Celebrating Dads: Leaving a Legacy of Prayer (Job 1:1-5)
Celebrating Dads: Leaving a Legacy of Prayer
Job 1:1-5
INTRODUCTION:
Oswald Chambers wrote: “Every time we pray, our horizon is altered, our attitude to things is altered, not sometimes but every time, and the amazing thing is that we don’t pray more.”
Dads, if we want to leave a spiritual legacy with our children, it needs to be passed down with God’s strength, not our own. We need to be praying dads.
In Job 1:1-5, we are introduced to the patriarch of the east who had seven sons and three daughters. The author tells us that Job would rise up early in the morning and offer burnt offerings for his children. Job said in his heart, “Perhaps my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts,” so he prayed for them continually.
From the time Rachel became pregnant with Jewell 22 years ago and from the time she became pregnant with Ana over 20 years ago, we have not missed a day that we haven’t prayed for each of them not just once but multiple times a day. Now, I pray for each of them - and Jacob too - 3-4 days every single day. As I have mentioned before, and I don’t know what they are doing on any given day at any given hour, I pray at breakfast that God will bless them over the next four hours. Then when I pray at lunch, God will bless them over the next four hours. When I pray at dinner, that God will bless them through the evening and the night. Some prayers are very specific, some prayers are more generic.
I can’t be with my daughters and son in law all the time. Even if I were, I can’t know all the right decisions they need to make in their lives. Often times, they even know better than I would. But God knows best of all. That’s why I need to pray and ask God to give them wisdom and guide their decisions, to keep them safe physically and spiritually, and to bless them in the way He knows is best.
I just recently had six sermons on biblical wisdom for modern parenting. This lesson is specifically devoted to dads, and it is specifically devoted to the subject of prayer - Leaving a legacy of prayer.
In a series of sermons on Father’s Day, I have preached on the need to leave a legacy of: respect, maturity, wisdom, responsibility, strength. As godly leaders in our home, we want Jesus Christ to be real in the lives of our children. That is the only sustaining legacy worth leaving. So we have to be men of prayer.
We want our children to be all that God desires and designed them to be. As Aaron and Hur did on the mountain in Exodus 17 - while Joshua was leading the Israelites into victory over the Amalekites in the valley below - Aaron and Hur held up Moses’ hands and the staff of God so that Israel would be victorious. Prayer in one way we “hold up the hands” of our children. We call on God to help them.
In this study, I want us to consider how to pray, using Job as an example. We’ll also consider Paul’s words from Ephesians 6:18-20.
PRAY COMPREHENSIVELY:
Notice in Job 1:5 that Job would “send and consecrate them… offering burnt offerings according to the number of them all.”
In Ephesians 6:18, Paul writes “with all prayer and petition…”
Our prayers need to be comprehensive. Pray for every aspect of your child’s life. Pray for their spirits and their emotions. Pray for their education and their friends. Pray for their future spouse and their future jobs.
Jesus said, “When you pray, say: ‘Father, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. ‘Give us each day our daily bread. ‘And forgive us our sins, For we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.’” (Luke 11:2-4).
Pray that your children will have a relationship with God: “Father.”
Along this line, teach your children to be thankful. In Psalm 100:4, the psalmist writes: “Enter his gates with thanksgiving and His court with praise.” We should pray that our children will continually express their thanksgiving to God for every large and small (seemingly insignificant) blessing from God. For successes and positive influences, for personal growth and spiritual development.
Pray that your children will submit to the Father: “Hallowed be your name.”
Remember in the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus’ prayer was: “Not My will, but yours be done” (Luke 22:42). Rachel has been teaching a children’s Bible class on Wednesday nights. Grace Clark has started teaching the class now. But a few weeks ago, one of her students was lamenting having to leave his ball game and come to Bible class at night. Then a second boy spoke up and said that yes, he also hated to have to leave his ball game and come to Bible class. Rachel took that as an opportunity to teach… Among the things she said was: “Do you think God was happy with your decision?” And the boys agreed. Bible class is supposed to reinforce what is taught in the home. We pray that our children will learn to submit to the will of the Father.
Pray that your children will be members of and actively build up His kingdom: “Your kingdom come.”
Pray that your children will depend on God: “Give us this day our daily bread.”
In this context, “bread” refers to our physical needs, no doubt. But it could also be a metaphor for all the needs that we have in life: physical, emotional, spiritual. We need to pray that our children will have the attitude: “Let me see what word there is from God.”
A woman asked a famous Protestant preacher named G. Campbell Morgan, if she should pray for “small things” or just “big things.” The man wisely replied, “My dear lady, can you think of anything in your life that is big to God?”
Pray that your children will walk with Christ daily: “Forgive us our sins, for we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us.”
