PinkPebbles - Hey sis, I want to encourage you to keep praying. Your prayers are knocking down strongholds!
Today, I'm sharing a prayer I wrote on men and family. Our Heavenly Father is the only perfect father, but yet we sometimes expect perfection from earthly fathers. Leading a family is not an easy task. Some excel at it, while others fail miserably. I believe we should pray for all men to understand their role in the family and that no matter the circumstance they will lean on God’s guidance and support. With God’s direction, all men can excel as family leaders.
MEN AND FAMILY
Dear Lord,
I could look to the dictionary or search the internet for a definition of a Father but instead I look to You, the ultimate definition of a father.
Proverbs 3:5-6 say,
“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” This means you are a leader.
Jeremiah 29:11 says “
For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” This means you are a planner and a protector.
Matthew 10:30 says “
And the very hairs on your head are all numbered.” This means you know the details of our lives.
Matthew 7:7 says
“Ask and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” This means that you hear our needs and you provide.
Matthew 11:28 says
“Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest” This means that you are a place of comfort and rest.
And, John 3:16 says
“For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son” This means that you give selflessly.
Lord, I don’t desire for any earthly father to sacrifice his child as you sacrificed Jesus. I don’t even desire for him to know his child’s every need, but I do desire for him to know the One who does. Lord, today I pray for the many fathers on this earth who have been tasked with the responsibility of raising a family. I pray for those who have answered the call as well as those who have run from it and are only a father in name. I pray right now that the pressure of perfection is lifted and replaced with the desire to serve you wholeheartedly for Matthew 6:33 says
“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” Lord, through knowing you every father could be a leader, be a planner and a protector, know the details of his children’s lives, hear their needs and provide, be a place of comfort and rest, and give selflessly to them.
Lord, thank you for the fathers who have accepted the calling and do stand before their families as leaders. I ask that you strengthen them daily. The pressures of life could eat away at their mental health but that is not what You promised. You said
“though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day” (2 Corinthian 4:16). Lord you promised to renew us daily. Please fulfill this promise to them as they leave their families to go to work each day, as they sit down to pay the bills, as they mow the lawn and make repairs around the house, as they realize it’s time to buy the kids new shoes, as they comfort their family during times of hardship, as they learn to stay calm during moments of anger, as they strive more and more each day to become the fathers you created them to be. Be their solid rock as they carry the weight of their family. And, Lord during the times that they are down, during the times when they need their weight carried, allow their wives, children, family, and friends to comfort them. Surround them with God-fearing people who will remind them that it’s the times that you feel the farthest away that you are actually the closest. Place encouraging scriptures in their minds so that when the devil tries to taunt them with failure and trigger mental health issues in them, they will be able to shoot down every one of the enemy’s darts with complete confidence in you.
Lord, for the men who have children but choose not to be fathers to them or choose to abuse them rather than love them, I pray that you shake them up right now. Talk to them while they are awake, show up in their sleep, pop scriptures into their minds, cause them to step onto a train where a missionary is preaching, cause their TV to land on a gospel channel, stir up a christian friend to call them daily, DO NOT GIVE THEM REST until they heed to your calling. Many of them are suffering from depression, anger, hatred, addiction, and abuse. But Lord, all of them are suffering from FEAR. Fear of raising a family, fear of loving them and it not being enough, fear of not being able to provide for them, fear of losing them, just fear, fear fear. But Father you said
“you have not given us a spirit of fear but of love, power and a sound mind” and you are not a God that lies so today, we rebuke all fear and send it right back to the pit of hell where it belongs. We declare this stronghold preventing fathers from being fathers to be broken right now in the name of Jesus. We claim healing and forgiveness between fathers and children. We claim reconciliation between fathers and mothers. We claim broken families to be made whole again.
Father, thank you for not leading just in Word but also leading by example. Thank you for always being faithful to the things you have promised us. Thank you for the fathers that trust You and come to You for support and thank for all of those who are about to create or renew a relationship with You. There’s power in prayer Lord, someone will be brought to you through this prayer. And, before I close it Lord, I ask you to remember the men who desire to be fathers but have not been blessed with children yet. Whatever the situation may be, be it health related, marital status related, fear related, or even just because it’s not their time yet, I pray that you fill their waiting period with close personal time with you for there is no better way to learn to be a great father than to get to know
THE Great Father.
Thank you for all these things Lord. In your precious and holy name, Amen!