Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.  ––1 Peter 2:17, NKJV

One of my favorite scenes in Band of Brothers is when Major Winters runs into his old nemesis, Captain Sobel, the man who made Winters’ life miserable during basic training. Both men are now gripped in the intense days following D Day, pressing the advantage against the Nazis. Maj. Winters has now eclipsed Cpt. Sobel in both rank and stature, and for it, Sobel hates him. So much so that when Sobel walks past him, he does not salute him (as he should).

Winters calls out Sobel and says: “Captain Sobel, you salute the rank, not the man.”

Whether it’s your boss, the “inept” ump at your daughter’s softball game, or the police officer who pulls you over for going 30 in a 25 zone, as God’s men we need to remember Major Winters’ words: We salute (i.e., honor, respect) the rank (position) when we struggle to respect the man or woman (in his or her condition).

Look, I get it. There is no shortage of rudeness and disrespect in our culture, which makes it really hard to bite one’s tongue, swallow the saucy comeback, and take the higher position. No, it does not mean we let people roll over us. But for far too long, men have mistaken kindness (born from knowing our position in Christ) for weakness (being misjudged for taking the higher road in a prickly situation).

The beautiful thing about notching decades off your life calendar is that you get time to make mistakes and (the best part!) grow from them. It gets easier to turn the other cheek IF we keep our focus fixed on our position rather than our condition. Don’t let the enemy fool you into thinking that verbal attacks, low blows, and harsh words toward those who have wronged you make you the “stronger” person. Rather than screaming at the men about to stone the woman caught in adultery, Jesus knelt in the sand and doodled (well, we don’t know what he wrote—probably something profound). He then stood up and said, “He among you who is without sin can cast the first stone.” That’s quiet strength. That’s working the situation from position.

Father, it’s really hard for me to not lash out at the “fools in this world.” Please give me patience in my position!

Every Man Ministries

The Lord watches over the foreigner and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked. –Psalm 146:9

Ruth was tired. It had been a long night. Heck, it had been a long past few years. It was just her mother-in-law, Naomi, and her sister-in-law, Orpah, now. Their three husbands were dead. There’s famine in Ruth’s native Moab, and it’s time to make a move. After a restless night, they set off for Naomi’s home town: Bethlehem. Then something happens along the road. Naomi changes her mind; her daughters-in-law are better off staying home, in their country, and finding new husbands, she says. Orpah agrees and heads back to Moab.

Ruth’s response, though, changes the trajectory of her life—and lays down the tracks for the lineage of both King David and Jesus Himself. She tells tired and burned out Naomi:

Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me. ––Ruth 1:16-17

Ruth operates from her position as a child of God, while Naomi is operating out of her condition as a poor, tired widow. When we function in position, we gain margin—emotionally, spiritually. Ruth had the margin to see the situation as God saw it: a new pathway to fulfilling His destiny for her. That is why Ruth could choose Naomi despite all the negative conditions. Ruth has zero material prospects: In ancient Israel, to be a widowed, shekel-less foreigner typically meant you were an outcast in society. But Ruth sees through spiritual lenses that focus on her God rather than her goods.

Ruth teaches us how to honor those who perhaps have not honored us. How? By seeing them positionally as God sees them, rather than seeing them conditionally through our emotional/human lenses. David did it with Saul. Jesus did it with Peter.

Is it tough to take the actions of honor—respect, patience, deference? It can be, especially when there’s zero reciprocity. So we take a deep breath, surrender the situation to God, and then choose the “high road” of honor. That’s God’s way. What the world see as conditional weakness, the Father deems positional strength.

Father, help me accept people for who they are in You, rather than how I see them.

Every Man Ministries

When David finished saying this, Saul asked, “Is that your voice, David my son?” And he wept aloud. “You are more righteous than I,” he said. “You have treated me well, but I have treated you badly. You have just now told me about the good you did to me; the Lord delivered me into your hands, but you did not kill me. … May the Lord reward you well for the way you treated me today.   ––1 Samuel 24:16-19

So David gets harassed, chased, terrorized, and threatened by Saul for years, hiding in caves and forests, even taking refuge in the Philistine city of Ziklag. Yeah, those same Philistines who have been the sworn enemies of Israel for a good bit of time. (That’s like a Spartan fleeing to Persia for protection.)

