The One Where He Longs to be a Dad... But Can't (When Dads Pray - Week 8)

This is from the heart of a dad and pastor praying for other married dudes who desperately want to someday be a dad.

Today’s prayer theme is a bit of a shift from my other seven posts about praying dads. I have been mindful of the fact that some of my readers have sought, but have not yet been able to conceive.

I’ve had several hard conversations where I sat across from a dear friend and wept with him as he expressed his longing and desire to someday hold his own son or daughter in his arms.

Depending on what culture you grew up in, that experience might be even more isolating and painful. I grew up in a Nigerian patriarchal culture where a man’s worth was often measured by his ability to produce children. And so, for some guys, infertility may make them feel like a failure, inadequate, or a disappointment to their spouse.

Or, if we’re being honest, it may make some guys feel disappointed and even angry at God. A close friend of mine who was going through this experience expressed to me that he had run out of prayers to pray because he was emotionally and spiritually spent from petitioning God about this need in His life.

If that describes your current situation, I just want you to know that I am standing by you spiritually today, and my heart goes out to you. Please allow me to “stand in the gap” for you today and express to God on your behalf what you might have been struggling to pray.   

MY PRAYER FOR YOU

LORD, Jesus, Psalm 113:9 says, [You] settles the childless woman in her home as a happy mother of children…. Same holds true for my brothers today, that You, O God settle the childless man in his home as a happy father of children. For Children are a gift from the Lord and they are a reward from You. 

Father in heaven, I lift before you my brother’s longing to hold HIS own child. Your word tells us that from the very beginning, You’re the One who placed the desire and longing in his heart to find a wife. You’ve done this and I thank you for the great gift you’ve given him in his spouse. Your word also tells us that you placed in him a desire to build a family with her through Children, yet that has not been the case for them.

On his behalf today, I confess that it’s been a frustrating, painful, and sometimes lonely experience. I confess on his behalf that this experience of infertility has caused there to be seasons of doubt in his life. Seasons where Your promise, Your power and Your wisdom has been called into question. Lord, you see how many tears have been shed and how he feels like he has no more to offer.

So, Father in heaven, I present him before You this week. Your word tells us that those who put their hope and trust in You will never be put to shame nor disappointed, and that if we remain in You, and Your words remain in us, we can ask whatever we wish and it will be done for us. So, Jesus draw my brother close to you even now. Forgive His sins, renew his strength and fill him to overflowing with the joy of your Holy Spirit. 

• Remind Him that You’re the provider God who blessed Abraham’s wife, Sarah with a son when she was past hope of having a child.

• Remind him that You’re the loving God who heard Isaac’s prayer when he prayed for Rebecca and she gave birth to twins.

• Remind him that You’re the caring Father who heard Hannah’s prayer when she cried out to You and You blessed her with a son who served you.

So, Mighty God of heaven, I pray that you would bless my brother and his wife’s bodies tonight so they can produce and conceive a child of their own. Lord Jesus, our great Physician, bless every part of their reproductive system and instruct it even now to function the way you originally designed it to.  

By Your mighty hand, bring forth new life from his wife’s womb.

From the moment of conception to the day of delivery, seal his child with Your protection so that he/she may reach every developmental milestone through all 3 trimesters. Grant their baby good health both in the womb and on the day of delivery, and let my brother once again sing songs of joy celebrating Your goodness for this incredible gift of a child. 

Lord, Jesus Christ – our hope is in you and you alone. We have no other god to turn to  or to cry out for help, and even if we were presented with the option, we would choose You everyday. I, along with my brother declare that as for us and our house, we will serve the Lord God of heaven. 

So, Father I pray that you would show Yourself mighty in my brother’s household. Nine months from the time He and his wife come together again to try for a baby, LET THE PRAISES OF THE LORD FILL HIS HOME AS HE HOLDS HIS OWN SON OR DAUGHTER IN HIS HAND.

It’s in the name of Jesus Christ I pray. Amen!

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