A FATHER’S DAY PRAYER
“GOD GIVE US MEN”
By
Jerry Falwell
“And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none” (Ezek. 22:30).
This verse is usually used with sermons on evangelism and missions, i.e., that God is looking for a man to serve Him. Today, I want to broaden the verse to suggest the kind of man for whom God is looking. Then, I’d like to suggest four prayers we should make on Father’s Day.
I. INTRODUCTION
On the day that God created fathers an angel of the Lord stood in the background and watched. “Lord,” the angel asked, “are You sure you know what You are doing? If children are so close to the ground, why are You making fathers so high up?” God answered, “Fathers will have to kneel down if they ever shoot marbles with their children. They’ll have to lean way over to tuck them into bed at night, and they’ll have to bend far down to kiss them.”
The Heavenly Father said, “Don’t worry, I know exactly what I’m doing. If I didn’t make fathers so high, what would children have to look up to?”
Then the Lord made the hands of a father. They were big and sinewy and awkward. The angel asked, “Have You really thought this through? Those fingers are so big and clumsy. How will they be able to handle the pins of a diaper or unbutton a little button? They will never be able to take a rubber band off a ponytail, or remove a splinter from a finger.”
God replied, “Relax, the mother has the small hands to do these jobs. Men have big hands, big enough to hold all the things that a young boy takes out of his pocket at the end of the day, and they’re large enough to cup the face of a child.”
God continued on, making the legs of a father—long and bony and hairy and not very attractive. And then He made broad shoulders. The angel asked, “Lord, do You realize what You have done? You have just made a father without a lap. How is he ever going to be able to hold a child close to him without that child slipping through his legs?”
God answered, “Mothers need laps, fathers need broad shoulders so that they can pull a sled in the wintertime and balance a bicycle in the summertime, and cradle the sleeping head of a child on the way home from church.”
Then, just as God was in the middle of creating two of the biggest feet that you have ever seen, the angel said, “It’s not fair. Do You really believe that those two big feet are going to get up in the middle of the night and respond to a crying child?”
God answered, “They’ll work, you will see. These feet are big enough when a father is pretending to be a horse while his child is riding to an imaginary castle. They’re big enough to wear two shoes that will be a challenge for any child to fill.”
Then God gave the father a voice, strong and authoritative. He gave him eyes that could see everything and yet remain calm and in control. Last of all, God gave the father tears. Then He turned to the angel and asked, “Do you still doubt?” And the angel said no more.
Today, God wants to build you into a man who’s big enough for your child to look up to. God says, “And I sought for a man among them” (Ezekiel 22:30).
Today, I want to give you four prayers for Father’s Day. If we had the answer to these four prayers, the world would be changed.
FIRST PRAYER
GOD GIVE US COURAGEOUS MEN
The conditions of Ezekiel’s day are much like today. A godly nation had grown sinful, a strong nation had become weak. People were flocking after idolatry, and forsaking the worship of God. God knows that “righteousness exalteth a nation” and what does He need to bring righteousness to the nation? God needs courageous men to stand for Him. Do you know the old hymn,
Ye that are men now serve Him,
Against unnumbered foes;
Let courage rise with danger,
And strength to strength oppose.
What kind of man is needed in America more than any other time?
He will build his home on the Bible.
· He will quietly rear his children in honesty and godliness.
· He will pay his debts.
· He will support his family.
· He will stand on his own feet.
· He will be faithful to worship God in church.
· He will serve God in the marketplace.
· He will help his neighbors.
SECOND PRAYER
GOD GIVE US CHURCHMEN
Too many men today place church at the bottom of their priorities. To them, serving the Lord in church comes after pleasure, after relaxation and after everything else. We often hear it said, “I’m too busy with my work . . . my friends . . . my business . . . etc. Yet, they never miss a ballgame, a fishing trip, or a golf game; but they miss all that God wants to do for them through the church.
The problem today is weakness . . . not too few hours in a week; the problem is a weak heart to serve . . . weak knees to pray . . . weak hands to help . . . weak eyes so that men have no vision. Too many men have no appetite for spiritual things.
That reminds me of two boys who went to the dentist’s office. The first boy said, “I want a tooth taken out, I don’t want any pain-killer; I’m a man. Just hurry so I can get back to my playing.” The dentist thought he was a brave little boy and asked, “Which tooth?” The boy turned to his smaller friend and said, “Show him your teeth that hurt.” Too many men want others to pay the price of discipline and serving God. They’re in a hurry to get back to playing.
HOW TO BE A CHURCHMAN
1. You can give a handshake. Peter and John were going into the Gate Beautiful serving the Lord when they heard a lame man begging for money. They took him by the hand—a handshake—and gave him the message of Jesus Christ.
2. You can do it with a word. The woman at the well needed the “water of life,” and she heard the right words of encouragement from Jesus Christ. The Ethiopian eunuch was confused when reading the Bible, and he got the right words of inspiration from Philip. Zachaeus was up in a tree, looking down on Jesus when he got the word of invitation, “Come down!” Are you willing to use your words to serve Jesus Christ?
Your words can enlighten a mind that is darkened.
Your words can make others love, or they can make them hate.
Your words can permanently influence a life.
3. You can serve in the church. Everyone who knows me, realizes that I stand for the work of God, and when I talk about the “church,” I am talking about how you serve God through your local church. What do I want from you on this Father’s Day?
A man who will gladly take responsibility to serve Christ in the church.
· A man who will feel at home with spiritual matters.
· Men who will stand for what the church stands for.
· Men whose daily lives reflect the truth of God.
4. You can yield your life to God. He is looking for men who will surrender their entire lives to Him. When Christ called His disciples, the Bible described how they responded, “And they straightway left [their] nets, and followed him” (Matthew 4:20). God is looking for instant obedience. At work, who gets ahead? Those who:
a. See a need.
b. Hear a command from his superiors.
c. Understand company policy.
d. Are quick to get the job done.
