The name Jedaiah means “invoker of God.” He is a picture of a man who prays for his family. Men, how many of us spend time in prayer for our families? Not just, “Lord bless my family,” but actually travailing in prayer, bringing our families before the Lord at the family altar? How many of us are letting our children hear us as we talk to our Abba Father on our knees, prevailing in prayer for our family, knowing that, though the enemy has a plan, as we commit our families to the Lord He is going to work out His plan? When we are praying to the Lord for our family, we need to remember to ask not only that the Lord would put a hedge of protection around them outwardly, but also that they might be fortified inwardly. We cannot isolate them from the enemy, but we can insulate them from the enemy by the Word of God sown in prayer.

This man in Nehemiah, Jedaiah, the invoker, built a wall of prayer. There are things that will come up in our lives that will be difficult, painful, very hard to face. These are the things that can only be dealt with by prayer and fasting. Such was the case of the possessed boy whom Jesus delivered. Here was a man, his father, who knew where to take his son when he had this great need. And he did just that. He brought his son to the Lord Jesus and asked the Lord to heal him. The Lord heard his prayer, and healed his son (Mk. 9:14–29). We need to take our children into the presence of God and pray at the throne of grace for them.

We ought to, we need to, we must be building a wall of prayer in front of our homes, for the safety of our families, for our wives and our children. “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much” (Jas. 5:16).