Tuesday, January 29, 2019

Hoist the black flag

This is a quote that you can see almost everywhere.  

"Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag and begin slitting throats."  From Menckens' Prejudices.  

It is on shirts, coffee mugs, Facebook, bumper stickers.  A lot of places.  Just reading the quote instills an image of grizzled pirates chasing down a ship, running up the colors, shouting, waving swords, and preparing for the general mayhem and butchery that they are expecting to begin. Sometimes they win and sometimes not.  You know the movies.  And on the surface, that is exactly what this quote is talking about.  

To me it means something deeper.  This talks of a commitment given, a path chosen, a promise with an expectation to deliver.  Once the flag is raised, there is no going back.  A pirate would not be a very good pirate if they got halfway to the other ship and decided to turn away.  Discontentment would arise in the ranks of the crew, questions would be raised, mutiny may be discussed quietly or openly.  Now you may be asking yourself, "what does piracy have to do with me", or some of you may catch the point.  To me it is not about piracy, but commitment.  

For giggles, let's stick with the pirate theme, though you could switch it to hunting, Nascar, sports, whatever.  In these endeavors, there is a goal.  Not just a small goal, but the best.  The Boone and Crockett monster, the Cup, the gold medal.  Whatever you can see yourself striving for.  Can you see it on the horizon?  Maybe you catch a quick glimpse of it and then it is gone again.  So you try harder, pushing yourself to become bigger, faster, stronger thinking that if you could make a faster lap that you could see it better.  

A shout comes up from the crows' nest, they have spotted something, white sails in the distance.  Man, now its on.  Full sails, eager smiles, sharpening stones, and dreams of the prize.  Money in their pockets that is already spent on worldly things.  Ready for a little caveat?  A little twist...

What if that goal that we are hurtling toward is God?  Wanting to catch Him, to be closer to Him, to know Him more.  We see Him on the horizon, just for a quick second, the call is given, the flag raised, the commitment given.  The commitment to dive deeper into his word daily.  The commitment to allow Him to use us as a loving husband and father.  The commitment to raise our children as arrows for His Glory.  (Psalm 127:4)  

Daily devotions, worship alone and with your spouse, teaching your children about God and His mercies.  Supper around the table talking, asking questions, just being there.  These are just some of the things that can bring us closer to Him, our ultimate goal. A man of God is a commitment maker and keeper, prayerfully deciding the direction that the Lord would have him go and sticking to the course, even if there are detours along the way.   

    

Thursday, January 24, 2019

Obedience

Lord, I want to be obedient to You.  

Give me the words to say, and I will say them
Give me a direction to go, and I will go
Give me the power to do your will on this earth, and I will do it
Give me the strength to be the person that you need me to be, and I will be him
Give me the love that a faithful, biblical husband needs, and I will be him
Give me the patience that you have for Your children, that I may have it for mine 

Being obedient is: to follow the commands or guidance of. 

Make me like Moses, Lord.  Going and speaking to pharaoh when You directed him to.  Not like Jonah who was disobedient and ran away from what You wanted him to do.  

Allow me to follow the commands and guidance left for us in Your word, the impressions that You leave on our hearts.  Please give us a better understanding of the men that you want us to be, so that we may impact others, raising up a righteous generation to You.         

Friday, January 18, 2019

Hide and watch

One of my favorite westerns is Silverado.   Full of an All-Star cast, action, comedic moments, and horses.  It is also full of memorable one-liners.  My favorite one comes close to the climax of the movie where the good guys and bad guys are getting ready to shoot it out in the town.  If you have seen the movie you may remember.  The shopkeeper asks, "What's goin' on Sheriff?"  Cobb replies, "Hide and watch".  Responses like that mean that something was beginning to happen.  That shopkeeper could expect that something was going to happen.  Soon after that the lead starts flying.  

Talked about prayer earlier.  One of the most basic thoughts of successful prayer life is praying, and expecting something to happen. Expectation.  God hears and answers prayer.

