Categories
Devotion for Men ZZ

Spout of Grace

‘Then Peter came to him and asked, “Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?” “No, not seven times,” Jesus replied, “but seventy times seven! “Therefore, the Kingdom of Heaven can be compared to a king who decided to bring his accounts up to date with servants who had borrowed money from him. In the process, one of his debtors was brought in who owed him millions of dollars. He couldn’t pay, so his master ordered that he be sold—along with his wife, his children, and everything he owned—to pay the debt. “But the man fell down before his master and begged him, ‘Please, be patient with me, and I will pay it all.’ Then his master was filled with pity for him, and he released him and forgave his debt. “But when the man left the king, he went to a fellow servant who owed him a few thousand dollars. He grabbed him by the throat and demanded instant payment. “His fellow servant fell down before him and begged for a little more time. ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it,’ he pleaded. But his creditor wouldn’t wait. He had the man arrested and put in prison until the debt could be paid in full. “When some of the other servants saw this, they were very upset. They went to the king and told him everything that had happened. Then the king called in the man he had forgiven and said, ‘You evil servant! I forgave you that tremendous debt because you pleaded with me. Shouldn’t you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?’ Then the angry king sent the man to prison to be tortured until he had paid his entire debt. “That’s what my heavenly Father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters from your heart.”’ Matthew 18:21-35(NLT)

This is one of my favorite passages in all of scripture. You’re probably wondering why this strange parable about a servant who couldn’t pay his credit card debt holds that place for me. It’s one of my favorites because it’s so gripping and exposes our sinful hearts. It’s a dose of reality for so many people and how we treat the Gospel. It’s not trying to tell you to pay off your credit card loans. It’s all about forgiveness and grace, and if there’s one thing every marriage needs, it’s forgiveness.

One of the most helpful things that my wife and I continually faced when completing our pre-marital counseling was the continual reminder that we’re both human. We’re so often easy on ourselves and hard on others,. When people make a mistake, it’s such a big deal, but when we make a mistake, we try and play it down. It’s a gut check to realize you and your wife are both human. No matter how much you love each other, you will fail each other sometimes. You cannot expect perfection from an imperfect being. The quicker we understand that concept, the quicker we’ll forgive our spouse.

The passage has many compelling points, but the most revealing part is how the servant responds after being forgiven of his massive debts. Quite literally, he immediately runs and finds the nearest person who owes him money and shakes him down. We think, “That’s crazy! I would never do such a thing!” but we do it every day. It’s astounding that our hearts could be this wicked. I have been forgiven of every wrong or sin that I could ever commit. It has been completely and utterly washed away by the blood of Jesus Christ. I’m a completely new creation in Him. I’m adopted into God’s family in Heaven. Because of Jesus, God sees me as righteous. He sees me white as snow as if I never did wrong.

Then, I got mad because someone was driving a little under the speed limit this morning. Doesn’t it just sound ridiculous? I’ve found that one of the quickest ways to get rid of these petty annoyances is to dwell in what Jesus has done for me and realize that no matter where I am in life, I’m blessed. I’m blessed so I should be a blessing to others. I don’t deserve anything, yet God was merciful.

In the passage, the servant was blessed because his debts were forgiven, but he didn’t extend that blessing to the people around him. The same is true when we consider that Jesus forgave us of everything. Then, we aren’t willing to forgive our spouse and understand their human condition. You’ve got the human condition too, unfortunately. You’re both going to fail, and you’re both going to need a lot of grace for each other. There’s no better place to find it than in the loving arms of your Savior.

Uncommen Questions:

1. Why does remembering we’re sinful help us?

2. What does real forgiveness look like?

Uncommen Challenge: 

Find grace and forgiveness in the arms of our Savior, and extend it to others.

Scripture Reference:
Matthew 18:21-35

from As One

Categories
Devotion for Men ZZ

Servant Ready

‘Then the mother of James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Jesus with her sons. She knelt respectfully to ask a favor. “What is your request?” he asked. She replied, “In your Kingdom, please let my two sons sit in places of honor next to you, one on your right and the other on your left.” But Jesus answered by saying to them, “You don’t know what you are asking! Are you able to drink from the bitter cup of suffering I am about to drink?” “Oh yes,” they replied, “we are able!” Jesus told them, “You will indeed drink from my bitter cup. But I have no right to say who will sit on my right or my left. My Father has prepared those places for the ones he has chosen.” When the ten other disciples heard what James and John had asked, they were indignant. But Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them. But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.”’ Matthew 20:20-28(NLT)

We’ll be hanging out in the book of Matthew (with one minor detour) for the remainder of our devotional. When you’re looking for direction, I would always encourage you to visit the Gospels. Jesus has so much to teach us that you couldn’t possibly explore all of it in just a few read-throughs of the books.

