Fathers prayer for daughter

A Father’s Prayer for His Daughter
By: Brent Rinehart

“Behold, children are a heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.” (Psalm 127:3-5)

The father-daughter relationship is particularly important. According to the Institute for Family Studies, well-fathered daughters are more likely to graduate from college, get higher paying jobs, are more self-disciplined and confident, and are less likely to become sexual active or pregnant in their early teenage years.

How do we even begin to ensure our daughters are “well-fathered”? Well, it begins with being present, physically and mentally. Beyond that, it takes being intentional. Sometimes, it may mean saying things to your daughter that she doesn’t want to hear or that go against the grain of society. As our daughters grow, it means “keeping it real” (do the kids still say that?) with them, as opposed to telling them what they want to hear or what their friends say. Here are a few things I believe every daughter needs to hear from her father.

1. “Loving others is more important than being loved by others.” The things that are a big deal to you now won’t mean so much to you later. Trust me. Focus on things that will stand the test of time. Instagram likes may seem important, but they are meaningless. There’s nothing more important than being the type of person who cares about others. If you are that girl, I promise you that others will recognize and appreciate you for it.

2. “One seemingly small decision can change your life forever.” Peer pressure is built on the false premise of something not being a big deal. Kids will try to convince other kids to do something they shouldn’t with phrases like, “no one will ever know” or “everyone is doing it.” You need to understand the significance of decisions you make in your youth. One act can have repercussions for decades, or change the course of your life forever. It’s only because of God’s grace that my life has turned out the way it has.

3. “Intelligence, confidence, self-assurance, compassion: these are the traits that define beauty.” Don’t read silly magazines that claim to have all the “beauty secrets.” They are lying to you. There are no beauty secrets. You are already beautiful, inside and out. God gave you the ability to be a smart and confident young woman. God gives you opportunities to show compassion to others. Don’t waste time on the insignificant and neglect these opportunities.

4. “If God remains first in your life, you’ll have fewer regrets when you get to be your dad’s age.” Don’t worry about all these things that seem important in your younger years. Just focus on God. Jesus himself tells us: “Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’… But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:31-33).

A Prayer for Your Daughter

Father, thank you for my family. You’ve have blessed me so much, entrusting me to care for my children. Help me to be the father you have called me to be. Give me the strength to teach my daughter how to be the woman you have called her to be. Give me the courage to say the things she needs to hear, even if they are not the things she wants to hear. Give me wisdom to know what to say, and give her a tender heart to be receptive to her parents’ guidance. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Editor’s Note: Content taken from “6 Unpopular Truths Daughters Need to Learn from Their Fathers” by Brent Rinehart. You can read that piece in full here. All rights reserved. 

www.crosswalk.com

This prayer was originally written by Pastor Ed at Salisbury Vineyard church and read out as a christian blessing over the dad’s present and as an acknowledgement of the important role of fatherhood in the lives of our children.

Fathers Day Prayer & Blessing

O God,
We thank you for these men
Men who have taken on the impossible task of following in Your footsteps
We thank you for their courage and strength

And our prayer is that as they learn what it means to be a father

That You would Father them, and apprentice them
We pray that you would teach them how to be good fathers
no matter how old or young their children are.

Give them hearts like your heart

That they may become known for
Compassion, tenderness, and mercy.
May they live lives full of love and grace.
May they not be afraid to discipline
And may they lead their families with great wisdom and gentleness

Anoint them to be warriors in Your kingdom

To wage war for their families in prayer
To be defenders and guardians of all that is true and good
Make them aware of the spiritual battle that You call them to engage in

Today, God our Father, we ask your blessing on all fathers

For new fathers, coming to terms with new responsibility;
For those who are trying to balance the demands of work, marriage and children;
For those who have to struggle to be a part of their child’s life;
For those who are unable to feed their children due to poverty;
For those whose children have physical, mental or emotional disabilities;
For those whose child has been placed for adoption;
For those whose love and support has offered healing;
For those that have adopted a child into their family;
For those who have lost a child;
For those who care for the children of others;
For those whose children have left home.

Bless all fathers, that they may be able to commit themselves selflessly

as mentor, protector and provider, shaping the direction
of their child’s character by giving love, care and guidance.

