What do people gain from all their labors at which they toil under the sun? Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever.  ––Ecclesiastes 1:3-4

Second Timothy 2:3-6 speaks of a soldier, an athlete, and a farmer. The soldier is tempted by civilian life, the athlete is tempted not to compete, and the farmer is tempted to sleep in. Each example speaks of hard choices each one has to make. Each has their battle, but what else do they have? They have a strong hope waiting for them on the other side of their discipline.

The soldier’s hope is to please his commanding officer, the athlete’s hope is to win the prize, the farmer’s hope is a harvest that he can’t get if he sleeps in. Each one has a hope that’s stronger than their desire to give in to self, and that helps them win the battle.

Motivation demands hope. If you do not have hope in life, you have no motivation. A good question to ask ourselves is, “What is my hope?” When times are tough, we can get more specific: What is my hope today—this minute, this hour? Sometimes that’s all we can do—focus on the very next moment and decision.

Ask yourself what you are placing your hope in. Is it to get married? Get a new car? Have a ribeye steak? Play golf every day? Ecclesiastes 1:3-4 (above) was written by Solomon, the richest man who ever lived. He had it all, and his words reveal the insanity of his efforts.

Solomon’s life reminds us that it is impossible to replace the God-shaped vacuum within us by acting like a dog chasing its tail. Our only hope is for all that God has provided by His perfect love and forgiveness for each of us: the promise of our ultimate satisfaction of living forever with our every desire fulfilled. Life’s battle, as we know it, is over.

Thank You, Father, for giving true hope, total purpose, and meaning to my life. 

Every Man Ministries

Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.  ––1 John 3:18

I met Malik at church and he wanted to talk about his marriage. He told me he’d been married 11 years, and that he and his wife had three kids ages 1, 4, and 6. Malik was great at his job, was a good provider as they’d made the decision that Alissa, his wife, would take a break from her sales job to stay home with the kids.

It wasn’t that Malik didn’t love Alissa, or even that he wanted to cheat on her. He was just … tired. Tired of the day in and day out of going to work, coming home to semi-chaos (even though Alissa was a great mom), and the whole … routine. I could tell he felt guilty about how he felt. He wasn’t giving up on his life or his wife, but he was struggling to stay engaged as a husband and father.

This reminded me of the novel The Painted Veil by Somerset Maugham. In the story English bacteriologist Walter Fane and his wife, Kitty, move to a remote region of 1920s China to combat a cholera outbreak. The wife is drifting in the midst of a life crisis and on the heels of an affair, unsure of her love for Walter.

Toward the end of the novel, when Kitty realizes that she actually does love her husband, and in response to Kitty’s claim that sticking with her husband has to do with duty, the mother superior of the local French convent says,

“Remember that it is nothing to do your duty, that is demanded of you and is no more meritorious than to wash your hands when they are dirty; the only thing that counts is the love of duty; when love and duty are one, then grace is in you and you will enjoy a happiness which passes all understanding.”

Like the lines from Maugham’s powerful novel, I do believe that when love and duty are one, then grace is in us and we will enjoy a happiness that passes all understanding. I encouraged Malik to see his wife as God sees her—in all her glory. The more we can see our loved ones through God’s eyes, the more we find that grace which emerges when love and duty converge.

Father, help me see my loved ones as You do, and help me love them in the spirit of Christ. 

Every Man Ministries

And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit …  ––Ephesians 1:13

The flipside of feeling disqualified is feeling unqualified. My friend had a Scottish grandmother who was 4’11” and tough as nails and lived to be 103. She used to say, “Don’t let them see you sweat.” The sentiment can be helpful—basically, it’s kind of a “fake it till you make it” saying. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with having a tough, get-it-done mindset. In fact, it’s really important––toughness, ingenuity, and that mentality that says never give up.

