Tactical Prayer!

Dad Jokes!

Q: What do you call cheese that isn’t yours? A: Nacho cheese!

Q: Why are peppers the best at archery? A: Because they habanero.

Q: How do you tell the difference between a bull and a cow? A: It is either one or the udder.

Those were bad, we should add some class to our jokes. Cue the accent!

Q: "What do you call a fish wearing a bowtie?"

A: "Sofishticated."

** Scientists got together to study the effects of alcohol on a person's walk, and the result was staggering.

Q: "Singing in the shower is fun until you get soap in your mouth.

A: Then it's a soap opera."

Q: "How do you follow Will Smith in the snow?"

A: "You follow the fresh prints."

Q: What would the Terminator be called in his retirement?

A: The Exterminator.

Dad Jokes are one fun part of being a Dad. Watching our children grow and discover their personalities, their sense of humor, their talents and their faith are all other great things about being a Dad.

There are many privileges also. Another privilege is making a plan for our families.

Most men have plans about travel, about work, ethic, about exercise, about the chores and about recreation.

Let me offer a few things to help you with plan for leading your families faith!!

I am under no pretense that this will be new to us - however, i know how busy it gets in our house at times and reminders are alway in order.

In our house there are flashlights near the main intersections and in the kitchen.

There is a wrench that turns off the water at the street.

There is are smoke detectors that get fresh batteries every six months.

There is a safe near the bed that contains several of my close acquaintances, Smith - Wesson, Glock, Winchester and Hornady. I spend time with them to know how to use them properly, but pray i never have to use them.

We have a fire plan to meet in the front yard and make sure that everyone is out including the fur babies.

I walk through the house and lock the doors before we go to bed.

All of these things are part of a regular plan that is in place.

Many of my friends have a bugout plan - what happens when the JUNK hits the fan - what do we do?!

When the Spiritual world is engaged, and we are being attacked, what is our plan then?

So today, I would like to discuss A Tactical Plan for Fathers!

Like other tactical plans we plan early - so that we know what we are going to do first, then you can be flexible.

It has been said before that NO BATTLE PLAN Survives first contact with the enemy.

And we have an enemy that stalks us and stalks our family. He seeks to get us distracted from our battle plan.

We need to know what to do One of the best parts of the battle plan i have for you today is one that that the Enemy can NEVER stop you from doing - PRAYER! Prayer is a weapon of peace and comfort. It is a weapon that In our house there are flashlights near the main intersections and in the kitchen.

There is a wrench that turns off the water at the street.

There is are smoke detectors that get fresh batteries every six months.

There is a safe near the bed that contains several of my close acquaintances, Smith - Wesson, Glock, Winchester and Hornady. I spend time with them to know how to use them properly, but pray i never have to use them.

We have a fire plan to meet in the front yard and make sure that everyone is out including the fur babies.

I walk through the house and lock the doors before we go to bed.

All of these things are part of a regular plan that is in place.

Many other of my friends have a bugout plan - a plan for what happens when the JUNK hits the fan - they know what to do!

Satan can distract us, he can throw doubt at us, he can attempt to make us look at our sin more than we look at Jesus, but he can never stop us from praying!!

** Obey the Heavenly Father

in the Lord...

** Honor Your Parents

** Lead Our Children Well

** Pray for them

Our tactical plan for our family needs to START WITH PRAYER every single battle.

It should include lots of prayer in the midst of the battle and prayer should continue to be one of our primary weapons in the midst of the battle, one we return to time and again.

** Do Not Load Them Down with Expectations. (Provoke or Exasperate)

To provoke your kids to wrath means to make them discouraged. How? By loading them down with expectations.

Because men have a dangerous tendency to want to relive their glory days through their kids, they often say, “I played ball, so you’ll play ball,” or, “I was good at math, so you’ll be good at math,” or, “I’m gregarious and outgoing, so you’ll be gregarious and outgoing.”

Don’t do it, Dad.

Wise is the father who understands that his children are not to be molded, but to be unfolded.

In other words, you have the privilege, Dad, of observing your child carefully, seeing how God made him—and then unfolding what God has built into him or her from the moment of conception, all for His glory. Courson, Jon. Jon Courson’s Application Commentary. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2003.

** Bring Them Up - Be There First and Foremost,

During “Show and Tell,” elementary kids were telling what their dads did for a living.

“My daddy is the president of his company,” one said. “He travels all over the world.”

“Well, my daddy is really rich,” said another. “We have nice cars and a pool and even an airplane.”

“My daddy,” said a little boy, “is a professional baseball player.”

