In the sermon, he says that in the beginning, God created Adam to cultivate the earth. It is the same task he has given to all men, to be cultivators of the earth, of their families, of their jobs. These were the most important things that stuck out to me from the sermon:
“Nothing is as dangerous as a bored man. Men get bored and they get in trouble. I’ve never met a lazy, undisciplined man who wasn’t in inner turmoil. Ever. You find a lazy, undisciplined man, you’ll find a heart, that when all is said and done, when you strip away all the bravado is scared, wounded, fearful. Something has gone wrong. - That’s why lazy, undisciplined men have giant fantasy lives.”
“When men have not submitted their lives to Christ, they’re still cultivators but they cultivate bad things.”
“Walk in what you believe because if you’re giving God and the gospel and all those things lip service but you’re not really walking in it then good luck. That to me is church as a hobby and I think church may be one of the lamest hobbies in the history of the world. Get a boat.”
As he was speaking, men just began to pop in my head:
-men who are bored
-a man who has lost his purpose and become so so bitter
-a man who quit cultivating family, job, home years and years ago and now lives a pitiful existence
-a man who quit cultivating and turned to alcohol
-men who are more interested in the fantasy world of video games or vicariously living through ‘fantasy’ football leagues or the fantasy world of television
-men who have found that church is a lame hobby and have replaced it with hobbies that are borderline idolatry like hunting, basketball, fishing, football.
My heart began to break for these men who are broken, bored, unfulfilled. My heart began to spontaneously lift up the men in my life in prayer and I want to lift up a prayer for them here and ask you to join me in praying for the men you know. What if we as women quit complaining about the men in our lives and their lack of FILL IN THE BLANK? My challenge to the women is to begin to pray constantly that Jesus would become their delight, their treasure, their joy, that He would give them purpose and a hunger for His word, and in turn we would have men drenched in joy, men willing to lay down their lives for His kingdom and in effect for us, men who come fully alive.
Father, I pray for --- ------ ---. May their lesser affections pale in comparison to greater affections. May they see You as the One worthy of pursuit. May Your word and Your presence become a treasure so valuable to them that they sell their televisions, x-boxes, play stations, etc. Give them pure desires in pursuing women, learning to play music, how to spend their time. Give them a wild wilderness to tame, a holy purpose, one that calls to the deep in their lives. Make them think hard and wrestle with things. Stamp out the laziness and apathy.
I lift up -- -------. He has lost his purpose and vision and become oh so bitter. He has minimal compassion these days. He is steeped in pride. He has forgotten his true love. Restore to Him the JOY of his salvation. Give him a purpose, a task that makes him come alive once again. Fill his days with Your Presence. Let him know that You are near. Restore the relationships that bitterness has destroyed.
I pray for -----. Come to him. Tell him it’s not too late to rise up as the mighty warrior you created him to be. Speak to him that You love love love the prodigals. He has so much inner turmoil. He has been wounded and he is still nursing old wounds. May deep call out to the depths of his soul, wooing him back into Your arms. He still has time left to end his life well, to leave the troughs of selfishness and laziness and apathy. Give him the purpose of cultivating first his faith and relationship to You and then send him back to his family has the MAN his family has desperately wanted and needed all these years.
I pray for ------. Father, he too has been deeply wounded. Like a wounded animal, he lashes back in his moments of nursing old old wounds. Bring healing to his life. Make him so desperate for hope that he knows only You will satisfy. May he fall desperate into Your arms. Bring him to the end of himself. Let him know You are not the enemy of his joy but rather the author.
I pray for --------- - ----. In spite of their lives thus far, may they still grow up into the godliest of men. Capture their heart now for good. Make something beautiful out of this dust.
I lift up -- ---. Restore to him the JOY of your salvation. Give him an insatiable hunger for your Word. Lead him to destroy the idols in his life and to find You as his true treasure, his delight. Mold him into the man to lead his family as you intended him to be. Renovate his mind and heart. Save him from shadow missions.
I lift up ---- - -----. There is so much cultivation of the wrong things, so much pursuit of broken cisterns, lesser joys, so very little thought of You in their daily lives. May You become the first in their lives, may they WORSHIP You. Rescue them from lives of mediocrity and make them into the vessels You desire them to be.
I lift up -----. Restore also to him the JOY of Your salvation. Cause him to remember the times before where he felt close to You and make him desperate for those times again. Teach him that he only gets one chance to do today with his family and children. Make him see the worthless things in his life that keep him from You and keep him from pouring into his family and serving his wife and kids better. Save him from self-centeredness.
My Father, I lift up ----. Break his pride. Bring him to the cross and leave him there. Bring him to a point of surrender. Become not only his Savior but also his Lord. Bring him into 100% unity with You, bring him to a place of complete obedience and humility. Form him into the godliest of men, into the man that You so long him to become. May time with You become his priority and then let other things fall into appropriate levels of priority. May his JOY be rooted in You.
I lift up --- ------ - -----. Please overwhelm these men with Your vision, Your agenda, Your purposes. Give them absolute wisdom in their places of leadership. Speak into their lives even now the things that are shadow missions. Give them hearts that not only hunger for rest, silence, and solitude but see them as a priority in their oh-so-busy lives. In this stillness, may they hear clearly from You, hear Your heart and vision and may they walk in obedience and faithfulness.
I continue to lift up ---. Give him an emptiness in his video games and tv shows and other selfish endeavors. Completely transform him for once and for all. Do a miracle in his life that leaves us all speechless. Relentlessly pursue him until You and not his stuff are his treasure. And then I ask that he would become the most selfless person and spend time serving his wife and family. Give him this holy calling to cultivate a godly family. Call him out of laziness, selfishness, misdirected and mediocre cultivation into the life of following You, the life that satiates our deepest longings.
I lift up my future husband. I pray for this man that You will even now be molding and forming him into the godliest of men. Give him a passion for You and Your presence that makes all other desires and pursuits pale in comparison. Give him a hunger for Your word, a desire for holiness. May He learn to be thankful and to find joy in You daily. Restore and heal the soul holes where his life up to this point has left him wounded and scared. Give him a holy purpose, a holy desire to cultivate things that will bring You worship and glory and honor and praise. And mostly I ask that even now You will be wooing him into a deeper relationship WITH You. May he learn above all that You are the greatest thing worth pursuing. Teach him to be still and listen and learn to hear Your voice.
Finally, I lift up my sisters. May they join me in LABORING in prayer for the men in our lives. For my married sisters, may they first and foremost take their problems and concerns to You in prayer. May they incessantly beg that You form their husbands into holy men. Secondly may they serve and love their husbands and faithfully stand beside them encouraging them rather than nagging. For my single friends, may they also begin with prayer for our brothers. Give them pure desires for husbands who are godly MEN and not just males. Give them patience to wait on You to provide husbands for when You see the right timing. In the meantime, may they spend time in Your presence knowing that You have already given Your Son which is greater than any marital relation on earth. Teach my sisters to enjoy and be satisfied with You first or they will never be satisfied with a husband. Teach us all to be helpers and encouragers to the men in our lives, not women who give them heartache and grief at every turn.
May it be so!
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