The problem, however, is that the “bootstrap mentality” can also lead us straight into works-based faith. When we slip down that slope, we fall right into the devil’s pit of performance. Most of us have been there (personally, I never want to go back). Once in that performance pit, it’s hard to get out. We spend our time worried about how well we are doing at (fill in the blank): work, marriage, fatherhood, friendships, our faith. Results trump relationships. It’s back to the income and employment mentality, rather than outcome and deployment. It’s subtle—our faith life can slowly slide toward aspirational goals based on outer metrics rather than on relational goals based on faith and intimacy with the Father.

For God’s man, it’s a fixed game. A sucker’s con. We can never be as good as we want to be, and we can never succeed in all the things at the level we want to achieve. It’s a rat race on steroids. And when we can’t achieve what’s impossible anyway (i.e., there’s always someone better, faster, smarter, richer), our self-esteem can take a nose dive. Then we fall into imposter syndrome—like any day now the leaders at your work place are going to haul you into a dark room, shine a spotlight on you, and say, “Who are you, and who let you in here?”

In no way I am saying self-confidence is a bad thing—it just needs to be built upon the right foundation. Is yours built on the world’s shifting sands, or on the Rock? In Jesus, we are qualified—literally. He died, went to the cross, and rose again in order for Him to certify us as children of God. Gideon hid in a wine press so the Midianites might not notice him. (Who threshes wheat in a wine press?!) In that dark hiding place God called Him out of fear and said: “The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor!” (Judges 6:12) How God sees us is how reality works—not how we feel about ourselves. That’s deception. Don’t swallow the enemy’s lie.

Father, thank You for qualifying me to be Your child so I can serve You!

Every Man Ministries

Moses said to the Lord, “Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.” The Lord said to him, “Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord?  Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.”  ––Exodus 4:10-12

In the Old Testament, lots of seeming “losers” (as the world would define them) find themselves in God’s spotlight. It’s theorized that Moses had a speech impediment that caused Aaron to speak for him. Jacob was a mama’s boy, hanging around the tents and cooking for his family. (Not uncommon male tasks today, but then? No.)

Here’s a quick hit list of what our culture would call “disqualified”: Abraham – liar/coward. Joseph – narcissistic (at least until he was imprisoned in Egypt). David – murderer. Noah – drunk. Elijah – suicidal. Rahab and Mary Magdalene – prostitutes. Samson – womanizer. Jonah – slacker. Gideon – coward. Paul – terrorizer (before His conversion). And so on.

Of course, we know that many of the folks above also make God’s hall of faith in

Hebrews 11. So what does that tell us as God’s men? First, our past doesn’t define who we are today. Second, when our past is submitted to God and we are forgiven and redeemed, He can use us. Third, though bad decisions can carry lifelong consequences, when we are surrendered to Christ, He takes those failures—and the lessons we learned from them—and can use them in mighty ways to help others. From tragedy to testimony.

In the quiet of deep evening—for me it’s around 4am when I get up for nature call—my past failings seem to organize a flash mob in my midbrain. And even if you’ve been growing in the Lord and in a great season, these doom waves can hit as suddenly and hard as an Arrakis sandstorm. Think you are alone in that? That’s just what the devil wants all of us to think: “Sure, you follow Jesus and do all these great things, but remember when you committed that sin?” Like a knock-off film, the circumstances shift a little, but the main plot is always the same. Satan’s hack script reads like this: 1. You really screwed up. 2. Don’t tell anybody because then you will lose status. 3. You’re such a loser and if people find out, they will reject you.

Lie. Lie. Lie. Look at the list above again. Here’s the takeaway: What you do doesn’t define who you are in God’s eyes. He loves you, period. No comma, semi-colon, or modifier. We are all “losers” in that we all fail. But as God’s men submitted to the cross of Christ, when we stay the course we are victors in His hall of faith.

Father, thank You for taking this “unlovable” person and giving me worth and freedom. 

Every Man Ministries

But as for me, I will watch expectantly for the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me.  ––Micah 7:7, NKJV

Expectancy is the very root of faith. This is a powerful and important word that gives power to our daily walk of faith. It’s fine to believe in Christ’s victory over Satan at the cross. We all need to believe in that promise of Satan’s ultimate defeat.