So when Saul finally meets his violent end, what is David’s reaction? A party? Huge festival? Dancing along with the killing and eating of the fatted calf?

Nope. Take a look at what actually happened.

Then David and all the men with him took hold of their clothes and tore them. They mourned and wept and fasted till evening for Saul and his son Jonathan, and for the army of the Lord and for the nation of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword.

––2 Samuel 1:11-12

And there’s more. David actually hears the news from an escaped enemy prisoner—an Amalekite—who came upon a mortally wounded Saul, and finished him off at Saul’s pleading. Put him out of his misery, so to speak. So a reward for this guy for bringing David the news?

Nope. Here’s what David says:

David asked [the escaped Amalekite], “Why weren’t you afraid to lift your hand to destroy the Lord’s anointed?”

Then David called one of his men and said, “Go, strike him down!” So he struck him down, and he died. For David had said to him, “Your blood be on your own head. Your own mouth testified against you when you said, ‘I killed the Lord’s anointed.’”  ––2 Samuel 1:14-16

David isn’t seeing these circumstances through worldly eyes, but through the Lord’s. Remember, position over condition: Despite all the misery and mistreatment Saul directed at David, his immediate response to his king’s death is to honor him.

As God’s men, does this mean we let an abusive boss roll over us? No. And that’s not the message here with David. It means that God wants us to always see the world as He sees it, not as we see it. Why? Because looks can be deceiving. David saw Saul’s position as king more than he saw Saul’s very flawed condition. As David did, so we should do too. Choose position—pray that you can see even the negative people in your life just as God sees them. When you start to see them as the Father sees them, honor is possible.

Father, give me the ability to give honor where You see it warranted, not where I see the need for it.

Every Man Ministries

In fact, some parts of the body that seem weakest and least important are actually the most necessary. And the parts we regard as less honorable are those we clothe with the greatest care. So we carefully protect those parts that should not be seen, while the more honorable parts do not require this special care.  ––1 Corinthians 12:22-24, NLT

hon·​or ˈä-nər

1 a : good name or public esteem : REPUTATION

b : a showing of usually merited respect : RECOGNITION

pay honor to our founder

The cliché is that when things dissipate or disappear in our culture, they’ve “gone the way of the dodo bird.” According to the American Museum of Natural History, “The dodo is a lesson in extinction. Found by Dutch soldiers around 1600 on the island [of Mauritius] in the Indian Ocean, the Dodo became extinct less than 80 years later because of deforestation, hunting, and destruction of their nests by animals brought to the island by the Dutch.”

“Survival of the fittest” aside, we can all learn a lesson from the dodo’s demise: When the natural order is disturbed, things often go afoul. I was just reading this morning that the snow crab population in Alaska plummeted by billions in 2022 due to warmer water, which kicked the crabs’ metabolism into overdrive. Basically, there simply wasn’t enough food to support their amped up appetites and they starved to death.

What does this have to do with honor, the topic of the next few days’ readings? A lot, actually. Consider your social sphere, news cycle, and the basic tone of our nation today. Do you see a lot of honor taking place? Oh, it’s there if you dig for it, but you have to jackhammer through several layers of vitriol, name-calling, one-upmanship, and dirty dealing.

As God’s men, we need to consciously fight for honor—the honor of those under our protection, starting with our families—and give honor often and freely. Compliment those you love; talk up your fellow employees at work; give a kind word to the elderly gentleman you see on your daily walk, and a particularly good tip to your favorite barista.

Honor doesn’t happen by accident—in a world where honor is endangered, God’s men are called to bring the biblical precept back from the brink of modern cultural extinction.

Lord, help me honor at least one person today with a compliment or kind word or action.

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.  ––John 1:5

This is what new birth as a man will look and feel like. The light of Christ shines into the secret places and exposes realities in our lives, the gaps He would like to help us fill. A full exposure to His light in our lives leaves no corner un-illuminated and leaves us exposed morally, emotionally, relationally, and spiritually.

