Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death––even death on a cross!  ––Philippians 2:6-8

John Astor IV was the wealthiest passenger on the Titanic, and went down with the ship. After helping his young pregnant wife into lifeboat 4, he politely asked a crewman whether it would be possible for him to join his bride. The sailor told Astor that at that point, only women and children were boarding. He nodded in assent, kissed his wife, told her he’d see her soon, and quietly slipped back into the crowd on deck.

In contrast, it’s believed that Third Class passenger Edward Ryan donned women’s garments to sneak onto one of the lifeboats. He survived, and later allegedly boasted about his ruse in a letter to his parents.

Two men, two powerful “sliding door” moments.

We can sit here today and boo Edward Ryan, but unless we have been in a similar life-and-death situation, we don’t know how we would have acted. Like you, I hope I would have been like Astor. And it’s not like Astor couldn’t have tried to bribe his way onto one of the boats (which he didn’t). In fact, when his body was found a few days later, still almost perfectly preserved due to the cold North Atlantic waters, among his effects was a gold pocket watch, a diamond ring, gold and diamond cufflinks, 225 pounds in English notes, and $2,440.

What would you have paid for a seat on one of the precious few Titanic lifeboats? In the crucible of the moment, when it was known to the passengers that the ship was very likely sinking, John Astor made a decision. Use his wealth to skip the line, or choose to man up and do the right thing?

The best we can do to prepare for such a sliding door moment is consider all angles ahead of time. None of us knows when a tragedy or crisis might come, but we can prepare our head and our heart so that when it comes, we do the godly thing. And believe me, crisis will come. Probably not in the dramatic fashion that it did for Astor, but no less critical in that it might require a similar spur-of-the-moment decision on your part.

Character is a long-game proposition. It’s built on the millions of decisions a man makes across his 80 or so years bouncing around this blue marble called Earth. To walk in character means to sacrifice; it means giving up temporary pleasure for long-term gain; it might mean giving up much of what the world values for what God values. I want to go out like Astor—right actions that leave a legacy so that guys like you and me are talking about it more than 100 years later. That kind of legacy is more important than a seat on any lifeboat.

Lord, give me a “women and children first” mindset that honors You and helps me build a legacy of holiness in my family.

Every Man Ministries

In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.  ––Ephesians 6:16-17

The action of knowing and loving Him makes every Christ follower the very real opposition of Satan and his forces. Jesus eliminated the option of being double-minded. As stunning as a full-scale declaration of war among nations would be, as lamentable and grievous as the costs, this war, our war, engenders cosmic consequences that dwarf every hell of every war ever fought. There is no such thing as peaceful coexistence on this one. Instead there will be violent campaigns of spiritual warfare and forceful men prosecuting them.

Are satanic forces and human beings presently cooperating to prosecute evil against God’s Son and followers? Yes. That is the unpolluted reality, my brother.  Are you ready?

Satan hates a guy who’s on guard and sees everyday choices as tactical maneuvers, forgiving someone versus attacking, saying no to unhealthy appetites versus feeding them, encouraging versus tearing down, choosing not to work late versus straining family relationships, choosing Christ-like approaches to problems versus justifying different courses. The daily stuff is where the dream is worked out––day to day, moment by moment.

As a soldier of heaven, you know Satan’s tactic is to wear down your resolve little by little. You know how he tries to make people too busy for quality relationships with God and others. You know your faith is a cosmic crusade with Christ leading the charge, His eyes fixed, His blade drawn. The Rider, calling to His men, “Swords to the ready!”

Father, thank you for allowing me to ride with You as one of Your God’s men.

Every Man Ministries

But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver.  ––Malachi 3:2-3

Have you ever been out hiking and found a rock with gold flecks in it? Pretty exciting, right? But because of the rarity of gold, chances are what you found is fool’s gold. It looks like gold, but it’s not. During a gold rush con artists would “salt” creeks and rivers with tiny amounts of real gold dust, plus generous amounts of fool’s gold. They’d then sell claims to unsuspecting newcomers who hadn’t yet learned to spot real gold when they saw it.

Several rocks, including mineral pyrite and certain types of mica can mimic the appearance of gold. However, pyrite will flake, powder, or crumble when poked with a metal point, whereas gold will gouge or indent like soft lead. And as mentioned in today’s verse, when put under high heat, the impurities of precious metals like gold will separate and be removed, leaving only the precious metal.

The spiritual implications for God’s man are legion. For one, when we are forged in God’s fire and under His hammer—following His Word, submitting to His discipline—and cling to Him during times of intense trials, our true mettle emerges. If you want to know the character of a person, observe them during a crisis. Who runs for the lifeboats before the women and children? Who stays back to make sure others are cared for before considering their own safety?

When we allow earth’s impurities to infiltrate our spirit—the lust of the eyes and flesh—we become like fool’s gold. We will flake and turn to dust under pressure, rather than retaining our shape. When we are tempted to cheat at work, or cut corners on our taxes, what stops us from grabbing the fool’s gold? That’s not a rhetorical question, because we are all subject to the same temptations. No man is above the enemy’s tricks. What to do, then?

Paul’s words to the Hebrews are the answer:

 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.  ––Hebrews 4:15-16

Remember the difference between empathy and sympathy? Jesus empathizes because He fully understands and He’s been there—yet did not sin. His way and His word are precious and authentic—like gold. Don’t fall for the enemy’s pyrite—just walk on by.

