The Power of a Praying Parent

Job 1:1–5 ESV

There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil. There were born to him seven sons and three daughters. He possessed 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, and 500 female donkeys, and very many servants, so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the east. His sons used to go and hold a feast in the house of each one on his day, and they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. And when the days of the feast had run their course, Job would send and consecrate them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, “It may be that my children have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts.” Thus Job did continually.

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John G. Paton was a missionary to the New Hebrides, today called Vanuatu, in the South Seas. He was born in Scotland in 1824. As a missionary he encountered very dangerous situations. One night, hostile natives surrounded the home John and his wife lived in, intent on burning them and killing them.

The Patons prayed throughout that night and the next morning their attackers left. Later, the village chief was converted to Christ. John talked to him about that one terror-filled night and learned that apparently the natives had seen angels surrounding the mission station, protecting it.

Paton’s father, especially, was a man of prayer who interceded for his son. In his autobiography, Paton wrote a beautiful tribute to his father in which he tells about his experience of leaving his home to go to Bible school to become a city missionary in his early twenties.

He wrote:

My dear father walked with me the first six miles of the way. His counsels and tears and heavenly conversation on that parting journey are fresh in my heart as if it had been but yesterday; and tears are on my cheeks as freely now as then, whenever memory steals me away to the scene.

For the last half mile or so we walked on together in almost unbroken silence …

His lips kept moving in silent prayers for me; and his tears fell fast when our eyes met each other in looks for which all speech was vain!

We halted on reaching the appointed parting place; he grasped my hand firmly for a minute in silence, and then solemnly and affectionately said: "God bless you, my son! Your father's God prosper you, and keep you from all evil!"

Unable to say more, his lips kept moving in silent prayer; in tears we embraced, and parted.

Paton went around the corner and to the side of the road and, overcome by emotion, wept for some time. Then, he climbed a hill to the side to see if his father was still there where he had left him. At that moment, Paton saw his father looking for him.

His father did not see him, but turned to go home, hat in hand, still praying for his son. Paton then vowed by the help of God never to grieve or dishonor his parents whom God had given him.

https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/john-g-patons-father?utm_source=chatgpt.com

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The book of Job contains many questions for us. The arguments and discourses within Job raise many questions for us about good and evil, suffering, and God.

The date and location of Job are in question, but it is believed he lived during the time of the patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac or Jacob. Uz, where Job lived, may have been located in or near Edom.

Job appears to have been a non-Israelite believer who lived before Israel received the Law.

From the very beginning of Creation - all the way back to Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, the practice of offering sacrifices in worship to God and in response to sin.

God spoke to the people from time to time, but very little of the revelation of God’s Word that we have today was available to Job.

Yet in Job we find one of the most theologically deep scriptures in our Bible! And we see in Job a person of stellar character, a man intent on serving and pleasing God with his life.

In Job 1:1, this man’s accolades spill over one another like a rushing waterfall.

Job was blameless; the KJV says he was “perfect”. This does not mean that Job was sinless, but rather that he was a man of integrity devoted to God.

Job was also “upright” - a person of honesty and righteousness.

Job feared God. He was noted for his respect, reverence and obedience to God.

Furthermore, Job turned from evil. He was a man whose actions backed up his speech. He was true blue.

In verses 2-3, we find a description of Job’s family and wealth.

The numbers seven (seven sons and seven thousand sheep and goats), three (three daughters and three thousand camels), and one thousand (five hundred yoke of oxen, where a yoke represents a pair; and five hundred female donkeys) symbolized perfection and completeness. Job’s impressive family, servants, livestock, and material wealth made him the greatest man in the east….

(Robert Alden, Job, New American Commentary). Patterson, R. D. (2017). Job. In E. A. Blum & T. Wax (Eds.), CSB Study Bible: Notes (p. 768). Holman Bible Publishers.

This description of Job’s integrity before God and his blessings from God set up the tension that is explored throughout the rest of the book.

Did Job worship God because he believed God would bless him for doing so? Does a just God reward the righteous with blessing and punish the wicked with suffering?

Satan’s arguments before God were: If God is blessed by God, then he will be faithful. And Job’s three friends argued: if Job is faithful, then he will be blessed.

This is way beyond the scope of what we can or should discuss today. But what we notice in this blessed, charmed life of Job was a person devoted to God, blessed by God, and very concerned that his children also live for God and experience God’s blessing.

In verse 4, we read about the practice of Job’s children having regular feasts together. And in verse 5, we read of how Job, as father and priest for his family, would offer sacrifices for his children, for fear that they might have sinned against God.

In Job’s practice of acting as a priest for his family, we find a great truth for us today:

Big Idea: A godly parent has power with God to intercede.

Now, by “power with God,” we do not mean control over God or guaranteed outcomes. Rather, we mean the gracious access and spiritual authority God gives His people in prayer.

