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Men, you have something worth fighting for! On a sloping hill at Mount Milboa, the Philistine army is routing Saul and his son, Jonathon, David and his mighty warriors are on their way back to Ziklag where their wives, children, and families are. Now, David has the right hand of God on him. He is to be the future King and is closer than he realizes. As David and his six hundred mighty warriors arrive at their hometown of Ziklag they realize that the Amalekites have raided Negev and burned Ziklag to the ground. Not only that, the Amalekites have taken their wives, children, families, and possessions. Visualize this for a moment, you have returned home from a long trip. A trip you had not planned to take, because you wanted to stay and fight with the Philistines and King Achish against Saul and his army. However, they would not allow it, because of David's former loyalty to the Israelite army. When David and his men saw this they cried until they could cry no more. Guys, this is one place in the bible that shows us it is ok to cry as a man. David’s two wives (an entirely different story) were taken. At this point, David finds himself in terrible danger from the men. They wanted to stone David because of this. As scripture tells us, “David found strength in the Lord his God.” 1 Samuel 30:6 NLT. Beyond this point is where we find out by David’s example that we too have something worth fighting for. After David goes before God and the Lord tells him to go after the thieves and He will deliver them into David’s hands, I can just hear David say, “Men, get your swords!” I can only imagine David and the men’s pace as they set out across the countryside to find their women and children. Two hundred of the men were so exhausted when they got to the Besor Brook they could not go further and fight. So, David and four hundred men go on. After this point I challenge anyone to feminize the remainder of the story. An Egyptian man led David and his warriors to the Amalekites. He finds them having a huge party. Celebrating their plunder. Now, from this point on I will let the Word of God tell the story. After discovering the Amalekites celebrating, here are the events that took place: “David and his men rushed in among them and slaughtered them throughout that night and the entire next day until evening. None of the Amalekites escaped except four hundred young (cowards) men who fled on camels. David got back everything the Amalekites had taken, and he rescued his two wives. Nothing was missing, small or great, son or daughter, nor anything else that had been taken.” 1 Samuel 30:17-19 NLT Men, I told you that story to let you know that it is ok to fight for your women and children. As a matter of fact your wife wants a knight in shining armor to rescue her, fight for her, and support her. The children are looking for a hero that will fight for them, protect them, battle any evil that comes close to them. As a man, throughout many of the evangelical churches across America today a man is expected to a “good boy”. Don’t drink, don’t smoke, don’t say any bad words…just live a straightened up, boring life. God did not create man to be indoors all day. He did not create men to set around looking at their watches with hands folded all day. He put in the heart of a man the desire to conqueror all evils, provide for his family, protect his family from anyone or anything that threatens them, be outdoors, fish, hunt, spit, and play with knives, light fires, burn things, smell a little bit fowl at times, drive fast, enjoy his wife’s seduction of him, and so on! Whenever David’s wives were taken and the men’s families were taken, they did not set around making excuses for why this happened, excuses for why they could not go after the punks that did this, nor did David put the blame on someone else. David took this situation head on. He wept like any other man would do, but after that upon the Lord’s approval, he went after the enemy with everything he had. I can only imagine the fierceness in David’s voice and face as they came upon the Amalekites in that field. We as the husbands and fathers of our families need to approach life with that same fierceness and drive as David. When the church does not teach the right messages to the family then take them somewhere else. If someone attacks your wife for home schooling make sure you as her husband take that head on no matter the outcome or the fight. Fight for your family, men! Don't let the lies of the world setup in your family life. Don't allow the pressure to be like everyone else determine how you will run your family. Don't let the school system fill your childrens minds with the filth that homosexuality is normal and good. Don't let a former president set the values that your family goes by and say that it all depends on what the meaning of the word "is" is! This one person in history has ruined an entire generation with the thinking that "oral sex" is not really sex. Gods word says it is. We are hearing of teenagers having parties using this particular technique because they think it is just a game and the parents are looking the other way as if that will cover them before God someday. Gentlemen, sometimes the fight may cost you your job, cost you so called friends, keep fighting the good fight, God will bless you and care for you. What God creates, he sustains! This is the providence of God! Allow your manhood to come alive again. If you need to go into the woods somewhere to find your heart, then I say go. If you need to go to the mountains as I do at times, so you may come alive, then I say go. Mountains are home for a man. The ruggedness of the great outdoors is where a man can find his heart again...discovering the deep desires of your heart. God gave us a heart that is undomesticated!. What a good thing, men! One of the biggest things that has happen to men is that legalism has taken over our churches and lives. You have someone in the pulpit beating you down every week, telling you that you are not a man, but just a worm. They tell you how they think you should live, what you should wear, what you should eat, how you should talk, how often you should pray or read your bible, and will use the scriptures out of context to support their position so they can rule over you. If you are in that kind of church, GET YOUR FAMILY OUT! Men are so beat down these days. Then you get to the music and that is an entirely different subject all together. The feminization of our worship services and churches has become so ridiculous. I have witnessed this in a big way over the past 10 years. Guys, I got my family OUT of that as fast as I could once it was obvious that the legalism and feminism had taken over. Once out of that situation and away from such, it is so obvious to us now. We did not realize how far we had fallen into this type of judgemental thinking and wimpy worship. I, as a man, thought I was just a horrible man even though I was just trying to be such a “good boy”, I wnated to get along, keep the peace no matter what. Until I realized how God had created me and I was actually suppose to be a little rough around the edges. I am not telling you to go get drunk or beat your wife or stop reading God's Holy Word. That is clearly against the word of God. We are living under His grace! His grace has freed you to live a holy life and not love under the bondages of sin and legalism. Reading the bible is exactly what we should be doing, but don't just take what some preachers tell you from a pulpit as being the sole truth. The Lord has given you and I the ability to discern His Word, too. So, guys I don’t know how much more I can stress to you that you are allowed to come alive, be adventurous and be a “man”. If you want to see and read about how a man should be, you need look no further than our Lord Jesus Christ. He was very mild most of the time, but when the women and children were threatened he did not look around to see who was going to do something, He acted on it Himself. When the Pharisee’s were using the temple corruptly he did not go to anyone to take care of the problem…He went in and handled it His way! How many of you have watched the movie “Braveheart”? This is a good example of a man that lived the adventure, fought the good fight for his countrymen, fought for the heart of his wife; he fought against the enemy that threatened all the families. Why did men follow him so passionately? How come men joined in this fight and fought to the death many times? Was he royalty that was to be followed? In the words of William Wallace, “Men don’t follow titles, they follow courage!” Guys, regain your courage, find your soul again and fight for what is right, true and good! Be a hero in your families eyes! Copy Right Scott Bailey 2006 |
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