Father, thank you for giving me the discernment to separate the fool’s gold from the real thing. Help me stay on your path today!

Every Man Ministries

Fools find no pleasure in understanding
but delight in airing their own opinions.  ––Proverbs 18:1-2

spec·​u·​late

a : to review something idly or casually and often inconclusively

b : to assume a business risk in hope of gain

I grew up near Gold Country in northern California. You know, Sutter’s Mill, the California Gold Rush of 1849, etc. (Not a surprise then, that I’m a big San Francisco 49ers fan.) Here’s the thing about the Gold Rush that hit California 175 years ago: of the tens of thousands of gold speculators and prospectors who came west in search of wealth, very few actually struck it rich.

Many of the men who came west had never mined gold before, and were quick to part with the little money they brought with them. They were speculating that the gold was just running down the hillsides and was filling the creeks—which was untrue. They speculated that the little money they had—often all spent before they even put pan to water—would be parlayed into big gains.

Sadly, many went broke and returned home worse off than before. In fact, it was the merchants who made the most money. Take a guy named Levi Strauss (sound familiar?). He came west to sell dry goods to miners, and saw the need for a sturdy, well-built work pant. He partnered with a Reno, Nevada tailor named Jacob Davis, and they created heavy cotton work pants hammered with rivets in the pocket corners to make them more durable. The company, “Levi Strauss & Co.” couldn’t sell enough of their “waist high overalls” to the miners, lumberjacks and farmers.

Speculation is a particularly dangerous enterprise when it comes to human relationships. What we see a lot of these days—due in part to a lot of hooey floated on social media—is a profusion of misinformation, speculation, and assumption. When we form opinions of others based on limited information or flimsy “facts,” we run the risk of dishonoring that person at best, and conducting character assassination at worst.

As God’s man, we look for facts and we corroborate. When we hear the rumor about a friend having an affair or abusing drugs, we don’t speculate. We go to the source, confront in love, and stick with the facts. When we are treated rudely at work, we give the benefit of the doubt, remain calm, and ask questions.

Don’t act like a gold-crazed prospector, making assumptions and chasing false leads. There was a saying that came out of the Gold Rush that’s relevant for us: “During a gold rush, sell shovels.” In our case, we need to keep a cool head, remain sober-minded, and use constructive tools to dig for the truth. That’s the equivalent of employing a shovel while others are chasing rumors.

Father, help me give the benefit of the doubt when I hear a rumor, and let me be a part of the solution rather than the problem when it comes to speculation, assumptions, and gossip.

Every Man Ministries

As soon as Jesus heard the news [of John the Baptist’s death], he left in a boat to a remote area to be alone. But the crowds heard where he was headed and followed on foot from many towns. Jesus saw the huge crowd as he stepped from the boat, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.  ––Matthew 14:13-14, NLT

Empathy is the antidote for apathy. The root word for both, “pathy” comes from the Greek pátheia, meaning “suffering” or “feeling.” It shares an origin with the English word pathos. Apathy equals not caring, and empathy means “the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another.”

“I’m not a very empathetic guy, Kenny. I’m more of a stoic,” you might say. I get it. But I’m not talking about faking a personality trait you weren’t born with. I’m talking about digging in hard in your prayer time and asking the Holy Spirit to give you a spirit that is empathetic. He will, because it’s His heart.

Jesus was the perfect model of Spirit-led empathy. When the woman with the issue of blood touched Him, was healed, and He felt power flow out of Him, where did that power go? That’s right, into her. Do you think that healing experience changed her? So do I.

Jesus tells us this in Acts 1:8, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you.” Yes, this means the power to withstand the enemy. But it also means the agency, the ability, the spiritual “juice” to move empathetically. Here’s an interesting exercise. Take a day where you record all the bad news vs. good news you hear—it could be from conversations, social media posts, news you hear or read, etc. Chances are that the 80/20 rule will apply: 80% negative news. And yeah, the point of “news” is to tell us the major events happening around the world—disasters, wars, famines, accidents. But the point is, in the natural realm, it’s really easy to become depressed or apathetic after a while.

That’s why it takes a supernatural exchange from the Holy Spirit for you to receive the “bandwidth” or, again, the agency to be able to rise above the negative mire and act through movements of mercy, compassion, and kindness. Elvis Costello (look him up if don’t know who he is) said it best: “What’s so funny about peace, love, and understanding?” (The song by the same name was written by Nick Lowe, and covered by Elvis Costello. A classic.)

Let’s break this down into bite-sized chunks. When the church talks about the power of the Holy Spirit, we get images of healing meetings where dramatic things happen and physical or medical miracles take place. And I love that! I’ve seen miraculous healings; they are real. I wonder, however, if there is equal or greater Spirit-given power in the small, undramatic, daily acts of kindness that He wants us to perform. I believe it with all my heart.

We all know hate when we see it. Apathy is easy to spot too. But what really catches people’s attention? Compassion. What a rare commodity in today’s world! I believe that type of compassion—born of the Spirit—is real power. Godly power. Masculine power. Now go get some—and give it away. Then get more, give more, and repeat. Let’s start a compassion conspiracy that the Holy Spirit can take around the world. It’s the opposite of toxic masculinity—it’s the tonic the Spirit gives us men as we emulate Jesus.

