Bring Your Son Here (Part 2)

If you haven’t read Part 1, head there first. I’m picking up right where I left off.

I remember the day the Father sent me on assignment to get one of his sons. At the time, I didn’t know that was one of His purposes; He just revealed directives to me in moments. The first one came as we were standing in a field. As the man spoke, the words this man needs protection came to me. Protection from what, Lord? Protection from who? I tried to concentrate on what the man was saying to me, but I had now become vigilant. I scanned his property to see where there were SWOT weaknesses and threats.

Within a few short weeks, the Lord revealed that I could actually become one of those limitations and hazards, to myself and the man; so, He moved me from the man’s presence and instead to His. He told me to pray for him. So, I did. Daily for months on end until I felt I had become too attached and distracted from Yahweh as my first love. So, I lessened my frequency but still kept going. Within this time, God attempted to redirect my heart. He said that I only needed to focus on being his friend; that that is what is most needed. And when He gave another opportunity, that that is what I should be.

What the Father had led me to do was exactly the response Esther had used to remove the sentence of death from her people too. She and the Jews chose to seek the face of the Father and fast for a set period of time (Esther 4). One of the reasons the disciples could not set the little boy at liberty in Luke 9 is because they had become dependent upon their own ability, calling, and method. They forgot that they must be connected to a Person, in His presence, and in prayer to gain the provision of His power. Esther was the king’s queen. She had rank and authority. And yet, even she knew she could face death by entering the king’s court without permission. She was reminded that she needed Yahweh’s power and favor that had gotten her the position in the first place.

I fumbled a lot in my assignment because I was not staying close and committed to my Commander who had sent me. I allowed my flesh, desires, and brokenness to make the season more challenging for myself and my friend. The Lord sends us to protect the sons, not prey upon them. Yet in His patience, He understands that we need the same from them. So, the Lord grew us together – challenging and cultivating one another.

Esther possessed an inner and outer beauty that captured the king’s heart. I believe Yahweh favors His daughters in this way still today. This beauty calls men to notice and alarm that there is something different about her. I remember a few words my friend shared with me that let me know the Father had done this in our connection. My friend told me that there was like a shield around me that made me untouchable in the ways in which he would have touched other women. And he said that at first, he didn’t know who I belonged to, but now he understood I belonged to God. There was an admiration and respect he had for me; Yahweh had given him a heart to protect me, even from himself.

Men are accountable to God for their part and we are to ours. So, if I could, here is the syllabus for women who want to be entrusted with the mission to help deliver men.

Understand Your Assignment.

Every woman has a part to play, but it may not be an up close and personal one. Some women are needed to be overseers to the sent ones. Women who will keep the deployed on task, remind them of the parameters, and pull them out if the risks are putting them in danger of death to themselves. Some are needed as greeters and ushers, only in short interactions directing men to their seats in the court of the King. And others are simply meant to get out of the way and go hide themselves because they are likely to lay down in the grave with their brothers. It may also be that some are called to fulfill all these roles at specific times and for specific targets. The Lord after all has a SWOT analysis of us too and knows what would be fruitful and detrimental to the purposes of the Kingdom.

Fast and Pray.

Our brothers are lying in graves that are devouring their souls. And many of our counterparts, led astray by the Evil One and their own desires, are holding them there comfortably. Many are their enchantments and spells that can only be broken by the power of a risen Savior. The Father needs His daughters in position to fast and pray for the sons. Fasting from that which entangles us and depletes our self-control. At times, food. At times, our other comforts. And at times, our brothers. And when we draw to our secret places, we are to fervently pray for their freedom. I love the proclamation of Abigail to David and have made it a prayer for men:

“The Lord your God will certainly make a lasting dynasty for my lord, because you fight the Lord’s battles, and no wrongdoing will be found in you as long as you live. Even though someone is pursuing you to take your life, the life of my lord will be bound securely in the bundle of the living by the Lord your God, but the lives of your enemies He will hurl away as from the pocket of a sling.” (1 Samuel 25:28-29)

This becomes a prayer to call men to their true identity in and mission to the King and for their protection and escape from enemies and entrapment.

Ladies, let us be distinct and disciplined queens and pray.

Sacrificially Love.

I remember the umpteenth time God presented me with the opportunity to be back in fellowship with my friend. I wrestled because I had finally gotten honest and shared my desires with my Lord – I wanted this man for me. And so, I was afraid that if I pursued closeness again, my hopes would be dashed if he didn’t want and choose me back. As I sat on my floor making an argument to stay or leave, as soon as I opened my mouth to tell God about the risk of friendship, my eyes landed upon my cross necklace slightly hanging over my heart one. Immediately, these words came to me: “What have I risked and sacrificed for you?” I was undone, for He had given all. At that moment, I was willing to put my desires on the altar to be consumed, so I could just be his friend. It wasn’t about me getting what I wanted, but it was about what this man needed. What Yahweh had said from the start – protection and friendship. Through the seasons, we had built an intimacy and safety that could now offer that. And so, as my friend started making slow steps towards the Savior, I was now willing and equipped to walk beside him showing him the way.