Our passage of the day has almost nothing to do with marriage, but it has everything to do with Christians. It’s all about how we view the world and serve people around us. It just so happens that someone who is always around you and ready to be served is your spouse. As a result, this perfectly applies to your marriage.

It opens up with a relatively strange request by the mother of James and John, who is desiring for her sons to have high positions within the Heavens, right beneath Jesus to be exact. The question immediately misunderstands how we might consider Heaven, because it’s never been about power or levels. Greatness in Heaven has nothing to do with your status or how much honor you have, but everything to do with Jesus Christ. After all, we’re there to glorify Him. As Christ did many times during His earthly ministry, he flipped the script on what the disciples and people thought about Him. They were expecting a military leader, but didn’t get one. Now they were expecting honor and positions in Heaven, but don’t need it.

How should being a Christian shape our worldview knowing this? Certainly, the first thing that we must understand is that wealth, power, riches and other temporal passions are not what we strive for while on earth. They’re not our end goal. Some of us may attain these things and they aren’t evil on their own, but don’t make something that’s good, ultimate. Only Jesus is ultimate and later in our passage, He paints the perfect picture for how the Christian should see and act in the world. We are to serve because He first served us.

Jesus didn’t come to earth and expect people to come and serve Him; in fact, He served them in return. The Son of God, the creator of the world served them! Such a simple fact that can be overlooked sometimes. The only person worthy of praise to ever live didn’t want or need it; He served and gave His life. I wish I lived like that all the time, or even 1% of the time. Sin taints our efforts, but thankfully, God still works in and through us despite this. He can take our imperfect efforts and make them meaningful. You are called to serve your wife, and we learned that from yesterday’s devotion. Why should you serve? Because Jesus served you. He didn’t have to, but He knew that you couldn’t save yourself. He came to stand in your place and take your punishment.

So, the next time you have to sacrifice and help with the dishes, put the kids to sleep, or help with her work, remember how much Jesus served you. Your justifications for why you can’t serve just might melt away, God willing.

Uncommen Questions:

1. How do we get into Heaven?

2. Why do we serve others?

Uncommen Challenge:

Sacrifice something this week so that you have the time to serve your spouse.

Scripture Reference:
Matthew 20:20-28

from As One

Categories
Devotion for Men ZZ

Married For A Purpose

‘For wives, this means submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For a husband is the head of his wife as Christ is the head of the church. He is the Savior of his body, the church. As the church submits to Christ, so you wives should submit to your husbands in everything. For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word. He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without fault. In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as they love their own bodies. For a man who loves his wife actually shows love for himself. No one hates his own body but feeds and cares for it, just as Christ cares for the church. And we are members of his body. As the Scriptures say, “A man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.” ‘ Ephesians 5:22-31(NLT)

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Certainly, many of you have read over this passage when studying about marriage. We’ve even used this same passage for many of our online articles and previous devotionals. So, why do we keep using it? Because God’s Word is so rich! And, well, we’re so stubborn. I wish we could read His truths and just implement them into our programming, but it’s not that simple.

A growing trend in the younger generation is the questioning of marriage; why even do it, besides some mysterious tax break? Most dangerously, it can sometimes seep into the talk of some church members and Christians. My hope and prayer is that we never lose sight of why we marry. And, I’m sorry to disappoint you, but it has nothing to do with saving a little bit of money during tax season.

By verses 23 and 24, we should be getting some strong hints from the passage. Your marriage reflects the relationship between Jesus Christ and the Church. In almost every reference to how the wife should submit or how the husband should love, the church and Christ are mentioned in this passage. This isn’t simply a metaphor to help you get the idea; it’s a real thing that husbands and wives will reflect in their marriage. How you love your wife is intended to reflect how Christ loved, and continues to love, the church.