And though being exposed can be uncomfortable, Jesus insists this is a benevolent capture. In fact, running only precedes what will eventually be even worse for us when it is caught and exposed.  We can choose to bolt back into the pseudo anonymity of darkness to alleviate the present discomfort of exposure to reality.  But we’ll be so much better off welcoming the Holy Spirit’s perfectly targeted detection of the problem.

We are like the dolphin trapped in the long net; the lion caught in the thicket. The faster we submit to the benevolent One’s handiwork, the faster we become free.

We should surrender to the Master Craftsman’s loving pursuit of truth for us so He can finish His shaping of whom and what He wants us to be.

Why so much reality? Why the discomfort? Why the pushing and pulling to negotiate with the truth if it’s there anyway? It’s just the same truth that’s always been there, right?  It’s not going anywhere.  Why not just accept a little fantasy with your reality?

Jesus confronts His men with the facts, because anything less on His side makes Him a fraud and makes you not a brother, but an object of judgment. Holding to your fantasy makes you a recipient of His justice.

God always has your best in mind. Anything less than exposure to truth is a deception. Satan is the deceiver, don’t be hijacked. He’s the snare in the thicket; choose a better path.

Father, thank You for Your perfect wisdom which calls for truth’s exposure.

Every Man Ministries

The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of his world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.  ––2 Corinthians 10:4

The Bible teaches us that God’s weapons were created to be used. If we were to be graded on our familiarity with our weapons, like they do in any good standing army, what would our drill instructor say? “How long have you been a believer, boy?” Ouch! Would that be you? The Bible assumes we’ll actually use the weapons issued to us. We are equipped with weapons that will knock down the strongholds of Satan!

Well, my brother, you can’t fight a battle against evil unless you’re intimate with God’s weapons. So let’s start talking about how to use them in our fight against evil. After all, Satan wants to keep you from becoming adept with your spiritual weapons.

Knowledge of evil and of your position in Christ is the first weapon used in this fight. Satan tries to keep intelligence and awareness about himself limited or misguided. He also wants you to be unaware of your spiritual position and the authority you command. Just saying “I am in Christ” is a blow to him. That identity and union, once internalized, activates your authority. It’s the key that unlocks the door to spiritual power.

So, God’s man, when you get a chance, tell the enemy that you mean business, then say it like you mean it, and mean it as you say it (and pray it now):

“I am in Christ. My identity has been eclipsed. I have been deputized with full authority.  I personally acknowledge, accept and appropriate my authority in Jesus’ mighty name.”

Say it often to remind yourself and Satan that you know who you are, and he should know it as well. Your awareness of your spiritual identity is the basis, the power cell, for all other weapons.

Father, I have Your full authority and full power to overcome temptation. 

Every Man Ministries

Tremble and do not sin; when you are on your beds, search your hearts and be silent. Offer the sacrifices of the righteous and trust in the Lord.  ––Psalm 4:4-5

I first heard the phrase “FOMO” (fear of missing out) when my oldest daughter was in middle school. It’s that time in a pre-teen’s life when friends—and their acceptance—loom large. Birthday parties, swim parties, ice skating sessions. Who’s invited? Who’s not invited? Am I invited? And if I say “yes” to that event, will I miss out on a better invitation?

FOMO’s not just for socially sensitive teens, though. If we’re honest, we all struggle with it. It’s the proverbial “the grass is always greener” dilemma. “If I marry this person, how do I know I won’t be giving up my chance at someone (fill in the blank: smarter, richer, prettier)?” “Maybe I should quietly quit this job so I can jump ship to that other job,” or worse, “My wife doesn’t seem to love me anymore, so maybe I should have that affair.”

The devil’s good at setting us up for FOMO. Two of your peers at work are promoted but not you, or all your friends are invited to the lake to water ski—except you. And even as grown male adults, we often act like children, don’t we? (Well, I do.) We know in our head that there are more important things in life, yet it stings when we get left out or passed over.