I believe because I forfeited my craving and plea and it was what the Father had called me to, He protected my heart. In just a few months, He answered my prayer. Not giving me what I had asked for but something even better – release. I was released from fighting with and being mastered by my longings. I was able to love this man as my brother and friend with no expectation for him to make the returns I had once coveted. Gently and kindly, the Lord gave my heart rest and no sorrow in the surrender of my desire for him to be my husband.

Exercise Patience.

If we would but remember the great demonstration of patience our Lord had (and still has) for us, we would be better equipped to serve wounded soldiers who will take time to heal. We look at these men and we expect them to be further along than they are. But they simply are not. Much has stunted their growth and way to the chambers that would change them.

When I was reading David Guzik’s commentary on Luke 9, one of the things mentioned was the great opposition that arose against setting the son free. It says in verse 42, “Even while the boy was coming, the demon threw him to the ground in a convulsion.” Guzik wrote the following to describe what was happening and why:

“Even when the father brought the boy to Jesus, at first he did not seem to get better, but the problems showed themselves as bad as ever. This was the last, desperate effort of the possessing demon to hold on to the boy and cast the father, the disciples, and all into despair.”

Guzik goes on to highlight the sentiments of Spurgeon in a sermon titled “The Devil’s Last Throw,” stating “the devil often strikes hard against a person just as they begin to come to the Savior. ‘I have seen men, just when they were beginning to hear and beginning to think, taken on a sudden with such violence of sin, and so fearfully carried away by it, that if I had not seen the same thing before I should have despaired of them.”

Here we are given counsel that there is war for the souls of men. The enemy will not let them go freely and without a fight, just as Pharoah was refusing to let the Lord’s people go millennia ago. We must exercise wisdom, longsuffering, gentleness yet firmness as we seek to see our brothers set free. Wisdom to know if something more or someone else is needed. Longsuffering to stay nearby even as they are being wounded and wounding themselves. And gentleness not to speak harshly to their weaknesses, yet firmness to call them to stand from their failings.

Raise Your Expectations.

While on one hand we want to exercise tenderness and patience with men, on the other, we don’t want to undermine Yahweh’s call for them to become fit ones. Many women expect too little of men. Little character. Little sacrifice. Little fidelity. Little honor. Little presence. We give covenantal benefits and access before these men have proven themselves committed and worthy of them. 

Before David earned his standing and reward from the king, he first had to meet the requirements set before him. Let’s see what that those standards and gifts were:

“Early in the morning David left the flock in the care of a shepherd, loaded up and set out, as Jesse had directed. He reached the camp as the army was going out to its battle positions, shouting the war cry. Israel and the Philistines were drawing up their lines facing each other. David left his things with the keeper of supplies, ran to the battle lines and asked his brothers how they were. As he was talking with them, Goliath, the Philistine champion from Gath, stepped out from his lines and shouted his usual defiance, and David heard it. Whenever the Israelites saw the man, they all fled from him in great fear. Now the Israelites had been saying, ‘Do you see how this man keeps coming out? He comes out to defy Israel. The king will give great wealth to the man who kills him. He will also give him his daughter in marriage and will exempt his family from taxes in Israel.” (1 Samuel 17:20-25)

The king had a standard for the man to meet before he could access his treasures. Saul’s measurement was merely physical, but Yahweh’s is even greater. He considered the heart and character of the man, which is why in Chapter 16, David, though a shepherd boy, is anointed as the next king instead of his brothers.

We’ll notice in just this short passage what kind of man David was and what character the Father is seeking to entrust his daughters to the sons.

• David showed responsibility and accountable as he cared for the sheep and made provision for their oversight while he was away

• He demonstrated submission and obedience to his earthly father, carrying out his request without delay

• He cared enough to take his brothers provisions and was compassionately concerned about their welfare

• He reverenced Yahweh and was ready to defend Him when many fled and others railed against Him

David was willing to sacrifice himself to the point of death for the honor of His Lord and for the rewards of his valiancy to do so.

I understand that when I come to an altar, I am there to die. But this time I am not going first. If a man is to be my leader, then I expect him to lead from the front and not the back. My declaration shall be, “Show me the way to death husband, and I will follow you.” And consider this: The bride does not come until the bridegroom is in place, standing by the Priest. He must be willingly at that altar because he has died and has now been raised to receive me. 

In Luke 9, we’re given a picture of what we are to do with weary and hungry men. Guzik points out a few things that Yeshua does even when he had sought to steal away from the crowds:

• “He received them: This speaks to His attitude. He didn’t run from the crowd or tell them to go away. With love and service, He received them.

• Spoke to them about the kingdom of God: This speaks of His teaching. As was the emphasis in His work, Jesus proclaimed a message to the multitudes.

• And healed those: Jesus did not only give them spiritual instruction, but He also did good among them with supernatural empowering.”

Sisters, this is what we have been called to do: to receive our brothers, to tell them about the God who has set us at liberty, and to bring healing not harm to their souls and bodies through our words and actions. If our Father has one charge for us, it is this: “Daughters, go and find them. All of them. And bring my sons here.”