The Battle Is Not Cordial: Four Ways to Fight

Article by

Donor Officer

The United States House of Representatives took a closer look at sex-selection abortion this week. 

It’s about time this abhorrent practice was dragged into the light. The United States has seen a rise in the number of children being aborted because they are the "wrong" gender. 

Lord willing, as our elected leaders look closer at abortions based on the sex of the child, they will also see the genocide happening every day against our children with disabilities like Down syndrome and spina bifida. May they truly see — and be horrified — at the industries that are rising up for the sole purpose of identifying and destroying unborn life.

Children with disabilities need protectors and champions, too.

But we must not believe this is primarily a battle of political or moral philosophies, or even of right thinking. It is much more difficult than that:

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:12)

Planned Parenthood, along with poorly conceived Supreme Court decisions and the Department of Health and Human Services are not the real enemy. They merely show our enemy's effectiveness at using our sin to drive us to anything but God for joy.

So, pastor, don’t think this is some cordial battle. Take your people places where the enemy fears for you to go. Take your people to God’s word.

  1. Preach a God-centered vision of God’s creation. Our God is so intimately interested in little babies that he knits them together and personally writes down all their days in his book (Psalm 139). And, for his glory, he makes some with disabilities (Exodus 4:11; John 9:2-3).
  2. Talk about all children being gifts (Psalm 127:3–5): boys, girls, boys with disabilities, girls with disabilities, boys of every ethnicity and cultural heritage, girls of every ethnicity and cultural heritage. One of my pastors, for every child dedication service, specifically mentions children with disabilities as gifts. You cannot breathe the air of this church without understanding that all children are a gift from God himself, no matter how they come. It is our gift to nurture, discipline, and raise them for God's glory.
  3. Call your men to action to serve children, including children with disabilities. Show that serving in the nursery is a masculine endeavor for the sake of the generations (Psalm 78:7) and the nations (Matthew 28:19). Terrorize the evil one when you call your men to walk with faith and Bible into the hospital room of a newborn child with severe disabilities and wrap arms around the shoulder of a frightened dad. Encourage men to link arms in a disability ministry with other men, and feel for just a few hours the "light, momentary affliction" that many of their brothers feel every day. In doing so, they will also get a glimpse of the "eternal weight of glory" that is coming (2 Corinthians 4:17).
  4. Prepare yourself by attending or watching Desiring God’s Disability Conference, "The Works of God: God’s Good Design in Disability."

Satan hates all children, especially the weaker ones (1 Corinthians 12:22). Satan loves to see them destroyed. Please, fight for them with truth and light, and prepare us to fight with you.

(@johnpknight) is a Donor Officer at Desiring God. He is married to Dianne, and together they parent their four children: Paul, Hannah, Daniel, and Johnny. Paul lives with multiple disabilities including blindness, autism, cognitive impairments, and a seizure disorder. John writes on disability, the Bible, and the church at The Works of God.