Bless all fathers, that they may lead their children to know and do what is good,

living not for themselves alone, but for God and for others.
Amen.

Blessings For Fathers

“Dear God, I give thanks for fathers.
I recognize the dedication and patience
it takes to be a source
of compassion and
understanding when helping
to shape a young life.
Bless all fathers,
especially those who are new
in this sacred role. I pray they feel
Your presence with them.
May they know that Your strength
and wisdom are within them,
providing all they need
to guide and support
their children with kindness and love.”

Father’s Day Prayer

Let us praise those fathers who have striven to balance the demands of work, marriage, and children with an honest awareness of both joy and sacrifice. Let us praise those fathers who, lacking a good model for a father, have worked to become a good father.

Let us praise those fathers who by their own account were not always there for their children, but who continue to offer those children, now grown, their love and support. Let us pray for those fathers who have been wounded by the neglect and hostility of their children.

Let us praise those fathers who, despite divorce, have remained in their children’s lives. Let us praise those fathers whose children are adopted, and whose love and support has offered healing.

Let us praise those fathers who, as stepfathers, freely choose the obligation of fatherhood and earned their step children’s love and respect. Let us praise those fathers who have lost a child to death, and continue to hold the child in their heart.

Let us praise those men who have no children, but cherish the next generation as if they were their own.

Let us praise those men who have “fathered” us in their role as mentors and guides.

Let us praise those men who are about to become fathers; may they openly delight in their children.

And let us praise those fathers who have died, but live on in our memory and whose love continues to nurture us.

~ Kirk Loadman

Fathers

We honour you in your God given duty
May you walk free from the lies of the world
That say a father is not important

For we say that you are important

You are to be a light in darkness
A living example of God Himself

We bless you to be strong and courageous

To wear the full armour of God
To resist the devil, and to stand
Stand firm for your wives and children
Stand firm for the body of Christ

We bless you to go out and do great deeds for the kingdom of God

To become oaks of righteousness
To rise to the fullness of Christ
And to run hard the race that has been marked for you

We claim this blessing for you

That you would be counted righteous in this life
That by the grace of God you would be blameless
And that in so doing your children would be blessed

What you do in life echoes in eternity.

O God bless these men
And may their echoes be loud and full and pleasing in Your sight
throughout all ages.

As I recall, there was barely a dry eye in the house and all of the dads stood as this was read and they were blessed.  They were then presented with gifts of chocolate as a tangible thank you for the wonderful job that they do!

What Makes a Dad

God took the strength of a mountain,
The majesty of a tree,
The warmth of a summer sun,
The calm of a quiet sea,
The generous soul of nature,
The comforting arm of night,
The wisdom of the ages,
The power of the eagle’s flight,
The joy of a morning in spring,
The faith of a mustard seed,
The patience of eternity,
The depth of a family in need,
Then God combined these qualities,
When there was nothing more to add,
He knew His masterpiece was complete,
And so, He called it … Dad

More Fathers Day Prayers

God, bless all the fathers in the world.
Guide them to be good role models
and loving to all their children
Help them to be a father like You are
Give them grace and patience
to handle situations in a loving way.
Amen!

God, our Father
Bless these men,
that they may find strength as fathers.
Let the example of their faith and love shine forth.
Grant that we, their sons and daughters,
may honor them always
with a spirit of profound respect.
Amen!

God our Father,
in your wisdom and love you made all things.
Bless these men,
that they may be strengthened as Christian fathers.
Let the example of their faith and love shine forth.
Grant that we, their sons and daughters,
may honor them always
with a spirit of profound respect.
Grant this through Christ our Lord.
Amen

Christian Prayer for Fathers Day

Loving God,
We thank you for the gift of good dads,
and everything that they do for us.
Help them to have
patience when we’re difficult,
wisdom when we can’t see the way,
strength when we need comforting,
and love at all times,
so that, though them,
we get a little glimpse of how you feel about us,
our heavenly Father
Amen.

Father, it is Your Commandment that we should honor our fathers;
Hear the prayers we offer You for them.
Grant them many years on earth and keep them in health of mind and body.
Bless their word and all they do.
Give them back a hundred-fold whatever they have done for us.
Inspire them with Your love and help them to fulfill Your holy law.
One day, may we be their comfort and support,
So that having enjoyed their affection on earth
We may have the joy of being with them forever in Your home in Heaven.
Through Christ our Lord.
Amen.

