A Ferocious Beast Awaits

 

“Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” – Matthew 26:41

“And pray that we may be delivered from wicked and evil people, for not everyone has faith.

 But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen you and protect you from the evil one. We have confidence in the Lord that you are doing and will continue to do the things we command. May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance.” – 2 Thessalonians 3:2-5

Men, let’s go on a quick journey in our minds and leave the comfort of our current state. Imagine you’re about to open a door of your life where on the other side there is an evil, ever present 3 headed, fire breathing dragon that has the deepest, darkest, most ravishing hatred for your heart for God and he will stop at no cost to consume you and destroy those loved ones around you that you care about so deeply. Not only does this 3 headed dragon want to eat you alive but he wants to destroy whatever ministry you’re a part of, whatever brings you joy, whatever allows you to feel, whatever is pure and good, whatever brings you fulfillment in your life. He wants to destroy any hope you have in a better future in God’s will and wants to keep you from reaching your full potential as a sold out man of God, a loving husband and father. If that wasn’t enough, this monster that stands for everything that is dark and evil wants to infect your future family blood lines with his evil and destroy those who carry your family crest and name just like he wants to do to you at this moment as soon as you open that door.

Men, this 3 headed, fire breathing dragon is called “Temptation.” He lurks in deep dark corners and is constantly on attack waiting to pounce until he doesn’t even have to disguise himself anymore because so many have already made friends with him and are no longer picking up a sword to fight. Many of these so-called “men” have caved into the pressure of this monster and have thrown down their sword, shield, and armor of God. Many have given up because it’s easier to be friends with this dragon than to fight him any longer. “It’s too hard,” they say. They have lost their way and now they and their future generations will be paying the price. Many of these men started out determined as ready warriors to take on this challenge before them but have fallen during the battle and have grown weak and tired and have become exposed to the enemy’s advances. The Bible says, “Watch and pray let you fall into temptation.” Men! Pray! Drop to your knees for God’s strength! Don’t be like these warriors who have tried to do it in their own strength and maybe put up a descent fight only to be blind-sided by another blow of the enemy, leaving them in shell shock that lead to their defeat. In the movie “Gladiator,” as the prisoners were waiting in the hallway tunnel that lead to the Coliseum arena where the ferocious enemy awaited to kill them, their fearless leader, Maximus speaks out and says, “Whatever is behind those doors, we have a better chance at defeating if we stick together!” Stick with God and get an accountability partner, men. If you know you’re about to go into a tempting situation and there is no way to run from it or avoid it then before you go into the situation, grab a buddy and pray, tell him you need encouragement and council. Ask him to text you throughout the night to help keep your mind on the things of the Lord and to keep fighting the battle. If you don’t have an accountability partner guys, GET ONE! I used to think I was ok without one! Man, was I wrong! How much better my life has gotten since incorporating this into my walk as a Christian!

 

God wants to protect you from the evil one but he still gives you the choice to do the right thing or not. He’ll give you strength but he won’t just magically make everything disappear. He WILL make a way of escape, men. The question is, “Do you see the way of escape in the moment to take it and do you want to win this current battle bad enough?” This very challenge could be for your very life this moment. Big life changes happen in split moments with the decisions and choices you make any given second. Persevere men of courage and men of God! Ask for a mind change, a heart change, and a way to escape the temptation waiting just outside that door. Remember, he wants to eat you alive and destroy your soul. He’ll never stop trying to destroy you this side of death! Take hope though men because the more battles you win in the moment, the easier it will be to overcome this monster called “Temptation” moving forward. Are you ready man of God? Look around you this very moment, who’s willing to go to battle with you? Who’s in your corner cheering you on to victory in God’s strength? That dragon-monster called “Temptation” lurking out there could be in the form of a beautiful 120 pound woman or an enticing magazine cover or a bachelor party night on the town. Just remember, we have a better chance at defeating whatever is on the other side of that door if we STICK TOGETHER.

Drive your stake so far down temptation’s throat that you setup your future generations to defeat it as well.