Father, I need Your supernatural power to see the suffering of others as You see it, and to do the acts of compassion You require of Your servants.

Every Man Ministries

Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.  ––1 Corinthians 13:12-13

The opposite of love is not hate, but indifference.  ––Elie Wiesel

Elie Wiesel was a Romanian-born American writer, professor, political activist, Nobel laureate, and Holocaust survivor. His riveting book, Night, chronicles his stark experiences in Auschwitz and the Buchenwald concentration camps. Beyond his famous quote about indifference being the opposite of love, he also said:

The opposite of art is not ugliness, it’s indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it’s indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it’s indifference.

This from a man who saw the worst possible horrors during the Holocaust. Why indifference rather than hate, for a man who saw evil up close and personal. He’d explain in interviews that what he saw in the eyes of his Nazi captors was not hate, but emptiness and disconnection. The attitude of a Nazi prison guard corralling people into the gas chambers, group after group, day after day. The indifference of Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge fighters murdering hundreds of thousands in the killing fields of Cambodia. The indifference of Rwanda’s Hutu militias hacking to death as many as 800,00 Tutsi minority civilians.

Evil, most definitely. But also indifference.

But let’s take this down for a moment, focus the lens to the street level. Your street and mine. What have we become indifferent to in this jaded world where tragedy streams across our screens so fast we’ve barely absorbed one catastrophe when another gets right up in our face? It’s like calcification in pipes, where the capacity to hold water shrinks as the calcium builds up over the years.

What have you become apathetic to? Human suffering? Tragedy? Yes, “doing something” can seem overwhelming, but God’s man is compelled by Christ—and His many tangible examples of empathy during His ministry on earth—to act. To be the one in the room to walk across and comfort the person who just received tragic news. To call the friend whose child just ran away from home. To drive across town to visit the church acquaintance who was just admitted to the hospital.

Do you know why the garden-variety Nazi soldier could take part in such horrors during the Holocaust? Indifference. Day after day, month after month, year after year. Spiritual blindness, deception of the enemy, the human propensity to act the animal in a mob/group situation. All, yes. Like the sleeping poppies in the Wizard of Oz, evil descends, and when good men do nothing, evil spreads. It brings a spiritual slumber and puts right, moral action to sleep.

God’s man: It’s time to wake up. It’s time to ask the Father to give you the eyes of empathy. To care about the suffering; to help the poor; to minister to the foreigner and the prisoner. The specifics and how tos? God will show you. Believe me, He’s forever recruiting into His holy army of caring, empathetic stretcher bearers.

Father, “doing something” feels overwhelming when I don’t feel like I have a lot of emotional energy in my tank. Do a supernatural work within me to give me the capacity to care and act.

Every Man Ministries

So show your love for the alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt.

––Deuteronomy 10:19, NASB

Men become what they love, which manifests in worship. If you love stuff, you become a materialist. If you love indulging yourself and worship feelings and thrills, you become a hedonist. If you love your image more than you love God and people, you become a narcissist. If you worship the “God of gods and Lord of lords” who defends the vulnerable, you become a tender warrior. This means taking on His character, conduct, and causes with aliens. The above verse uses different words—foreigner, stranger, sojourner—depending upon the Bible translation, but it all means the same thing.

When Jesus charged the disciples saying, “Go make disciples,” it was synonymous with saying, “Go fight for the captives,” because freedom from sin and death through the Spirit would be the outcome. The Holy Spirit’s mission in our lives is to conform us to the God we worship, and He is passionate about delivering people.

Through the Holy Spirit, God’s Man shares God’s heart. Making commitments in His name is synonymous with faithfully acting according to His character. Make no mistake: His character is to defend the vulnerable, the captive, the marginalized, the persecuted, the oppressed, the lonely, the left out and the left behind

If we are listening to the Holy Spirit, our hands and feet will eventually take us toward the aliens among us. It may take some time, some maturing, and some changes within us first, but eventually the Holy Spirit will raise us up as tender warriors who are unafraid and unapologetic to stand up for those who need a spiritual champion to fight for them.

This has zero to do politics, borders, parties, elections, candidates, or administrations. It has everything to do with mimicking Jesus. Look at Jesus’ own bloodline: Rahab was a harlot who came to faith in YHWH and as an alien, was given favor for helping the Israelites conquer Jericho. Her son was Boaz, the man of God who welcomed the alien, Ruth, a Moabitess, into his household and made her his wife. Ruth is the great-grandmother of David, and through the Davidic lineage came Jesus.

Love as Jesus loves; do as Jesus does. Rise above the cultural constraints from both “left” and “right” to simply do the correct thing: Love those who suffer; lift up the oppressed; care for the strangers among you.

Thank You, Father, for giving me your heart to reach out to an alien that I once was.

Every Man Ministries

For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.  ––Romans 8:14

Men are made to risk. Our job is to encourage each other to be aggressive risk takers for God, and above all to get each other to act on what we know God is calling us to do. “What is it?” you ask.  Here’s a clue: whatever makes you swallow big. My friend Lee Strobel puts it this way:

When we take a risk, we’re stretching beyond what we think are our limits in order to reach for a goal.  Inevitably, that involves overcoming some sort of fear — fear of the unknown, of physical harm, of failure, of humiliation, even of success. And it involves adventure.

