Today’s post is written by the President and Founder of Deeper Still, Karen Ellison. Karen has a book that just came out called Healing the Hurt that Won’t Heal, Freedom for the Abortion-Wounded and Help for the Church They Fear.
HE GOT TO HIS FEET during our prayer meeting, and with fresh conviction, passion, and authority, he announced, “Awake, Awake, Awake!” We were gathered to pray about men and abortion. We were seeking the Lord and asking Him to move in the hearts of men around the world. This movement needs their leadership for sure, but the most important step before they can be effective leaders is that they too must submit to the surgeon’s knife of the Great Physician and allow their hearts to be healed and set free from the ravages of abortion.
Their abortion-wounded hearts keep them from having a mindset for entering this battle in a redemptive and restorative way. Much ground has been lost, as our men and brothers have lost their sense of identity as men, fathers, protectors, providers, and leaders. We cannot turn the tide on our culture of death until our men lock arms with us women and together we begin to rebuild the ancient ruins. One of the promises God gives us when we say yes to His restoration plan is that “they shall build up the ancient ruins; they shall raise up the former devastations; they shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations” (Isaiah 61:4).
The abortion debate goes on and on, year after year, and rarely is it even considered that a man would—or should— have a legitimate voice in this debate. If a male politician, for example, speaks out to defend the life of the unborn, he is immediately jumped on, politically castrated, and accused of hating women. If men are not secure in their identity as leaders and protectors of the innocent, and if they don’t have a clear understanding that they have been commissioned by their creator to fight for our families, then they will be paralyzed into passivity. If men take their identity cues from the angry, wounded (albeit well-intentioned from their worldview perspective) feminist voice of the culture, they will conclude that not only do they not have a right to enlist in this army, but it will be a lot safer for them to stay home and mind their own business.
In his mind, he’s not sure how to separate the mission of protecting the life and well-being of women and children from the female who stands before him with claws out and insisting that he doesn’t have a dog in this fight. If she confronts or challenges his position (even if her debate tactics include barbs and sarcasm), it is generally viewed as fair game. If, on the other hand, that man confronts or challenges her position, it is viewed as an attack or worse. But the underlying assumption seems to be that men, in general, are too clueless or obtuse to understand what would be a benevolent solution for women and children in crisis—so stay out of it!
For Christ-followers, we know that the real enemy is first spiritual. We know that we fight forces that are not flesh and blood but are spiritual powers and principalities in heavenly places. We also fight sin in the heart and mind, which all amounts to enmity between the sexes. I recently heard a metaphor that sounded fresh and hopeful to me. If women are pink and men are blue, what do you get when you mix pink and blue? You get purple. Purple is one of those colors of God. It reflects His rich beauty, strength, and royalty. It also reveals the royal standing of those of us who are His sons and daughters. I think there’s great hope for a battle strategy that entails enlisting the best of the feminine heart with the best of the masculine. Then we can identify the real enemy, clarify our mission, and gain back the ground we’ve lost. Only then will the army of God be complete and equipped to defeat the spirit of child sacrifice as it manifests itself in our day and age. Together we can work to heal the ravages of those with blood on their hands, and those who have abortion-wounded hearts.
Father, we ask for our men to awake and arise to join in fighting for life. We pray our men would step into their real identity as protectors, warriors, champions of defending the innocent, and leaders of their families. Lord, may our men awake in our country to be the husbands, sons, and fathers you’ve called them to be. And may we as women lock arms with our men, as one with them, in unity to advance the culture of life and the Kingdom of God. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.