But it’s a far different thing to step out on that promise and fight when you’re outsized, outmanned, outsmarted, and outmatched in every way. Jesus had already told his followers they’d already won, but how many men today are ready to walk in that promise and actually fight? You have already won by virtue of your salvation, and it’s not of you, but of Him. Don’t get played by Satan and attach to his power. Everything––whether pain or pleasure, no matter what your physical and mental experience is right now––is used by our loving Father who supplies everything to build our character. It’s your choice: God or the one who destroys our character, Satan.

Expectancy is an attitude of the mind that brings confidence and courage. Caleb chose not to focus on the enemy but on the promise of God. He knew his position and was expectant of good things—from that position. A fighting God’s man is not owned by the devil; he’s caught up in the victory, and he knows God’s already won. That sort of man is an unstoppable force; the kind of motivated fighter God is looking for.

Listen to what God says about Caleb: “Because my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it” (Numbers 14:24). Caleb expected because he chose to expect. God controls and has promised … are you expectant?

Father, thank You for giving me the motivating root word of faith: Expectancy!

Every Man Ministries

Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.  ––Philippians 3:13-14

The well-prepared soldier during war time is fastidious about training, obeying the rules, and not taking shortcuts. That’s because he knows that after eight weeks of basic training, his life will depend on it. He knows that training practice ends and the real game is about to begin. He is super focused and purposed in all he thinks and in all his actions. There is no room for him outside the boundaries.

The athlete, Paul says, cannot bend the rules to his liking and still expect to win. He can’t take a shortcut to get a jump on the competition or adjust things according to his comfort level. He has to compete fairly, respect the boundaries, and run hard just like everybody else for a shot at the prize. The point is this: the contest is bigger than any individual athlete. An athlete’s primary quality is his respect for the rules. And when he wins legitimately, he has integrity. So he trains right, competes right, and when it’s showtime, he focuses on the victor’s crown. He dreams of being on that podium, receiving the prize for his hard work and dedication.

Now a farmer, Paul says, has to be super diligent in his season of work. He keeps showing up morning after morning, laying those hands to the plow. He doesn’t sleep in, and works late when it’s time to sow and cultivate. He endures the early wake up calls, the aching hands, the smells of fertilizer, and the sore legs and back from walking up and down his fields. He is diligent and determined during the critical time that makes the difference between a good harvest and a bad one. The promise of the harvest spurs him on. He doesn’t sow sparingly because he knows the result.

Stay within God’s boundaries for your life. You know what they are: holiness is not a sometime hobby, it’s a way of life. Perfection? No. But in the grace of Christ we can hone our mind, will, and emotions to focus on the prize that calls us to that upward call. It’s so very worth it, brother.

Father, thank You for giving me purpose and meaning and showing me the boundaries to win the crown You have planned for me.

Every Man Ministries

As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. ––Isaiah 55:9

Chrissie and I have friends who found out at five months into the wife’s pregnancy that barring a miracle, the baby would die in the womb. The condition was a genetic chromosomal defect called trisomy 13. To the surprise of the medical staff, our friends opted not to terminate the pregnancy. “We know you’re religious,” the doctor said, “but it’s not an abortion if the baby is going to die anyway.” Our friends are Christian—not really “religious”—and actually took some heat from the doctor and his team for their decision not to abort. And to clarify, at no time was the wife’s health in danger.

For the next four months we all prayed. It was an intense time. My friend’s wife—let’s call her June—would have strangers approach her all the time asking when she was due, patting her tummy (a very strange social practice if you think about it), while she just smiled and went on her way. Little did they know.

My buddy was really struggling—and he’s a strong man of God who’s been a Christian since he was a kid. When I asked him if he had hope for a miracle, he hesitated. After a long moment he said, “I have faith. But hope is too expensive of a commodity for me to afford.”

