Mon.- Day 8...Follow God's Battle Plan if You Want to Succeed.

Last week we saw how Joshua as the new military commander was to invade and conquer the land that the Lord had promised to them. But what was mission critical to his success was to follow God’s battle plan for success. It was a surprising one that we wrote down and meditated on- “Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth (keep chewing on it); meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.” (Then you will thrive and successfully accomplish My will for you.) God’s word was to be top priority in Joshua’s life. We saw this also being lived out by Job and Jesus who both placed a higher priority on the real soul food of God’s word than their earthly food. As you recall, Job said, “I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread” Job 23:12. His priorities were in order. What could you suggest to help a friend who struggles with daily meeting with God in His word? Give him our saying- “No Bible, no breakfast or no Scripture, no sleep.”

Many strong believers begin their day by starting it with God and his word. I usually do. No, I’m not a legalist. I don’t care when you carve out time to spend with the Lord. But I do know that each day gets busy with unexpected interruptions to our plans. (It’s been said, “If you want to make God chuckle, tell him your plans.”) Yet early in the morning or late at night tend to lack many of the interruptions, especially early in the morning.

Read Mark 1:32-35. Despite a late nighter of ministering to people, notice what Jesus did early the following morning. If even the Son of God made this his top priority, shouldn't we as well? Read also a prophetic passage about Jesus in this regard- it’s found in Isaiah 50:4.

To be clear, there is no command about when we meet with God. Some find the evening far better for them. The key to success here is making a commitment that you will not violate. That’s why “No Bible, no breakfast or no Scripture no sleep” is so helpful to live by. Our natural desire for food and sleep reminds us that we need to feed ourselves on God’s word and rest our souls in him. King David even made a vow not to go to sleep until he had found a place for the Lord to dwell (Ps.132:1-5). By application, have you found a place for the Lord in your schedule? Whether it be morning or night, the key is to keep your commitment to meet with him. Blessed is the man who does so.

Okay, so what does the following video, "Put the Big Rocks in First" have to do with what we're talking about today? Everything! Watch it now and see-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RE5geO3GDtk

I don’t rely on my feelings whether to spend time with the Lord or not. He is my rock and my salvation and he calls me to lovingly meet with him daily. So I get this hugely important rock in everyday. Like busy King David, I have made a vow that I won’t go to sleep without reading God’s word and responding to him in prayer. It is the best commitment/practice of my life. God longs to meet with us and strengthen us day by day. So have you made or will you join me in making such a vow or commitment to get this all important rock in- to not go to sleep until you have spent time with God and his word? 

1.-Simply answer Yes or No in answer to the above.

If so, then congratulations! I believe one of the practices to becoming a manly man is making crucial commitments and keeping them. (It's boyish to skip things when they get hard.) May the Lord bless you and give you many manly men who have learned by your life to make time with the Lord their highest priority in life. Speaking of keeping commitments, I want to commend you for for keeping your commitment to return calls promptly. It's disrespectful and boyish not to. Thanks for being MANLY! 

2.- Write out Prov.8:34 on your MP3 card. Simply write “Did It” when you did it. 

Go to our GREAT scorboard and fill in the following

Fill in the total number of times you shared your MP3 card with others since you last blogged.

R.?- Any relationship you sought to make right? You R respected for doing so.

E.?- As you probably have noticed, E stands for Encouragement. We want to get you into the joy of encouraging your teammates. To begin with, simply give a word of encouragement to the brother who last commented above you. Just click on the "Reply" tab immediately under his comment and leave your words of encouragement. Then put 1. in  the E column on the GREAT Scoreboard spreadsheet if you encouraged 1 team member on the blog today. (Or 2 if you did so for 2 men, etc. Get in the habit of praying for the man that you encourage as well.) Down the road, we'll show you another way to encourage your teammates and score more as well.

A= Attacking in prayer. We'll show you how to score in this way soon enough. Right now, I want to ask to recruit two or more adults to pray for you regularly, and email me their names and email addresses, if you haven't done this yet. I send out weekly prayer updates to them and to you, so send me these ASAP. (Yes, this you are being tested on your follow through on this. Please don't make me chase you for this most powerful help to you. Thanks!)

Last week we faced some techno challenges as Coaches and Pros began to use a new Googleshare spreadsheet. Also some Pros had difficulty being able to post their comments on the blog. All is well. Last week was a practice run. Nothing is counted against you on your way to earning your Unstoppable award pin. Just be faithful one day at a time and just four weeks you will have earned it. Skip a day and you'd be breaking your manly commitment. You'd also have to call in for added make up work. You don't want to do that :)