To know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. ––Ephesians 3:19

Grace. It is a gift from God and it is a gift to be passed forward. Jesus illustrated this in the Parable of the Wicked Servant (Matthew 18:25-31). His point: You didn’t deserve grace but now that you have it, you better give it as liberally as you received it. If we don’t, this same thing grieves the Holy Spirit. The fact is, the Holy Spirit heals by leading and prompting all believers to show to others what God has shown them in the person of Christ.

One of my favorite episodes in the Word is when Jesus forgives the thief on the cross. Jesus saw that His heart was repentant, and so He gave Him grace. The thief knew that Jesus didn’t deserve to be crucified, and saw beyond his own pain to acknowledge that. Is it possible for us to do that for others?

By honestly and sincerely saying a prayer we can restore equilibrium in this area. This prayer acknowledges that, in spite of our best intentions, we can sadden and disappoint the Holy Spirit. Pray this prayer as a simple realignment, or if a relationship is challenging you in the area of forgiveness.

Holy Spirit, thank you for helping me feel God’s grace, mercy, and acceptance. I am sorry for not reproducing this experience more in my relationship with others. I don’t want to grieve you by being greedy with your grace. I want God’s grace to flow to me and through me. Remind me of what you went through on the cross for me.  Remind me of my mission here on earth to be an agent of that same grace. Help me to let go of resentments and trade them in for your grace.

Make me an encouragement like you, building others up in simple ways—with my wife, with my children, with those not like me, and with those you will bring into my life today. As you heal me with Your grace and love, explode that healing out of me to heal my relationships. I don’t want to grieve you; I want just to please you, Amen.

Every Man Ministries

“You hem me in behind and before, you lay your hand on me, such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.” Psalm 139:5-6

Remember, you will never “arrive” until you arrive. The Bible is clear that down here we’ll never arrive. We simply keep fighting, becoming more like Christ with every “success,” remembering that the only true success is the one that points to Him. Here’s how you do it:

“Just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.” ––Colossians 2:6-7

“Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling for it is God that works in you to will and act in order to fulfill his good purpose.”  ––Philippians 2:12

“Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord.” ––Lamentations 3:40

“He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.”  ––1 Peter 2:24

“But I’ll take the hand of those who don’t know the way, who can’t see where they are going. I’ll be a personal guide to them, directing them through unknown country. I’ll be right there showing them what roads to take, make sure they don’t fall in the ditch.” ––Isaiah 42:16, MSG

There are times in our lives when training, gifting, and desire will not take us where we need to be as God’s men. Sometimes only some objective, brutal honesty will suffice. And while the foolish may “succeed” without acknowledging sin and faults, God’s man always knows he has, in the famous words of Yoda, “Much to learn.”

Father, your knowledge, wisdom and power are awesome! Thank you for the protective shield you have provided me!

Every Man Ministries

“And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” 2 Corinthians 3:18, ESV

There is no such thing as a life in God without change in God. When change is directed toward our life in God, God blesses and expands our life.

As men we talk about living large, right? Well, we want to experience God’s blessing and live large. Make a holy shift and make changes in a life toward God. It doesn’t matter who you are, your ethnic background, whether you’re a man or a woman: if you are in Christ, you are going to be in the process of personal change. That’s the way it works.

In every area of your life, whether it’s your spiritual life, your relationships or family ties, God has a plan and your enemy has a plan and you have a choice. In the war, who’s going to win? Each path has consequences and ramifications and so we want to live our life out in God.

A good question to ask might be, how’s my transformation going? It’s hard to separate change and transformation. Change is going to happen because there is no static position for anything in this world. Change, like gravity, is a universal law, or dynamic. Whether we like it or not, the Law of Change is immutable—change will come in our lives, for better or for worse. And oftentimes, the only thing we control during a time of change is our attitude and posture.

However, transformation into the person God has created you to be is not guaranteed. Yes, we are all being transformed for good or for evil, but to choose to be transformed in His image? Well, it’s just that—a choice.

Our Father has offered His love for this transformation process and then given us the ability to choose the direction of this change.  Only you can make the decision on a daily basis.  We will either walk closer with truth or deny it for our own convenience. It’s really not complicated.

Father, thank you for walking me through life in your love.

Kenny Luck

Every Man Ministries

Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 1 Peter 5:8 

Borrowing from the comments by soldiers who have used night vision in combat, ask yourself:

• How valuable is the ability to see your invisible enemy by taking away his cover of darkness?
• How useful is the ability to neutralize threats quickly?
• How disconcerting do you think it is to a terrorist organization when all its fake identities, safe houses, fronting businesses, weapons caches, terrorist cells, and its ultimate, secret playbook is intercepted and disseminated?
• How helpful would it be to know the psychology of your enemy leader, his motivations, and the resulting tactics?

Oh yes, you can believe that Satan is hot under the collar about you having night vision and his desire is that it goes one place: nowhere. That’s why in order to employ God’s night vision it’s going to take a lot more than passion and a game plan against pride. It takes supernatural discernment and wisdom that can only come from God’s war room.

Notice that God doesn’t give just anyone living wisdom for the fight. He looks for the difference between the intellectual understanding and practical application. We all know lots of guys—including pastors and full-time theologians—who have been given the intel that God provides but are still getting slaughtered by the enemy. They have the head knowledge, but they are not putting His supernatural dynamics into effect. Or they have the learning, but lack the integrity and honesty.

The Bible says the more spiritually undivided you are the better your intel gets. More integrity, more clarity. I love how Proverbs 2:7 (ESV) puts it: “He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk in integrity.”

Jesus, you have given me a new mind to understand your will. Thanks for the Intel and the wisdom to use it.

Kenny Luck

Every Man Ministries

By Kenny Luck

Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.  Proverbs 16:18, ESV

Many of us have stories of God’s supernatural intervention and reassurance in times of fear. As God’s men, we will know this kind of battle pressure if we are on the attack and serving Him on kingdom battlefronts. Like a submarine after receiving battle blows then springing a leak, we need to surface for repairs.

Having fought and won some major battles for the kingdom, God’s men commonly become overconfident in our successes. At these times, the challenge is to continue working through the stages of our spiritual journeys, allowing God to direct us to our next missions. If there is one aspect of spiritual battle that remains more hidden than others among Christians, it’s coasting. The thought goes like this: I can become the man God wants me to be by remaining who I am. In this realm, the danger is not doing what is wrong; it’s the pride that comes by doing all the right things. When you have a large level area of the spiritual high ground, you can lose your focus on the real world.

The fact is this: spiritual growth, exciting victory, and exciting new experiences in Christ await. This new foe will not be looking so much to exploit your failure but to get you resting on your success. The enemy doesn’t lie down and rest just because we have a good routine going. God does not help those who help themselves. He helps those who ask Him for help because they know that in and of themselves, it’s never as good.

Here’s the center of the strike zone:

“Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.  Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.” ––1 Peter 5:8-9

A sober-minded man is aware that he is flesh and bone, and that His boasting is in Christ, not himself.

Father, help me never to depend on myself. I am spiritually clueless without you.

Every Man Ministries