Honest and raw. In impossible times—seasons where there seemingly is no hope short of a miracle—we start with honesty. (God already knows what we are thinking and feeling anyway.) If we are angry, we tell Him. If we are sad, the same. We must smash the religious myth that says it’s wrong or “lacking faith” to be raw and real with God. Expression is not blame. When you have a terrible day and share it with your spouse or a close friend, you’re not blaming them, right? Same with God.

The miracle in my friend’s story is that their son, Joseph, was born one month early and defied all the doctors by living for three days. Two NICU nurses accepted Jesus at Joseph’s funeral. Sometimes the prayers that go unanswered for us are answered prayers for others. I’m not saying God “took Joseph” so those two nurses could accept Christ. (We won’t know the answer to that question this side of heaven.) I’m saying that the way in which God uses tragedy—losses that grieve His heart as they do ours—sometimes (oftentimes) play out in surprising ways. Even when our prayer isn’t answered, God answers—and when He answers for someone else, He may also be answering for us.

Father, even when my prayer isn’t answered the way I desire, let me know that You are still at work in mighty ways. 

Every Man Ministries

As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.” Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.”  ––Matthew 14:15

Jesus and the disciples had been praying and ministering to the people since dawn. Now the sun was soon to set. Everyone was dead tired. But as the Lord and His followers tried to slip away to find food and much-needed sleep, the crowd kept on. They were many miles from any village, and the people had no way to get food. Thus the disciples faced a dilemma.

What would you have done? You’ve got 5,000 men (plus women and children, who were not included in the count in those days), hungry and tired. Here’s what I would probably have done: First, make everyone queue up—perhaps 12 lines, each to be manned by a disciple. Second, take a collection from the crowd and then send a team into the nearest village to buy as much food as possible. Third, ration the food into 12 equal units to be fed to those in each disciple’s line. Fourth, make sure that everyone received just enough so that those at the back of the line also got something to eat.

Jesus, however, saw the thing from a very different point of view. When asked the question of what to do, he actually turned the question back on the disciples. “You feed them.” It was a test. How big was their faith? With some embarrassment, Andrew said, “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?” (John 6:9)

We strive. Jesus observes. We organize and strategize. He acts. We exert control, He releases freedom. In the case of the 5,000, He takes His time and waits until the disciples run out of ideas. Not until Andrew half-heartedly acknowledged the boy—willing to give up his meal to feed the crowd—does Jesus act. The faith of a child; the miracle of the Savior.

As men of God we need to acknowledge that in most things, we can’t—but Jesus can. Even when His rhythm makes no sense; even when His timing seems wonky. Because everything He wants to do in us is based on a pacing and flow we can hardly comprehend. It’s the rhythm of the Kingdom. Slow down, quiet your striving—do you hear the rhythm?

Father, help me flow in Your timing and Your ways, not my own.

Every Man Ministries

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” ––Matthew 16:24

In today’s post-modern world our determination and faith fly in the face of a culture that makes feelings and personal beliefs the only true indicators of right and wrong. Today, we are told by the culture that only bigots, terrorists, or political extremists hold to strong beliefs.

But by the very fact that we have a single-minded goal in promoting Jesus, it immediately makes us stand out against our relativistic culture. Don’t be afraid of that—embrace it. Not in your power, but in God’s. We take the posture of Moses who told God he could not speak with eloquence. So what did God do? Scold him? Turn him away? He gave him Aaron—a brother like no other.

Our unflagging commitment is exactly why we thrive in this age and will be successful wherever we land: our ambitions, focus, and single-minded faith in the Great Commission and the Greatest Commandment come from a grace awakening, not a brainwashing. I want you to stay strong in grace because what saved you will also sustain you as you embark on a pathway of leadership and service to God.

There is a long tradition of God’s leaders encouraging God’s men to live out God’s purposes single-mindedly. Jesus told His men of His upcoming suffering at the cross and then used that reality to motivate them. He was honest and clear. Each disciple would have to reject other pursuits, carry the responsibility of a God’s man, and follow Him loyally to the end. He modeled how to call men to a mission. The call to the multitudes was different than the charge to His men.