That’s the battleground, brother. The devil knows that if he can get us to take that bait right away in any given FOMO situation, he can then sink that hook deeper. Ever notice that the deceiver typically tries to manipulate through strong emotional reaction—and usually it involves anger? Paul tells the Ephesian church, “’In your anger do not sin’: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold” (Ephesians 4:26-27). That first part is from Psalm 4, as David understood the power of anger to pollute the mind and sour the spirit. He saw it in Saul, whose jealousy and anger made him try to kill David.

Being sober minded is not a side gig. For God’s man, there’s no room for part-time spiritual adulting. The great thing is that we have a Father who loves clarity, dispenses wisdom, and offers us a way of escape from every trap the enemy sets for us. In Him, there’s never any FOMO—we are always invited and always welcome before His throne.

Father, help me surrender those FOMO moments that seem to come out of nowhere, and exchange that instant negative reaction with Your peace that passes understanding.

Every Man Ministries

The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. ––John 10:12-15

You’ve probably heard it: In this world, there are three kinds of people: sheep, wolves, and sheep dogs.

Most people in our society are sheep. Then there are wolves, and the wolves feed on the sheep without mercy. Do you believe there are wolves out there who will feed on the flock without mercy? You better believe it. There is no safety in denial. Evil, Satan, and demons are not only real, intelligent, and intentional, they are also lethal to their targets.

Then there are also the sheepdogs. Have you ever been around a sheep dog? Most of them are huge, and quite hairy. They look like a man in a dog suit, actually. The ones that are actually trained to herd sheep are kind of goofy and playful—that is, until their flock is threatened. Then they become formidable beasts. Watch out, wolves.

If you have no capacity for violence, then you are a healthy and productive citizen, a sheep.  If you have a capacity for violence and no empathy for your fellow citizens, they you have defined yourself as an aggressive sociopath, a wolf.

But what if you have a capacity for violence and a deep love for your fellow citizens? Hmm. What you have then is a sheepdog, a warrior, someone who is adaptable and able to push aside their fear and walk into the heart of darkness. Sheep dogs have the capacity to plunge into the universal human phobia and walk out unscathed—or, scathed, but victorious.

Identity is a choice—and alignment of the will, and a statement of purpose. An identity requires duty and responsibility to that identity. Choosing one’s identity mitigates the fear connected with the duties one discharges. God’s man is both dangerous and good, an awesome combination. That was Jesus. That is us.

God’s man is not out to win popularity contests among the sheep.  He’s bent on one thing: dispossessing the wolf of his ability to harm the sheep.

Be a sheep dog.

Father, thank You that have called me to be a protector, a sheepdog, like Jesus.

Every Man Ministries

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” ––Matthew 28:18-20

God has made it clear; He has an End Game.

Let’s look at the sequence of events in getting to the end game. First the revelation through the Old Testament that man is incapable of keeping the law. God contrasts the Law versus Grace, Old and New. The Father’s wisdom reveals our need for contrast. There is no understanding of light unless we experience darkness. There is no understanding of yes, unless we understand no.

The greatness of the New Covenant of grace is not apparent unless contrasted by the Old Covenant. When a non-believer is approached regarding being saved, many times the answer is, “Am I saved from what?”

I hope I’ve made my point.

Now let’s look at His End Game in His purpose for creating our existence. He is love personified. He has provided an environment where love can work its wonder. The workings of love, however, can only be manifested through humanity given a choice. For example I cannot love my wife unless there is a process of selection which can only happen through choice. He has given everyone who is reading this a choice. God’s love is experienced by either acceptance through faith of His love or walking away from it. That’s it. Two choices. Two kingdoms. One dark, one light.

The evidence of your choice is sharing it with others. Thus Matthew 28:19 which says, in essence: Share the Good News! The End Plan revealed. Joy to the world, the Lord has come into my life!

Father, may Your love for me be radiated to others by “a cup of cold water in Your name.”