There are two ways to go in your life of faith: smooth, residential, safe, and boring: or off-road, twisting, risky, and exciting. Which road would the little boy in you take? Your energy and willingness to invest it for Christ is not slipping God’s watchful eye. He’s hoping you’ll cross the line in those areas of your life that will most stretch you to be His man––right now.

The question for you is this: Can God be trusted? That really is what the “faith step” is all about—especially after we gain our “Fire Insurance” (eternal salvation by accepting Jesus as our Savior) and start to grapple with this word “disciple.” A disciple has the faith (i.e., passion, excitement) of a child, but has put away childish things. Paul tells us:

When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.  ––1 Corinthians 13:11-13

Paul is talking about the natural progression of a man’s life: childhood, a decision for faith, and adulthood in the Spirit. As he says, at the moment we see only a reflection—a hint—of what is to come. The key to trusting God is above: Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. Man of God, we don’t fully know yet what eternity looks like, but our Father does and He already fully knows us. This is the word “know” as in, He sees us, loves us, is on our side.

 
That’s faith-building truth, right?! To be fully known—right now—by the God of heaven?

The thing to remember is God is working in you and your drive will be determined by the faith that you have in Him. Faith is like a muscle and as it grows with exercise, your risk decisions will be made regarding the amount of the exercise you give your faith. Attempt something of risk according to your faith and then keep growing in the safety of God and the trust He affords.

What will you risk, or attempt for your faith today?

Father, thank You for the faith You have given me to attempt something of risk for You. You have promised that You will lead me into all truth.

Every Man Ministries

And without faith it is impossible to please God.  ––Hebrews 11:6

It’s interesting to think that if we had no fear of the unknown there would never be the need to take risk. If there was no risk there would be no need for faith because we all know without risk there is no need for faith.

The Bible reminds us that, without faith it is impossible to please God. When we take a risk, we’re stretching beyond what we think our limits are in order to reach for a goal. Inevitably, that involves overcoming some sort of fear––fear of the unknown, of physical harm, of failure, of humiliation, even of success. And it involves adventure.

We have all been in non-challenging situations, whether it be a relationship or an activity that really is quite mundane, matter-of-fact and, quite frankly, boring. It is only when we are challenged that things start to heat up and get exciting. The same could be said for living a life of faith. It’s when we overcome our fears and take spiritual risks that we really experience the adventure of Christianity. Jesus said, in effect, that those who risk their whole life for Him will find it, but those who hang onto their life––those who shrink back from risk––will be the losers.

Some of us look for any excuse to open up the throttle, push our bodies past their limits, and live on the edge. That is from God, my brother! Jesus wanted that life for you, and He is making Himself your excuse to live the dream and love the extreme. The difference is that when channeled toward faith and adventures in Jesus, you don’t ruin your liver, break a lot of bones, or blow your savings trying to win the game of “the person who dies with the most toys wins.”

Your energy and willingness to invest your life for Christ is not slipping God’s watchful eye.  He’s hoping you’ll cross the line in those areas of your life that will most stretch you to be His man––right now.

What one or two things have you been putting off that you know God is nudging you about? Pick the scariest one, figure out a plan, and go for it. When you risk for God, you cannot lose.

Father, thank You for not giving me the life of a robot—what a boring life that would be; fill me with Your love and energy to step into the deep end and experience the life of faith You would have me live.

Every Man Ministries

As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.  ––James 2:26

Using stone, mortar, gravity, and a lot of ingenuity, the Roman Empire built the greatest water delivery systems the world had ever seen. On Palatine Hill in Rome herself, the homes of the wealthy had running water and toilets. In fact, the Eternal City once had twice the amount of drinking water running through it per-resident than the average American city does today. The entire city had water fountains within a 50-meter radius of one another, and there were public heated baths, as well as toilets that emptied into separate sewer pipes. The majority of the water flowed from the higher hills and mountains surrounding the city, and the furthest aqueduct began about 60 miles away.

The thing is, all the miles upon miles of stone, mortar, and planning would have been useless without one irreplaceable element: gravity. And so it is with God’s Kingdom and the element of obedience: all obedience leads to the throne of God, to His Kingdom. Just as gravity only causes things to flow in one direction on earth (downward), obedience only flows in one direction in the spiritual realm: upward to the throne of God.

“Kenny, weren’t you just saying (in an earlier reading) that grace is more important than obedience.” Not exactly. What I was saying is that our deliverance can’t happen without His grace and our choice to accept it. But once that happens—we receive the grace and accept His gift of salvation—then obedience is what leads us into deeper relationship and intimacy with Him. It’s a one-two punch: Jesus leads with grace, but requires obedience from His children.

Think about it this way: If Roman engineers had built their aqueducts from the lowlands to the seven hills of Rome, what would have happened? Well, nothing. No gravity, no water. In the Kingdom, we know that faith without works is dead. James tells us clearly:

What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.  ––James 2:15-17

Now, faith without works is a hindrance, or is weakened. It’s dead. Does that verse—often debated by scholars and laypeople alike—negate grace? No, not at all. James is simply saying that when grace changes us, the results are outward actions (works) that align with God’s Kingdom. When we love our child, we show it. When we love our spouse, we tell them and do acts of service for them. How much more so, then, with our loving Father?

For us to continue to walk in God’s grace as He desires, obedience is the aqueduct that delivers His life-giving water. When we surrender ourselves to His will, obedience is the by-product.