How does Jesus love the church? Well, He loves them so much that He went to the cross and died for their sins! He didn’t have to, but He did. What a perfect picture of the attitude that we should have as husbands for our wives. Sometimes men will abuse verse 21 to force the wife to submit to the husband’s every last desire. In actuality, what we get is a picture of sacrifice from the husband. You are to serve your wife to the degree that Christ served the church!

How backwards we have twisted the idea of submission in Christian culture and it’s led to such sorrow for women who believe they must submit to everything their husband says. When you lead your wife to sin and outside of the will of God, she has no duty to follow or submit to you. You should probably be feeling the weight of that statement. Your decisions matter, and you aren’t free to live in sin and expect everyone else to follow suit.

You’re a picture; a reflection of Jesus Christ! Surely, we’ll fall short. If you aren’t having much luck with the lottery, you can take that bet and be sure that you’ll win. You will fall short. As we learned in yesterday’s devotion, your love will be imperfect, but Jesus has grace upon grace upon grace to cover you. Why do Christians marry? Because our relationship together has much more meaning than just love and a tax break, but a spiritual meaning that shines light in our world.

Uncommen Questions:

1. Why do Christians get married?

2. How does Jesus love the church?

Uncommen Challenge::

You’re married for a purpose and your relationship reflects a whole lot more than just your own love. Understand and live that out.

Scripture Reference:
Ephesians 5:22-31

from As One

Categories
Devotion for Men ZZ

Two Wholes, One Flesh

‘The man who finds a wife finds a treasure, and he receives favor from the Lord .’ Proverbs 18:22(NLT)

‘And he said, “‘This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.’#19:5 Gen 2:24. ‘ Matthew 19:5(NLT)

‘So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under obligation to the law of Moses. When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God. But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives. ‘ Galatians 5:16-25(NLT)

It feels strange to offer any sort of advice or wisdom concerning marriage being a newly-married man myself. I think it’s much more comforting, for me at least, to see this less as advice and more talking through things I’ve felt and have learned as I approached marriage. 

For our first day, we’re setting up a general theme for the rest of our daily devotions. We’ll dive deep into longer texts, including a revisit to the whole of Matthew 19, but for now, dwell on the passages that were presented today.

I think a crucial element of entering marriage is a correct understanding of who you are. The Bible is very explicit that you weren’t less important before your marriage. Now that you’re married (or have been married for a while), your importance to God hasn’t risen. It’s always been high and your duties as a Christian have been present. Matthew 19:5 points out that the two shall become one flesh.

The striking thing I’ve always considered when reading this text is that two wholes created one flesh. It didn’t take some incomplete ratio of the two of us to make up the whole, but two whole people separately becoming one flesh. You, in yourself, are capable of glorifying and serving God. This isn’t all that revolutionary of a theory when we consider that Jesus never married and it seems as if Paul never married either. Both certainly accomplished much for the glory of God. What a comfort that can be for single people who aren’t blessed with a help meet.

But you are one flesh now that you’re married. So now what? Rejoice! God purposed your marriage and it was in His plan that you would join together and not serve God separately, but as one! He who finds a wife finds a good thing (Proverbs 18:22). You should be thankful that God worked through each of your lives and brought you together. You have a new role as husband and wife (which we’ll discuss tomorrow).

Spending over 6 months in premarital counseling before the wedding day prompted many conversations concerning finances, communication, family, and a whole lot more, but the whole of it can be essentially summed up by our verses found in Galatians 5:16-25. Walk by the spirit and live out the fruits of the spirit. Always so easily said, but never so easily accomplished. Respect each other, listen to one another, sacrifice, and love Jesus. Your love is imperfect and it will always be so. May we rest in the perfect love of Jesus Christ.

Uncommen Questions::

1. How important are you to God?

2. What new roles do we take on as Husband and Wife?

Uncommen Challenge::

 Serve God, together. You are now one and you’re meant to serve as one.

Scripture References:
Proverbs 18:22
Matthew 19:5
Galatians 5:16-25

from As One

Categories
Devotion for Men ZZ

Following the King

‘Endure suffering along with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. Soldiers don’t get tied up in the affairs of civilian life, for then they cannot please the officer who enlisted them. ‘ 2 Timothy 2:3-4(NLT)


Remember, every Warrior requires two things greater than himself to keep him on the path of becoming himself:


He needs a cause worth living and dying for, and


He needs a king to love and a king who loves him back—one who loves first and loves the most, and to whom the man can turn for counsel, guidance, and training.