As seen in his two letters to his protégé, Timothy, Paul’s style and approach was equally bold with Timothy in his charge. Paul knew he had just dropped a bomb on Timothy that would require some heavy reflection. “Pause,” he advised. “Think deeply and continuously on what I have just said.” This is big. Timothy was going to have to take on a single identity, passion, and goal. He would have to train hard, work hard, and focus on results. God has much to give a man of God. Accept it.

Father, I’m Your man, I’m Your leader, I’m Your God’s man.

Every Man Ministries

The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.  ––Romans 8:15-16

The Holy Spirit changes the way we think about ourselves to create a secure and accepted man who seeks to please God. Versus what? An insecure man who battles for the acceptance of others, seeks to please people, and who loses his identity in the process. The Holy Spirit tells us over and over, “Your dad loves you.” When we let in the truth about how God feels about us, we transform and become “more than conquerors through him who loved us” (Romans 8:37).

The Holy Spirit reminds me of my future, which gives me confidence in the present. When a man feels good about the vision he is working toward, he confidently pursues it. If you have time to prepare for a cross-country drive, don’t you feel more confident than if you wake up one morning and are suddenly told without warning?

The Holy Spirit reminds every believer that a very specific process of becoming like Christ and a very specific plan for the future will be executed because we are in Christ. I call it the end zone dance. Or using our cross-country trip metaphor, you could call it the terminus. The destination.  It is a moment in time when we celebrate the victory of Christ and our own part in that victory. The end zone destination is in sight, as is the glory that goes with it.

When the Holy Spirit enlightens a man, He explains and makes clear the will of God. His personality and mission are intimately linked to affecting our thinking and in doing so, He influences our living. His knowledge, power, authority, and proximity to God’s man gives the Holy Spirit the swing vote on all matters of life.

Don’t leave your life journey in the hands of anyone but the Holy Spirit.

Father, You see me as more than a conqueror in spite of how I see myself. Thank You for plotting my course in life and guiding me toward the end zone.

Every Man Ministries

“We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are distinguished, but we are dishonored!”  ––1 Corinthians 4:10, NKJV

Consider the jackass. Otherwise known as the donkey, it’s estimated that mankind started domesticating them 5,000-7,000 years ago. Today, there are more than 50 million donkeys in the world—you can still see wild ones in the Southwest here in the US.

A male donkey—or ass—is called a jack, and a female is called a jenny. Funny how the name “jackass” has come to be associated with men behaving like 12-year-old boys jacked up on Red Bull at a loosely chaperoned sleepover. Let’s face it, there’s good reason why stupid-acting people aren’t called “jenny asses.”

Joking aside, the jackass is an amazing animal. Need a workhorse that’s, well, cheaper and more practical than a horse? Behold the donkey. They can go without water for three days with no problem, and cover all types of terrain. They’re the veritable Jeeps of the equine world.

The pagan sorcerer Balaam trusted his donkey to fulfill his mission to go curse the Israelites on behalf of their Moabite enemy, King Balak. But the angel of the Lord blocked the donkey’s way three times, and each time Balaam beat the beast. Finally the Lord opened the donkey’s mouth and it said, “What have I done to you to make you beat me these three times?” (Numbers 22:28)

So who acted like a jackass here? Not the donkey. Fortunately, Balaam finally came around and refused to curse the Israelites, despite Balak demanding seven times. Then Balaam saw himself as “one who hears the words of God, who sees a vision from the Almighty, who falls prostrate, and whose eyes are opened” (Numbers 24:4).

As God’s men we don’t follow the world’s standards of what is wise and what is foolish. Sometimes we’re the wise donkey—speaking God’s truth while looking the fool in the eyes of men—and sometimes we’re the stubborn human—needing to be told that WE are the one acting like a jackass.

Father, help me be a fool for You rather than a jackass for the world.

