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Warriors - Awaken!



“Deep in man’s heart are some fundamental questions that simply cannot be answered at the kitchen table.  Who am I?  What am I made of?  What am I destined for?  It is fear that keeps a man at home where things are neat and orderly and under his control.  But the answers to his deepest questions are not to be found on television or in the refrigerator.” – John Eldredge
 
“Deep in his heart, every man longs for a battle to fight, an adventure to live, and a beauty to rescue.” – John Eldredge[1]

There is a stillness in the churches and homes of America, a great slumber and snore, a gray emptiness, if you will.  There is a dull whisper, like the echo of an old empty farmhouse, devoid of the bustling routine, laughter and love it was accustomed to.  Like that house whispers, “Where is my family?” the stillness in the church whispers: Where are the men of God?  Too often, their posts are vacant, inactive, or trivialized.  Too often, women have stepped in to do the work on their own, have taken over instead of taken their place alongside (men and women were meant to complement each other, not to replace each other, after all).  In an effort to gain equitable treatment, women have too often allowed the message, “I can do anything you can,” to morph into something much more hurtful, “I can do it myself – I don’t need you.”  Without a role, without a purpose, many men have faded into the background, no longer investing or engaging, slumbering in their pews and their armchairs, becoming passive.  And our children notice it.  They long for an awakening to occur, for the men to rise up, to battle for the lost, and to teach the younger generation what it means to be strong – in the Lord and in themselves.  They are not alone in that longing.  They are joined by the One who wrote adventure and strength into the very nature of manhood – our Heavenly Father, God. 

I’ve been reading in Joel 3 in the last few weeks, meditating on the Scriptures I found there, mulling this over, praying and crying out to God.  Look at this compilation of translations, imagining that this “final battle” refers to the final days before Jesus’ return.  In Joel 3:7, 9-10, God says:
“But now, watch!  I am going to awaken them to action (Voice).  I am going to rouse them up from the place into which you have sold them (American translation). … Awaken your great warriors.  Let the fighting men approach and ascend (American Translation)!  Let all the soldiers come … poised for battle (Voice).  Rally to each other’s help (NEB), march all you that bear arms (Knox).  Advance (Message)!  … For this final battle, even the weakling must say, ‘I am a warrior (Voice),’ must summon up his manhood now (Knox).  Yes, even the weak one must throw out his chest and say, ‘I’m tough, I’m a fighter (MSG),’ thinking himself a hero (Moffatt)!”

My heart quickens at the thought.  I feel a fire rising.  This is what I desire for the men of God in my life! This is how I want them to see themselves!  I think of all the young men I have been privileged to work with – in my Sunday School classes, in foster care and in detention centers.  I think of the young men who have been like younger brothers to me, treasured young men in Iowa and here in Pennsylvania.  Oh, how I want them to be awakened to the action plan God has for them, to have their eyes opened to the excitement and power of God’s story for them!  God does not want to tame them, but to set them free to serve Him passionately, unlimited!  My heart longs for young and old men alike to rise up from the captivity of materialism and immaturity that so plagues our nation, to rally to each other’s help, to advance, and even when society has called them weak or unimportant, to throw out their chests and say, “I am a warrior of God.  I am tough.  I am a fighter, a hero according to the plan of God for my life.” 

So today, I join with God in the rallying cry to awaken the warrior in you, Man of God.  In these last days, please know that we need you.  We need you, men, to stand strong, to declare the truth of God, to seek and rescue the lost, to be so grounded in who God created you as men that you forever shake off the shackles that would pacify and tame you (television, food, etc.).  We need you to invest wholly in the work of God, in your families, and your relationships.  We need you to rally to help your families, your brothers and sisters in Christ, even when it is not easy; their spiritual lives may depend on you.  In another part of this passage, it talks about beating farm tools into weapons for the fight.  That is what we need you to do in the spirit realm.  In these final days – whether they are simply our final days or our planet’s final days – we need you to transform the tools God has given you into weapons for tearing down the strongholds of the enemy, for liberating the captives, for battling the lies of the enemy.   It cannot be about simply making yourself comfortable or “having fun.”  We need you to invest, to lay everything on the line for the souls of others.  Your role in these final days is a unique one, one that cannot be filled with the strivings of women.  Women have their own roles to awaken to. 

You see, Sleeping Beauty was awoken by a kiss, by romance, by an invitation into the heart of her Love, and the calling to be queen.  That is how God is awakening the women of His church, His Once Captive Queen (see Isaiah 52:1-2).  He is awakening us with love, tenderness, and with the calling to live out of our God-given dreams.  Like a queen in her royal duties, He is calling us to gather the children close and train them up in their callings and authority in Christ, to bring humanity and compassion to the Kingdom that is at war.   But that is not how He will awaken His warriors.  No warrior is awakened by a kiss.  No.  God will awaken His warriors, His mighty men of God, with the sound of a bugle, with the call to battle and adventure beyond the horizon, with fierceness and brotherhood, to rescue and redeem. 

Hear the call, men of God.  Awaken.  A new day is dawning in the church - and your fierceness is desperately needed.


[1] Both quotes are from “Wild at Heart,” though I am not sure which pages.

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