Day 36...How to be a Power HOUSE Man

We have been studying and praying our way through the pattern of Lord’s prayer. When we come to the end of the Lord’s prayer, that doesn’t mean that should be the end of our prayers. Instead we have established a solid foundation to lay our many other bricks of praise, requests and thanks upon it throughout the day. “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” 1 Th.5:16-18. “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.” Eph.6:18

We are in a spiritual battle. We need to develop a strong prayer life. As it’s been said, “Little prayer, little power; much prayer, much power.” I like to take prayer walks to “fetch power” from God for you, for myself, my family and others. If you don’t already have a daily prayer habit of walking, standing, sitting, kneeling, etc in battle,  I want to encourage you to begin one. I don’t mean a little polite prayer, but a time for warfare prayer. I like to go to private places where I can even get loud with the Lord in prayer (Heb.5:7). We are wrestling against spiritual forces of wickedness that have hell-holds on men of spiritual lies and passivity. Cry out to God with me that these hell-holds would be broken, that God would give us multiplying MANLY men. Envision the majority of the men in our congregation that are only there Sunday morning as bound by the enemy. Then focus on a few by name. Fight the good fight of the faith. Wrestle in prayer- pry loose with determined prayers those hell-holds that men might stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured. As I see the spiritual lack of desire and weakness in men, I pray that God will help us model the following and that God will give you the following kind of men- Power HOUSE men who have been lit by the flame of God's Spirit. 

Power HOUSE men are:

Hungry- I hunger for your word. I don’t have to be pushed to read it.

Obedient- I desire to do your will O my God, your law is within my heart.

Unstoppable- No matter how busy my day, I will read and share with my brothers.

Strong in the Lord- I am weak, but I find my strength and identity in Christ.

Encouraging- I know the enemy seeks to discourage others, so I will encourage them a lot.

Added thoughts on Prayer

When praying publicly, beware of praying long prayers. Give others a chance. Also beware of the vain repetition of certain words such as “Father God, Jesus just...” Would you use a friend’s name repeatedly in a few sentences as you talked to him? 
Also, you don’t have to always end your prayers with, “In Jesus’ name, Amen.” Surprisingly, there are no prayers in the Bible that end that way. What that means is that we are approaching our Father in the name or merits of his Son. We believe Jesus would sign his name to our requests. 

Praying doesn’t simply mean asking. At times your time of prayer might be dominated by singing or thanking him. Speaking of singing, cultivate a list of good God exalting songs to sing to him. Even if you only remember a bit of the song, that’s great fuel for the fire of worship. (Pet peeve of mine: songs that are misleading- "I wanna hear voices of angels singing" Ugh, I'd either be dead or crazy! "Wrap me in your arms..." That hasn't happened yet to me. What are we teaching believers to expect? We have become such a feelings generation. Where are the manly songs about standing fast in the battle? Anyway, thanks for letting me vent. :) 

Incorporate more thanks in your life and praying. When you're about to ask for something, first see if you can include a related note of thanks. So instead of simply asking God to heal a sick person, you might pray, "Thank you Lord that you are the Great Physician. Thank you for so many days of health you have already given us. Help the sick and his family members to trust you in the midst of this." Also, instead of praying, "Lord, please go with us as we travel," we could pray, "Thank you Lord that you go with us as we travel. Help us to rest in you." By the way, why not pray that we would be good reflections than just for protection? Just a thought. 

Seek to cultivate your prayer life for the rest of your life. Read articles about prayer and read the weekly prayer blog. (Please express thanks to your prayer partners from time to time.) Our lines of communication with our King is something that the enemy greatly attacks. Protect your prayer life. It's a big rock that is so easy to neglect. The word of God and prayer are such mighty weapons- they are the sword of the Spirit and the spear of the Spirit. 

So as you know, to help us be faithful in prayer as God calls us to be, you are rewarded and honored for being daily in it on our GREAT scoreboard. The letter A stands for a crucial ingredient of prayer- ASK! (Ask, Seek, Knock- the three words Jesus stressed in Mt.7:7- "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.") As you blog each day, remember to give yourself credit for having had a vital time in prayer since you last commented on the blog. The letter A also stands for Attack, that you carried out your mission to Attack hell-holds with prayer. You didn't just pray a "Thank you for this day and for my food" generic prayer. You also prayed some warfare prayers. I'm not concerned about the length of your prayers, but the depth of your prayers and the focus on your prayers. Keep crying out for hell-holds of apathy to be broken and for God to give us Power HOUSE men to join in the war of wars.

G.a.- Write out the above Power HOUSE acronym (Hungry, Obedient, Unstoppable, Strong in the Lord, Encouraging) on your MP3 card. Memorize it and pray it often for yourself, our team and your future protégés. This is how to wrestle in prayer against the hell-holds of spiritual apathy, so that men may “stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured.” Col.4:12. 