Pray that your children will seek protection from God against Satan: “Lead us not into temptation.” We need to know our children and ask God to protect them in our children’s weakest moments. Everyone has a “kink” in his or her spiritual armor and it is important for us dads to pray for our children to be strong through the temptations Satan will use against them.
PRAY CONTINUALLY - Job 1:5:
“Thus Job did continually.”
Again, in Ephesians 6:18 Paul writes: “Pray at all times.”
To pray continually means that we trust God to such an extent that when anything, everything that comes up, we are prepared to mentally fall to our knees and ask for God’s help, or to give God praise, whatever the need may require.
There are big things for which we need to pray regarding our children, like their jobs and their future spouses, but they all have things going on in their lives every day which need dad’s prayers for them.
We need to pray continually. As we studied in our Wednesday night class, in 1 Thessalonians 5:17, Paul writes: “Pray without ceasing.”
PRAY CONFIDENTLY - Job 1:5:
Job worshipped God on behalf of his children trusting that “perhaps my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts” and God would forgive them.
This is the meaning of Paul’s words in Ephesians 6:18 where Paul writes: “Pray in the Spirit.”
It seems to me here is the role of the Spirit in our prayers… When we obey the Spirit’s word and we are born again of the water and the Spirit (John 3:3-5), then Jesus’ blood washes our sins away (Acts 22:16) and we receive the Holy Spirit as God’s gift (Acts 2:38). Then the Spirit is able to open up a “hot-line” between us and our Creator. In Romans 8:26-27, Paul writes that the Holy Spirit can even help us and intercedes for us when we do not know what to pray for as we should.
When we realize that the Holy Spirit has opened up the “hot-line” between us and Jehovah God, then we can pray confidently. We can know for sure that God will answer our prayer in doing what is best for our children, as long as their hearts are also open to being led by their Creator.
Listen to John’s words from 1 John 5:14-15: “This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.”
Again listen to Jesus’ words from Luke 11:11-13: “Now suppose one of you fathers is asked by his son for a fish; he will not give him a snake instead of a fish, will he? “Or if he is asked for an egg, he will not give him a scorpion, will he? “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”
My older brother once shared this aphorism with me: “If it’s God’s will, it’s God’s bill.” That suggests that if God desires something to happen, we pray with confidence that God will do what is best for us.
Let us pray confidently, dads, that God will answer prayers and do what His best for our children.
PRAY WITH CARE - Job 1:5:
Job would arise early and offer these burnt offerings every day, continually, so that God would forgive Job’s children in case they had sinned against God.
In Ephesians 6:18, Paul writes this: “With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints.”
It might be that our children - especially if they are more immature spiritually - do not see the challenges ahead of them or the dangers around them. Dads, we have to be on the alert. We have to out in front of them, be their headlights so to speak, thinking about what could hinder them from fulfilling God’s desire in their lives, and we pray about those things.
Dads, we are the sentinels for our children, keeping alert on their behalf, in prayer. The apostle Peter was a dad; maybe he had other dads in mind when he wrote: “be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer” (1 Peter 4:7).
PRAY CONSTANTLY - Job 1:5:
Again, we point out that Job offered these burnt offerings to God on behalf of his children “continually.”
Notice in Ephesians 6:18 that Paul writes: “Pray with all perseverance.” Don’t be impatient and don’t be fickle.
Be persistent. Start praying for a Christian spouse for your child when your wife gets pregnant and don’t stop until they say “I do.” Then start praying that they will keep Jesus at the center of their marriage when Satan tries to distract them with an affluent lifestyle.
Impatience with God is a great temptation and a great sin for us. Let us persevere in our prayers for our kids. Listen to Jesus’ words from Matthew 7:7-11:
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. “For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. “Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? “Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!”
How many times have we “called” on God but then “hung up the phone” because of our impatience when He was on the way to answer it!?
Again, listen to Jesus:
"Suppose one of you has a friend, and goes to him at midnight and says to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; and from inside he answers and says, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been shut and my children and I are in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.’ “I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will get up and give him as much as he needs” (Luke 11:5-8).
When I was 11 years old, there was a lanky shortstop who wanted to play in the MLB. People said he was too tall to play in the MLB. He persevered and in May, 1982 he played his first game. He was 6’4” tall. That game became the first game of the so-called “Streak.” Cal Ripken, Jr would go on to play a straight 2,632 games in a row without missing a game! He beat Lou Gehrig’s old record by 501 games. Cal was inducted into the MLB Hall of Fame in 2007. He was nicknamed “The Iron Man.”
Dads, what kind of streak do you have going with prayer for your children? Are you in the game or sitting on the bench? The legacy we leave for our children is ensured by prayer.
Take home message: Dads, let us raise our children in an atmosphere bathed in prayer.
Start an evangelistic conversation: “To you, who is Jesus? What do you think was the point of His life and teachings?”