A Father's Prayer

Dear Father in Heaven,

    Thank you for demonstrating your unconditional love to me and my family by giving your son Jesus to die for me and my family. Thank you for the awesome privilege of becoming a father to my children. Help me to always see each of my children as Your gift from above. I pray that You keep my heart turned toward my children and the heart of my children turned toward me. I ask that you give me the grace to have a tender heart toward each of them. I ask that I may receive the grace to speak with a soft tongue and bless and encourage them rather than to curse them or speak evil of them. I ask for the courage to discipline them but also the grace to discipline them in love and not in anger. I ask for the grace and wisdom to be the father that I should that I may train up my children in the nurture and the admonition the Lord. I ask that You give me the grace to teach them the right way, not in words only, but by also being a living example before their eyes. I pray that You protect them from the temptations in this world and from the powers of darkness. I pray that You, Lord, bless both my children and the children of my children that they may be fruitful and prosper and fulfill their God given purpose according to Your Word. Amen.

Scriptural References:

• "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life"  (John 3:16).
  
  
• "Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward"  (Psalms 127:3).
  
  
• "And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse"  (Malachi 4:6).
  
  
• "Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying"  (Proverbs 19:18).
  
  
• "A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger. A wholesome (healing) tongue is a tree of life: but perverseness therein is a breach in the spirit"  (Proverbs 15:1,4).
  
  
• "And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord"  (Ephesians 6:4).
  
  
• "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it"  (Proverbs 22:6).
  
  
• "And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:  And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up"  (Deuteronomy 6:6-7).
  
  
• "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end"  (Jeremiah 29:11).