Kids and teacher alike were impressed with the stories—until a little girl in the back of the room cautiously said, “My daddy is… here.”

Are you there, Dad? Although we hear lots of talk about “quality time,” in many cases, I think it’s nothing more than an excuse for not spending enough time with our kids. Courson, Jon. Jon Courson’s Application Commentary. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2003.

Statistics About Fatherless Homes

#1. 85% of youth who are currently in prison grew up in a fatherless home. (Texas Department of Corrections)

#2. 7 out of every 10 youth that are housed in state-operated correctional facilities, including detention and residential treatment, come from a fatherless home. (U.S. Department of Justice)

#3. 39% of students in the United States, from the first grade to their senior year of high school, do not have a father at home. Children without a father are 4 times more likely to be living in poverty than children with a father. (National Public Radio)

#4. Children from fatherless homes are twice as likely to drop out from school before graduating than children who have a father in their lives. (National Public Radio)

#5. 24.7 million children in the United States live in a home where their biological father is not present. That equates to 1 in every 3 children in the United States not having access to their father. (National Public Radio)

#6. Girls who live in a fatherless home have a 100% higher risk of suffering from obesity than girls who have their father present. Teen girls from fatherless homes are also 4 times more likely to become mothers before the age of 20. (National Public Radio)

#7. 57% of the fatherless homes in the United States involved African-American/Black households. Hispanic households have a 31% fatherless rate, while Caucasian/White households have a 20% fatherless rate. (National Public Radio)

#8. In 2011, 44% of children in homes headed by a single mother were living in poverty. Just 12% of children in married-couple families were living in poverty. (U.S. Census Bureau)

#9. Children who live in a single-parent home are more than 2 times more likely to commit suicide than children in a two-parent home. (The Lancet)

#10. 72% of Americans believe that a fatherless home is the most significant social problem and family problem that is facing their country. (National Center for Fathering)

#11. Only 68% of children will spend their entire childhood with an intact family. (U.S. Census Bureau)

#12. 75% of rapists are motivated by displaced anger that is associated with feelings of abandonment that involves their father. (U.S. Department of Justice)

#13. Living in a fatherless home is a contributing factor to substance abuse, with children from such homes accounting for 75% of adolescent patients being treated in substance abuse centers. (U.S. Department of Justice)

#14. 85% of all children which exhibit some type of a behavioral disorder come from a fatherless home. (U.S. Department of Justice)

#15. 90% of the youth in the United States who decide to run away from home, or become homeless for any reason, originally come from a fatherless home. (U.S. Department of Justice)

#16. 63% of youth suicides involve a child who was living in a fatherless home when they made their final decision. (U.S. Department of Justice)

#17. Children who live in a single-parent or step-family home report less schoolwork monitoring, less social supervision, and lower educational expectations than children who come from two-parent homes. (American Sociological Review)

#18. Even when poverty levels are equal, children who come from a two-parent home outperform children who come from a one-parent home. (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services)

** Discipline Them, (nurture, not punish)

** Be an Instructor in the Lord.

“Admonition of the Lord” means you talk to your son and daughter constantly about the things of God.

‘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 6:7

Dad, you are to talk to your kids all the time about the Word of God.

“But they won’t like me,” you say.

You’re not parenting to be liked by your children. You’re parenting to train them how to live on earth successfully and in heaven eternally.

“But they’ll think I’m preaching at them.”

You don’t have to give your kids a ten-point outline of Leviticus 23. You simply need to use opportunities that arise naturally to help them to grow spiritually.

“But my kids won’t let me. They don’t open up conversationally.”

Then you have the privilege of doing what the most righteous man on the face of the earth did. Scripture says Job got up every morning and offered sacrifice on behalf of his kids. He bloodied his hands; he sweat; he expended energy in prayer for his children “lest today be the day they forget God or curse Him” (see Job 1:5).

Even if he doesn’t have access to his children because of physical or emotional barriers, there’s not a dad who can’t say, “Even though it’s bloody, even though it makes me sweat, I’m going to pray for my kids with intensity and consistency.”

If your children are still under your roof, even if they don’t talk to you, you can slip into their rooms at night while they sleep, kneel at the foot of their beds, lay your hand gently upon them and pray,

“Father, please bless what goes on in my son’s heart or in my daughter’s mind even as they sleep. I pray Your Spirit to come upon them. I pray for wisdom to be understood and embraced by them. I pray that their lives would be pleasing to You. I pray that, even now, Your blood would cover them and that Your angels would stand by them so that the evil one would not be allowed to penetrate, seduce or destroy them.”

No matter what else you may or may not do, Dad—you can and must pray.