We congratulate the men on this occasion of Fathers’ day 2024.
Thanks and praises go to our Heavenly Father for the grace to see the Fathers’ day in a time such as this.
MEN AT THE GATES is the topic of a Follow-up letter from bro Gbile Akanni based on the National Christian Men’s Convocation held at the Bethany Resort, Peace House Gboko, July, 28th – 31st 2011, a letter written fourteen years ago but with very critical relevance up till now.
YOUR ACTION AS A MAN CAN BLESS OR CURSE YOUR LINEAGE.
In this year’s convocation, God began to challenge us under the theme, MEN AT THE GATES. We saw that taking your position as the correct man over your family gate will have a long time positive effect on your family line. In the same manner, a wrong lifestyle will result in negative effects for generations.
Abraham was a man of whom God testified: “I know him that he will command his children and his household after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord…” While Gehazi in contrast bequeathed his family and generation with leprosy by his misconduct and wrong choice. May the LORD make you an ‘Abraham’ in your generation.
GOD SEEKS A MAN
We were challenged as we heard God’s lamentationconcerning the land of Israel which was filled with wickedness and oppression. No group was free as all the gates had been taken over by sin. We realised that the same is our situation in our own nation.
More importantly, God’s greater concern was that He could not see ‘a man’ though there were multitudes that were human beings. A man is that person whose commitment is to do the will of God, no matter the odds. You are a man when like David you rise up at your own risk to stop God’s enemy from parading as being in charge over the land over the land. A man is one who labours selflessly and fearlessly to upturn the tradition of evil in the land. When you have a pastor in a church that is a man, things will change for the better. When you have a police officer, a teacher, a traditional ruler, a principal etc, that is a man, the gates of hell will collapse.
When you cannot stand up to the will of God amidst intimidations, you are not a man. When you cannot represent God in your given platform or gate, you are not a man. When you cannot bear God’s burden over your domain, the man in you has died.
MAN YOUR GATE
We were further challenged by the truth that the matter of gate keeping in the ordinary sense, is almost the exclusive duty of men. It is a man that works as the ‘gate man’. And it is men that can ‘man the gate’. It became clear to us that everyone born a male has his place in God’s purpose ‘at the gates’.
The male man was made for strength, for battle, and for defence. He was designed to be a cover; not to be a coward who runs from dangers. “Be strong and quit yourselves like men…and fight” (1Sam.4:9). Man the gate where God has placed you.
YOUR QUALITIES AS A GATE-KEEPER
Beyond the matter of strength and fearlessness, God also raised for us the qualities of selflessness, spiritual sensitivity and refusal to give in the smallest compromise. Mordecai was our example in all this. Although he had his own biological children, he nurtured them along with Esther ( the daughter of his late uncle) and project her to prominence. And as Esther became queen queen in the land, he never pressed to become god-father over her, pressing for personal and pecuniary gains
God’s challenge to us still stands. How easily do you press to receive rewards for favours or even duties you offer to someone? How easily do you get offended when such beneficiary does not defer to you in any way? Something must die in you for such selfless attitude to be formed.
Mordecai’s sensitivity to obtain and properly manage information for the good of all was quite instructive to us as gate keepers. Furthermore, we saw that his refusal to bow in compromise to Haman, the Agagite, was because he understood that he was first a Jew – God’s covenant man – before an employee. Thus, you must always have such a strong persuasion that you are first and foremost a Christian before any job or position.
May you also rise up to undo the compromises of your fearful Christian colleagues, by sticking to your Godly convictions. You must go beyond living a correct life, in a quiet corner. Your bold righteous stand can change wrong public policies. Insist therefore that Godly values root out evil systems around you. God’s call upon your life is that you be the gate man that stops the evils that have been coming into your environment for righteousness to flow into your domain.
YOUR PERSONALITY AS A MAN AND GOD’S EXPECTATION
You will recall the elaborate teachings God brought to us in order to bring us to the point of discoveries and consciousness of our ordained standing in the purpose of God as men. We realised that with or without opportunities of leadership positions, every man is divinely called to be a leader, a founder, a warrior, a progenitor, a carrier of family blessing. Your place ought never to be vacant if there must be order in the home or society. You are not aspiring to be at the gates, you are already at one gate or another.
