Armorbearers International

Fathers, like mothers, are not born. Men grow into fathers and fathering is a very important stage in their development. --David Gottesman

Not long ago, I was at a popular gas station called Race Trac. This particular gas station is always very busy. I went in and the line was long as usual. But this time I was waiting behind a young African American man. He was in his early twenties. He was wearing the Hip Hop attire most young people wear, which I somewhat like.

But there was one major problem with the young man directly in front of me that day. His short pants were so low; all I could see were his underwear. Since he was in front of me there was no way I could ignore it. And this day, the old elephant (me) didn’t want to be quiet. I said to him and the store manager at the register, “Do I have to put up with this?”

I have to admit I didn’t start the conversation well. So the situation didn’t start well. We had a few words. I said to the young man, “I bet your father would not be in agreement with the way you’re dressed.” He sparked back at me, “You don’t know what you’re talking about.” He went on to say his father didn’t have anything to say about it.

As you probably can imagine, we had more words. In short, he told me to mind my own business. After a slight debate back and forth, I told him I just wanted to help. I explained he was about the same age as my youngest son. As he was finishing up gassing his vehicle, he shouted back at a distance that he didn’t believe I was trying to help him. He drove off with a string of curse words directed at me.

My point in telling this story is, this generation (that young man and a whole lot more like him) are asking for our help. But we must be willing and have the courage to help them. I believe that interchange may not have had immediate results but I know by the Spirit of God the seed of God’s correction was planted.

For example, let me tell you one of the reasons I decided to say something. I believe in reaching out for people. The Lord requires it of me and perhaps you. Once I was picking up my sister from work. There were some ladies talking loud about their husband problems. To make a long story short, one of the young ladies was telling the others about how she would tell her husband off when she got home that evening and it would not be good.

My first prompting was to tell her the correct way to handle it, the biblical way. Normally, I would have said something but this day I didn’t say anything. A week later, I saw the other girls talking to someone else saying that the young lady was killed by her husband. Right then, I knew I had missed a chance to instruct her and perhaps influence her to handle it differently. So, I always carry that with me to keep me on point with being a witness for Christ.

With all of that said, we must be willing to be the mean parent for a while and say no when no needs to be said. We must take our courage and say in love to the children in our circle of influence, “Pull up your pants, son. Or young lady, be modest; cover yourself.” We should use wisdom in speaking and ministering to them but we must do something. Why? Because if we don’t, who will?

the revival of the family

This story is dearest to my heart because I believe one of the ways the Lord will heal the fatherless generations is by restoring the relationship between the fathers and sons, mother and daughters—in essence families. All over the world relationships are being brought to God’s intended order.

God is restoring the godly authority lines the prophet Malachi spoke of. That great and dreadful day which I believe stands for the judgment day, the Lord would send that same spirit of Elijah of power and restoration to turn the hearts of the father to their children and the hearts of the children to the fathers. It has begun in this day and in this time lest He smite the earth with a curse.¹

We see the price (divorce, teen age pregnancies, crime, suicides, killings and more) being paid with all of the fatherlessness which is very obvious in this generation. Yet, there is a spirit of revival taking place in God’s church. All across America men are becoming more active in the church. Songs are being written about these fathers like never before.

Luther Vandross wrote a song about the love of his father. Football players are shouting out ‘Love you, Pops!” My youngest son who is 23 years old at the time of this writing still kisses me on the cheek and says I love you Dad with his baritone voice.

We are in a new day. The reason I mention this is, it was not like this when I grew up in the 70s and 80s. Men didn’t cry and they didn’t say I love you. They would knock you out if you didn’t respect them. It is a better day with many restorations between the father and his children.

Again, we turn to the words of the Malachi writer who prophesied, “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children and the heart of the children to their father, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.”²

I believe this is the beginning of a revival of family that the Lord is sending in these last days. In this revival of family, restoration begins a journey that will bring freedom, liberty and power of authority that will change your life for ever. Remember, the family lineage of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Even when the Father God spoke of them, he spoke in generational language.

We examined how important it is for us to stay involved in the lives of this generation. We must continue to offer our input and our influence when the opportunity presents itself.

We need more fathers that will stand up and say, “Young man pull up your pants or son, you did that job excellent. I told you about my encounter with a young man at Race Trac getting gas and about to pay for it. The young African American male in front of me had his pants so low, only his underwear covered him. I wanted to do a “the Color Purple” on him. Slap him and pray for him later. But I did the correct thing; I did what a mature elephant would do.

After telling him exactly what I thought of his Hip Hop attire, gone bad I talked to him gently and said you are the same age as my youngest son. I would say the same thing to him. You can probably guess what he did next; yes he cursed me out. (Smile) There was no problem; he couldn’t whip me. And we went our separate ways but the seed of correction had been planted.

We briefly examined Prophet Malachi’s when he spoke of a great and dreadful day. He went on to say the Lord would send the spirit of Elijah. With that spirit of Elijah, He the Lord would turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and hearts of the children to the fathers. In short, He would heal the fatherless generation.  

We must reach for our children and especially the fatherless generation all around us. Reach and some will reach back. Reach some more and many will turn to our Father God who has all the answers for every generation, no matter what the prevailing problems are. Won’t you join in this campaign for the fatherless. Ready to read the full book, “Healing the Wounds of a Fatherless Generation” visit  http://theshieldshop.com