Thank You, Fathers
Dr. Dorothy J. Haire

Thank you, Fathers, for all you do.

Thank you for establishing biblical standards in your home, even if you didn’t know you were doing it. You set rules and boundaries for your children so they can safely learn respect, self-control, what their talents and passions are. Proverbs 22:6 KJV explains what you did or are doing: “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

Thank you for being loving, patient, and wise when talking to and interacting with your children so as not to cause them undue anxiety, stress, and fear. You do not belittle them, but speak to them as valuable human beings, even when disciplining them. Father, you exhibit in real life Ephesians 6:4: “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.”

Thank you, Father, for loving and cherishing the mother of your children enough to make her your wife. You honor the mother of your children by sharing with her your love, life, and laughs. Thank you for wanting her to be as blessed as you are and doing what you can to make it so. Thank you for demonstrating Ephesians 5:28-29 daily: "In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church."

Thank you, Father, for your unconditional love for your children. You practice patience when they repeatedly do the things you told them not to do. You are kind to them when they are unkind. You don’t envy your children and try to live your life’s dreams through them. You don’t brag about how much food is in the freezer or how much money you spend on clothes. No matter how thoughtless, forgetful, or nonchalant they are, you are not resentful or excessively irritable. You carry their shortcomings, wrongdoing, and disrespect on your broad shoulders as you teach your children forgiveness, obedience, and respect. Thank you for exhibiting 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 for all to see: “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”

Please receive the following prayer as a thank-you gift:

Heavenly Father, please abundantly bless the human fathers who are: 

·   Wise counselors when their children are unwise,

·   Intercessors when their children need prayer,

·   Dispensers of unconditional love loving when their children are being unlovable.

·   Lovers of their wives as they love themselves.

I ask this blessing for Fathers in Jesus’ name. Amen.