Every Man Ministries

No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.  ––1 Corinthians 10:13, NKJV

In football, cornerbacks call it “jumping the route” when they recognize a certain passing formation prior to the snap. They will trick the opposing quarterback into thinking they don’t know what’s coming, let him run the play, and then intercept the pass by “jumping” in front of the receiver. Good basketball point guards do the same thing, as do savvy soccer players. When they steal the ball, because they are so good at anticipation, these guys seem impossibly fast. It’s clear that they know the intentions of their opponents. And at least 50% of that quickness is mental. These guys are thinking a step ahead, anticipating the opponent’s move in advance.

God’s man is called to jump the route on the enemy. It’s all there in the playbook. Spiritually, it means we should expect his movements, discern them ahead of time, and move to preempt and confront them––or prepare ourselves to take a hit for a higher purpose. He’s coming, and he’s creative. Satan’s moves are prepared, well-timed, organized, and thoughtful. He’s not in a hurry. As we’ve learned, he waits for the right conditions. His timing is impeccable, and most of the time, he’s a real gentlemen at first.

But here’s the thing: Satan’s offense is one-dimensional and predictable. He runs the same “plays” over and over, and has been doing so since the Fall. Does that mean we can rest on him? Absolutely not. So study the deceiver’s playbook.

Remember though, that the battle is to be fought with the Word of God and the Holy Spirit. We don’t go against the enemy in our own power—that’s when our route gets jumped. Tap into the power of the Holy Spirit and stay alert—that way, you won’t short-circuit the power you have been given to win the game.

Thank You again, Father, for supplying me with all that I need. 

Every Man Ministries

 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.  ––John 3:16, NKJV

Christ-likeness is all about sonship with the Father. God’s dream for you is to experience––as Jesus modeled––true fellowship and reciprocity with Him. Take a second and absorb that. Let it sink into your soul: your heavenly Father is seeking you out, His beloved son. Do you think a perfect father would treat you “less than”?

God wants that special connection with you right now. He wants to lock eyes. He wants a one-in-a-billion connection with His son. He wants you to feel that profound sense of honor He feels, which makes Him want to transmit His nobility into your life right now. He sees all you can become.

All fathers have dreams for what their sons could become. But in this case, there’s an important difference. This Father can’t disappoint. There are no haunting thoughts of demand of character that can sabotage His deepest wishes and visions for your life. Nothing can ever prevent Him from being the prime example of what He wants you to become. God’s dream is to be the creative force in your life, to give you the active power to pull this off through the Holy Spirit, and for you to be an agent of His expression.

Think of the story of the prodigal son—in it we see that the Father’s bottomless love grows even clearer. The son reacts to his dad’s perceived frustration with him by leaving and throwing his father’s gift in the dirt. Then, we see the father running to meet his returning son. It’s lavish, audacious, and almost too good to be true.

God’s love for us is overwhelming. Wow! Is that motivating or what? God loves you more than you could ever love Him.

Father, thank You for wanting me to be Your son and for running to meet me.

Every Man Ministries

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8

Half the battle of walking into spiritual assurance is recognizing the motives and intentions of God toward you through His person, His plan, and His promises. The other half of the battle could be described as the process of coming into an awareness of who He is, how He feels about you, how He performs, and how this dynamic works.

Adam and Eve decided not to let God be God; they abandoned His goodness, His context, His motives, and His intentions toward them. The perspectives of Adam and Eve changed because of a lie. Satan changed them from not only knowing good but also evil. We have to decide to let God be God versus allowing God to become less than God.

If you look at Numbers 13, when the 12 spies entered the Promised Land and returned with their reports, you will see that these were a group of men who decided to allow God to become less than God. But there was one man, Caleb, who filtered what he saw through his faith glasses versus his fear glasses and God stayed God.

For the group that allowed God to become less than God, they exchanged their filter of faith in who God really was and they took on a filter of fear. And when fear enters that relationship with God, your vision of God becomes blurred and obstacles, circumstances, and people become bigger than God’s person, power, and His promises.

