Pandemic Chronicles #7 - We need to restore the Men
Suicide and Homicide are leading causes of death in White and Black Men
The suicide statistics alone let us know that men are in trouble.
Check out these statistics from the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention
- The rate of suicide is highest in middle-aged white men.
- In 2018, men died by suicide 3.56x more often than women.
- On average, there are 132 suicides per day.
- White males accounted for 69.67% of suicide deaths in 2018.
- In 2018, firearms accounted for 50.57% of all suicide deaths.
The Leading cause of death for Young Black men (Ages 1-44) is Homicide.
One group is killing themselves.
The other group is killing each other
But the Root cause is the same: The enemy is out to destroy men because that is how you render a people ineffective and cause confusion.
I don't need to look any further than what happened to Black men during slavery in the United States. By subjecting the men to emasculation, humiliation, and breaking up of the familial order, chaos reigned supreme and the entire community is weakened. We see the after effects of this to this day.
Why am I bringing all of this up?
Men are in trouble and if we're going to have revival then we must address the issue that our churches are not prioritizing the spiritual health of men and we are not fostering safe places for men to receive deliverance and healing.
I believe a major part of The 4th Great Awakening will be to see Men returning to Faith, the Church, and finding their voice again.
Reformed Feminist
Those who may have known me in a previous season of life may be surprised to hear that I am going so hard for men to be restored to their place in leadership and find their voices again.
I grew up in a legalistic patriarchal church that believed only men could pray in public, lead worship, teach to mixed audiences of men/women, and basically do nothing but work in the kitchen, teach Sunday school to children, and teach other ladies.
I knew that wasn't going to work for me but then I went in the opposite direction. I went all in on Feminism and believing that we don't need men. I felt that since men had obviously failed in all forms of leadership that we needed women in charge and forget the men.
Because I hadn't seen proper relationships between men and women when it came to leadership or even romantically, I had a belief that men weren't worthy of respect and were useless.
My attitude has changed for several reasons
First I have undergone tremendous healing in my life and I realize that men are not the enemy. They are sons of God and should receive respect as human beings.
Second, Being at Shiloh Church in Oakland has helped me realize that when men and women dwell in unity, we can do so much more. The beautiful thing about Shiloh is that yes we have both Men AND Women in Leadership positions. Men and women both preach, teach, and lead. We also have a number of Married couples in Leadership Positions who serve together which is absolutely Biblical. (Please see Priscilla and Aquila in the Book of Acts)
Third, Culturally in our push to make sure women are valued...we've devalued men. Men and women are not the same. It seems that we want to treat women as small men with breasts and we want men to behave like big women without breasts.
We need both the masculine and feminine energy to have a balanced society.
I think that's what God was doing when he created us.
Genesis 5:2 English Standard Version (ESV)2 Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man[a] when they were createdFourth, Look at Younger men. They are having a rough go of it. They don't know who they're supposed to be. Education and the Job Market aren't tailored toward men (unless you're of a certain income level) and I see Men without guidance and direction.
If we want a functioning society, then we need both men and women to contribute their gifts equally.
Where are The Men?
I was at a prayer meeting and as they kept calling on women to pray I thought to myself, "Where are the men?" Why aren't they here? Why aren't they praying" It really bothered me that there were so few men at the meeting and it bothered me even more when none were being called on to pray.
The next night I was on another prayer call led by a married couple. They provide a space each month for married couples to share their testimonies and offer prayer for others whether married or aspiring marrieds like myself.
Well this prayer call was something different. The married couple shared and the husband was extremely vulnerable in his sharing which was SO needed . What resulted was so beautiful it still brings tears to my eyes. I heard men lead out and pray for their wives publicly.
With the healing atmosphere, More people began to share their marriage struggles and it was such a powerful time of sharing that it went on for 2 hours. The next day I was still so encouraged and rejoicing about having such a great time in the Lord.
My Goodness!
I also took away from that meeting that the enemy is trying to take out the men. I shared as much at our weekly Freedom ministry prayer call. I believe he's trying to take them out in the community and even at our church.
Another sister agreed and prayed that the men would get their voices back. That they would no longer look at the powerful women at church and think, "I'll never get there" but that they would come forth and begin to lead out. They need to get their voices back.
I was so excited that I said, "That's it. That's it. That's it right there!"
Take away the men and you see the structure crumble
The enemy knows this. That is why there has been a systematic move to decimate Black men. We saw it during slavery, We saw it during Jim Crow, and we see it now with disparities that lead to hopelessness which is where the homicides and drug use comes in.
I believe that as Kingdom Women we cannot just look at the men as potential spouses and any of that but as sons of God and our Brothers in the Lord. Even when they do become our husbands we should still see them as sons of God and our brothers in the Lord. This means we desire to see them loosed and experiencing true freedom.
We simply cannot have revival and powerful moves of God if we don't have men and women working together.
In Acts 1 when they were waiting on the Holy Spirit to come...,there were men and women in the Upper Room. It just lets me know moves of God depend on us all working together.
Let's see Acts 1:12
The Upper Room Prayer Meeting
12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey. 13 And when they had entered, they went up into the upper room where they were staying: Peter, James, John, and Andrew; Philip and Thomas; Bartholomew and Matthew; James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot; and Judas the son of James. 14 These all continued with one [d]accord in prayer [e]and supplication, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.
We must have UNITY if we are going to have a true move of God in this hour!
Prayer for Men
Lord we pray for our Brothers in Christ and even those who are not yet saved. We pray for the men of this generation. We pray they get their voices back. Lord we pray that they walk in the dominion and authority that you have given them in Jesus' name.
We pray that they take up their roles once again as leaders in your church, leaders in their homes, and leaders in the community.
God we pray that as their sisters and fellow laborers that we respect them and honor their leadership in Jesus' name and not believe these lies of the culture that they are useless and not worthy of respect.
God we pray for this generation of men to RISE UP and walk in true freedom. We break off every lie of the enemy in Jesus' name that the culture is imparting to these men about being inferior, losers, and all insecurities in Jesus' name.
Lord we thank you for our brothers in the Lord, we thank you for our husbands, we thank you for our sons and we pray your covering and protection over them in Jesus' name.
AMEN!!
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