A Letter from a Man's Heart

“Do not lust in your heart after her beauty or let her captivate you with her eyes.” –Proverbs 6:25
 

Men, below is a letter that was written after being fed up with several intense conversations I’ve had with women over the years and seeing girls on social media sights and in public using their sexuality to seduce guys. I watched these guys play right into these girls’ hands as if they were sheep being lead to the slaughter. These so called “men” just made themselves look so weak. I was frustrated too that I could feel this very tug on my body to want to give in and lust after these women and many times falling into it myself. I felt this needed to be said and men and women alike should listen up. Read the letter below and see what comes to mind in your own life and what you may need to address. Maybe there’s a woman in your life that needs to hear the truth and you would be bold enough to pass this on to help her understand the heart of a man better and the role she plays in relation to you.
 

 “I have to get this out! Guys can we please stop making ourselves look like idiots & dogs in heat by praising girls who use just their beauty & sexuality to get our attention?! I am included in this! I mean c'mon! How pathetic can we make ourselves look?! I'm so sick of girls using their bodies & manipulating us guys to satisfy their insecure need for approval & attention. Instead, we should get real with these mislead ladies in a respectful way & tell her to put some clothes on because it's distracting us from getting to know her heart as a true person & not just an object. These women have a hole that no man can fill. It's called being broken. Help us ladies help you & please stop complaining that all a guy wants from you is sex or that you're just viewed as his trophy! That's because instead of holding out to see if a guy is worth it, you date these idiots & think all men are that way. It's time to take some responsibility for why you keep attracting these kinds of guys! I really don't want to hear one more sob story because of your bad choices. Guys, we need to tell these girls that she's devaluating her worth as a woman & it's so unattractive. Sure a guy will sleep with a girl like this but he sure won't respect her & usually will leave after he's done getting what he really wanted in the first place. Boys will run to a girl who flaunts her sexuality as if it's all she has to offer but real men will stand firm. Ladies, please stop casting your valuable diamonds to dogs! The way to have your body respected, your heart cherished, & your essence as a woman adored is by respecting yourself enough & knowing your self-worth & value enough to not need all these boys approval just based on your sexual allure. You have a choice to not accept this kind of behavior from guys! Walk away!

 I personally would feel more special as your future husband if your sexy body was saved for me & not just offered up to any Joe Schmoe to see. There are 2 kinds of attention from a man: Lustful attention & real authentic heart-centered attention. You need to take a look at your pictures & outfits & ask yourself what kind of bait you are fishing with. You'll catch the kind of fish based on what you put on the hook. Also ladies, you don’t have to be the most beautiful woman in the room or even that attractive at all. You still have this allure as a woman when you sell yourself to the public eye in this lustful manner by showing off your “lady parts.” I can tell you though that the attention you get will be temporary, fleeting, & empty based out of unauthentic praise & a man’s double motive to get only what he wants from you. Sure it can be exciting at first but it’ll lead you down a broken & lost path for your heart. It doesn’t matter if you don’t think that you’re that pretty outwardly& just want to use your body to attract this attention. You are playing into this. Please stop looking for shallow approval just to make yourself feel noticed. It's empty. If I can encourage you in anyway please just know & believe that you are APPROVED of & God adores you & you don't need my or any other guy's approval out there! Your true self-worth & respect for yourself has to come from within! Any girl can get attention just based on her body. Take a look at prostitutes. See! Guys usually take their cues from the way you present yourself, even godly men! And for men, let’s stop blaming our gross behavior on "being a guy." Being called a MAN takes effort & sacrifice. Let's hold ourselves to a higher standard even when most of these hurting girls don't. Let's stop leaving these women to pick up our slack as we bruise their hearts & trample all over them! Let's stand up men of God & lead! To be the boyfriends, husbands, & fathers who will be there for our children & their mothers. We need to stop being so selfish & weak! Grow up & do your responsibility absent fathers! I personally want to be respected & not manipulated & distracted to like a girl just based on how sexy she looks. At the end of the day substance lasts. This is just my thought on this matter. -Sincerely, the Heart of a Man trying to be Authentic”
 

 What does this bring up for you when you read this, men? Does your heart cry out and challenge you to stop going along with the crowd and being lead around by your crotch? Take back your sexuality and use it as the driving force to protect these women in your life, even from your own sinful nature! This is the true path to authentic manhood and being a God’s man!

Am I leaving the woman I encounter better off for having known me or am I being lead around by my lust?