Every Man Ministries

There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. ––Galatians 3:28

Samaritans were perceived as an ethnic malfunction in the days of Jesus––a blight which reminded the Jews of a season in their history they would rather forget. Samaritans were the product of interracial bloodlines formed during the forced exile in Babylon; a racial amalgam despised by the ethnically pure.

Jews, especially the spiritual ones, wanting to get to Galilee from Judea would cross over to the east side of the Jordan, and walk around Samaria to avoid being tainted by the bad blood. (Sounds familiar, right? Segregated bathrooms, hotels, water fountains, etc., in our nation’s past.) This custom reinforced the racism and preserved standards of ceremonial cleanliness.

So when we see Jesus intentionally planning to go through Samaria, we see the God man with matches in His hand, intending to light a fuse that will explode the cultural boundaries of His day.

Look at the reaction of the Samaritan woman at His request for water:

 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)

The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) ––John 4:8-9

She’s obviously uncomfortable. “Don’t you see the roadside bomb you are about ready to step on?” Jesus gets right to the heart of the matter: I’m not your average Jew. The “gift of God” He talks about is nothing less than the grace and acceptance of God through Christ. She’s trying to create separation and He is trying to create connection.

Then the disciples return, find these two engaged in conversation, and are caught off guard by the cultural and gender boundary infraction. They are thinking, What in the Sam Hill is He doing? They are more concerned about how they will be perceived than what He is trying to teach them and her. Isn’t that the same problem we are faced with today?

Don’t let the world’s restrictions and prejudices restrain you from following Jesus’ call to lead the “ethnically unacceptable” to His living water.

Father, I also struggle with my cultural barriers—open my eyes to Your perspective.

Every Man Ministries

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens … a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.

––Ecclesiastes 3:1, 7-8

Offense is rampant today. Everywhere we turn someone’s in an uproar about some controversy. Ever noticed—especially on social media—how Christians get riled about something, boycott/protest, and then move on to the next offensive thing (seemingly forgetting about the last horrible thing they were offended about)? It’s a cycle: React. Emote. Repeat.

Is there a place for righteous anger in the church? For sure. We all know Jesus rebuked the Pharisees, turned over the tables of the moneychangers, etc. As Solomon says in Ecclesiastes 3, there is a time to be silent and a time to speak up about affronts to Jesus and His kingdom.

But it’s also a matter of priorities. Satan will do anything to distract us from the main thing, which is sharing the good news of Jesus with those who do not yet know Him. So if we are constantly in reactive mode, offended by the bad stuff the world does, what happens to the “main thing” we are called to focus on? I get it: heresy is rampant, and the media openly mocks Christianity. But think about it: why do we expect the unredeemed world to act redeemed? It’s a matter of expectations. It’s like expecting your toddler to sit still and quietly enjoy an eight-hour car ride. Wrong expectation equals warped view of reality.

As God’s men we keep realistic expectations of the world. John tells us that Jesus is the Word, and that “in Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it” (John 1:4-5, NKJV). The NIV says the darkness did not “overcome it.” Either way, because we have the light (Jesus), we need to understand that those who do not cannot possibly comprehend Him. Light dispels darkness, not the other way around.

So what does this have to do with getting offended by the world? A lot. Just as we don’t expect a newborn child to speak in full sentences, we cannot expect those who do not have the light to understand it. Once we grasp this, we become way less susceptible to being triggered by the world. As well, the more surrendered we are in our walk with Christ, the more impervious we become to the world’s offenses. This is not the same as becoming soft to sin or callous to heresy—it’s about setting and keeping the right priorities at the right time for the right reasons.

There’s a time for vocal outcry, but let’s not make it a higher priority than praying for and actively loving on the folks still lost in darkness. After all, they’re the mission field. Yes, even the very folks who offend us!

Father, help me keep my mission to share the good news of Christ as the main thing, and let me surrender the distractions I encounter each day.

Every Man Ministries

If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven.

––1 Corinthians 15:44-47

Everything we have in our experience of our existence with Christ hinges on the fact that God stepped down to earth revealing Himself through the person of Christ. He then showed us that there is an eternity ahead by ascending back into heaven. This very fact is what we Christians base our assurance on. Not our experiences, our changes, our emotions. Not on anything material, temporal, or physical.