God is looking for the same type of man in the church. What kind of man is God looking for?
Men who are enlightened by the Spirit.
· Men with burning hearts.
· Men with understanding eyes.
· Men with speaking lips.
· Men who want to get involved.
· Men who desire nothing but God’s will.
· Men who fear nothing but sin.
General Montgomery, the famed WWII British strategist, explained to his staff how their small British force could defeat a large, superior German force. When he got finished, his officers agreed that his battle plan was “sound” on the maps. Then one of the men said, “The plan is sound on maps, but without men it means nothing.” Montgomery knew his British men could be counted on. God is looking for a man to stand “in the gap.” God is looking for men that He can count on.
THIRD PRAYER
GOD GIVE US MEN WHO LOVE
One day a father was cutting grass when his little daughter asked, “How do you spell love?” He spelled out the four letters to her, “L-O-V-E” and then went back to his duties. Only later did he understand that love is not a word; love is a relationship. He stopped cutting the grass, went and got some iced tea and sat on the front porch to let his daughter explain what she was coloring in her book. We spell “love” as we live it in our life. How do you spell love?
With a trust in God that accepts the risk.
· With an involvement in your family that is willing to share your life.
With a commitment to your wife and children that stays faithful until the end.
I read a story that folksinger Joan Baez always sang about her husband, David, who was serving time in jail. David wrote a book about his love for her, even while he was in jail. However, a few months after his release, they decided to separate. He later wrote, “Long distance love is much easier.”
Some unfaithful husbands find it easier to love a woman they don’t live with, than the woman they do live with. Sometimes even in a home, a husband and wife do not love each other even though they are legally married. She goes her way, he goes his way, and the children go their way. The problem is sin: sin has been defined as going our own way. “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way”(Isaiah 53:6).
Love is commitment; love is a relationship that never gives up. So Paul said, “Love never gives up, love never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance” (I Cor. 13:7, The Living Bible).
LOVE GIVES BIBLICAL REASONS
FOR YOUR DECISIONS
1. You tell your children to clean their room, not because you cannot stand it any longer, or because you said to. Love teaches them that possessions are gifts from God that should be gratefully received and taken care of.
2. You tell your children not to fight, not because they’re driving you crazy. You teach them not to fight because the Bible commands us to be “kind, tender-hearted, forgiving one another as Christ has forgiven us.”
3. You tell the children to do the chores not because “you want their service.” You teach them to do chores because the Bible teaches responsibility, “He who does not work, should not eat.” And children should be taught to do every thing “as unto the Lord.”
4. You tell your children to remain sexually pure, not because they may get pregnant or that they may get AIDS. You teach them to be sexually pure because God has called them to purity.
5. You urge your children to be well behaved, not because they embarrass you. You teach them to behave because God expects them to honor and respect other people.
FOURTH PRAYER
GOD GIVE US MEN WHO WILL BE EXAMPLES
TO THEIR CHILDREN
1. God said concerning Abraham, “For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment” (Genesis 18:19).
Be an example in reverence in worship to God.
· Be an example in truthfulness, speech and action.
· Be an example of honesty and all legal and financial issues.
· Be an example of both attitude and actions.
2. A father is to be a provider, a protector, a prayer-warrior, a disciplinarian, a teacher; but most of all, a godly example. Dr. R. G. Lee tells a story of a little boy who was dying in the hospital with diphtheria. When his parents went into his room, they wore masks over their faces. The little boy asked why they were wearing the masks; the father said, “To protect others because you are very sick.” Then, the son asked, “Daddy, am I going to die?” That’s a hard thing for a father to answer. He didn’t know how to respond to his son, but he didn’t want to lie to him. The son saw the father’s inward agony and said, “Daddy, if God is like you are, I won’t be afraid to die.”
3. Fathers must give their children time, love and example, not just gadgets. I appreciate the fact that many men hold down an extra job, and work extra hours to provide for their children. But make sure you are not just giving them gadgets that cost a lot of money. They can have all the gadgets in this life, but if they don’t have a proper example, they don’t have anything.
FIVE THINGS A FATHER NEEDS TO KNOW
If you don’t want your children to hear what you are saying, pretend you’re talking to them.
If you need a remote control for your television set, don’t have children; the chances of your controlling anything else in life are remote.
If you think the sound of your children making noise troubles you, look out when they’re deadly silent because that’s when real trouble is brewing.
If your wife doesn’t treat you as she should, be thankful, you might not like what you deserve.
CONCLUSION
1. God is searching for a man. What will He find in Thomas Road Baptist Church? What will He find in your home? What will He find in your life?
2. Fathers will you pray with me?
· Lord make me a loving husband.
· Lord make me a godly parent.
· Lord make me a faithful churchman in my church.
· Lord make me a good example in the marketplace.
· Lord make me a faithful citizen in my duty to my country.
· Lord use me as your servant.
If you have never really accepted Jesus as your personal Savior, would you do it right now? Do not delay or put it off. If you would like to receive Christ by faith, pray this simple prayer in your heart:
Dear Lord,
I acknowledge that I am a sinner. I believe Jesus died for my sins on the cross, and rose again the third day. I repent of my sins. By faith I receive the Lord Jesus as my Savior. You promised to save me, and I believe You, because You are God and cannot lie. I believe right now that the Lord Jesus is my personal Savior, and that all my sins are forgiven through His precious blood. I thank You, dear Lord, for saving me. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
If you prayed that prayer, God heard you and saved you. I personally want to welcome you to the family of God and rejoice with you.
For more information on the TRBC Pastor’s Bible Class, log on to the Internet for TRBC Home page at www.trbc.org/pbc.