Obedience flows in one direction: toward His throne. Jump in the water.

Father, help me neither abuse nor cheapen Your grace, and help my daily actions reflect my commitment to obey Your Word.

Every Man Ministries

So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, as it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.”  ––Galatians 3: 9-10

Do we have a clear understanding of Christianity or have we missed the mark throughout the ages in what God is communicating?

In the last part of this scripture we see that without being completely delivered from the works of the law we are all doomed. In our mind’s eye, “completely delivered” should mean this: unless we have accepted the fact that we can’t deliver ourselves from any sin and the sinful condition we’re wired to, we are doomed.

From a Christian Evangelical radio station I heard these words recently: “Enough of this hyper grace preaching and back to sincere repentance.” Am I missing the motivation of this statement?

We can certainly agree motivation is different for different people. Some are motivated by the Nike slogan, “Just Do It.” No forethought, just do it. Others are motivated by forethought.

We ask ourselves, after reading the New Testament, what kind of heart is God motivated by as we live our lives before Him? As a father, if your child brought your shoes to you all cleaned and polished without you asking them to, which motivation is most rewarding: because the child was commanded to do this, or because they wanted to? Is the Christian life all about me and my failure to keep the law, or about God and His deliverance of us from it?

That’s the essence of the word deliverance: We cannot deliver ourselves into spiritual correctness. Only God makes the crooked paths straight and takes the broken hearts—yours, mine, every man’s—and makes them whole and healed. It’s a sum-everything game: Jesus plus nothing equals deliverance. Not Jesus plus our good works … not Jesus minus our faults. Ask yourself the same question Jesus asked the paralytic man at the Pool of Bethesda: “Do you want to be healed?”

If your answer is yes, then pick up your proverbial pallet and go. Choose Him and you choose healing. Where there’s a “want” there’s a Way.

Father, thank You for Your complete deliverance. Wow!

Every Man Ministries

They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. Stay away from people like that!  ––2 Timothy 3:5 NLT

The last thing God’s man wants is to wake up one day and realize that he’s the one demanding “less straw, more bricks” from other people. We all want to be more like Moses and less like Pharoah.

The reality is that the one scenario in which we have the most control is our own. The hard truth: if the motions are right but the motivation is out of alignment, you might as well drop the charade. Playing church is playing with fire. It really gets down to the word “authority.” Are we attempting to do this “Christian thing” in our own authority or are we filled with the Spirit and doing this out of a gratitude response? Is this a God thing or is it a me thing? Is this still a religion thing, me trying to impress God and others or is it surrendering full authority to God?

Here’s what speaking spiritual words but doing religious actions looks like:

There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.

––2 Timothy 3:1-5

Of course, none of us want to become what Paul warns his protégé, Timothy, to avoid. It starts with each of us acknowledging the cold, hard reality of the situation: it goes way back to the beginning DNA of the human being. The only way that DNA thing can be changed is by a supernatural action stripping us of all authority by the surrender of our will to His. That is the only way that we can step into a “more straw (provision), more bricks (fruit of the Spirit)” lifestyle. It’s also how we avoid being a person who has a form of godliness but who denies its power.

You may have discovered this is not only a one-time decision; it is a daily thing. How much straw are you giving to those around you—at work, at home, or in your friendships? In other words, do your actions match your words? Are you putting your money where your mouth is—financially yes, but also emotionally, spiritually, and relationally?

The word practice comes back up at this time. What are you practicing or putting into action on a daily basis that is going to pound God’s perception into your existence? I have found, and God has pointed it out over and over, that you have to practice an intimate relationship with Him.

There is no other way! Spend time with God; make him your FIRST appointment of the day, every day.  Get out of bed, plant your feet on the ground and walk over to your appointment room, pour yourself a cup of coffee and open His message to you and stick your head in it. Then journal your prayer of gratitude for the relationship He has ordained for the two of you to “PRACTICE.” That’s how we get more straw, and that’s how we give it.

Thank You, Father, for desiring an intimate relationship with me and for giving me the tools I need to do Your will.

Every Man Ministries

You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.”   ––Matthew 15:7-8

My friend KC spent more than 35 years in the corporate world. He talks about his experience of working for one Christian company: “The company was, shall we say, very careful with raises, but talked a lot about how we were doing God’s work. Unfortunately, their words often didn’t line up with my understanding of biblical stewardship. The owners and executives all drove very nice cars while the worker bees rode the bus or drove beater cars. But, they’d constantly tell us that what we were doing was ministry, thus low salaries. It was, essentially, a ‘less straw, more bricks’ scenario.”

KC’s reference is found in Exodus, where the Egyptian pharaoh who honored Joseph is dead, and Moses is now in the limelight.

That same day Pharaoh gave this order to the slave drivers and overseers in charge of the people: “You are no longer to supply the people with straw for making bricks; let them go and gather their own straw. But require them to make the same number of bricks as before; don’t reduce the quota. ––Exodus 5:6-8

Can you relate? Maybe you’ve been in a one-sided relationship where you felt you were the one doing all the work; or perhaps, like KC, you’ve worked for an employer who drove you really hard but rewarded poorly. They said the right things, but the actions didn’t produce. Whatever your “less straw, more bricks” situation, here’s the common denominator: it’s no fun, and it’s discouraging.

