My Prayers To Fathers 2022 Going Forward

Awake, sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. Ephesians 5:14-15.

When Darian woke up to people screaming, he was jolted back into reality, and it took him only a split second to realize this wasn’t a dream. His wife Paula, had reached over to try steering their van back onto the road, but she had overcompensated, swerving past their lane and into oncoming traffic. “Watch out!” Darian yelled as he once again grabbed the wheel. “Let go Paula! I got it!” Reality began settling into Darian’s mind: he had fallen a sleep at the wheel. He knew that he was the reason why his whole family was about to die. But he also knew that the cause of their current crisis was the key to their potential rescue. Himself. Paula cycled through every emotional response in her system. Finally, with her heart rhythm beginning to lessen, she looked up at Darian through tear filled eyes and whispered words he would never forget: “Please don’t ever do that again.”

This vivid story illustrates where countless fathers are today. Disengaged and drifting. They have been given the position of leadership over their families and have been placed in the driver’s seat. But over time, they have been lulled into a dream by their own passivity and allures of dark, seductive culture. In this dream world, men often feel permission to be irresponsible, immature, and carelessly negligent in their roles as husbands and fathers. In the meantime, they have placed their families in moral and spiritual danger, threatening their marriages, their children and their faith. They don’t realize that they can’t have both ways. As a result, the mothers of their children become the ones who (by default and necessary) are carrying the weight of the family on their shoulders in order to survive.

That’s why before it’s too late, I am sounding the call and asking fathers if they are awake at the wheel or more importantly, to see if they even realize they are in the driver’s seat at all. God’s word commands husbands and fathers to lovingly lead their homes . As men, we are to walk in honor and integrity and fully embrace our responsibilities as shepherds over our families. We are called to model a loving, Christlike example for our wives and children. Therefore, because this is God’s calling, it’s not mystery that a godless culture would and is constantly mocking and undermining fatherhood, attacking and inverting what God designs and values. Men are being told they don’t have permission or responsibility to lead. But the culture is not your authority, God is. If you boil down many of the issues associated with today’s detached, passive or absentee dad, you discover this fathers have lost their sense of purpose.

This current generation of young men doesn’t know what it means to be a man or to be a mature responsible leader or to be a strong and engaged father one day. Society is guiding boys to remain boys as long as possible, extending childhood into their thirties while forcing girls to become women long before they are ready. Instead of growing up, getting married and courageously raising up the next generation, million of young men are staying single, remaining emotionally and directionally dependent on their mothers while becoming addicted to entertainment, pornography and video games. They want the privileges and reward of manhood but only the responsibilities and moral requirements of boys. So when they become fathers themselves, they don’t know what to do and they feel extremely ill-equipped.

Be careful of what you entertain, sin fascinates before it assassinates

God created fatherhood with an eternal purpose: to reveal and represent Himself. He did not simply realize the earthly fathers were like Him and then decide to call Himself our Father. On the contrary, He eternally existed as God the father in heaven and intentionally created the role of fatherhood on earth to reveal who He is and to show us the nature of His relationship with His Son. The word father means “founder, source, chief or leader.” The father of a nation, an invention, a company, or a movement is the one who helped bring into existence. As our heavenly Father, God is the source from which all other things come into being.

How well are you representing your heavenly Father? To your son? To your daughter? That is your priceless purpose. Both the scriptures and statistics clearly communicate that there is no more influential person in the life of a child than his or her father. The bible says, “The glory of children is their father.” (Proverbs 17:6). It is revealing an important dynamic of how God has wired the hearts and minds of children. They learn their identity from the father. Kids watch their dads to find what is important. It’s dad’s job to keep his children from having to learn the lessons of life the hard way.

We need to rediscover God’s original intention of what our homes are supposed to be like. Families should be haven of love and enjoyment. However, great homes don’t just happen, they are gardens that need to be intentionally cultivated and guarded. A man must let truth, love and wise discipline become constant ingredients to his fathering. He should carefully nurture his wife, his children and his own attitude so that his home is a place where is marriage and next generation can grow and thrive. That’s why in 2022, we need a game changing resolution and that’s what this time is calling for.

This generation desperately needs courageous fathers to step up. We need fathers who will not be swayed by the culture or afraid of criticism. We need fathers who are resolved to lead their families no matter what. We need fathers to teach sexual purity to their sons and daughters so that our children won’t enter the world without married parents. We need fathers who stick to their marriage vows and cry out for God’s help to love their wives rather than giving up during difficult times.

We need fathers who refuse to sacrifice their families for the sake of a promotion at work. Fathers who refuse to let entertainment eat all their time and deaden their consciences. Fathers who will speak against laws and philosophies that are destroying families, Fathers who will forgive their own fathers and break the chains of the past and set new standards. Fathers who will pray for their pastors and for revival in their churches and make decisions that will strengthen the next generation. We need to be these fathers.