The biggest and most evil lie is that you have to be good enough for God. Don’t let Satan blur your vision. God loves you in spite of who you think you are. He has given you a new heart and a new mind that understands this love and shares it with others.

Father, thank you for helping me see through faith glasses today. 

Every Man Ministries

You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!   ––Isaiah 26:3

When you have been placed under perfect (without flaw) leadership, can you even imagine the perfect peace that flows from that perfect leader? He will not allow us to be overcome by even one thing if we are faithful to listen and trust His still small voice within each of us who believe.

Our last reading was kind of like a short burst from a fire hydrant of the promises of God’s Holy Spirit within us. Are you ready for another blast?

Acts 1:8 promises the power of His Spirt: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.”

The Holy Spirit will remind you that you are God’s son, because “the Spirit himself testifies with our spirit, that we are God’s children” (Romans 8:16).

It is clear after reading about the magnitude of the Godhead that we are incapable of knowing what is best for us. That is why we need God through His Spirit within us to interpret to the Father our imperfect prayers. Romans 8:26 tells us, “In the same way the Spirit helps us in our weakness, we know not what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.”

The love of God for us is truly overwhelming.

Father, help me to believe what Your Word says: That You promise never to leave me or forsake me.

Every Man Ministries

The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing. ––Zephaniah 3:17

Our computer-like mind can only operate with the software that has been written and that we choose to activate. That’s why it’s critical that we load our hard drives with excellent data, while keeping out the spam and viruses. One of the most powerful ways to load our systems is to look at God’s amazing promises to us.

First, God wants to heal your broken heart—the wound that’s been wounded by simply being born and raised in this broken world. Ezekiel 26:36 it says, “I will give you a new heart, I will put a new spirit in you, I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”

Second, the Holy Spirit wants to move us to greater obedience to God. Ezekiel 26:27 says, “I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” There’s that picture of guidance.

Third, the Holy Spirit is in us and wants to remind us of what God has asked us to do. Jesus said, “But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you” (John 14:26, NLT).

Finally, the Holy Spirit will guide you into all truth and teach you. John 16:13 tells us, “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.”

Do you think God would hold anything back from us? And there are 7,000 promises in the Bible—this is only four!

Every Man Ministries

For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. Galatians 3:26

When we look at Jesus, what do we see? We see a man who is loved by his father, accepted by his father, secure in that relationship with his father, knowledgeable of his father’s priorities and consequently ready, sent, focused and equipped.

Equipped to do what? To reflect the Father’s heart to the fullest extent. Jesus reflected the Father’s heart. You might be single, you might be married, you might be young, you might be old, you might be a boss, you might be an employee, but wherever you are your purpose in life is to reflect your Father’s heart wherever you go. So the big idea according to Jesus is that the exact same connection with God’s will that he had, he wants you to have.

Jesus prays this in John 17:23: “I in them, you in me” talking about his Father. He then prays, “May they be brought to complete unity.” Why? “To let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” Jesus wants you to know unconditional acceptance of the Father personally.

In John 17:3 Jesus says, “Now this is eternal life that they may know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” What is Jesus praying for us? That they may know the Father and Jesus Christ whom He has sent. He wants us to enter that father-son relationship. He wants us to live there, share in that and then reproduce that.

Don’t overcomplicate the simplicity of this world-altering truth: Jesus loves you as the Father loves you, and He wants to abide in you.

Father, thank you for including me in your only begotten son’s relationship with you.

Every Man Ministries

 “But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength, they will soar on the wings of eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint” ––Isaiah 40:31

That passage from Isaiah is a picture of trust and elevation in the spiritual life. But, you need guts to go higher—spiritual guts, where you give up trusting self and you start trusting the Lord and rising above the circumstances.

That passage was written to people who had no reason to trust the Lord. The Israelites were in Babylon under the thumb of the Babylonians—conquered and broken and in captivity. The prophet Isaiah turns around and says, “It doesn’t matter what’s going on in your life because you can rise in a different dimension in the midst of the stuff that’s going on.” You may think, “That was a couple thousand years ago—how does it relate to me?”