Exodus 14 is one that you may not know by chapter, but the story is one that most everyone knows.  The parting of the Red Sea.  Other huge miracles have happened before this including The Creation, Sodom and Gomorrah,  the Flood, the ten plagues on Egypt, to name a few.  As the Israelites are leaving Egypt and Pharaoh has changed his mind and is trying to run them down and their backs are to a huge body of water.  Two of the best verses are verse 13 and 14.  

13 And Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation[b] of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever. 14 The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold[c] your peace.” NKJV

 "Fear not, Stand Still and Watch".  Hide and watch.  Expectation.  What is going to happen?  Here they come and we cannot go anywhere.  I feel like that sometimes.  Do you?  But what happened?  God not only parted the sea, dried the ground so they could walk, made sure that everyone got through, slowed the horses just enough and then when everyone was across, he closed the sea and took care of the Egyptians.  


I try and always expect what I am praying for to be answered.  I know that Gods' timing is not mine, but what I speak I believe to come true.  Sometimes it will take days or weeks or months or years.  But I hide and watch and He never fails.
    

Wednesday, January 16, 2019

Get caught praying

Prayer is essential. 

Have you ever thought that your prayer life reflects your spiritual life?  Prayer comes easy when things are going our way and measurably harder as life happens and times get tough.  However, The prayers said in the easy times are also more flippant, almost thoughtless.  Having no struggles to put weight on us and "no need" to cry out to God, we go though the motions of blessing the food.  I have noticed that, for me and people that I know, when you are not spiritually present with God, in His word and having fervent prayer time, the devil is not as threatened by you.  And thereby everything seems to be good.  

When people that have a passion for Christ, that are on fire with His spirit, pray, mountains move.  They jump, they crumble!  Not saying that their prayers are answered in the mere moments that the words pass their lips, but in the waiting and holding onto the faith that it takes to become a mountain mover.  Our timing is not Gods timing and He will fulfill prayers when He sees fit.  To this type of faithful person, there is no "bless the food", it is a "thank you, Lord, for our daily bread and the provision that You have blessed us with."  A deep connection to God yields more powerful prayer.  

God can move mountains.  He can move them as soon as you ask, or, He can move the mountains that you will want gone long before you see them on the horizon.  But more often than not, the waiting is part of the process.  You may not yet be ready for the answer to a prayer.  God may see that when that mountain is moved there is a river that will flow down and drown you and you have yet to learn how to swim.  No one likes to wait.  It is something that goes against our grain.  5 years in the waiting to adopt, 2 years of working 2 part time jobs, scraping by.  Maybe it is looking for an affordable house, a loved one coming home, the end of a sickness.  

Whatever it is that you are praying for, digging deeper into the Word and seeking the face of God will enable you to produce stronger prayers.  

Remember Daniel in the Old Testament.  When the satraps and leaders wanted to catch him doing something wrong, they tricked the king into making a law that no one could pray to anyone but him for 30 days.  What happened?  He got caught praying.  I don't know what he was praying for, the bible does not say.  But I can guess that it was not, "bless this food".  And we all know the rest of the story.  

Prayer is essential.  No more little prayers!

Friday, January 11, 2019

Iron Sharpens Iron

Proverbs 27: 17 KJV
'Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.'

It is nice to have friends that you can count on in the good times and the bad.  It is even better to have godly friends that you can sharpen yourself on as you help them.  God shows us examples of this throughout the bible.  

Moses had Aaron, David had Jonathan and then his 400 men, even when the disciples of Christ went out they left in twos or in groups, just to name a few.  

There are some examples in history to include Orville and Wilbur Wright, Thomas Edison and Tesla, Socrates, Plato and Aristotle.  

Probably even more iconic are the works of fiction that we know and love.  Frodo had Samwise, Ender had Bean, Sherlock had Watson, Tom had Jerry, and on and on...

They disagreed about ideas, which led to arguing and eventually learning from one another.  They were there to help with each others burdens, they shared food and company and ideas.  They were friends, colleagues and in some ways competitors of each other.  They made each other better.  This is one area that God has given us a complete and perfect picture to emulate.  

God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost.  The Trinity.  Perfect in power, wisdom and are a beautiful representation of how they help each other.  Not jealous of, in contempt with or utter submission of each other, They get the job done.  How much could we do if and when we find the iron that we need in our lives and treat them how Christ treats God or the Holy Ghost.  