It's a God Thing

"But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image." - 2 Corinthians 3:16-18

 

Men, let's discuss this passage of Scripture above and how it applies to our lives today. The main thing we need to remember is that God is in the heart-changing business. The Bible tells us that once someone gives themselves over to let the Lord work in their life and on their heart the blinders are taken off of their eyes. Before we accept Jesus Christ into our hearts we are blind to truly understanding who Christ really is and the true implications of having a personal relationship with him. We don't truly understand the magnificence of his love until we accept him as our personal Savior and the Lord of our life. Have you ever heard the expression, "It's a God thing." Being a Christian doesn't make complete sense until you experience it for yourself and feel the change that comes over your heart and behavior.

The Bible also speaks of Satan blinding man's eyes to the truth of salvation. This is why so many are lead astray and can't see that the true answer to their life is turning to Christ and surrendering to his plan for their life. People tend often to think that Christianity or being "born again" is just some "religion" and not for them. Many times they don't believe that Christ will truly be the answer to find meaning to their life. How wrong they are! How blind! Often times people will run from the very thing that they need in their life to be made whole. They run from salvation and turning to Christ. The passage above tells us that there is freedom in the Spirit of the Lord which lives inside our hearts once we accept him and he takes the blinders off our eyes and opens us to a whole new outlook of life. Once we do this, we are never alone another minute! We have the Holy Spirit living in our heart and touching our conscience leading us along life's path. It's up to us to listen to his prompting though.

Once we become a true follower of Christ we can start seeing the Lord and his goodness. It is then that he begins his work in our life changing and molding us into the men of God that he desires us to become. This is the power of God which can turn alcoholics and drug addicts into devout followers of Christ who turn around and use their story to help those who are hurting with the same addiction they once experienced. The power to give a sex addict freedom to break the chains of immorality. The power to restore a broken marriage and the list goes on and on. You may ask, "But can't addicts get freedom from their addiction without turning to Christ?" The answer is absolutely yes, but you will find that people who put their faith and trust in something and Someone greater than themselves will many times find the breakthrough they seek and it will be a real authentic change. There's power in the name of Christ. Reflect on that today, men. The God of the Bible who parted the Red Sea, who healed the sick, who brought dead people back to life, who made food multiply right before people's eyes, who helped prostitutes change their lifestyle, who forgave people who tortured him, who died and rose again, yes him, he is available to you at this very moment. God never changes. He's the same today as he was back in the Bible days. Embrace the freedom that he offers by turning to him. Maybe you've fallen away from your walk and need to surrender and rededicate your life to him. Go for it! Don't waste another day men.

God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Lost Along the Way

“Nevertheless, God’s solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: ‘The Lord knows those who are his,’ and, ‘Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness.’ Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.” –Proverbs 2: 19, 22

 

God knows who his children are and he loves them very much. After all, God IS love so it’s his nature and essence to love his children. He will never stop loving us no matter how unlovely and scorned we may feel throughout our day whether by ourselves or by the people that come in and out of our lives. Many times we beat ourselves up, listen to people who are hateful towards us, or believe Satan’s lies about us, but we can rest assured that God will never stop loving us.

 The thing about this kind of love though is that it doesn’t mean God will just let us get away with living the kind of lifestyle we want to live with no consequences. Like a parent he will encourage us to “stay away from the hot stove.” He will discipline us as his children and show tough love and he will try to bring his wandering children back to him. The Bible says that God’s children hear his voice and he calls them by name. How beautiful is it that God knows every intimate detail about us and has a unique plan for every one of us? Why would we waste our time comparing ourselves to somebody else’s journey when God is moving us on our own unique path in his plan for our life? The sad part is many of us aren't living in his plan because we've left God's way. This isn't God's plan for us. He wants us to come back to it. The question I have to ask all of us though is, can we still hear his voice and leading on our lives? Do we feel a sense of shame, regret, and conviction in our hearts when we leave his path for darkness and wickedness or do we just go with the flow and not even think about it? The Bible speaks about how the Holy Spirit will eventually give us over to our sinful ways after awhile and stop convicting us of our sin if we refuse to listen. He will always welcome us back with open arms though. Again, he loves us more than we can possibly understand. The Bible speaks about the wayward person who commits sin, goes and eats, and wipes their mouth like they never did anything wrong. This is speaking of a person showing zero conviction. This is a scary place to be if you call yourself a Christian. Are you convicted when you sin or are you so far gone that there’s zero remorse?