Captivity has different faces. It could be that you are trapped in a terrible financial situation you don’t know how to get out of. Captivity could mean your spouse deserts you for someone else, you lose your job of twenty years, your teenager gets picked up for drugs, when someone you love dies, when the doctor tells you that the cancer in your brain is inoperable, or when you just don’t know what to do. Have you ever had your back to the wall? Felt trapped?

You are not adrift on wild oceans, you are not lost in a trackless desert of needs, you are not abandoned and you’re not in exile. That’s not what’s going on; that’s not what’s happening. It may seem terrifying and overwhelming, but the reality is that from a spiritual vantage point, you can rise above. What’s really going on is that God is up to something and just because he’s not speeding to your rescue doesn’t mean that He’s unloving, disinterested, or incapable.

The world still sits three spots from the sun. It is perfectly tilted, perfectly acclimatized so that your heart can beat and you can breathe oxygen. The same One who reigns over the world reigns over your life. When the walls of whatever “captivity” are closing in, look up. There He is.

Thank you Father for reigning over my life, even when I feel like a captive.

Every Man Ministries

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

Satan leaves the clean prints of his character and presence everywhere he’s been. So why, after the powerful work of Jesus on the cross, the sending and indwelling of his Holy Spirit, the clear teaching about him by Jesus in Scripture, and the rapid spread of the gospel worldwide, have Satan’s victories over God’s people enjoyed such an incredible run?

The first part of the answer has to do with Satan’s powerful skills. He’s the master of redirecting suspicions about the points of origin and the person of origin, away from himself and onto others, onto circumstances, onto organizations, churches, bad doctrine—anything else but the real source.

The second part of the answer lies with us and our indifference toward his person, abilities, and designs upon us. Indifference is synonymous with ignorance, and ignorance is synonymous with defeat. Neither Pearl Harbor nor D-Day would have been possible if not for ignorance. God himself says that ruin closely follows a lack of awareness. “My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge” (Hosea 4:6). Satan likes it that way.

In contrast, God’s man in the character of his Lord is called to see what others cannot. Where others see only circumstances or people, we’re called to deploy our spiritual intuition, dust for prints, look at things from a different angle, shine the light in unusual places and ask deeper questions based on our knowledge of God’s Word.

We need to see the devil’s character leaking into everyday situations. We might not see him strike the match but we know the fires he likes to set, how he likes to set them, what he uses to set them, and even how he entices us to hold and strike the match.

Father, keep me knowledgeable, prepared, and diligent in your Word. 

Every Man Ministries

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge him and he will direct your paths.  ––Proverbs 3:6

Often, our focus is on how others evaluate us. We are so concerned about our image and our appearance that it’s easy to lose the eternal perspective of what’s truly important. Children’s author Ethel Barrett said, “We wouldn’t be so concerned about what people think of us if we realized how seldom they do.” God is concerned with none of these material things. He’s not concerned with the outside of a man. God is concerned with the inside, the real you versus the image that you project.

In the New Testament it tells us exactly what God is looking for in a man in Acts 13:22: “After removing Saul, he made David their king. God testified concerning him: ‘I have found David son of Jessie, a man after my own heart; He will do everything I want him to do.’ ” God wants willingness of the heart. The question that we need to ask ourselves is, “Am I willing to be what God is calling me to be, and am I willing to do what God’s calling me to do?” God asks you to do hard things, and if you are willing you’ll change. It’s literally impossible to grow and advance in your journey as a Christ follower without change and pain. But if you’re willing, God will use your willingness and bless it.

God loves you and like any father He wants the love reciprocated by your willingness to become the person He wants you to be. Accept the things that will change you into a confident, secure, self-respecting person filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. When you are willing, you are in the process of being a man after God’s own heart. And when you are a man after God’s own heart, you will slowly lose focus on what the world thinks, and be more concerned about the Father’s will and heart for you.

Thank you, Father, for directing my paths and helping me to become a man after Your own heart.

Every Man Ministries