Proverbs was probably written by Solomon, Davids' son.  He would have known the story of his dad and Jonathan.  How they loved each other, fought for each other, bounced around ideas of where David could hide and so on.  When Jonathan was killed, David said that he lost someone closer to him than a woman.  (2 Samuel 1:26).  How many friendships are like that today?  Solomon would have even known about David and his 400 men living with, fighting with, learning from and sharpening each other in the cave at Adullam.  How God changed and refined and shaped them into something that could be used for his good.  How when they re-emerged from the cave, they were all giant slayers and labeled Mighty Men.   

One of that hardest things that we face when trying to sharpen and be sharpened is jealousy.  I have been on a job hunt for quite a while and I have a friend that let me know that he got a new job.  Not just a new job, but a better job than he had and only a few weeks after starting looking.  So yes, I became jealous.  Not of his job, but of the apparent lack of effort and the quickness in which he found one.  It took me a few days to figure out that I was not mad at him and now I can talk to him without the pangs of frustration. 

Every man needs someone that he can teach and also learn from.  Sharpening each other.  There is a wonderful resource that is out there that I would love to share with you.  Jeff Voth is a wonderful teacher and full of the wisdom of God.  He is willing to help others and his video posts stoke the fires inside me.  You can check him out here:
https://cavetime.org/

Iron Sharpens Iron!  Find a brother, and strike some sparks.


Wednesday, January 9, 2019

Basics

Lets break down some of these words just to see what 'Journey to becoming a Man of God' entails.  

These will be taken from the Merriam-Webster dictionary, and there may be multiple forms of speech or definitions, but I will use the ones that I feel represent this ideal the best.

Journey- Something suggesting travel or passage from one place to another.  (The journey from youth to maturity.)

Becoming- To be suitable or fitting.  

Man- An individual human. (one person)

God- capitalized: The supreme or ultimate reality; such as: the Being perfect in power, wisdom and goodness who is worshiped as creator and ruler of the universe. 

Putting these words together we get:

Going from where you are right now to being a person who is closer to and willing to obey the God who is perfect in power, wisdom and goodness.  

As we take steps on this journey to draw nearer to Him, He will draw nearer to us.  His word says so and He does not lie.  Being closer to God is what I want to do.  It is who I want to be.  I want my life and the lives of my children to be led and protected by Him who is the author and perfecter of our faith. There is no quick fix, it is a race.  Not a dash, this journey is a marathon that takes a lifetime to complete.  

Monday, January 7, 2019

Starting Out

Becoming a man of God is not a passive event.  There is no easy button or well lit hallway that leads to a sign that says "You have arrived".  It is a mountain climb.  And just like climbing a mountain, there are ups and downs.  There are bends and curves, twists and turns and dead ends.  Mistakes can be made and backtracking is part of the journey.  Sometimes life happens and your progress is halted or even completely stopped for some reason.  If this sounds familiar, please know that you are not alone.  

Maybe you have not ever climbed up a mountain, maybe you have just driven up one.  Perhaps you have seen the signs that say "Detour".  Meaning that to get to where you are going, you have to take the long way.  I think that God puts these longer paths in our way so that we can be stronger mentally and in our prayer life when we arrive.  I even believe that some of these detours will break us down in every way so that we start to lean in and on Him, and not on our own understanding or strength.  

Lean in, not out.  Man, that is a great visual.  On this trip up your mountain, you may have to walk on a ledge that God has placed in your path to get to where He wants and needs you to be.  We can almost get a sense of vertigo just thinking about walking on a narrow piece of rock, high above the ground.  Leaning in and you are safe, but what happens when/if you lean away from Him?  Even though your feet may fail or your balance falters, God has you in his loving embrace and He will never drop you.  

Spend any time in the woods or climbing mountains and you know that having a good map is a very important.  Some would say that it is critical.  New to town, road trips weekend hiking, or longer trips, having a map is always good.  Life is the most important journey that we have.  God has left us with a map for this as well.  As long as we are willing to open our bibles and read what He has for us, we cannot get lost and in doing so, we come closer to Him.  Closer to becoming a Man of God.