Men, is your walk authentic? Is it real? I can attest many times my walk is going through the motions even while having my daily devotions, praying, going to church, being in a small group of men, witnessing to others, still, with all of that in a week I still feel like I don’t want to win the battle against sin bad enough and I selfishly give into the moment and sin. Man, this is so disappointing for us as men of God! I have a feeling there’s many like me in this battle of wrong verses right. The latter part of these verses above tells us to stay away from these evil desires that pressure us in our youth. We need to get back to pursuing a pure heart centered on God’s love for us and our obedience to him. Remember, the sin we participate in today may not seem like a big deal but Satan is a crafty manipulator and we can’t see the consequences that are headed our way by giving into it. It’s ugly guys! There are so many destroyed relationships, separated families, fatherless children, abused people, scorned woman, bitter and hurt individuals, etc. because of our selfish desires and a willingness to just satisfy ourselves and what we want as men. It’s never too late men though to start fresh and renew your walk with the Lord out of a repentant heart. There’s no better day than today. Renew yourself in the Lord and start hearing his voice and let him change you into something amazing as you embrace your walk and direction he has for your life. Get going men!

It’s easy to get lost along life’s journey when we walk our own path and can no longer hear our leader’s voice.

Live in Reality Not Illusion

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” –John 16:33

 

Wouldn’t life be great if we knew how everything was going to work out and that in the end we get the smokin’ hot girl, that huge promotion, the white picket fence with the golden retriever out in the yard and the 2-3 kids? No, but seriously life would be much easier if we knew how the story ended and what path we should choose to get the best results and the happiest ending. Unfortunately life isn’t a two hour movie where we go through some tough times and drama and come out knowing the whole story at the end of it. We don’t get to look at our life as a third party and know everything. There are just some unanswered questions that we won’t know or understand this side of heaven.

The good news is that we have a third party who knows us from the beginning to the end of this life and what we will be doing in eternity. God has the bird’s eye view and he has given us a road map on how to live this life and prepare for the challenges that come along the way no matter our past or background. God is more concerned with where we’re going than where we’ve been. Life is more difficult for some than others and many times it is originated from a generational family sin along the way or from the poor choices certain people have made while pushing God away that have led to a tougher road for us now. This however cannot be an excuse to play the victim roll the rest of our life. A true man and leader is not allowed to blame others for where he’s at in his life and to make excuses. Instead, he finds his strength in God and blazes the trail ahead for a better tomorrow.  I can tell you though that the men of God who determine to honor God with their decisions and desire to carry on a Godly legacy and raise up their children to love, obey, and honor God can save their future family generations from a lot of trouble in their lives. Men, we need to forget this notion that we are owed happiness and a good life and that everything is going to work out exactly the way we think it should. That’s just not reality and the sooner we can realize that life isn’t a Hollywood script the easier it will be to embrace life’s struggle and rely on God’s strength to get us through this crazy, hard, yet interesting life.

I’m not proud to admit this but I recently watched one of those “fairy-tale” dating shows where the camera angles are just right and the men are perfectly groomed and the girl looked like a model and laughed at all his corny jokes in the end they got engaged and lived on “cloud 9” together. This is fantasyland and definitely not reality. Don’t think that your life is supposed to be scripted like that. Live in reality with God in control of your life’s wheel. Life is hard and you're not promised a smooth road. This is why God promises to be there with us to help along the way. We don’t have to lose heart because God is greater than anything this life will throw at you. Remember too that God is more powerful than Satan and he determines how much he will allow Satan to get away with in this lifetime. This doesn’t mean though that there won’t be hardship or consequences for the choices we make. Christ has overcome this world and he knows how it all works out in the end so why wouldn’t we follow him? After all, he is the director. He also loves us enough to give us a choice to serve him or to make a mess out of our lives apart from him. He didn’t make us to be robots. If we didn’t have a choice then it wouldn’t be authentic love. Keep in mind that your life isn’t what you see on television. Don’t expect everything to go smoothly. Embrace the challenge and show what a true man looks like as you grit it out and honor God through the struggle. Feel the heat of the fire and do the right thing anyway. This world needs gritty men of God who aren’t afraid to bleed for righteousness or get their hands a little dirty. This world is full of posers that look like men but act like boys in their behavor. Determine to be different from the crowd and remember that this life owes you nothing and God has already given you everything you need to this point and he will continue to do so.

Even Christ wasn't afraid to get his hands dirty and he certainly wasn't living a fantasy life while he was on earth. Instead he kept his eyes on the prize and embraced the struggle as a true man.