May God bless you and thanks for visiting father’s day prayer & blessing.

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Fathers Day Resources, Other Great Sites for Fathers

All About Fathers – Learn the history of Father’s Day, find just the right gift for your Father and get information on all things Dads like to do.

Visit Special Moments for great ideas for Father’s Day 2019.

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father’s day prayer & blessing

poem4today.com

A Prayer for My Daughter

by William Butler Yeats

Once more the storm is howling, and half hid
Under this cradle-hood and coverlid
My child sleeps on. There is no obstacle
But Gregory’s wood and one bare hill
Whereby the haystack- and roof-leveling wind.
Bred on the Atlantic, can be stayed;
And for an hour I have walked and prayed
Because of the great gloom that is in my mind.

I have walked and prayed for this young child an hour
And heard the sea-wind scream upon the tower,
And under the arches of the bridge, and scream
In the elms above the flooded stream;
Imagining in excited reverie
That the future years had come,
Dancing to a frenzied drum,
Out of the murderous innocence of the sea.

May she be granted beauty and yet not
Beauty to make a stranger’s eye distraught,
Or hers before a looking-glass, for such,
Being made beautiful overmuch,
Consider beauty a sufficient end,
Lose natural kindness and maybe
The heart-revealing intimacy
That chooses right, and never find a friend.

Helen being chosen found life flat and dull
And later had much trouble from a fool,
While that great Queen, that rose out of the spray,
Being fatherless could have her way
Yet chose a bandy-legged smith for man.
It’s certain that fine women eat
A crazy salad with their meat
Whereby the Horn of Plenty is undone.

In courtesy I’d have her chiefly learned;
Hearts are not had as a gift but hearts are earned
By those that are not entirely beautiful;
Yet many, that have played the fool
For beauty’s very self, has charm made wise,
And many a poor man that has roved,
Loved and thought himself beloved,
From a glad kindness cannot take his eyes.

May she become a flourishing hidden tree
That all her thoughts may like the linnet be,
And have no business but dispensing round
Their magnanimities of sound,
Nor but in merriment begin a chase,
Nor but in merriment a quarrel.
O may she live like some green laurel
Rooted in one dear perpetual place.

My mind, because the minds that I have loved,
The sort of beauty that I have approved,
Prosper but little, has dried up of late,
Yet knows that to be choked with hate
May well be of all evil chances chief.
If there’s no hatred in a mind
Assault and battery of the wind
Can never tear the linnet from the leaf.

An intellectual hatred is the worst,
So let her think opinions are accursed.
Have I not seen the loveliest woman born
Out of the mouth of Plenty’s horn,
Because of her opinionated mind
Barter that horn and every good
By quiet natures understood
For an old bellows full of angry wind?

Considering that, all hatred driven hence,
The soul recovers radical innocence
And learns at last that it is self-delighting,
Self-appeasing, self-affrighting,
And that its own sweet will is Heaven’s will;
She can, though every face should scowl
And every windy quarter howl
Or every bellows burst, be happy still.

And may her bridegroom bring her to a house
Where all’s accustomed, ceremonious;
For arrogance and hatred are the wares
Peddled in the thoroughfares.
How but in custom and in ceremony
Are innocence and beauty born?
Ceremony’s a name for the rich horn,
And custom for the spreading laurel tree.

Literary Analysis

“A Prayer for My Daughter” is a reflection of the poet’s love for his daughter. It is also about surviving the turmoil of the contemporary world, where passions have been separated from reason. The setting of the poem is unspecified. The speaker is the poet himself talking to his daughter. The tone is gloomy, precarious, and frightening, as well as didactic.

The poem opens with a description of the speaker praying for his innocent infant daughter, Anne, lying in the middle of a storm “howling, and half hid.” The poet demonstrates his feelings through the use of symbols of weather. The newborn baby girl is sleeping “Under this cradle-hood and coverlid,” implying the innocence and vulnerability of Anne. Though the external world is violent, she is protected from it. The storm is a metaphor for the Irish people’s struggle for their independence, which was an uncertain political situation in Yeats’s day. He further presents the situation of the storm with “roof-leveling wind”, representing turbulence, in the midst of which the poet has “walked and prayed for this young child an hour.” Intense and threatening forces surround her like a “flooded stream.” The poet symbolizes the sea thus: “Out of the murderous innocence of the sea.” Despite his apprehensions for his child in this turbulent world, he is hopeful for her.

The poet continues on to comment on his hopes for her beauty:“May she be granted beauty and yet not.” His vacillation is that beauty in women sometimes brings disasters. For example, some such people have a difficult time choosing the right person as a life partner, and neither they can “find a friend.” The speaker lays emphasis on the need for feminine innocence. The poet advances his argument in the next stanzas by citing examples of beautiful women such as Helen of Troy, whose beauty was said to be the cause of the Trojan War. By the end, the poet wants his daughter to be courteous, as love cannot come unconditionally and freely. She must earn love with good efforts and kind-heartedness, and she cannot win it by merely physical beauty because “Hearts are not had as a gift but hearts are earned.” Summing up his theme, the poet wishes his daughter to possess such qualities that could help her face the future years confidently and independently.

Structural Analysis

The poem is written in a lyric form containing ten stanzas with eight lines in each stanza. The poem follows a regular rhyme scheme, which is AABBCDDC as shown below:

I have walked and prayed for this young child an hour  A
And heard the sea-wind scream upon the tower,          A
And-under the arches of the bridge, and scream          B
In the elms above the flooded stream;                         B
Imagining in excited reverie                                        C
That the future years had come,                                  D
Dancing to a frenzied drum,                                        D
Out of the murderous innocence of the sea.                C

The meter of this poem alternates between iambic pentameter and trochaic pentameter, as in “I have walked and prayed for this young child an hour / And heard the sea-wind scream upon the tower.” The poem is rich in literary devices such as symbolism, personification, paradox, sibilance, assonance, alliteration, and onomatopoeia. The line “murderous innocence of the sea” is an example of paradox. Sibilance is found in the words “sea-wind scream,” while “scream” is also an example of an onomatopoeia. The use of personification can be noted in the lines “future years … dancing”, which implies the transience of life. The poet uses symbols such as “sea wind” and “flooded stream” which denote turbulent forces at work. Alliteration is present in the phrase “be granted beauty.”

Guidance for Usage of Quotes

The poem is concerned with the chaotic modern world. It shows a father consumed with apprehension for his daughter’s future in an uncertain political situation. The father is tense about how he can possibly protect his daughter from the raging storm outside, because she is very beautiful. Therefore, he prays for her as well as gives advice about how to live successfully on earth. Similarly, modern-day fathers can send quotes from this poem to their daughters as a piece of advice for special occasions:

“In courtesy I’d have her chiefly learned;
Hearts are not had as a gift but hearts are earned
By those that are not entirely beautiful;
Yet many, that have played the fool
For beauty’s very self, has charm made wise,
And many a poor man that has roved,
Loved and thought himself beloved,
From a glad kindness cannot take his eyes.”

literarydevices.net

In a few days I will stand before my daughter Christine and her fiancé Taun to officiate their wedding. I knew this day would come, but it once seemed so far away. I remember holding her in my arms when she was born and praying that I would be the best dad for my baby girl.

During every season of her life, my wife Elba and I prayed for her well-being, future decisions, safety, life mate and more. Today she is a beautiful woman living the wonderful life God gave her.

Yes, I have officiated many weddings, but never one of my children’s. When doing so, I will be focused on my pastoral duties, but I know inside my emotions will be running wild.

Read More: 10 Tips for a Lasting Marriage

Like most parents, I want the best for my children, and on that day I will pray that she keeps God at the center of her heart and home. Whether things are going well or not, she will sing praises of thanks to the Lord. I ask God that she will not lean on her own understanding, but seek the wisdom and guidance of the Almighty.

When life challenges weigh her down, she will remember that He is always with her. May she grow in her love for God and Taun, and forgive daily as God has forgiven her. I pray her home be blessed with the love, joy and laughter of children. And I ask God to give them a long and healthy marriage remaining faithful to one another throughout all seasons of life.       

Our prayers for our children never cease. Long after the wedding celebration, my prayers will continue daily for Christine and Taun. Please share with us a wedding blessing for my daughter. I would greatly appreciate it.   

Lord, thank you for the gift of love and marriage. 

www.guideposts.org