In my own personal “less straw” work situation, I finally had to leave that organization. It was a tough decision, but eventually the Lord made it clear that he had a new chapter for me. My prayer is that if you are currently in this type of situation, that God would make your next move crystal clear, and knock down any barriers for you to do His will in your next chapter.

In the key verse for today’s reading, Jesus quotes Isaiah to drive home the point that hypocrisy—saying one thing and doing another—is nothing new. For you and me in our twenty-first century world, it seems that this type of hypocrisy is only getting worse, not better. The danger for God’s man, when caught in a “less straw” scenario, is to become bitter and offended. That’s how our emotions typically flow when people say one thing but do another. But we are not called to flow the way the world flows—we are called to flow against the grain, so to speak, as God’s kingdom looks nothing like the world’s.

So in those situations where “less straw” is being given to you to produce the same amount of bricks, keen discernment is needed. What is your role in the situation? What are the controllables vs. the uncontrollables? This is a very good time to invoke the opinions of trusted, godly friends, and to turn to the Holy Spirit for precise direction.

Bad things are going to happen to us, and it’s up to us how we will react. It doesn’t mean we pretend that negative things aren’t happening, but that we deal with them through a Kingdom lens light on offense and heavy on thoughtful discernment.

Father, help me walk through my negative circumstances and also, may my words always match my actions, and vice versa.

Every Man Ministries

Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.  ––Hebrews 12:2-3

We can’t look up at the Man on the cross and lose in our quest to throw spiritual caution and fear to the wind. In fact, the longer we look at Him up there, the more dangerous we become for the Kingdom. Imagine Jesus hanging on the cross. You are standing there. What emotions are you feeling?

We join the ranks of men who saw Him from a distance and risked, men who walked with Him up close, and men who through the centuries endangered their lives to demonstrate their love. In other words, you are not the first Christ-following man who has felt all the things you feel—lust, anger, fear, depression, hope, excitement, joy. That’s why I love to read the biographies of great Christian men who have gone before me.

A good friend of mine, KC, who works in Christian publishing, was able to work on a book with one of my heroes and his, John Wooden. KC and I are both UCLA alums and die-hard Bruin fans, and grew up watching Wooden’s UCLA basketball teams win national championships. Voted the Greatest Coach of the 21^st Century by ESPN, “Coach,” or the Wizard of Westwood as many called him (a term, by the way, that he disliked), Wooden epitomized the attributes of a man who followed Christ and whose impact is still felt in all the men who played, coached, or studied under him.

KC told me that when you’d walk into Coach’s condominium in Encino, California, a bookshelf stood right before you in the foyer. On it were dozens of books about the life of Abraham Lincoln, one of Wooden’s heroes. Lincoln, a hero’s hero and one of the greatest Americans, was a big influence on Wooden when he formed his famous “Pyramid of Success.” In fact, This great teaching tool includes many of Lincoln’s attributes and character traits, as well as traits from the Word of God.

Like Coach, we study the good men who came before us, and ultimately, all those men—like us—look to our Master Model, Jesus Christ. If you are to bet at all, study the Man who risked it all.

Keep your eyes on Jesus who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how He did it.  Because He never lost sight of where He was headed – that exhilarating finish in and with God – he could put up with anything along the way; the cross, shame, whatever. Now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside the Father.  When we find ourselves flagging in our faith, go over the story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into our souls! Faith in this historical fact will bring us through.

Father, You have not held back on the gifts You have given me to do the things that will bless You, me and others. Thank You!

Every Man Ministries

Search me, God, and know my heart: test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.  ––Psalm 139:23-24

God’s man has an infinite power to wield. But to do it, he needs to yield. God knows it when he sees it.  So does Satan practically.

This means dealing with the footholds—or strongholds—in our lives, those areas of behavior or character where permission or power is given to Satan to traffic in darkness. Willingly eliminating footholds is synonymous with increased Holy Spirit power over evil.

Announce your opposition to evil in prayer and accept the power within you to overcome strongholds. Ask God to show you areas of your life where you do not like or want His authority.  Ask Him, where is there tension over Your control in my life? Where am I unwilling to go? What process am I resisting?

Make no mistake: The battle is in the mind—in your thought life. Consider Paul’s words to the Corinthian believers:

We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.  ––2 Corinthians 10:5

In that one sentence, Paul uses four words that have to do with the mind: arguments, pretensions, knowledge, and thought. This is the key battleground; this is where Satan aligns his forces to attack.

To counter the enemy’s strategies, write down on paper what comes to mind — affirming God’s presence and His blessings in your life — asking Him if there is anyone you are harboring bitterness or resentment toward — releasing that person from the harm you are feeling — disciplining your mind by ordering it according to God’s Word –– committing it to aggressive management and loving God with your thought life — declaring war against any habitual sin by inspecting it with the light of His Word — owning it and amputating it from your life.

Footholds can be small, but when left unaddressed they can grow. All the behaviors above reflect a change of mind, an awareness of reality and truth, and a response consistent with your identity in Christ, more to the point; these are fighting behaviors that send a strong and clear message that you possess a new commitment to being under God’s authority to be a better steward of his authority. The high ground in the fight against evil is authority.

Father, Your Holy Spirit prompts me to live a life of integrity of living out my belief.

Every Man Ministries

Return to your rest, my soul,
for the Lord has been good to you.

