Father God, I come before You right now lifting up my brother Brian. Lord, Your Word says that Brian is Your masterpiece. Created anew in Christ Jesus for the good things You planned for him long ago. I anchor this week’s prayer in that truth, because Brian needs to hear it as a man and as a father.
Lord, Brian is parenting through one of the hardest seasons a dad walks through. The season where his fifteen year old is testing every line and being deceitful when called on it. In a week like that, it is easy for a father to start measuring himself by his son’s choices. Remind Brian who he actually is. He is Your masterpiece. The good father You crafted for this exact assignment, with this exact son, in this exact season. You did not put him here by accident. He was prepared for this long ago.
Father, I lift up Jacob. Get to him in the quiet moments when no one else is listening. Let the small voice in his head that knows right from wrong grow louder this week. Open his eyes to the long-term cost of the short-term decisions. Surround him with friends who lift him toward You. Protect him physically, Lord, from consequences too big to bear. He is Yours, and You are working in him even when no one can see it yet.
Lord, give Brian the wisdom to parent this season well. Honor the perspective he already has. Help him hold the line where it needs holding and let pass what needs to pass. Address the deceit honestly without letting it calcify into permanent distrust between them. Build the relationship even through this hard season, not in spite of it.
Lord, I pray for the rest of what Brian is carrying. The desire to hear Your voice more clearly. The work of building consistency in his prayer life. Meet him there too. Show him that the good things You planned for him long ago include the steady, faithful presence he is offering his son this week, even when it feels like nothing is working.
Father, I rebuke every attack of the enemy on Brian, on Jacob, on their relationship, and on the rest of his family. Satan, you have no authority here. You do not get to convince Brian that he is failing as a father. You do not get to whisper to Jacob that his dad does not understand him. You do not get to drive a wedge of anger or distrust between them. You do not get to define Jacob by the choices he is making at fifteen. You will not steal what God planned for this family long ago. We see your schemes, and we shut the door on every one of them in the name of Jesus.
Father, build a wall of protection around Brian’s home. Send Your angels ahead of Jacob into every room he walks into this week. Let Brian feel Your nearness so clearly that the enemy’s voice loses every inch of ground it tried to take.
Strengthen the masterpiece You are still shaping in him, Father. Refill what is empty. Give Brian moments of joy this week that come out of nowhere, just to remind him that You see him, You delight in him, and You are fighting for him and for his son, even in this hard season.
I thank You for Brian. I thank You for the kind of father he is, the kind who keeps showing up even when his son is testing him. Bless the Poltonavage family, Lord. Wrap Your loving arms around all of them this week.
In Jesus name, Amen.
You are God’s masterpiece, brother. The dad He crafted on purpose, with good things He planned for you long before Jacob was born. That includes the hard parenting season you are in right now. He prepared you for this. He prepared this for you. Not as punishment. As formation.
Here is the part most fathers miss. A masterpiece dad is not measured by his son’s current choices. He is measured by who shaped him and what he keeps showing up to do. Jacob testing the lines does not unmake you. Jacob lying to you does not unmake you. Your job is not to control the outcome. Your job is to be the masterpiece dad God made you to be while He works on the son He is also making.
And remember, Jacob is also being shaped into a masterpiece. He just looks like a fifteen year old right now. Trust the long game. The good things God planned for him long ago are still in motion, even when his current choices say otherwise.