It’s the objective historical fact that the resurrection took place and the enormous evidence that proves it. The Jewish historian Josephus wrote about it, as did Roman historians such as Pliny, Tacitus, and Suetonius.

This was the turning point in world history.

For the bewildered disciples, the sluice gates opened, the Holy Spirit entered and flooded every cavity of the disciples’ souls with His assurance and anointing for ministry.

That same Holy Spirit was not just the disciples’, but yours and mine. Basing this fact on how we feel at any particular moment defeats the historical evidence that it is true. Our Father has given us the choice to live by feeling or by fact.

Today you have a choice—every day you have a choice. Choose fact.

Father, thank You that the evidence You have provided us equals that of the disciples. We all have the same advantage.

Every Man Ministries

He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.  ––Micah 6:8

You may have fallen for the oldest trick in the book. You can’t fake it. Conviction without character is a C-A-T-A-S-T-R-0-P-H-E.

Get this: no rearrangement of bad eggs can ever produce a good omelet. So start over! Work it from the inside out, beginning with your motives. Find good ones, and then you’ll get good results.

Satan’s goal is dysfunctional spirituality. He’s working overtime to create inauthentic, judgmental, insecure, and insulated Christians so in love with acting “Christian” that they don’t have a clue what it means to be one. They’re uncomfortable around people who aren’t Christians, they don’t know how to engage them, and they make “spiritual” excuses for not connecting with them: They’re bad influences, unrepentant, make bad choices.

Should people who don’t know Christ already know how to act like Him? I’m shocked how often Christians forget this maxim: Why do we keep expecting people who don’t know Jesus to act like Jesus?

Religious attitude confuses people and kills our compassion. Religious guys don’t understand the faith they claim. Anger and judgment often override love and compassion. They are not neighbors. They are synthetic, shallow, and too afraid to reach out to people not like themselves. They are dysfunctional, appearing sane but acting goofy in the face of huge needs around them.

In the end, it’s about them, their agendas, and their convenience while people lie dying by the side of the road. They are like the other folks in the Parable of the Good Samaritan who just don’t have the time for the hurting guy lying in the ditch. They have “rules of engagement” that say to the outsider “you can meet me on my terms when it’s convenient for me, but I refuse to get messy.”

I see myself in some of those descriptions. Do you? Take any condemnation or shame that you may feel to the foot of the cross. There, Jesus will exchange the world’s synthetic living for His authentic love. Thank God for that!

Father, help me to be genuine. Help me look at my motives.

Every Man Ministries

But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. ––1 John 1:9, NLT

We’ve all been in at least one of these scenarios. The morning after a horrible argument with your spouse or friend where unfortunate words were spoken in the heat of the moment. That feeling of guilt and shame for a little too much “liquid joy,” or a moment of weakness that led us to “that website” when no one was around.

Here’s the dilemma that I see a lot of God’s men dealing with. The thinking goes like this: “I know that we are to be perfect just as Jesus is perfect, but of course, none of us are—it’s a goal; a destination to aim for. But when I sin, I’m strongly reminded of how far away I am from Jesus’ perfection. It’s really discouraging.”

From the moment we exit the womb, we are immersed in a culture that is radically transactional rather than relational. But the crux of the matter is that God is first and foremost, relational. I think it’s why so many of us struggle with the concept of unconditional acceptance without performance. We don’t see it in our culture (very often), and we were lucky if we had even one parent who practiced that type of unconditional acceptance.

But that’s the answer to getting back up after we fall (and we will all fall again): We endeavor to consciously and consistently focus on God’s unconditional nature—His acceptance of us with only a period after it. There’s no comma, semi-colon, ellipsis, or “but” after He says, “I love you, my child.”

Living as a reality-based man of God means we don’t quit when we fall. We seek help for sins that are addictive (porn, alcohol, opioids, food, money, etc.), and we ferociously attack the “shame-sin” cycle that keeps so many of us blocked off from God’s full destiny for us. Medicating ourselves for our sins just leads to increasing quantities of medication, right?

