The power of a praying father

The power of a praying father

John Finch: I had the opportunity to interview Neal Jeffrey who is a pastor of a big church here in Dallas, Fort Worth. He’s a former all-American quarterback at Baylor University and backed up Dan Fouts at the San Diego Chargers. He’s a man who encourages other men. When we interviewed him, he told me a couple of different stories.

The first story he told me was about how his dad was this prayer warrior. Before and after games, his dad would say, “Huddle up, son, we’re going to pray.” He recalled, even in the most difficult games—the ones where and it just it didn’t go well—he’d say, “Son, huddle up and let’s say a prayer.”

And, even when his dad wasn’t at the game, he’d get a handwritten letter that would say, “Son, just wanted you to know that I mentioned your name to the father this morning…love daddy.”

He told me about how his dad was a loving, caring father. Here’s the thing: his dad had been raised in a home where it was very difficult. There were a lot of different things going on. But, he broke the chain. He broke the cycle of this generational curse. He was doing his very best to raise strong, godly children.

One of the most powerful stories was when he told me, “John, there’s nothing like the power of a father praying for his kids out loud by name in that manly fatherly voice.”

I remember when he said it. I was taken back and I thought, “Wow!” Because up until that point, I thought I was this great “prayer dad” who would pray over my girls and walk out of the room patting myself on the back because it was such an amazing prayer. I was the “Billy Graham of prayer Warriors for dads” and this was the game-changer. Every night—from then on, I lay down with my girls and I ask each one, “What can I pray for you about?” Now, doing this has led to an incredible intimacy between me and my girls. This time spent praying did a couple of different things:

First, it let them see I was going to the father on their behalf—with their concerns, their worries, their struggles, their issues.

The second thing is—it led to additional conversation. After we would have these prayer times—and if they said—you know, “Dad, can you pray about this test or about this friendship?” or whatever it might be. We could have these initial conversations and I could say, “Hey, why are you worried about this test? How can I help you? How can I support you and help relieve some of that worry for your test?”

So, there were these incredible conversations that came about as a result of this prayer time. Psalm 127:3 says, “children are a heritage from the Lord.” We only have a limited time on earth to spend with our kids—to speak life and love—to encourage it into the lives of our children. We have to walk in daily awareness and be intentional in everything we do as a father.

I pray that every man reading this—that this connects. I hope that God uses this post to motivate you to be dedicated and have prayer time every night with your kids. I hope you’ll use this tip and in asking your kids what to pray about, you can pray over them in that manly fatherly voice. I pray you can then have additional great conversations about how to support them with whatever worries and concerns they have.

Your mission: tap into the power of a praying father.

I think John’s story resonates with all of us dads. We know we want to pray for our children. Most times, we just don’t know how. We don’t know where to start.

But that’s your mission for this week. Your mission is to get started. You may have never prayed for your kids before and tonight’s the night. If it’s the first time, let me warn you, it’s going to be awkward. It’s going to be uncomfortable and your kids may push back a little bit and be like, “Aww, dad!”

But, they want it. You just need to find that pattern and the consistency of leaning into that relationship. Do you know who else wants it? Your wife. She wants you to pray for your kids and there’s almost nothing more powerful than the spoken prayer as John said out loud—of a dad covering his children by name in prayer before father God.

So, take heart to that Psalm John mentioned. Our children are a heritage. They are our heritage from the Lord. They are a gift from God. Would you please take the time to cover them in prayer as only you can do?