With this in mind, as we consider Job’s practice of praying and interceding on his children’s behalf, we find several important principles that we can apply, especially as parents or grandparents.

But this principle extends beyond biological children. Anyone God has placed in our care becomes a burden for intercession.

1. The Priority of Intercession

Job 1:5 ESV

And when the days of the feast had run their course, Job would send and consecrate them, and he would rise early in the morning …

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Job’s practice of offering sacrifices on his children’s behalf may seem excessive. His worry appears to have been…

What if his children got carried away in their partying and acted immorally?

What if his children were making jokes and got carried away, saying something blasphemous?

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Would God strike his children dead the moment they did something wrong?

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Of course, the fact that Job’s children were then killed while feasting may have seemed to confirm his fears. As readers, we know, of course, that God allowed Satan to cause this calamity to fall upon Job and his children.

But for Job, his wife, his friends and neighbors, surely they must have wondered if Job’s children had done something to displease God, so much so that Job’s sacrifices were not sufficient.

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We know God is not capricious like this, don’t we?

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Or do we?

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Quite frankly, we may see in Job a reflection of our own fears, that our children will sin against God. We need not and should not intercede on their behalf out of fear.

Yet Job’s promptness to offer sacrifices on his children’s behalf is instructive to us. The spiritual welfare of our children should also be our highest priority.

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Yes, we have great dreams and desires for our children. We want them to be well-educated. We want them to get a good job, to pursue a great career, regardless of what it is. We want them to find a loving, faithful spouse… and so much more.

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But our highest priority should be their spiritual welfare.

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Is this passion reflected in the priority we place on intercession for our children?

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As we continue considering Job’s practice of praying and interceding on his children’s behalf, we also see…

2. The Particularity of Intercession

Job 1:5 ESV

… he would … offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all.

Each child is different. We must adapt our parenting styles to fit each one. You might have to talk quite sternly to one child; another might dissolve in tears at any tone that hints of harshness. Some can be spoken to directly. Others must be wooed.

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It seems obvious that we should pray and intercede on the behalf of each child. Yet in practice, we might find that certain children require more prayer… and if we are not careful, we might neglect to pray for others who cause us less concern.

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The point is not to be “fair”. Fairness is not so much about treating each child the exact same way, but rather that we deal with each child in the way that is best for their spiritual, emotional, and social development.

It is good to pray for all of our children generally. There are some concerns for all our children that are shared, but we see in this story of Job praying for each of his children, a challenge to be specific in our prayers for our children.

It is a challenge to continue developing our relationship with each child so that we know them well enough that we can craft specific prayers that especially address their heart, their needs, their challenges, and their desires.

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As we continue considering Job’s practice of praying and interceding on his children’s behalf, we see next …

3. The Purpose of Intercession

Job 1:5 ESV

For Job said, “It may be that my children have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts.”

Interestingly, the Hebrew word that is rendered “curse” in our Bibles is literally “bless”. Bible scholars explain this is …

… a euphemism found elsewhere in Scripture (e.g., Job 1:11; 2:5, 9; 1 Kings 21:10, 13). The term often means “to despise, esteem lightly.” Thus, instead of actually cursing God, Job’s children may have neglected or disregarded God. The term can refer to anything from treating with disrespect to outright repudiation.

Matthews, V. H., Chavalas, M. W., & Walton, J. H. (2000). The IVP Bible background commentary: Old Testament (electronic ed., Job 1:5). InterVarsity Press.

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Job’s concern was not merely that his children might rebel against God, go out and willfully commit wickedness. Rather, Job was keenly aware that his children might begin to take the things of God lightly and that they might slowly, almost imperceptibly, grow cold in their devotion to God.

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Job acted as the family priest in that ancient setting and understanding of God, interceding on behalf of his children. We recognize, however, that each individual in the family is responsible for their own salvation.

Unlike Job, we do not offer sacrifices for our children, because Christ has offered the final sacrifice once for all. Yet we still follow Job’s example by bringing our children before God in prayer.

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We should feel this burden of intercession even more acutely. We cannot choose Christ for our children, but we can immerse them in Christian teaching, demonstrate God’s love and grace in our family, and pray passionately for God’s mercy, grace, and intervention in their lives.

Sometimes parents are tempted to focus their energies on encouraging their child’s self-image or managing their behavior or protecting their child from outside influences. In doing this, parents deal with the symptoms rather than the cause.

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Simply, our intercessory prayers for our children should serve to anchor our focus on our children’s most important need: to know God.

As we continue considering Job’s practice of praying and interceding on his children’s behalf, we should not be surprised by …

4. The Persistence of Intercession

Job 1:5 ESV

Thus Job did continually.

Someone has noted …

After nearly twenty-three years of parenting, I’m still learning the remarkable power that prayer has in the lives of my children.

