Taken from http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/slavery/pictures/slave-trade/slave-market-memorial-at-stone-town

 

Have an ugly topic this morning.

Here’s the deal. I was praying for so many truly amazing women who desire a Godly man in their lives and yet no man is available, at least not men who put God first and will lead out of selflessness and will love as Christ loves the Church. (I am married to a wonderful, Godly man. But alas, there are too few of this breed.)

As usual, I had no wisdom on the matter so I began to pray in the Spirit, lamenting the damaged families and general carnage of a society where men have lost their God-given purpose. As I prayed, it’s as if God showed me this ugly root of bondage. In reality, this root goes all the way back to the foundation of mankind where we decided we wanted to be God rather than serve Him. But for this morning’s prayer, God focused on the root of slavery in this country.

Spiritual entities don’t die. They just change their clothes, so to speak, as they change the humans through which they manifest. The evil that flowed through Pharoahs and Caesars, Alexander the Great and Hitler, is still here. It just morphs to thrive in a new generation. That said, this same evil sought and found a way to sow much rotten seed in the foundation of America through greed.

In America, we fought and won a war against a cruel monarch who tried to use our country to fill his own coffers. He forced Americans to pay unfair taxes and generally treated them as his own personal sharecroppers, keeping them under while he prospered. Unfortunately, men bent on prospering in this new world became what they despised in their former king.

The true travesty is that this poison seeped into the church. By misinterpreting scripture to vilify those with a different color skin, men justified slavery.

Eventually, through much bloodshed and horror, our country abolished slavery. However, as stated, spiritual entities don’t die, they just change their clothes. These particular demonic forces no longer hid behind pointy white hoods. Instead, this lust for heavy-handed authority, and to “be my own god,” infiltrated the church. Families were the new victims. The roles of husband and wife were twisted. Rather than a focus on husbands loving selflessly—to lay down their lives and selfish ambitions as Christ laid down His life for us—men reflected the slave-owner mentality. (Please understand this is not meant as a sweeping generality. Good men have always stood the ground against evil. Often though, their good example is overshadowed by evil societal trends.)

Though I was born after the days of Jim Crow laws and both limbs of my family tree came from churchgoing, Christian roots, the scourge of heavy-handed authority was evident. My grandfathers led through fear rather than humble, selfless love. It was an era when children were seen, not heard and women, just one baby step above children, were expected to obey without question.

Again, to avoid sweeping generalities, there was also much good in the years following the World Wars and many look back through a haze of nostalgia to a primarily agrarian, family-centric era. However, the slave-owner mentality of authority creates rebellion. And, since this particular mistreatment was also supported by twisted scripture and misguided religious authority, when society rebelled against religious chauvinism, they ditched the trappings of morality altogether.

Nowadays, though we as a country have primarily thrown off religion, we are, nonetheless, slaves as surely as the Hebrews under Pharoah. We reap what we and our ancestors have sown. The evil entities that abused power through slave owners still exist. Again, they have just changed their clothes.

In our society, men have lost their seat as lords of their families. To feed this lust for power and hunger for intimacy, men turn to porn. There, women are slaves to their bidding, never asking the men to earn respect or live in service to others. Physical desires are met while the inner black hole grows and the chains of slavery—self-hatred, shame, and addiction—get heavier and heavier for all.

Our society is left gasping for men to love and lead with tender, selfless hearts. Women become more and more bawdy to gain some sort of male attention. Sons and daughters flounder for want of reliable examples of confident, selfless, faithful love.

Where is the hope? True hope and deliverance through transformation and redemption is available through only one source—the selfless sacrifice of Jesus Christ. He alone takes our sins on His shoulders. He alone offers to dwell within us to empower and instruct us to live a life of freedom.

As we confess and repent of our need to rule—a need that puts us right where Satan wants us since that has been his successful lure from the beginning of time—God stands ready to forgive and cleanse. According to II Chronicles 4, when people who claim to be God’s people will humble themselves, pray, seek His face and turn from their wicked ways, then God responds. He will hear them. He will forgive. He will heal their land.

There’s our path.

Heavenly Father, we come before You as a nation. We repent of our sins of greed, selfish ambition and unforgiveness. We ask You to replace our hearts of stone with tender hearts that long to know You. May we seek and keep seeking. May we ask and keep asking in faith that the hearts of fathers would return to their children and the hearts of children would return to their fathers. We pray You would break the chains of slavery in every form. We pray as we become selfless vessels of Your unconditional love and transforming power, You would heal our nation. May this revival spark a fire that ignites freedom from slavery of every kind throughout the world.

In Jesus’ holy name we pray.

Amen.

 

Child of the One True King, wife to the best man alive, mom to four VERY unique human beings & author of two bestsellers:

The Fall

One Night With a Rock Star

with more on the way.

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