Great kings lead by example, inspiring and imparting to their men power and authority when their men are ready to wield it. The foundation of the relationship between a king and his men is trust, love, admiration and respect.


When a man has these two interlocking requirements; a cause and a king, he is ready to be turned loose, deployed back into the Story. He is ready to be dangerous for good.


The King of we “small-k” kings heals, settles, and trains Beloved Sons. And in the same way a mission finds us, the King and the cause find the man. They come provoking, inviting, intriguing, and even disrupting a man. They come with answers to a man’s questions:


Do you see me?

Am I worthy?

Am I strong?

Can I come through?


The Father’s answers are yes, yes, yes and YES.

A man longs to hear these answers, and when he does, his heart is both settled and inspired. The relief this can bring is tremendous. Since every man has a unique and personal path to hearing the Father’s answers, the eventual answer “yes” may be the same but it will be delivered at tailored times for each man. This relieves us from being in charge of one another (you’re not the boss of me, nor I you). What we can do for our brothers (and sisters) is lovingly point one another to the King, encourage one another with his cause, and walk as friends on the journey.


Friendship bears a great fruit: accountability. Without friendship, accountability becomes just a chore or a job. Few men receive Life from a chore, but from a friend—that is a different story.


Many “accountability” arrangements fail for lack of real friendship; there’s no time invested or trust earned in one another’s life. The result is just two men policing each other. And who wants to be policed?


The Warrior doesn’t go to others to have his heart policed or the questions of his deep masculine heart answered. The weighty answers come from his Father, his King, and by the Spirit that dwells strong within him.


This is an enormous and fundamental shift for a man, changing to whom he goes with questions about his worth and ability.


As long as a man seeks validating answers from others (a woman, his kids, or other men), a man is vulnerable to the enemy (Satan) using anyone, but if his source for validation and affirmation is God, then the answers he receives are final, transformational, and settling for the man’s heart.


A settled heart is a declaration that a man is ready to re-enter the Story. His Warrior Heart will then be tried and strengthened through battle. We see this principle at work all through the chapters in the book of Acts. The disciples are settled, trained, and initiated. Then they are deployed, stepping into the fray to ensure that the freedom campaign, the cause of their King, advances.


It doesn’t take long before the first casualty is recorded, a beautiful heart named Stephen. He knows the truth, tells the truth, and just like his King, those who hate the truth kill him.


But the truth can’t be killed.


Where there is persecution, hearts are convicted of the truth. When truth convicts hearts, change occurs. And when change occurs, persecution comes.


The friends of Jesus experienced who he truly was and were changed. Equipped with their convictions, they were then deployed into the uttermost parts of the earth (Acts 1:8) with their King’s promise, power and presence, telling them “I am with you always.”


The effect of it all reminds me of a quote I recently heard, “Be the kind of man that when your feet hit the floor in the morning, the Devil says, ‘Oh crap, he’s up.’”


In your Time alone with God, ask Him:

Jesus, do I know that the answers to the questions “Do you see me? Am I worthy? Am I strong? Can I come through?” are all a resounding “YES”? Why or why not?

PRAY: Holy Spirit, I KNOW You will give me the strength to fight the battle well and to be dangerous for good in my day-to-day life. Show me where I still need to allow You to work in my heart, how to fight for the hearts of others (when I’m ready), and the courage to fight from a settled heart. Amen!

from The Heart Of A Warrior by Michael Thompson

Categories
Devotion for Men ZZ

Loving a Woman

‘Then there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon and his angels. ‘ Revelation 12:7(NLT)

‘And the dragon was angry at the woman and declared war against the rest of her children—all who keep God’s commandments and maintain their testimony for Jesus.’ Revelation 12:17(NLT)

If the masculine heart is opposed, the feminine heart is all-out assaulted. Satan comes at a woman’s glory with a jealous and vengeful hatred. And it makes sense. The archangel, Lucifer, was the strongest and most beautiful of all created beings. He was the reigning general of the angel armies—until he went astray.


Why did he go astray? Jealousy.


Eve was the crown of creation. Beautiful and strong. Lucifer did not want to share the glory of God with God’s new creations, man and woman. Lucifer was unwilling to hand over his crown to Eve, the beautiful image-bearer of God. The mutiny was Lucifer’s idea. And the book of Revelation (12:7) tells us that now in a new role and playing a new part in the story, Satan, the ol’ dragon, is hurled to earth and continues his jealous campaign of hatred, making war against the Sons of God (Revelation 12:17).