G.b.- Read Eph.6:10-20. Then write on your MP3 card this manly passage- “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but…against the spiritual forces of evil…” Eph.612 NIV. (I cut it short so that we could easily remember it. Feel free to work on the entire verse if you wish.)

G.c- How many individuals or groups did you share the riches on your MP3 card with since you posted yesterday?

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Day 34-35

Day 33...A Manly Perspective- It's Not About Me

We have studied, meditated and prayed our way through the Lord’s Prayer over the past several days. If you've applied it, you've undoubtedly improved your prayer life. We have learned how to use it as a pattern for powerful praying. We have seen that a balanced prayer life includes:

1.God’s Praise (Our Father in heaven, holy is your name)

2.God’s Priorities (Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done). This comes before-  

3.Our Petitions

for our physical needs (Give us this day our daily bread)

for our spiritual needs-

          for pardon-(Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us)

          for protection- (lead us away from temptation, deliver us from evil).

This brings us to the end of this perfect pattern of prayer. Or does it? Some Protestants (The name given to those who protested against the Catholic church in the 1500s sparking the Protestant Reformation) grew up in churches where a beautiful doxology (praise) ended the Lord’s prayer- “For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. (As a boy, I even heard those words sung many times.) It seems fitting that the Lord’s prayer should end with such majestic words of praise. But where did those ending words of praise come from. Answer: The King James Bible, which so many Protestant pastors preached from. But why does the King James Bible include that ending and the modern translations don’t? Great question! What if your future protégé hit you up with that question and you didn’t already know the answer? That’s when I want you to Google it. Don’t get me wrong; I love to field Bible questions, and so do many coaches. But we want you to learn to dig for yourself. The answer to the King James Version (KJV) question can be a long and complicated one, depending on which site you land on. But a short answer to the short endings in a few different passages of the NT is at- http://www.gotquestions.org/missing-verses.html. Please read this over now. I want to recommend gotquestions.org as a “go to” site. It’s got a lot of short but sweet answers and articles. There’s beauty in brevity.

The Pulpit Commentary (published in 1890) has some glowing words to say about the ending three part praise to God’s kingdom, power and glory. “By our praise to him it induces in us the remembrance- that it is to God's kingdom that we belong, having him for King and Source of law; that it is by God's power that we live on earth and stand freed from Satan's grasp; that it is for the furtherance of God's glory that all has been done for us, all wrought in us, all these petitions are now made and all our hopes and aims are directed.”

One day when our King returns, all of the Lord’s prayer will be a doxology- praise. German Bible scholar, Johann Bengel (1687-1752), imagined how we might then pray the Lord’s prayer as pure praise- "Hallowed be the Name of our God. His kingdom has come; his will is done. He has forgiven us our sins. He has brought our temptation to an end; He has delivered us from the evil one. His is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen." 

G.a- Speaking of God's kingdom, power and glory, there is one book that highlights such more than any other- the book of Revelation. Though it can be complicated in spots, it is also loaded with beautiful passages of praise to God's kingdom, power and glory. Thumb through it and pick a verse or phrase and share it to also give us fuel for the fire of our praise of God. 

G.b- Write out on your MP3 card a portion of what you picked out above and enjoy meditating on it, praying and praising it back to God and passing on to others.

G.c- How many individuals or groups did you share the riches of your MP3 card with since you posted yesterday?

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Day 32...Deliver Us from Evil!

Today we come to the last petition in the Lord’s prayer, “deliver us from evil.” Literally it says, “deliver us from the evil” Thus, it could refer to the evil of our fallen enemy nature, or the evil world system or the evil one- the devil. It’s important to note the past, present and future deliverance from evil that Scripture reveals-

The Lord has already delivered us in the past from the evil of sin’s penalty. This is known as justification. Our position is now in Christ and we have been declared right in God’s sight. “For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” Col.1:13-14. The word “rescued” here and in the following verses is the same Greek word [rhuomai] used in the Lord’s prayer “deliver” us from evil. We can give joyful thanks that he has delivered us from the evil dominion of darkness. We are no longer bound by hell and hell-bound. So as we come to praying, “deliver us from evil” it’s quite fitting to first give thanks for how the Lord already has delivered us from evil.

In the present time, the Lord is delivering us from the evil of sin and Satan’s power. This is known as sanctification, where we are becoming more sanctified (that means "holy") in our practice. In light of what he did for us in our past, we now gratefully want to please him in the present. But there’s a problem. “Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?" Rom.7:21-24. We can't rescue or deliver ourselves from our old evil nature anymore than a drowning man can rescue himself. This reminds us again of our need to pray- “deliver us from evil.” For the Christian life is not hard, it’s impossible apart from the power of Christ. But we are not left to rescue ourselves. So Paul then celebrates there is Someone who will deliver him from this evil. “Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Rom.7:25. It is the power of the Spirit within that enables us to overcome the downward pull of evil. Just as the law of flight (aerodynamics) is greater than the law of gravity, the power of the Spirit is greater than the power of our evil nature. As I trust and obey him, I gain the victory. He teaches me to say "No" to evil and to live to please my coming King (Titus 2:12-14). So presently, daily, I can thank the Lord and pray to be delivered from evil. 

