Think of all the Biblical imagery of warriors, battles, and armor. Through all of Scripture, God uses symbols, word-pictures and parables to communicate with His people. He knows we’re visual—He created us that way. Is this imagery purely allegorical? No, I believe God’s preparing men for battle—very real, spiritual battle. Sometimes the weapon will be a pen, sometimes the tongue, and sometimes prayer fought on one’s knees, but always it will be the intense, demanding work of a warrior who has prepared for battle.

I think women especially are uncomfortable with this idea. Yes, we’re willing for our sons to be protectors.  I mean, that seems good for us in the long run, but warriors? We don’t want them going out and looking for a fight, do we? How about a very gentle, philosophical kind of warrior—isn’t that better anyway? Does it really have to be hard, dangerous, or painful?

In the evil day in which we find ourselves, it isn’t difficult to look to the future and imagine the kinds of persecution and temptations our sons will face, starting with battling sexual temptation at ever-earlier ages. The government is constantly taking control over more areas of our lives, which will inevitably lead to Christians being more and more at odds with the law. In the medical field, doctors are losing conscience-exclusions, parents are fighting the government for the right to raise their children in a Biblical manner, and teachers and professors are losing their jobs for being faithful with their Christian witness. These are just some examples we’re seeing already that will only become more intense as our culture leaves behind our Judeo-Christian heritage.

So how can we, as mothers, hope to raise warriors that are prepared for battle? The primary hurdle is realizing that it is indeed necessary; the second one is acting accordingly. Do we ask our husbands how we can help in raising courageous sons, or do we try to lull them into complacency in our own denial? Think about the future, read about the past, and study parents in Scripture, thinking about how they did or did not prepare their sons for manhood: David and Absalom , Sampson, Solomon and Rehoboam and Jeroboam, Eli and his sons, Zacharias and Elizabeth with John the Baptist, and Abraham with Isaac.

Also essential to raising fighters is to avoid coddling our sons in their boyhood. How can they grow into manhood when we prevent them from ever having responsibility, facing consequences, or fighting their own fights? Would David have been the warrior that he was if Jesse hadn’t trusted him to protect the sheep? We ought to let our sons experience danger—climb trees, leave our sight, build high forts, chop wood. This is how God made our sons, and if we try to suppress it we force them into hollow simulations of danger like computer games. God created boys with heroic instincts which will have an outlet; they can either be nurtured, becoming God-honoring and fruitful, or neglected, resulting in barren narcissism. In all of this, we must trust our sons’ safety to God’s protection.

One tool that my husband and I have discovered with our sons is literature. We use a homeschool curriculum (amblesideonline.org) that requires a lot of reading aloud and discussion.  We are currently reading several books with our first and second grade sons which emphasize heroism, sacrifice and courage. Especially rewarding is learning the history of the church, beginning with the history of martyrdom (Trial and Triumph, Canon Press.) It is written for all ages and takes a good deal of explanation for our boys right now (and can be a bit intense), but even from a young age, it helps our boys be aware that people have died and been tortured for their faith throughout history.

God has also given us the book of Proverbs, much of which is explicitly written to impart wisdom to young men. Use this tool. It is an aid in training even our youngest. It can be memorized, read, discussed, copied—for like all of Scripture, it is “inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.” (2 Tim 3:16)

Finally and most importantly, we must remember that unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain (Ps 127:1). Without prayer covering all our feeble work, it will amount to nothing. Be faithful in lifting up your children in prayer before the Lord, asking that you would be faithful in discipline and that it would bear fruit in their lives. Only the Lord can raise warriors that will be faithful in serving Him with their lives, and may He do so in our homes!