The prince of this dark world is deemed a liar, a villain who wants to steal the crown back, kill the image-bearers, and destroy love.


And now for the feminine heart… achieving the world’s standard of womanliness is utterly exhausting for women—always striving and yet never measuring up.


If you know the glory of your wife’s or daughter’s heart—what they love to do, what they are passionate about, what makes them come alive, what each one uniquely brings to the kingdom—then you know what the enemy is up to in their lives.


The question is, do you know, do you see, will you invite and validate those things in her heart?


You must know her… each of their stories, their journeys of heart, but most men don’t. What happened to her?


Men’s wounds and those of our wives mixed together making for the perfect storm.


Women cannot turn to us for healing just like we cannot turn to them.


We cannot heal one another. Love each other, yes; heal, no.


That is God’s department.


God will often partner with a man by giving him a message of truth to deliver to a wounded feminine heart, but the man never heals her, nor can she ever be his source of healing. Just as neither image-bearer, man nor woman, can be the primary source of life for one another, there must be someone else they turn to for Life.


Our hearts are far too needy to put that kind of pressure and demand on one another.


You must know, the daughters of Eve hold a special place in the Larger Story. They are in our story and lives for a very important reason…God has them in our lives to teach us how to love.


As men, we can play an important part of their healing journey, or we can aid the enemy in wounding them. When God lovingly allows us to see the wounds women bear—the lies, brokenness, and false self they carry within themselves—what then? How are we to help the feminine heart be free?


The feminine heart, the deepest and truest thing about a woman, was designed to be loved, pursued, delighted in, enjoyed, protected, and fought for. Like us, women long to be loved—to be the Beloved Daughters, to know that God sees them and loves what he sees.


Every feminine heart on the planet desperately needs to experience God’s love and possess it as her own.


If a woman does, it will change everything.


In your Time alone with God, ask Him:

Father God, when have I turned to the women in my life to provide the healing only You can provide?

Jesus, what wounds or hurtful moments are affecting my wife’s (daughter’s, mother’s…) ability to know You? To know that she is Beloved?

Holy Spirit, reveal to me what I need to apologize for, accept responsibility for and seek forgiveness for from the women in my life (living or dead).

from The Heart Of A Warrior by Michael Thompson

Categories
Devotion for Men ZZ

First Things First

‘We are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do. We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ. And after you have become fully obedient, we will punish everyone who remains disobedient.’ 2 Corinthians 10:3-6(NLT)

Most of boyhood is a hands-on learning experience of how to do and how not to do.Watching someone else do something, like watching my dad hammering a nail or painting a chair, was never fun, but it was part of my learning curriculum. Whenever he turned that hammer over to me and said, “You give it a whack,” I grinned from ear to ear.


Try it with any boy or girl under the age of eleven and you’ll see. Crack and whisk an egg with a young heart looking on, then casually drop the invitation “You want to try?” and watch what happens next.


Sometimes the learning proposition is that life is grand and beautiful. Other times, the hammer hits the thumb or the eggs splatter on the floor.


The apostle Paul wrote,

The world is unprincipled. It’s dog-eat-dog out there! The world doesn’t fight fair. But we don’t live or fight our battles that way— never have and never will. The tools of our trade aren’t for marketing or manipulation, but they are for demolishing that entire massively corrupt culture. We use our powerful God-tools for [1] smashing warped philosophies, [2] tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God, [3] fitting every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ. Our tools are ready at hand for clearing the ground of every obstruction and building lives of obedience into maturity. -2 Corinthians 10:3–6 (MSG)


Did you see the 1- 2- 3?

 Read it again. 


Far too many men believe their mission is to fight for other peoples’ lives. I believe Paul is talking about the “1, 2, 3” as the mission of a man’s own comeback- the fight for his own heart.Walking with God to smash my own warped philosophies helps me to tear down the truth barriers in my heart, and to restructure my life in alignment with that of Christ’s.


The “School of Hard Knocks” has a high tuition. I hear stories every day of the mistakes people make and their hopes of recovering. Some mistakes are innocent enough, casual mishaps or the messy debris of an unfocused moment. Other mistakes can take months, even a lifetime, to repair. We’ve all heard the lines and maybe even said them ourselves:

 “I only did it once.” 

