Lock Arms with a Few Men
December 11, 2008
Sometimes we underestimate the power we can have when united as active warriors for God's kingdom. Make no mistake about it, inspired men fight with greater strength and endurance.
An excerpt from Shakespeare's play "Henry V" can be a dramatic motivation as we seek to be transformed from passive men to mighty men. Driven to lay claim to the French crown and win back cities in France that had once belonged to England, Henry V leads his footmen across northwestern France, seizing one city after another. Although the English are victorious, the price is high. Aware of the weakening condition of Henry's troops, brought on by dysentery, and their distance from England, the French successfully block Henry's move to a port from which he hopes to return home.
When the English consider the overwhelming force of the heavily armored, highly skilled French knights, their morale plummets. As the two armies prepare for battle at Agincourt, King Henry V, played by Kenneth Branagh in the 1989 movie version, overhears his cousin, Westmoreland, say, "O that we now had here but one ten thousand of those men in England that do no work to-day!"
A moment later the king delivers to his army the most inspirational call to arms ever penned. The words of Shakespeare, written almost two hundred years after the battle of Agincourt (1415), remain a dramatic expression of what godly leadership meant in the Middle Ages.
"If we are mark'd to die, we are enow [enough]
To do our country loss; but if to live,
The fewer men, the greater the share of honour...
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition: [make him a member of the gentry, even if he is a commoner]
And gentlemen in England now-a-bed [sleeping]
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day...
All things are ready, if our minds be so."
I've included only portions of Henry's speech for the sake of brevity. If you would like to read the entire speech, find a copy of Shakespeare's Henry V or type "St. Crispin's Day speech" into a search engine on the Internet.
After the king's inspirational speech, every man in the army has a focused mind and feels he alone could defeat the enemy. A vicious battle ensues and King Henry fights from the front, wildly swinging his sword. The English swordsmen are vastly outnumbered and face the enemy from all directions, but they fight on. When the battle finally ends and the bodies are counted, the British have prevailed.
While watching the film for the first time I wept at the words of King Henry. I sensed that today, as then, God is looking for a few men who find honor in battle...a few men who will lock arms with their brothers and fight the good fight. Men who daily battle for:
- their identity
- personal holiness
- their family
- endurance through pain
- their friends
- a strong faith
God is looking for men who engage in such battles because they know they're involved in the great angelic conflict. They're convinced that nothing else matters when compared to knowing God and fighting at his side.
Do you have a friend who may want to be one of those mighty men? I hope you do. If so, send them this email and encourage them to enlist right now to fight in the six battles and discover firsthand how God can transform them and use them to strengthen their family and other men. The battle is raging as you read these words...grab your sword and enter the fight.
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