Lord, Give Us Men!- MONDAY
Lord, Give Us Men!
by
Rocky Fleming
Monday - Vision
In honor of my dear friend and co-laborer in ministry, I dedicate this devotional series this week to Pete McKenzie. Several years ago Pete wrote the following soliloquy. For those of you who are not familiar with the wordsoliloquy, it is defined as: "a popular literary device often used in drama to reveal the innermost thoughts of a character." Pete's soliloquy reveals Pete's heart and his inner most thoughts about his ministry to men. As long as I've known Pete, he has lived out these words and chased men around to help them connect with Jesus on a deeper level. He wants to help men grasp the fullness of being a Man of God. He wants to give them a vision of what they can be, and being on staff with Influencers, he shares the inner most desire of our leaders for our mission and vision to help men and women to abide in Christ. I want to help our readers understand the deeper, hidden things Pete is saying in this creative writing for it is the story of Influencers. You will understand that it is the heart of our ministry.
LORD, GIVE US MEN! THOUSANDS OF MEN!
By
Pete McKenzie
LORD, give us men!
Men with stout hearts and fire in their eyes;
Men who fear nothing but You,
And who owe nothing to anyone but acts of love.
LORD, give us men!
Men who are willing to live and die for You;
Who name the name of Christ and live for His glory.
LORD, give us men!
Men who know your voice and whose greatest delight is to obey.
Who are slow to anger, quick to listen, and eager to forgive.
LORD, give us men!
Men who love their wives and honor You in their homes,
Who are living epistles of salt and light to all they know and meet.
Men whose sacrifice, service, and love, are renown,
and who are known to have spent time with You.
LORD, give us men! These kind of men!
For the world is desperate for them.
LORD, give us men!
Men of faith and action, who have eternity in their hearts,
and only You as their focus, passion, and reason for living;
Men of whom the world is not worthy.
LORD, these men are rare, and few, but they know
that You use ordinary men to do extraordinary things through Your power;
That You use foolish men to shame the wise;
Weak men who because of You become strong.
Men who are not, to nullify the men who are.
Men known more for their availability than for their ability.
And men who choose to decrease that You might increase.
LORD, to me, this seems like an impossible request,
but LORD, these are the kind of men You make
when they give their lives unreservedly to You.
LORD, give us men! Thousands of men!
Men who will give their lives in total abandonment and absolute trust to You!
LORD, let me be a man like this, among men like this!
LORD, let me be this man!
The next few days I will unpack some of Pete's thoughts and share with you how they speak to me. Perhaps you will see some things that drill deeply into your heart as well. If his words resonate within your heart, remember that you may be seeing an answer to our prayer that God is indeed giving us men, and you may be another one that He is adding to our army of Influencers. Maybe you are this kind of man and He is pointing to you?