“Never again.”

“I wish someone had told me.” 

“I should’ve listened to my . . .” 


These are not promising ways to begin a story.


Think back on your life.

What moments of bad judgment or split-second miscalculations have led to wounds of your heart or those you love?


I have a history of casualties due to impulsivity, misunderstanding, or simply being at the wrong place spiritually at the wrong time physically. It’s what can happen when a Warrior helps others sort through their stories, helps in uncovering the lies, and escorts a heart to healing.


The rescue, redemption, and restoration of any man, and the validation, acceptance, worth, and belonging he continues to seek in his story, is an incredible experience in which to play a part. It is why a man’s first mission and training is to get his heart back… journeying with Jesus through his past in order to partner with Jesus for the future— first the man’s own future, then that of others.


It’s an overwhelming proposition, inviting us to settle into God . . . always.

 In your Time alone with God, ask Him: 

Father God, when have I focused on Your love of others more than of me and set Your pursuit of my heart to the side? 

Jesus, what barriers to the truth are residing in my heart?

from The Heart Of A Warrior by Michael Thompson

Categories
Devotion for Men ZZ

Advanced Training

‘When the devil had finished tempting Jesus, he left him until the next opportunity came.’ Luke 4:13(NLT)

‘When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. ‘ 1 Corinthians 13:11(NLT)


Training is essential for the Apprentice of Jesus…


Now every athlete who [goes into training and] competes in the games is disciplined and exercises self-control in all things. They do it to win a crown that withers, but we [do it to receive] an imperishable [crown that cannot wither]. -1 Corinthians 9:25 (AMP)


Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord. -Ephesians 6:4 (NIV)


But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. -Hebrews 5:14 (NIV)

For physical training is of some value, but godliness (spiritual training) is of value in everything and in every way, since it holds promise for the present life and for the life to come. -1 Timothy 4:8 (AMP)


All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness. -2 Timothy 3:16 (NIV)

If you don’t know what you’re doing, pray to the Father. He loves to help. You’ll get his help, and won’t be condescended to when you ask for it. Ask boldly, believingly, without a second thought. -James 1:5 (MSG)


I wonder: how many training moments I have misclassified as inconvenient, punishment, bad luck, my fault or someone else’s? I am convinced that Jesus wants to redeem all such moments. Learning how to get the best out of training moments takes time. One day you don’t know how; the next, you do. All the days leading up to when the old gives way to the new, matter. It is over time that training pays off.


There was a time when I didn’t understand that much of what God is up to in my training journey. I thought it was more about policing me, waiting for me to step out of line so he could dispense the proper punishment. This false belief had great power in my life. It was a false gospel that made sin central and punishment primary. Those two ingredients do not make for intimacy and didn’t make for a very good version of me.


Under that old belief system, when hardships or inconveniences arose in my life, I was certain God was using them to punish me or get even. I see it all as training now.

If you understand the heart of the Father and what he is really up to in your own heart, then you also understand what he is preparing and readying you for: MORE! It is why the art of living curiously is so helpful to the Warrior in training. Asking God questions in prayer puts him in the rightful place of Teacher and us in the safest place, student.


If God is going to be more and do more in your life, then it’s critical that he have greater access to your heart. Living oblivious to the heart and the Larger Story and how it works is a guarantee for being a casualty, not a Warrior.


In order to renovate your heart, Jesus will have you revisit your belief system. What you see, hear and conclude . . . what you believe in any and every situation matters… It has authority in your life!


But that’s okay. Just wait until you see the results!


The Warrior cannot and does not force his way, nor can he make someone change. He only offers who he is and what he knows—a dangerous prospect, because you never know how another image bearer will respond. You never know who is for or who will be against a man with a settled heart. Jesus didn’t win them all, and neither will you.


The question for an oriented man is: How will you live, knowing what you know, among others who don’t?


The answer: Patiently. Kindly. Generously. Lovingly. And Uncompromisingly.

