Choice Young Men - No. 62

Psalm 144:12 MLB, “Our sons then are like plants, raised to full size in their youthful vigor.”

What kind of young men does God want us to raise for Him? He wants our descendants to be mighty in the land. These “mighty” offspring mentioned in Psalm 112:1-2 are champions. The word is ‘gibbor’ meaning ‘valiant, warrior, champion.’ As we read through the books of Kings and Chronicles we see a picture of the kind of warriors they trained in Bible days. God hasn’t lessened his standard for today, so let’s see what they were like.

THEY WERE SKILLFUL!

1 Chronicles 5:18, “The sons of Reuben, and the Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh, of valiant men, men able to bear buckler and sword, and to shoot with bow, and skillful in war, were four and forty thousand seven hundred and threescore, that went out to the war.”

The word ‘skillful’ in war is ‘lamad’. It means ‘educated, taught and trained.’ We cannot live with our head in the sand, dear mothers. We are in a battle. We are training our children for war. We must train them to fight against the enemy of their souls. We must train them to be warriors for God.

THEY WERE VALIANT!

1 Chronicles 7:2, “The sons of Tola… were valiant men of might in their generations.”

This phrase, “in their generations” is repeated over and over again. They did not raise one or two valiant men.  They raised generations of them. This is what God is looking for – a whole generation of warriors who know how to overcome the enemy and take territory for God.

Now what is this word ‘valiant’ that we read over and over again? It is the Hebrew word ‘chayil’ that means ‘an army, virtue, valor, military strength, great forces, noble, strong.’ Here are just a few examples…

1 Chronicles 7:11, “Mighty men of valor… fit to go out for war and battle.”

1 Chronicles 9:13,  “Very able men for the work of the service of the house of God.”

1 Chronicles 12: 8, “And of the Gadites there separated themselves unto David into the hold to the wilderness men of might, and men of war fit for the battle, that could handle shield and buckler, whose faces were like the faces of lions, and were as swift as the roes upon the mountains.”

1 Chronicles 12:25, “Of the children of Simeon, mighty men of valor for the war.”

1 Chronicles 12:28, “Zadok, a young man mighty of valor.”

1 Chronicles 26:30, “Men of valor… in the service of the king.”

   1 Chronicles 26:32, “Men of valor… for every matter pertaining to God, and affairs of the king.”

THEY WERE READY!

1 Chronicles 12:24, “The children of Judah that bare shield and spear were six thousand and eight hundred, ready armed to the war.”  When our children are of the age to go out into the world, we must make sure that they are ready! Ready to stand against the foe. Ready to battle the enemy.

THEY WERE EXPERT!

1 Chronicles 12:33-36, “Expert in war.”

We are not training mediocre warriors. We are training them to be expert. This is a full-time job. We can’t take it lightly. We are responsible to the Lord of hosts for the quality of His arrows.

THEY WERE CHOICE!

1 Chronicles 7:40, “All these were the children of Asher, heads of their father’s house, CHOICE and mighty men of valor… And the number throughout the genealogy of them that were apt to the war and to battle was twenty and six thousand men.

This word ‘choice’ is a very special word.  It is the Hebrew word ‘barar’ and it means ‘singled out, chosen, proved, cleansed, purified and polished.’ What a vision! There is nothing greater that you could do in the whole of the universe than raise young men who are singled out by God, cleansed, purified, proved and polished!

We’ll talk about our daughters next week.

Love from NANCY CAMPBELL

PRAYER:

“Oh God, thank you for reminding me that you have enlisted me in your employment to train your task force in this end-time hour. Save me from taking this mission lightly. Fill me with your wisdom, your anointing and your power to accomplish this mighty task. Thank you, Lord. Amen.

AFFIRMATION: