Praying Through

Praying isn't just saying a few words to some being you can't see and hope exists; prayer is intense conversation with the Creator of the universe, and your Redeemer. Jesus repeatedly admonished His disciples and followers to pray. He asked His disciples to pray with Him in the Garden of Gethsemane. When He found them sleeping in Matthew 26:40, he asked Peter, "Could you men not keep watch with me for one hour?"

While the disciples were sleeping Jesus was praying so earnestly that the Bible says in Luke 22:44 that His sweat became like drops of blood. I doubt that anyone has ever struggled and prayed in the fashion that Jesus did at that point. He didn't just pray a little prayer and then come back to get the disciples and wait for them to come and arrest Him. He prayed for an hour, then checked on the disciples, then prayed some more, then checked on them again, and then prayed some more. He prayed all the way until his betrayer was close at hand; until it was time to go.

We as men should follow the example that Jesus led us in here to be leaders at prayer time. We should be the first to hit the altars at altar call, and the last to leave. We shouldn't be waiting for everyone's heads to be bowed so nobody will catch us going up to pray, and we shouldn't try to sneak away from the altars while everyone is still praying to go back to our seats. Prayer is never a thing of shame; it's our opportunity to approach God's throne and talk to Him.

Also, we should be staying in prayer until we're through praying; until the conversation with God is over. We don't have to quit praying because the guy beside us got up from the altar. What greater thing could we do, and why would we be so afraid and try to hide it? Men, I urge you to get in the altars and seek God. Make a prayer time at home and seek God. Let Him speak to you through prayer, and you will never regret it.

Non-Committal

What kind of Christian are you? Are you fully committed to serving God, or do you just attend church. Are you living a Godly lifestyle, or do you have to dust off your Bible on Sunday morning? There was a king of Judah named Amaziah who had a problem with total commitment to God. 2 Chronicles 25:2 says "He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, but not wholeheartedly."

He wasn't fully committed to serving God. He showed up for his religious ceremonies, but then took revenge for his father's death into his own hands (2 Chronicles 25:3). He listened to the man of God sometimes, as is shown in 2 Chronicle 25:7-10. But then on his return from that same battle, he brought back their idles and started worshiping them (2 Chronicles 25:14-15).

God won't honor a partial commitment to serve Him. Matthew 6:24 says you can't serve two masters. If there's sin in your life and you're covering it up and you won't commit that to God, you're serving your sin. If you don't have time for God any time of the day or night then you're not fully serving God.

We see in 2 Chronicles 25:27-28 that from the time he turned away following God, his people began to conspire against him so much that he ended up running for his life and being hunted down and killed. While you aren't likely today to be hunted and killed for your rejection of God, when those who look to you for an example see the sin that you harbor in your life, there will be disappointment, resentment, and anger just the same.

Turn your sin over to God and follow Him with your whole heart, so that your testimony can be better than that of Amaziah. If you turn your heart completely over to God, you can have the testimony, "He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord wholeheartedly." It will make a difference in your life that you will never regret.

The Life and Leadership of Jesus Christ

Quite obviously to cover the entire life and leadership examples of Christ would be far more than would be feasible in a single post, but we'll touch on some of the highlights. One of the primary focuses of the New Testament church throughout the Bible is teaching the Word of God. We find Jesus doing this already by the time He was just 12 years old in Luke 2:42-47. And we see this continues as an example in several other verses as well (Matthew 4:23, Matthew 7:28-29, Matthew 28:18-20). We're supposed to teach and preach boldly and with authority. We're supposed to call others to follow Christ (Luke 19:5-10, Luke 5:27-28, Mark 1:16-18).

Going hand in hand, we see that Christ's example was that of unselfishness (Romans 15:1-3), providing for those in need (Luke 11:9-10), and serving others (Mark 10:43-45, Matthew 20:26-28). These are powerful examples. Jesus wasn't just a leader, He was a servant of those who followed Him. He was also a friend to those who followed Him (John 15:15), and He loved them (John 13:34-35, John 15:13). So often as men, it's easy for us to bow down to serve others and show others love, but this was the example that Christ set for us.

One of the greatest examples that we overlook as men that was set for us by Jesus was to not try to do everything ourselves; we need to let other people help (Mark 3:13-15, Luke 10:1). Jesus didn't try to fulfill the Scriptures foretelling His arrival all alone. He chose great men to assist Him in His work. If Jesus needed other people to help bear His load, how much more do we need others to help us?

The final example that Christ set for us was that of not leaving our work half-finished. Jesus finished all that He was intended to, and did so in a complete fashion. John 18:9 tells us that Jesus lost none who was given to Him to save, and John 17:4 and John 19:30 both herald that his work here on earth was completed. His life on earth was short, but it was lived exactly as intended, and completely fulfilled God's will without fail. May that be our testimony when we die: our work was completed, and we were great leaders for God.