The Man Who Prays

Power on His Knees "Therefore I want the men everywhere to pray, lifting up holy hands without anger or disputing."

— 1 Timothy 2:8 There is one practice that has defined every great man of God in the Bible and every great man of God in church history: he prayed. Not occasionally. Not desperately only in emergencies. Not merely in public to be heard. He prayed — deeply, daily, privately, persistently.

Abraham prayed. When God told him He was about to destroy Sodom, Abraham stood before the Lord and interceded for a city full of strangers (Genesis 18:22–33). Moses prayed. When Israel made the golden calf and God threatened to destroy them, Moses lay on his face for forty days and nights (Deuteronomy 9:18). David prayed. Read the Psalms — they are a man's prayer journal soaked in tears, praise, confession, and faith. Daniel prayed. Three times a day, with his window open toward Jerusalem, even when it cost him the lions' den (Daniel 6:10). Nehemiah prayed.

Before he spoke to the king, before he laid a single stone, he lifted his heart to God (Nehemiah 2:4).

And above them all, our Lord Jesus Christ prayed. The Son of God, perfect in every way, needing nothing, rose before dawn to pray (Mark 1:35), went up into the mountains alone to pray (Luke 6:12), prayed all night before choosing the twelve apostles, prayed for Peter, prayed for His disciples, prayed for you and me in John 17, and prayed in Gethsemane until His sweat became like drops of blood. If the Son of God needed to pray, how can we — weak, sinful, foolish — imagine we can lead without prayer?

A man who does not pray is not a spiritual leader, no matter what he calls himself. He may be a good provider, a strong disciplinarian, a respected businessman. But if he is not on his knees before God, he is leading his family into darkness while stumbling himself.

Paul's instruction to Timothy is striking. He says, "I want the men everywhere to pray, lifting up holy hands without anger or disputing" (1 Timothy 2:8). Paul singles out men. Not because women do not pray — they pray powerfully, and we know it — but because Paul is telling us that visible, leading, holy-handed prayer in the worship of the church is the duty of men. And if we will not pray publicly in the gathering of God's people, it is usually because we are not praying privately in our own closets.

Let me speak directly to husbands and fathers now. Your wife is praying for you. Your mother has been praying for you since before you were born. The women of your church are on their knees for the men. They are carrying the spiritual weight of the home while we discuss politics and football. This must change.

When was the last time you prayed with your wife? Not a quick prayer before food, but a real prayer — holding her hand, confessing your sins, praising God, interceding for your children, asking for His will to be done in your home? Peter warns husbands to treat their wives with understanding, "so that nothing will hinder your prayers" (1 Peter 3:7). Think about that. How you treat your wife can block your prayers from being heard. Many of our prayers have hit the ceiling because there was unrepented sin against the woman in our own bed.

When was the last time you laid hands on your children and prayed a blessing over them? Jacob blessed his sons before he died (Genesis 49). Jesus took children in His arms and blessed them (Mark 10:16). A father's blessing is a powerful thing in Scripture. Do not withhold it. Lay hands on your children at night, pray over them by name, speak God's favor over their lives. Many of our sons and daughters have gone astray because a father's blessing was missing.

The East African Revival, which touched Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Burundi, and Tanzania in the 1930s and 40s, was fundamentally a prayer movement. Simeon Nsibambi of Uganda and Dr. Joe Church, a missionary in Rwanda, would meet in a room in Kampala and pray for hours. Men gathered in small huts at dawn to cry out to God, to confess their sins, to walk in the light with one another. William Nagenda, who later became one of the greatest preachers of the revival, was a man marked by prayer. Festo Kivengere — who would later preach the gospel from Uganda to America and Europe — was a man of prayer. These were not professional clergymen at first. They were ordinary Ugandan men who decided that they would not lead their families or their nation without first falling on their knees. And from their prayers, a continent was shaken.

George Müller of Bristol, England, ran orphanages for thousands of children in the 1800s without ever asking anyone for money. When the cupboards were empty and breakfast was about to be served, he would gather the children and pray. Over and over, the food arrived — sometimes a baker knocking at the door saying, "God woke me in the night and told me the orphans needed bread," sometimes a milkman whose cart had broken down outside and who asked if they could use the milk before it spoiled. Müller kept records of over fifty thousand specific answers to prayer in his lifetime. He said, "The business of my life is to trust the Lord." Brother, if a man in England could trust God like that, can you not trust Him for your small shop in Kampala, your farm in the village, your job in Nairobi, your family in Dar es Salaam?

Let me give you a simple pattern for prayer as a husband and father. First, pray alone each morning.

Even fifteen minutes, before your phone comes on, before the radio goes on. Open your Bible, read a Psalm, turn it into prayer, confess your sins, praise God, lay out your day. Second, pray with your wife each night, or at least several times a week. Short is fine at the start. The point is to take her hand and say, "Let us pray." Third, pray over each child by name, ideally at bedtime. Ask God to save them, to keep them pure, to give them wisdom, to call them to serve Him. Fourth, pray with your family at meals — more than just "bless this food," but true thanksgiving. Fifth, join a praying community — in your church, with a few brothers, in a men's group. Do not try to be a praying man alone.

Do not wait until you feel like it. Do not wait until you are holy enough. Do not wait until life slows down. Begin now. Poorly is better than not at all. A stumbling, sincere prayer from a sinful man is more precious to God than the smoothest speech from a hypocrite.

There is great power in a praying man. His wife walks through the day with a covering over her.

His children grow up with a spiritual inheritance. His business is touched by the hand of God. His church is strengthened. His nation is moved. And on the day of judgment, he will not be ashamed, because he will have walked with his God.

A Prayer Father, teach me to pray. I confess I have prayed too little, too shallowly, too selfishly. I have been quicker to scroll my phone than to seek Your face. Quicker to complain to others than to cry out to You. Quicker to plan my day than to consecrate it. Lord Jesus, You who prayed all night on the mountain, teach me. Holy Spirit, who intercedes for us with groans, pray through me. Make me a man whose wife can say, "My husband prays for me." Make me a father whose children know, "Papa prays for us." Make me a brother in the church who can stand and lift holy hands.

And where revival is needed in my home, my village, my nation, let it begin on my knees. In the mighty name of Jesus, amen.