But in this present evil age, we also know "that the whole world is under the control of the evil one” 1 John 5:19. [Literally- “the whole world lies in the evil one” It lies in his jurisdiction.] We know that God is the ultimate ruler, but those who rebel against Him are under the jurisdiction of the evil one. And evil people do the will of the evil one, including persecuting God’s people. That’s why Paul said, “Pray that I will be rescued [delivered] from perverse and evil men” 2 Th.3:2. We need to remember to pray for our persecuted brothers in other lands- “deliver them from evil”- from evil men and the evil one. Wouldn’t we want people praying for us if we were venturing into the enemy’s dominion? Aren’t you glad we have prayer warriors praying for us? If severe persecution should ever come to our shores, would we be unstoppable? What mindset would it take to remain true to the Lord, even unto death? The answer is revealed in Rev.12:11- “They triumphed over him [the evil one] by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.” Paul put it this way- “I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace” Acts 20:24. Paul was unstoppable. May we also be.

Isn’t this the attitude of those in the military? Seal Team 6 that took out Osama Bin Laden thought they were going on a suicide mission. They didn’t expect to come back, yet they didn't cower. Why? They had dedicated themselves to the mission. They didn't shrink from death or pain. They were unstoppable. “No man can be brave who thinks pain the greatest evil.” Cicero. The greatest evil would be shrinking back from persecution and death just to save my skin for a few more years, before standing before the One who sacrificed his life to rescue me from evil and eternal flames.

Finally, one day in the future, he will deliver us even from the presence of evil and the evil one, and he will complete his transforming work in us. This is known as glorification. “When Christ, who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory” Col.3:4. What a day of rejoicing that will be! So our prayer, “deliver us from evil” can also express our longing for that day when Christ returns and makes this wrong world right and we are forever delivered from even the presence of evil.

G.a- Several Scriptures have been quoted in the blog today regarding, “Deliver us from evil.” Please comment on one or something that was said in the blog that struck you. 

G.b- May we become unstoppable, like Paul. Write down the first half of Acts 20:24 on your MP3 card. The new NIV puts it this way- “I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me-” Our task is to multiply MANLY men. (Feel free to use whatever version you prefer. Do the “Did it” when you did it.) 

G.c- Cowards avoid sacrifice, pain and death. Write out and post a manly prayer of unstoppable dedication. It may resemble your Acts 20:34 MP3 or you may want to word it differently. 

G.d- How many individuals or groups did you share the riches of your MP3 card with since you posted yesterday?

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"Deliver us from evil" reminds us that we are in a war and we need to pray that God would provide us spiritual protection. Yet, this is rarely sought. Often I hear people pray for God to give them physical protection as they travel. That's fine. But rarely do I hear people pray for spiritual protection. The armor of God is described in Eph.6 precisely because we are in a war and need protection. "Put on the gospel armor, put on each piece with prayer." 

Day 31...Overcoming Temptation...part 2

Don't Be a Fool and Take the Bait!

Yesterday, we began looking at the phrase in the Lord’s prayer, “Lead us not into temptation.” But wait! “God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone” Ja.1:13. Instead he guides us in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake (Ps.23:3). So how can Jesus have us pray, “Lead us not into temptation?” We learned that it was an old way of saying, “Lead us away from temptation.” It is acknowledging that I am prone to wander. I need the good shepherd to lead me. He does so very well when we read and heed his word. Those who don’t are doomed. Yesterday we looked at 10 points of protection against temptation. Today, we will continue on and look at points 11-20.

11.-Remember, you can never weaken your old sin loving nature. Fasting doesn’t bother it at all. So don’t get discouraged if when fasting the devil still tempts you. That’s when the devil tempted Jesus the most. Use God’s word to battle temptation. Jesus quoted scripture each time he was tempted (Mt.4:1-11). Aren’t you glad you are meditating on a new verse each day? You’re building up a great arsenal against sin and Satan. 

12.-Know when you are most vulnerable-HALT. We are often most vulnerable to temptation when we are Hungry, Angry, Lonely or Tired. When I am low on sleep, I get attacked much more in my thought life. Thus, I’ve found that one of the most spiritual things I can do is take a nap if possible or go to bed earlier to recharge when I am drained. Our spiritual beings are intricately woven together with our physical beings.  