This is what Jesus modeled, and this is the Life in which he invites us to share.

from The Heart Of A Warrior by Michael Thompson

Categories
Devotion for Men ZZ

Basic Training

The Prayer of Jesus
‘After saying all these things, Jesus looked up to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son so he can give glory back to you. For you have given him authority over everyone. He gives eternal life to each one you have given him. And this is the way to have eternal life—to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth. I brought glory to you here on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. Now, Father, bring me into the glory we shared before the world began. “I have revealed you#17:6 Greek have revealed your name; also in 17:26. to the ones you gave me from this world. They were always yours. You gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything I have is a gift from you, for I have passed on to them the message you gave me. They accepted it and know that I came from you, and they believe you sent me. “My prayer is not for the world, but for those you have given me, because they belong to you. All who are mine belong to you, and you have given them to me, so they bring me glory. Now I am departing from the world; they are staying in this world, but I am coming to you. Holy Father, you have given me your name;#17:11 Some manuscripts read you have given me these [disciples]. now protect them by the power of your name so that they will be united just as we are. During my time here, I protected them by the power of the name you gave me.#17:12 Some manuscripts read I protected those you gave me, by the power of your name. I guarded them so that not one was lost, except the one headed for destruction, as the Scriptures foretold. “Now I am coming to you. I told them many things while I was with them in this world so they would be filled with my joy. I have given them your word. And the world hates them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I’m not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one. They do not belong to this world any more than I do. Make them holy by your truth; teach them your word, which is truth. Just as you sent me into the world, I am sending them into the world. And I give myself as a holy sacrifice for them so they can be made holy by your truth. “I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me. “I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one. I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me. Father, I want these whom you have given me to be with me where I am. Then they can see all the glory you gave me because you loved me even before the world began! “O righteous Father, the world doesn’t know you, but I do; and these disciples know you sent me. I have revealed you to them, and I will continue to do so. Then your love for me will be in them, and I will be in them.”’ John 17:1-26(NLT)

‘“Be still, and know that I am God! I will be honored by every nation. I will be honored throughout the world.”’ Psalms 46:10(NLT)



Basic Training 1: Staying Connected to the King


The first and most essential principle of our training is this: we must stay intimately connected to the King—we in him and he in us. Whatever else happens or doesn’t happen, Warriors stay close to their King.


Jesus is where our Life is and where it comes from. Through his own deeply connected relationship with the Father, Jesus showed us how we, in turn, can live our lives in a similar connected relationship with the Father, and why we must. And he removed everything that impeded our intimacy with him and the Father (His prayer in John 17 confirms it).


Basic Training 2: Fighting for Freedom


Setting captive hearts free is no mere abstraction. It’s as real as the friend who struggles with alcoholism, the wife who bears the wounds of childhood sexual abuse, or the guy two seats over in church who is contemplating suicide. They’re why we fight: because they’re in pain, bound and brutalized by an enemy they can’t see in a war they don’t comprehend. And a Warrior well knows, “That used to be me.” And feels compassion to those still broken or bound.


Basic Training 3: Seeing with the Eyes of Your Heart


Through Christ and in Christ we are free, yet we live with a gravitational pull toward the old ways of the old nature. So after our initial healing from our wounds (during which we confess and repent as often as we need to), we continue to vigilantly engage our will and say no to whatever our enemy throws at us that will impede our freedom.


We are trained as our Father’s Beloved Sons to see, listen, and discern between the presence and voices of two kingdoms: Life and death. This is what the Father is up to in the hearts and lives of his Beloved Sons. It is what Jesus practiced, and so must we.


Basic Training 4: Listening and Patience


It’s all training: what to do, what not to do, and learning how to exercise care in drawing conclusions. The false self is quick to run crazy commentary of how we should act, react, judge, or accuse. Every moment consists of a multitude of variables, it’s never just one thing.


The Heart of a Warrior must learn that God is good and is up to good in his life and in the lives of others.


The Father’s aim is to deploy his Beloved Sons into many different situations where he wants a Kingdom presence. Learning how to be that presence takes time.


Basic Training 5: Solitude and Cunning


Being still (Psalm 46:10) is a daily practice of a Warrior that is uncommon to most men. The Message version of the Bible does a beautiful job of rendering Jesus’ instructions about praying in solitude:


Here’s what I want you to do: find a quiet, secluded place so you won’t be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace. -Matthew 6:6 (MSG)


Only by practicing stillness aggressively, pushing all the clamor and busyness of life aside, can a man truly experience God. In the still and quiet, discernment is learned so that in the heart of the battle it can be practiced. If a man can’t practice it when things are still, there is no way he will be able to do so when the arrows are flying.