Praying for your children will strengthen and support the years of love, discipline, and wisdom you’ve invested because it evokes the hand of God to act on behalf of your family. Prayer is not a last-resort effort if all else fails. It is not second-best.

Rather, prayer invites God into your family as the Father and Head of your household. You are no longer alone in your parenting, as prayer acts as a conduit of wisdom and strength between you and God.

In addition, praying with your children is one of the most powerful ways you can help your child develop a relationship with God.

Senters, M. L. (2017). The Unseen Companion: God With the Single Mother. Moody Publishers.

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Our prayers for our children change over time. Yes, our base prayer as parents for our children is that they might know and live for God.

Yet, our prayers do change over time. When they are young, we may pray more for their physical growth. Then, we pray as they enter school that they might make good grades. We pray for them to gain good friends.

As our children grow older, we pray that they might find a good job, that they might know and follow God’s will regarding a career or calling, higher education, dating relationships and spouses.

The need, responsibility, and burden for praying for our children never ends.

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I appreciate the fact that my parents in their mid to late-70s still pray regularly for me and my family, and my brothers and their families. And it is my desire to follow their example in praying for my boys throughout their lives.

Big Idea: A godly parent has power with God to intercede.

Job is a great example for us, as he demonstrated the high priority we should place on praying for our children, as he prayed for each child - with specific purpose - and continued to pray daily for their spiritual welfare.

From his example, may we be encouraged and challenged to be prayer warriors for our families!

Jon Tyson is a pastor and church planter in New York City. Originally from Adelaide, Australia, Jon moved to the United States over two decades ago with a passion to seek and cultivate renewal in the Western Church. He serves as the lead pastor of Church of the City New York.

He writes the following story about the power of a father’s prayer:

As a teenager, both my parents were busy and had a ton of responsibilities in making life work. Around the age of 14, I started hanging out with the wrong crowd in high school, and it went downhill from there.

My parents did what they could to appeal to my heart and motivate me to change, but it didn’t seem to work. As a father myself, I can now understand the pain and anxiety my parents must have felt, and the grief and heartache they experienced. It’s a part of my own story that I deeply regret.

However, despite my parents' noble efforts, including discipline and boundaries, things only got worse. They were losing my heart; they were losing me.

At the end of his rope, and from a motivation of love and pain, my father got desperate. He made a decision that changed my life forever. He resolved to…

"Do in prayer what he couldn’t do in person."

If I wouldn’t listen to him or follow his direction, he would simply bring me before God with fasting and prayer.

My father’s prayers were not small prayers— the kind that feel good but do nothing. These were prayers of desperation and destiny, covenant and call.

He would pray in my room. He would pray over my schedule. He would pray when I left the house.

He pleaded from a place of heartache and prayed with all his might.

Then, God laid a promise on his heart for me from Isaiah 59:21.

"As for me, this is my covenant with them," says the LORD. "My Spirit, who is on you, will not depart from you, and my words that I have put in your mouth will always be on your lips, on the lips of your children, and on the lips of their descendants—from this time on and forever," says the LORD."

He cried to God that I would leave my life of sin, turn towards God, get new friends, and serve the Lord.

I didn’t know it at the time, but something began to change in my heart. Within a year, my life was unrecognizable. I stumbled into a church and was radically converted.

I sensed a call to ministry and rebuilt my entire life around the kingdom of God. The Spirit did not depart from me; the word of the Lord was on my lips.

My life has been defined by his prayers.

I now get to pastor in New York, write, speak, and mentor other leaders, but the fruit of all that has happened in my life came from the prayers of a desperate dad.

https://www.woodsedge.org/blog/a-fathers-prayer/?utm_source=chatgpt.com

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As we have considered this brief snapshot of Job’s life before his testing began, we have seen a father, a parent, who was deeply concerned for the spiritual welfare of his children.

Job lived in ancient times and had very little of the revelation of God and God’s Word that we do today, but he lived a holy life, seeking to please God in every aspect, and he interceded regularly on behalf of his family that they might also live righteously and find God’s favor.

Yet Job’s sacrifices could never truly remove sin.

We have something Job never had. We have a perfect mediator, Jesus Christ, who ever lives to make intercession for His people.

The reason we can pray with confidence for our children is because we come through the One who is praying for us.

Therefore, our hope is not in the strength of our prayers, but in the strength of our Savior.

On this Father’s Day, we fathers and grandfathers especially find Job’s example a challenge - that we might be intercessory prayer warriors for our children and our wives.

But Job’s example is truly a challenge for mothers and grandmothers… and every individual, no matter how old or young.

Let us follow his example of careful, holy living and consistent, persistent and passionate intercession for our families and loved ones!

If you do not have a regular habit of intercession for your family, make a commitment to begin this week. Start by praying five minutes a day for your family and loved ones.

If you have already developed this pattern of intercession, determine to continue faithfully. Seek God’s direction for how you might redouble your efforts.

A godly parent has power with God to intercede.