For you, Lord, have delivered me from death,
my eyes from tears,
my feet from stumbling,
that I may walk before the Lord
in the land of the living.

––Psalm 116:7-9

Few words sum up large chunks of the Bible’s key themes as much as the word deliverance. God delivers Abraham from one land to another. He delivers Joseph from the pit, Noah from the flood, Moses from the Egyptians, Jacob from his enemies, David from Saul. Ultimately, it all culminates as Jesus delivers us from our greatest adversary, Satan, and into eternal life with Him.

When Jesus came and was baptized by John, the Holy Spirit descended upon him like a dove. From Jesus’ arrival onward, the Holy Spirit was not just a some-time visitor to His people, but a permanent resident in the lives of all believers in Jesus. In fact, our bodies are literally the temple of the Holy Spirit.

Deliverance is another one of those words that you don’t hear much these days. And in church circles, when you say “deliverance,” most folks think about freedom from oppression or deliverance from toxic habits or demonic strongholds. And all those things are biblical.

But what I’m talking about has to do with the day-in and day-out process of being and growing as God’s man. And as we’ve learned, the primary fight for “delivering us from evil” is not our own. The fight for our deliverance is the work of the Holy Spirit.

That initial and ongoing spiritual work of deliverance of God in our lives, like Israel’s literal deliverance, is the shaping encounter for how we relate to God. More specifically, it forms the basis of the Spirit-formed, Spirit-filled, and Spirit-used life. Of little consequence to God is the nature of your personal deliverances. Of massive importance to God, however, is your perception of these experiences with Him that set you free: how that deliverance shapes your own identity in Him and how the Holy Spirit seeks to use a delivered and filled man in the lives of others. As we’ll see, when God goes to great lengths to deliver His people from any Egypt, He desires that they translate their deliverances into meaningful service for Him.

God’s pioneering pastor was Moses. He had to spiritually recalibrate his troops early and often.  In fact, when he needed to light a fire underneath the feet of God’s children, he had a tried and true formula to motivate, remind, and teach them about their purpose on earth. When a man uses the metaphor of circumcision to get his point across, he’s not playing nickel poker. That tone means business, and Moses certainly got the men squirming uncomfortably and paying attention. “Circumcise your hearts, therefore and do not be stiff-necked any longer” (Deuteronomy 10:16).

What motivates you to live a life of purpose and meaning? As you have been delivered, so allow God to use you in His plan to deliver others.

Father, Your deliverance of me from the pit has been powerful—use me in the precious days I have left on this earth to help others do the same.

Every Man Ministries

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.  ––Acts 2:1-2

A Santa Ana wind event is like true love: You will know it when you see it. It’s hard to describe what these unique winds are like, typically hitting Southern California in the fall or early winter. The science is straightforward, as UCLA professor Robert Fovell explains:

“The Santa Ana winds are a cool season wind that blows from the desert, raising dust, fanning fires and, according to popular literature at least, making people crazy and homicidal. Santa Anas are always dry, a result of subsidence from their place of origin over the higher elevation Great Basin of Nevada and Utah. During the fall and early winter, the winds can also be quite hot as well, and are one of the reasons why September is the warmest month of the year in Los Angeles.”

I happen to love the surprisingly warm evenings that come with the Santa Anas, but when the gusts get nasty—100 to 150 mph at their worst—and the wild fires start up, it’s not fun.

Wind, of course, plays a prominent role in God’s Word, often representing His Holy Spirit or His movement on the Earth. Jesus used wind to teach godly Nicodemus about the Holy Spirit:

Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”

“How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”

Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, “You must be born again.” The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.

I can think of few Scripture passages that sum up better both the beautiful nature of the Holy Spirit and the wonder of the wind than the one above. Jesus is articulating that which is incomprehensible for those who still see through a glass darkly, which is all of us: The Spirit of God cannot be touched or quantified, it can only be experienced through His Son.

Like the Santa Ana winds, we can’t touch or see the Holy Spirit—but we can feel His presence and see His handiwork. The kindness of a stranger when we are stranded on a deserted highway; the love of a parent who comforted us when our teen heart was broken; the miracle of salvation that comes to the former addict who turns his life over to Christ.

Take a moment to thank God for His Spirit—the presence we can’t see, but whose effects in our lives are so readily apparent.

Father, thank You for sending Your Spirit to be with me here in this world. May I get to know Him better!

Every Man Ministries

Then he said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it.  ––Luke 9:23-24

The wisdom of our Father in heaven is truly amazing when we look at His Word and the way it is laid out, regarding the sequence of thought He uses to convey His love for us.

When we look at the beginning of Genesis we see how He shows that love demands a choice. He gives Adam and Eve a chance to experience good and evil to show that there is no love without choice. We often condemn the way God has set up his plan when we see all the hurtful, negative, painful things in life. We have maybe thought or heard others ponder this question. God’s love is not recognized without the presence of choice.

Later in the book of Genesis we see Abraham is given a choice to stay or leave his homeland. Then we are exposed to the next four books of the Bible showing us God’s deliverance of His people from Egypt. It is interesting to consider this thought.  Would we have ever considered the word faith or the risk that it demands if we would have no need to use the word?

The term “incompetent incompetence” has been used to describe the lowest level of intelligence.  This is a person who doesn’t understand that he doesn’t understand.  Do you understand that you need something or someone to deliver you from a life that contains emotional, physical, and relational pain, or are you the god of your life?