13.-If something indecent comes on the TV, be quick to change channels. If you are a guest, then close your eyes or leave the room. “Turn from it” Prov.4:15; 2 Tim.2:19; 1 Pet.3:11. Have you ever walked out of a movie theater because the movie was trash? Good for you!

14.-Guard your eyes. Jesus said, “Whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matt. 5:28). To look at a woman who is beautiful is not sinful, it’s normal. Even the writers of the Bible noted certain women were "very beautiful" (Gen.12:14; 24:16;2 Sam.11:2). But when the look becomes a long look, trouble is brewing. The lustful look may soon follow. So admit the obvious and then move on. Change your view. “Do not lust in your heart after her beauty.” Prov.6:25. Job said, "I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a young woman.” Your body, including your eyes, belongs to the Lord. So we are to honor the Lord with our bodies (1 Cor.6:9-20). I’ve made it a game of sorts to turn my head away from lewd billboards, especially when my wife is in the car. I've earned her trust and I never want to lose it. And I don't want to grieve the Spirit of God either. "And do not grieve the Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption" Eph.4:30.  

15.-Hate what you love. Our sinful nature loves sinful, evil things. Yet the Bible tells us, “Hate what is evil, cling to what is good” Rom.12:9. We are to be controlled by God and our godly decisions, not our ungodly desires. Thus, I choose to hate what I originally may be drawn to. Often our first impulse is the flesh impulse. So declare what God and your new nature think of that which is seeking to deceive and destroy you. “I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech” Prov.8:13. Say such things out loud. "I hate that!" What is expressed is impressed. 

16.-Recognize that what we are first drawn to is often the deceptive and deadly thing. “Each one is tempted, when by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full grown, gives birth to death” James 1:14-15. Temptation has the seductive lure of a prostitute. Flee it. I also must accept full responsibility for my actions. It is my own evil desires that desire temptation. I can’t blame it on the devil, my friends, circumstances or my spouse. “If you were just a better spouse, this never would have happened.” Liar!

17.-Use hand signs as powerful reminders. Perhaps, put your hand up as a blinder to guard your eyes when you start to see something or someone you shouldn’t look at. Touch your wedding ring if you’re married. Pretend you're stabbing it to death (Col.3:5).This may sound silly, but I've often found that introducing a bit of comic relief is quite relieving. 

18.-Pray for the person who is knowingly or unknowingly tempting you. “Lord, I pray that you would clothe her in holiness. She is someone’s daughter or mother." And pray for yourself, your spouse or your M3 teammates that they will be led away from temptation.

19.-Thank God for the good things you already have. Temptation works by making you think how good it would be to have what you don’t have. So let the temptation prompt you to count your blessings. It’s well near impossible to tempt a rejoicing, praying, thankful Christian. “Rejoice always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” 1 Th.5:16-18. 

20. Pray continually (1Th.5:17). As we have seen, prayer is a powerful weapon against temptation. “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation” Mt.26:41. So pray continually. This doesn’t mean you are expected to be praying every minute of the day. Often you need to be concentrating at work, for example, on things other than prayer. To pray without ceasing means we shouldn’t take a vacation from prayer. It means we should be in frequent communication with God. Don’t wait until your formal prayer time to talk to the Lord. We need to turn our temptations into conversations with the Lord. Seek to cultivate a habit of touching base with God throughout the day. May our MP3 cards prompt us to do so all the more. God’s word helps us to find words to respond to him. It’s also been said, “This book will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from this book.” Let’s choose the former.

G.a- Once again, there are plenty of passages that have been quoted or referenced. Pick one that especially grabs you, and share your thoughts on it.

G.b- Write a favorite portion of the verse you picked on your MP3 card. Then do the Did it.

G.c- How many individuals or groups did you share the riches of your MP3 card with since you posted yesterday?

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Hey Dave, you said under point 11 that fasting doesn't weaken the flesh at all. But I thought that was one of the reasons people fasted. 
I'm sure it is a reason many people set out on a fast. I just know from Scripture and experience that fasting doesn't accomplish that. The confusion comes about because certain versions of the Bible use the same word "flesh" to refer to our bodies (flesh and blood) and to our sinful nature. So some people try to starve the flesh. They may weaken their flesh (body), but not their flesh (sinful nature). The Bible's directives for dealing with the flesh, our old twisted desires, is what we have been enumerating yesterday and today. I don't recall a verse related to fasting that was associated with dealing effectively with temptation. Since we are on the topic of fasting, the emphasis of the New Testament is not on doing without food; it is doing.  If you are going to subtract food, please add prayer. If you want to greatly increase your time in prayer and don't think you could fast for very long, try this to begin with. Use your body's natural desire for food to prod you to pray." I will not eat a meal until I pray for 15 minutes or more." Just going without food doesn't make you more spiritual. But it may make you more irritable and weak. So if you are going to decrease your food intake, please increase your godly intake of prayer and the word. Just a thought.