, academic success, and healing from illnesses. But this approach is fundamentally wrong. The fact is that we do not know what is useful to a particular person, and very often we ask children what will hurt them.
What to pray for
A prayer for godchildren must necessarily contain a request for spiritual health and growth of wards, instruction in the faith, help in studying the Word of God, and the fight against passions. You can’t ask for a good job for them, a rich husband or a new apartment. But you can and should ask God to help the child get rid of laziness or from addiction to sweets. There is one instructive story about this.
One couple prayed fervently for a long time to give a child. But since they were both ugly, before ugliness, they asked for a beautiful baby. The Lord finally surrendered and sent them a baby, unusually beautiful ... but blind. Since then, they have asked God for only one thing: "Have mercy on us One by known ways." It is not that God is cruel, but that we should simply trust Him completely. We ask for happiness on earth, and He wants to save us. And only He knows what will serve to save a particular person.
Why does God not fulfill prayers
You cannot expect miracles from your prayers. Wealth is beneficial for some, and poverty is for someone, health is good for someone, and it is useful for someone else to be ill, etc. Not everyone can reasonably dispose of wealth, and the same Ambrose Optinsky, being healthy, suffered because he was drawn to into a noisy society where he only scattered. When God sent him an illness, his character became much calmer, which helped him to pay more attention to people. The illness did not allow him to attend church services, but he spent all the time on the spiritual support of the pilgrims, who flocked to him for thousands of advice and help. Most likely, he was more useful here than at the altar.
Praying for another person is an expression of love
The prayer of the godfather for the godson may contain requests for granting him wisdom, fortitude and other positive masculine qualities. Correctly, on the part of the recipient, he will carefully observe the spiritual son and notice where he has weaknesses, but not in order to reprimand, but in order to cope with the problem. It is about spiritual problems and troubles. You can ask God, the Mother of God or the Guardian Angel that the godson has a desire to visit the temple more often, to study the New Testament.
Regular prayer for the godchildren supports and develops in the recipients a feeling of love for the spiritual child and responsibility for the little man before God. Any sincere words spoken with love are useful primarily to the worshiper. They open the heart of man to God and sanctify himself. The prayer of the godmother for the godson should be filled with maternal tenderness and care for the ward. It is especially good for the recipient to turn to the Mother of God or the saint, the heavenly patron of the baby.
We must not forget about church prayer. Visiting the temple, it is not out of place to submit a note with the name of the godson to commemorate the proskimidia. During its fulfillment, one must pray for the spiritual son or daughter himself. When clergymen list the names of people remembered for health, they need to mentally pronounce the names of their loved ones, including godchildren. The prayer of the godparents for their godchildren is a prerequisite for the fulfillment of duties voluntarily assumed by themselves at the time of the sacrament of baptism over the baby. But this is one of the talents granted to man by God for his own salvation, as well as other duties of the perceivers in relation to spiritual children. The next step common with the baby is a joint appeal to the Lord.