Father’s Day is a holiday to honor fathers and celebrate fatherhood. The tradition, which led to the adoption of the holiday, was believed to have started from a joint memorial service for a large group of men who died in a mining accident in Monongah, West Virginia in 1907. It was then proposed by Sonora Dodd of Spokane, Washington in 1909. Today in the United States, it is celebrated annually on the third Sunday in June.
“Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him.” (Psalm 103:13)
I would have one desire, and prayer, for the American home and that is that each would know the presence of a loving father to guide and encourage the children.
A Fathers Day Prayer: Father, I ask that You would bless those fathers who strive to balance the demands of work, marriage, and children with a satisfying awareness of both joy and sacrifice. I am grateful for those fathers who, lacked a good model for a father in their youth, have worked hard to become a good father to their children.
Father, I humbly ask that You would bless those fathers, who by their own account and regret, were not always there for their children, but who continue to offer those children, now grown, their love and support. I pray also for those fathers who have been wounded by the neglect and hostility of their children, both younger and older.
Father, I ask that You would bless those fathers who, despite divorce, have remained in their children’s lives. I am grateful for and praise those fathers whose children are adopted, and whose love and support has offered healing for feelings of rejection by varied situations of life.
Father, I ask that You would bless those fathers who, as stepfathers, freely choose to take on the obligation of fatherhood and earn their step children’s love and respect. LORD, my heart and respect goes out to those fathers who have lost a child to death, and continue to hold that child in their heart.
Father, I ask that You would bless those men who have no children of their own, but are loved by the children who know them as friend, neighbor, or uncle. May they cherish and help to mentor the next generation as if they were their own.
Father, I ask that You would bless the many men who have “fathered” us all in their various roles as mentors and leaders.
Father, I ask that You would bless those men who are about to become fathers; may they openly delight in their children from day one.
And lastly Father, I ask that You bless those of us whose fathers have died, but live on in our memory and whose love continues to nurture us.
Then LORD, I thank You that we have the privilege and closeness in relationship that we might call You, Our Father. In Jesus I pray, Amen!