Let me quickly add that I believe we all slip into self-godship at times—where we take the reins and attempt to do a job that only God is qualified to do: run our life in a healthy, productive way. It’s the old North Star analogy: without the magnetic pull that is Christ—the lodestone of our life—we will always drift off course. Always. He is our North Star—the constant in a world of chaos. But … and it’s a big but … we have to make that God-of-our-lives choice each and every day. Sometimes many times each day—or hour!

In essence, faith is simply the best choice out of millions of choices. We make the “big choice” for Jesus when we give our lives to Him and ask Him to be our Lord and savior. We then make literally hundreds of thousands of choices on that road between here (this earthly life) and there (our eternal home).

What top three choices sit before you today? How can you best choose God’s path in each of those choices? Make a habit of always, always trusting the Holy Spirit to lead you to the best choices.

Thank You, Father, that You have chosen to reveal Your wisdom and love to me and for the joy of sharing it with others.

Every Man Ministries

If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell.  ––Mark 9:43 NKJV

We all know this guy (or gal): They frequently say the right words but do the wrong things. Over and over. You know, it’s that friend you counsel on the phone for an hour, earnestly trying to give them godly advice. Three days later they repeat the very same behavior you’d just discussed with them. And then a few days after that, you repeat the entire conversation. Sin. Confess. Repeat.

It’s like Ground Hog Day, but without witty Bill Murray and lovely Andi McDowell. It’s frustrating if you are the person giving the help and advice. It’s humiliating for the person caught in the sin cycle they just can’t seem to break out of. For the advice-giver, after a while it just feels like you are pouring water into a broken vessel that never gets patched up. The water just keeps flowing out the bottom.

The hard truth: amputate sin like a cancer. Be ruthless with it and unapologetic. If you don’t, it will metastasize and come back, fester, and eventually kill you. That’s certainty.

The hard truth: spiritual actions speak far louder than words. They are the ultimate marker and maker of spiritual integrity. If you love someone, you seek alignment of your life to their priorities. Think about that. That’s a real relationship, anything else is fantasy. In the scenario above, the “repeat sin offender” (that’s you and me at one point or another) has to face the hard fact: No one is going to fix you but you with God’s help. Period.

The hard truth: thoughts, motive, and intentions reveal who we really are, and behaviors only confirm it. The tip of the iceberg is what people see. The mass below the waterline is what God sees. You can quit acting righteous and start being righteous.

The hard truth: earth is not heaven. We should expect loss and grief. Yet we should anticipate God’s redeeming our grief and fulfilling His purpose in it. Though full redemption of suffering may not come in this lifetime, earth’s worst cannot escape God’s best.

The hard truth: the motions might be right, but if the motivations are out of alignment, you might as well drop the charade. Playing church is playing with fire.

If you are stuck in the sin cycle, don’t give up hope—which is exactly what the enemy wants you to do. And remember: If you don’t quit, you win.

Father, only You can expose my true motives; help me listen intently.

Every Man Ministries

Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.  ––Exodus 20:12

For some of us, the concept of honoring our mother and father is a tough one. What if you had an abusive mom and absentee dad? Or vice versa? Or perhaps you were raised in a single-parent household and your other parent just wasn’t around for part—or all—of your life.

Yeah. Pause here … I am sincerely sorry that if as a child (and teen, and adult) you did not have that which God would have deeply wanted for you: parents who loved you and honored their duties to raise you in a positive way. I don’t want to skip over such trauma, or seem glib in today’s reading.

What I am talking about—which is a running theme here—is about you grasping ahold of honor as God intended it, and for you to understand two key ideas about this whole “honor your mother and father” thing (which is one of the 10 Commandments, of course).

1. God calls us to extend honor and respect to our father and mother, as well as our elders (those who have gone before us chronologically and in experience and wisdom).
2. We can honor those who never honored us, because it is the Holy Spirit who does the act, rather than anything we need to gin up inside us.

You may say, “So Kenny, how do I honor a Dad who beat my mom, abandoned us kids, and never took any interest in our lives?”

First, by forgiving them. (Don’t quit reading yet. Hear me out.) Very, very tough to do, I know. Don’t do it alone—work through the anger and trauma with a professional (e.g., a psychologist, therapist, or trained counselor) and share the burden of your process with a spouse, pastor, or friend. Why forgive? It will free you from the anger, which subsequently will eradicate any power that parent still has over you. (That’s one dense paragraph—a subject for entire books. Here’s two I recommend: Forgiving Our Fathers and Mothers by Drs. Leslie Leyland and Jill Hubbard, and Forgiving What You Can’t Forget by Lysa TerKeurst).

And whether or not your parents are alive or dead, honor is still active and available. It doesn’t mean you forget what they did to you, or don’t still have a lot of negative emotions. It simply means you invite God into the process and the Holy Spirit is allowed to do His work through you.

This is a big one. I get it. Far be it for me to oversimplify something as complex as the parent-child relationship. I DO know, however (from personal experience), that when we anguish and wrestle with this issue and invite the Holy Spirit into the pain, over time (sometimes a LONG time), the bitterness subsides and we begin to see our parents as God sees them. That’s a miracle for sure.

Lord, You know my feelings toward my parents. I surrender them both to You today—all the good and all the bad—and ask that You help me honor them as You desire.

Every Man Ministries