The enemy is so predictable—but also very powerful. How assuring to be reminded that the power in us is greater than the power that is in the world. It’s like waking up from a nightmare and realizing that we are on the winning side.

The next time you stumble or fall, get back up and enter back into relational connection with God as swiftly as you can. He hasn’t gone anywhere—it’s us who back away.

Father, thank You for the fact that You cast my sins as far as the east is from the west.

Every Man Ministries

After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. ––1 Kings 19:12

Holy hunches, sensing the Spirit, trusting insight over eyesight, all this talk sounds ethereal and spooky to a lot of men because it requires faith––and risk.  If you are God’s man, author and speaker Malcolm Gladwell’s research confirms what you should already know: God’s Spirit is not failing in your life. In fact, He is constantly providing direction and communication.

So when we think He’s silent or not listening, the problem is not with Him; it’s with us. God speaks to our minds and provides opportunities for spiritual rapid cognition. The disparity between intuition and impulse lies in our familiarity with His voice. If we’re hearing His voice, we cannot give in to our impulses. He might be speaking loudly, but we often press the mute button out of the habit of serving impulses rather than spiritual intuition.

Here’s how to know you are keeping in step with the Holy Spirit: You’re saying no to impulses and feelings and yes to your intuition – you’re taking God at His Word without delay — You’re experiencing freedom from habits that frees your relationships — You’re recognizing rather than rejecting the conviction of the Spirit.

Great decisions do not require great deliberation. For God’s man, great decisions require simple cooperation in the first few seconds. That voice will always say, “Honor God and love people.” So the next time you encounter a complex situation, listen to your godly instinct and obey it––quickly.

Father, thank You for Your still, small voice.

Every Man Ministries

In all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones. ––Proverbs 3:6-8

Cybernetics (loosely translated from the Greek): “a helmsman who steers his ship to port.”

In 1960, Maxwell Maltz wrote a book called Psycho-Cybernetics talking about Cybernetics, the study of trajectory. Trajectory is the origin of the system that guides rocket ships from one heavenly body to another. The study revealed the need for mid-course corrections in a rocket’s trajectory as it sped across space from one moving object to another moving object.

Amazingly, in our flight, it’s possible for even the inertia created by our salvation to be manipulated and thrown off course. Though we might fully embrace the gospel and God’s power in our lives, slight trajectory and velocity changes of the mind, over enough time, can pull us way off course. Think not-so-sound advice, or faulty beliefs about God’s Word. Just like an imperiled space capsule has to fire its engines at exactly the right times to keep the right trajectory, God’s man must employ constant vigilance to listen to the right voices and use the indicators to steer toward an authentic, Christ-centered life.

Satan makes well-calculated attempts to take advantage of our spiritual passion and momentum to slingshot us away from God’s highest purposes and toward his own target of synthetic “Christian” living. That target, as the name suggests, has the look of faith but none of its power.

The Devil can’t take away our salvation or connection to Jesus. True, but he can still do his best to make that connection as unhealthy and toxic as possible. His aim with us is simple: take an authentic conversion and attempt to make it shallow, synthetic, and full of contradictions.

For God’s man, course corrections include check-ins with trusted friends, transparency with spouse of family, consistent time with the Father and His Word. As we check our trajectory against His coordinates, our cybernetics remain true and secure.

Father, thank You for Your Holy Spirit and His promptings.

Every Man Ministries

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you. ––Psalm 32:8

In my line of work—as a fulltime pastor to men—I hear a lot of stories. And think about it: Why would a guy approach a speaker after a workshop or conference? So yeah, I hear a lot of sad stories. And yes, I hear the triumphs also—but typically, I’m ministering to men in crisis or near-crisis. Don’t get me wrong: that’s my calling, and I get a ton of joy and satisfaction out of being used to share the hope and victory that men find in Jesus.

