A male friend recently asked me, “Do women still want a knight in shining armor?” I was taken aback, initially wanting to respond, “Of course we do! Now open the door for me and lay your jacket across that mud puddle!” However, after a moment’s reflection, all I could answer was, “I’m not sure.”
It’s sort of tragic to think of this cliché image going to the wayside in our feminist driven culture. Sure, I am all about equality of the genders, however some miss that equal in dignity and identical in gifts are not the same. In light of this battle, have we lost the seemingly feminine desire to want a knight in shining armor? In doing so, have we therefore made such knights an endangered species?
Furthermore, it is worth asking, if more women were compelled to be ladies, would more men feel challenged to be gentlemen? Would there be unmarried young men who, “only wanted one thing” if there wasn’t a solitary young woman willing to give it to him? Obviously, I am not trying to blame the failures of males solely on the failures of women. Neither do I feel that women are exclusively responsible to transform men. However, we need only to look to the lives of women like St. Therese and Mother Teresa, who show that small acts, done with great love, have the potential to be earth-shattering.
So, ladies, if you’re like me, and hold on to hope that knights in shining armor still exist, then perhaps it is time for us to provide the armor.
The way we demand respect and dignity speaks loudly, but there is something even more powerful that we have the ability to assert. It is time to pray… it is time to really pray. How often we say, “all we can do is pray…” when we could say, “the most compelling thing we can do is pray.”
When I was in high school the Lord placed a strong desire on my heart to pray for my future husband. As a 17 year old, I decided to go to war in prayer as I wrote letters to the spouse I was yet to meet. Years later, my husband and I discovered that the week that I dedicated myself to this practice was the same week of his sudden spontaneous conversion from a life of sin to a life centered on the Lord.
Although he didn’t know it, my future spouse was in the mode to receive God’s grace at that very moment. Thankfully the Lord overwhelmed him in it. Perhaps your future or current spouse isn’t presently open to being receptive to the Lord, maybe it is as if he has an umbrella blocking the grace of God in his life. God gives us free will and He will not force Himself upon someone who doesn’t desire God’s favor. If this is true for the men in your life- pray harder. If there is a moment of weakness in their defense against the goodness of God, ensure that your prayers are present in that instance to flood the gates.
Prayer is power. The greatest impact we can make on the world, on our families and on the men in our lives is from our knees. I like to envision myself providing the armor for my husband to this day. I often pray Scripture for him, for protection, peace, thanksgiving, joy, confidence and much more. We may not be able to change the world- but God can. Women, let us rise up and reclaim our knights and fight together for the Kingdom of Heaven.
Check out my book with 200+ Scripture passages to pray over your (future or present) spouse!