Basic Training 6: Moving in Glory


The letters of Peter, James, John, and Paul to first-century believers were all written with a common expectation: those who read them would “get better” because they were oriented and equipped to get better. The new believers’ old hearts of stone (Jeremiah 17:9; Ezekiel 11:19) had been replaced with new ones (Jeremiah 24:7; Ezekiel 18:31). Now, at the center of their being, the heart, they were made noble and good (Luke 8:15).


So it is with us as well! Now we too are to learn how to live our lives out of the good heart within us. Our Father invites us to get better, to become more—more loving, more kind, more patient, more like Jesus in thought, words and deeds, more who we truly are as Beloved Sons.


Basic Training 7: Love


Love is what we were made for, and in love God restores us. Our job as men is first to receive and experience God and then offer him to others—because he is love.


Love is the family business of the kingdom. It will take some training, and everything we have and everything we are as men, to protect love and see it done. Love will not happen without a fight. If we fight for it, the outcome is certain. He became like us (sinful man) so we could become like him (glorious ones, Romans 8).


For most of our lives, as with all those lives around us, we have experienced love so “conditionally” that the vital move toward unconditional love will take time.


A man can’t just buckle down and make it happen in a moment.


Love is something that happens to a man and then settles the heart within him.

What does that love look like? Jesus. Jesus!

from The Heart Of A Warrior by Michael Thompson

Categories
Devotion for Men ZZ

Our Story in the Larger Story

‘The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. One day he asked the woman, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?”’ Genesis 3:1(NLT)



There is a character in the Larger Story you and I are in who is determined to make us lose our way and fail to find our rightful place and our role to play. The great villain opposes our living full and free out of our masculine hearts because he knows the impact we would have if we did.


In order for us to understand the context our personal stories fit into, we need to understand the nature of the Larger Story and its characters. Bunnies and chipmunks suggest quite a different story than do cowboys and Indians, or aliens and Jedis, or rangers from the North and orcs from Isengard. The relationship between the characters in the story and the context of the story are inseparable. And it is here that men suffer from a great blind spot in their masculine journey. It is as if our enemy has pledged,


We must deceive them, lie to them about where they are and what Life is really about. We must shift the context of their lives a few degrees so they will never find rest for their hearts nor step into the true roles that are theirs to play. We must blind them to the One who made them and loves them by offering the illusion of control and the life goal of comfort and ease—a life they will settle for and yet can never truly have.


Getting men to settle for a smaller story is a condition, a weakness with which the enemy has had a field day.


It’s like kryptonite.


In his essay, This World: Playground or Battlefield, A. W. Tozer wrote,


“The idea that this world is a playground instead of a battleground has now been accepted in practice by the vast majority of Christians. A right view of God and the world to come requires that we have a right view of the world in which we live and of our relationship to it. So much depends upon this that we cannot afford to be careless about it.”


The Life we are meant for, the one granted to us by God, is both fragile and glorious. It must be understood, learned, and practiced. Charles E. Fuller, founder of Fuller Seminary, once said,


“Fellowship with God means warfare with the world.” 


Similarly, Oswald Chambers wrote,


“Life without war is impossible either in nature or in grace. I must learn to fight against and overcome the things that come against me, and in that way produce the balance of holiness. Then it becomes a delight to meet opposition.”


Our enemies are ancient, ruthless, and diabolical, and they are opposed to everything good in us and in this world.


They are not to be feared, but they are to be understood and respected. Jesus mounted a revolution against them on our behalf, and now he commissions us to continue his fight for our hearts and the hearts of others.


Men cannot join Jesus in bringing in the Kingdom and advancing freedom, nor caring for the injured and releasing those who are bound by being “pacifists.” Jesus wasn’t one, nor should we be. He is the Prince of Peace; it is a peace that is won. It is a peace on the other side of battle, worth fighting for and worth fighting to keep.


In your Time alone with God, ask Him:

Father God, what is in the way of me understanding my role in the Larger Story?

Jesus, where have I settled for a smaller story? Is there some (positive or negative) part of my story where I have missed the significance of what’s really going on?

Holy Spirit, bring conviction to me in the areas of my life where I’ve not fought my own selfishness or the tricks of Satan.

from The Heart Of A Warrior by Michael Thompson