But, one occupational hazard for me is numbness. My prayer is often, “Father, soften my heart toward the men I meet and the stories I hear.” Like anything in life that we do over and over, the danger—and not just for me, but for all of us—is to kinda zone out to tragedy and trauma. I mean, it’s not hard to find a sad story, right? All we need to do is open our phone in the morning and bam!, a whole lot of misery and sadness. Wars and rumors of wars. Political mumbo-jumbo and shenanigans. Celebrity downfalls and scandals. It’s exhausting.

As a man of God, we aim to have the faith of a child as Jesus admonishes us: “Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it” (Luke 18:17).

First, we must choose to live in reality—don’t try to deny that the world is a mess, or ignore the tragedies at your door. They are real, and the faster we can admit that and face it, the sooner we can start dealing with it.

Second, we need to realize that we are not Holden Caulfield; we are not responsible for catching all the kids in the fields of rye before they go careening off the cliff. Savior syndrome is toxic and destructive, and usually masks some deeper trauma that drives us to “over help” in the lives of others.

The key is to walk with spiritual alacrity. Or as the OG of basketball coaches, John Wooden said, to “be quick but don’t hurry.” Alacrity means “promptness in response; keenness, eagerness, zeal, fervor.” It means we don’t do it in our own emotional zone—it’s impossible to maintain keenness and zeal for the trauma and crises we face. No matter how much energy or commitment or passion you have, eventually you will run out. In contrast, God’s tank is always full, and His Spirit supplies endless source of power—if we allow Him to flow through us.

Father, help me be prompt, keen, eager, and zealous for You.

Every Man Ministries

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. ––Proverbs 3:5, NKJV

What we clearly see when we study Jesus is a man whose experiences, exposures, and environment created intuition He could trust. His relationship with His Father; His understanding of His purposes; His encounters with real needs of people; His investments of time and energy in the disciples; His service to others, and His strong sense of identity made Him free and successful in spontaneous situations.

When called to improvise, Jesus thrived because He had a strong adherence to a simple framework: love God and love people. He was free even when under pressure because He was committed to never denying His loyalty and love for His Father and His love for serving people. “My food … is to do the will of him who sent me” (John 4:34) and the “Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve” (Mark 10:45) are the kinds of statements coming from the mouth of the God-Man that reflect the general character. These are the foundation of His experiences and environments which shaped His intuition at any given moment.

This is what forms your identity and provides experiences that train your intuition. Men who are committed to arranging their lives around these purposes are free in the fight because God’s way eliminates confusion and provides clear decisions and godly instincts for effectiveness.

Whether you’re sizing up a decision, a relationship, or a particular circumstance, God’s man, devoted fully to God’s purposes, will not need a long list of options. Instead, he will target what really matters based on his exposure and experience with God’s purposes.

Thank You, Father, for Your insight through the teaching of Your Word.

Every Man Ministries

Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy––think about such things. ––Philippians 4:8

Mismanaging your emotions is like escorting a group of known terrorists into a large international airport, clearing them through security, and seating them in first class on a full flight bound overseas. Well-managed emotions are processed without special clearance and brought before the security stations of God and others.

To properly filter your emotions requires humility, faith, and a commitment to growth. But you can be assured that Satan hates it when a man is in emotional control of himself, because it means only one thing. Satan has lost control.

Many times we forget the fact that we have been given a mind to control. Our mind does not control us unless we allow it to. If we do what comes naturally, meaning allow any thought or emotion to trudge through our mind, uncontrolled and unchecked, we are at the whim of the evil one.

It says in John that the three temptations in life are the world, the flesh, and the devil. The world impresses our mind with things and power. The flesh tempts us with illicit sexual pleasure, food, and how we look. But the most powerful of the three temptations is our mind. The mind in reality has control of the first two temptations; it’s the trump card of Satan.

The mind is the cathedral of your body. In the cathedrals of Europe you will see the placement of guards that prevent vandalism and the defacing of the precious things inside their vaunted halls. How important and what a powerful tool God has given us; He allows us to place centennials so that our minds are kept free of the devastation that Satan has planned for us.

Father, You have given me a choice of what thoughts I will allow to take shape in my mind. Thank You for allowing me to control my mind.

Every Man Ministries