One obvious gate is your home. You have the duty to provide leadership and to give identity to and also envision your wife and children. Therefore, do not stop to pray that God will release in greater measure, the grace of manhood to your life.
As we studied, various scriptures, (including 1 Cor. 11:3, 7-12; 1. Tim.2:8-15; Eph.5:21-29) we saw clearly the divine roles and responsibilities assigned the male, first in the family and then in the society. We then resolved to grow to become the man who has begun to live beyond the ordinary things a woman can also do; else we will keep struggling for relevance and authority. We prayed to discover such peculiarities.
In God’s design, you should be the kind of man who expresses the image and glory of God to your wife and children. You must not only reflect Christ but also inspire and give your wife space to enter into her own glory.
God means the woman would take out of your largeness of life resourcefulness, wisdom and gracefulness, as you express the Fatherhood of God to her and the children.
We equally understood that man was not created for the woman. You are the one who has been given an assignment, and your wife is to assist. A situation where you are no more in charge of the journey (receiving and giving it perspective) means you are losing your gate — position. Every correct woman will not feel secure with such an up-turned situation.
We also noted that it was the man that God formed first. To lag behind the spirituality of your wife and children is not correct. For a man to be sluggish in catching vision, passion and commitment to God in his life is to abdicate his call to spiritual leadership.
Hence a man ought never to cover his head, to hide or obscure or veil his head, which is Christ. Your relationship with your own Head must be strong, so you can easily discern and provide direction and provide direction for everyone else. As a head, you must necessarily be ahead. You must pray to always be clear-headed, sensitive, sharp, focused, envisioned and envisioning others in the family. You are the one to equally discern dissensions seeking to enter your home and to smash them. Believe God and be a man.
BIBLICAL BASIS OF STANDING AT THE GATE
Recall that God raised basic questions to us on the above topic which include:
is it biblical to aspire for a position of responsibility while living in the world?
If yes, what is the mode of your operations?
What is the purpose of pursuing the position of responsibility?
What is the profitability of your position to the Kingdom of God?
Like the error of the disciples of Jesus in His days we also presume that anytime from now, the Kingdom of God should appear immediately. Whereas this is correct for us to keep eternity and the Lord’s coming in view, we have erred by gazing up to heaven without any effort to be relevant in the affairs of the earth.
Jesus corrected the stance of the disciples and told them that they will receive power on earth to carry the gospel to the uttermost part of the earth. In John 12:31-32, Jesus declared that now is the prince of this world judged and cast out meaning that the devil is overthrown.
All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Jesus and we have been given the mandate to occupy for Him. The Lord Jesus authorises us to PROHIBIT whatever heavens forbid here on earth.
God showed us the fact that the gospel of the Kingdom is different from the gospel of salvation; wherein we desire everyone to be saved. The gospel of the Kingdom is that which declares Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as in heaven. What you PROHIBIT on earth, the Bible says will be prohibited in heaven. If nobody were to be involved in doing what is prohibited, then there would have been no need to prohibit it. You prohibit the will of some people in pursuance of the will of God to be done on earth. This is the mandate we have.
MODUS OPERANDI
We noted in Luke 19:13 that the master gave each of these servants something (talents, positions, ability, etc) with which they could carry out their assignments. You dare not hide your own in a napkin! In the world, nobody is relevant without having skills, competencies with which to function.
Check what God has endowed you with. What is it that gives you an edge over others? Arise and do business with it, so that it can multiply. That is how to make a difference.
*Matthew 10:16. “behold I send you forth as sheep among wolves…”
The environment of our posting is not friendly but hostile. Two legs of your operations are being wise as serpents and being gentle as a dove.
Deuteronomy 18:14-22 – Your colleagues engage their own gods for success. They listen to observers of times. We must engage our own God much more for success. You couldn’t have left your own reinforcement and still run well. Men at the gates must not be without spiritual backup. Neither should they surround themselves with false prophets.
Conclusion
The Lord seeks for men who will honour Him as their Head in the world of academics, men who believe that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. The same goes for the gates of music, business, politics, sports, gates of tribes, countries, professions etc
It is gates that confront gates. We must take the battle to the gates and there possess the gates of the enemy. May the Lord make you a man after His own heart — a man who reveals the correct manhood in this present age in Jesus name.
Your brother
Gbile Akanni.