Watchman Prayer: Keeping the Enemy Out While Protecting Your Family, Home and Community by Dutch Sheets

Author:Dutch Sheets
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: spiritual warfare, Prayer - Christianity, Christian Life, Christianity, Religion, Prayer, Devotional
ISBN: 9780830745418
Publisher: Regal
Published: 2008-09-30T22:00:00+00:00

ARMED AND LOADED WITH PRAYER

_Chapter Seven_

Prayer Changes Everything

When George McCluskey married and started a family, he decided to invest one hour a day in prayer, because he wanted his kids to follow Christ. After a time, he expanded his prayers to include his grandchildren and greatgrandchildren. Every day between 11:00 A.M. and noon, he prayed for the next three generations.

As the years went by, his two daughters committed their lives to Christ and married men who went into full-time ministry. The two couples produced four girls and one boy. Each of the girls married a minister, and the boy became a pastor.

The first two children born to this generation were both boys. Upon graduation from high school, the two cousins chose the same college and became roommates. During their sophomore year, one boy decided to go into the ministry. The other didn't. He undoubtedly felt some pressure to continue the family legacy, but he chose instead to pursue his interest in psychology.

He earned his doctorate and eventually wrote books for parents that became bestsellers. He started a radio program heard on more than a thousand stations each day. The man's name—James Dobson.

Talk about the power of prayer! The next time you're blessed by Focus on the Family or one of Dr. Dobson's books, thank God for a generational watchman, George McCluskey.

Many kids aren't as blessed with praying fathers.

At a 1994 Promise Keepers' conference in Denton, Texas, Pastor James Ryle told his story:

When he was two years old, his father was sent to prison. When he was seven, authorities placed him in an orphanage. At 19, he had a car wreck that killed a friend. He sold drugs to raise money for his legal fee, and the law caught up to him. He was arrested, charged with a felony and sent to prison.

While in prison James accepted Christ, and after he served his time, he eventually went into the ministry. Years later he sought out his father to reconcile with him. When they got together, the conversation turned to prison life.

James's father asked, "Which prison were you in?"

James told him, and his father was taken aback. "I helped build that prison," he said. He had been a welder who went from place to place building penitentiaries.

Pastor Ryle concluded, "I was in the prison my father built." Indeed! In more ways than one.

These are amazing stories, powerfully contrasting two possibilities. We can either build prisons for our children or through prayer build fruitful lives that bless others.

All He Can Do is Pray

The same stories could be told by millions around the world. Change the names, a detail here and there, but the bottom lines are the same: success or failure, life or death, fruitfulness or barrenness, bondage or freedom—results that are largely determined by the influence of righteous or unrighteous parents. Never underestimate the power of a praying parent!

In this book, we have often mentioned the concept of watchmen keeping the serpent out of our gardens. In the following quote, Jamie Buckingham comments on the importance of doing this through watching prayer.

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