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.

A Failure at Home

Do you consider yourself to be somewhat successful? God measures our success not only from the way we appear to others, but the way we live at home and follow His commandments in our houses. King Solomon, in all his wisdom, had some serious issues when it came to following God in his home. He was a great king, a leader among men, but failed when it came to leading his family.

Solomon is famous for having so many wives and concubines, according to 1 Kings 11:3 he had 700 wives of royal birth, and 300 concubines. 1 Kings 11:1-2 though shows us that Solomon was not following God's plan for the Israelites by choosing to marry the women that he did. In his later years, 1 Kings 11:4 says that his wives turned his heart after other gods. Solomon failed to keep the One True God the first priority in his home.

We see as we follow through 1 Kings 11:5-8 that he built "high places" for all his wives' gods. According to verse 5, he started following some of those gods himself. You can't force your family to become a Christian, and you can't force your family to get saved. There is no room for you in your home to pay homage to other gods, though. If you don't keep your resolve to follow God with your whole heart, and keep your resolve to lead your family in what's right, you will be led astray by those in your family who do not believe as you do.

1 Kings 11:9-13 reveals to us that since Solomon had turned from God and followed other gods, he would be punished, and would be unable to pass his kingdom to his son as kings normally do. This is why it is so important for us to follow 2 Corinthians 6:14, not getting ourselves tied to someone going the opposite direction. We don't get to choose all of our family, but those we do get to choose, we should carefully consider if they are following God, or if they're going to pull us off the path.

Responsibility of Provision

Are you your brother's keeper? What about the rest of your relatives? According to 1 Timothy 5:8 we are to provide, not just for our immediate family, but also for our relatives in need as well. According to this verse, to fail to provide for your family is to be worse than an unbeliever.

We as men have been given the responsibility to provide for our families. This provision is not limited to just food, a roof, and clothing, but extends to emotional and physical provision as well. Any time we start taking time away from the provisions of our family's emotional needs to try to "get ahead in life", we are betraying them for something far less important.

Sometimes, as men, it's easy for us to get caught up in providing for "a need" and leaving all the rest of the needs of our family behind. We choose to work 80 hours a week to provide for them monetarily, but we completely fail them in every other area because we're never there for them. We stop working to stay home and spend time with the family, lose our jobs and fail to provide for them monetarily. We get caught up in addictive behaviors that prevent us from providing for the needs of our family.

It's a very delicate balance that we as leaders must maintain, but with God's help it is possible. Often, if we'll take more time to pray with our families, all these things will more easily fall into place. If you find yourself having a hard time balancing things, talk about it. Talk to your family about their needs, and pray together about it. God will honor your prayer and faith in him, and your keeping of His commands.

Pick of the Litter

Have you ever gone to pick out a new animal as either a pet or maybe a farm animal? The first thing most people do when the start to pick out a new animal is to look all the available ones over and try to gauge the potential of each one. Then we try to pick the one with the highest potential to meet our current needs.

Jesus seems to have done the same thing when He was on earth with us, calling Simon Peter to be His first disciple. Jesus seems to have been drawn to fishermen, and Peter was a great example of what it means to be a man as well as a follower of Christ.

Peter had a blind faith like few people I have ever met. When Jesus came walking on the Sea of Galilee, Peter was the only disciple to ask if he could join in the water-walking (Matthew 14:25-31). Peter was also still a man, and shortly after joining Jesus on the water began to sink in doubt.

Peter also directly denied knowing Christ (Mark 14:66-72). However, as soon as he realized his mistake, he was sorrowful and wept. After His resurrection, Jesus reassured Peter of His love in a parallel to his betrayal, by asking him if he loved Him three times, and telling him again to follow Him (John 21:15-19).

After having betrayed Jesus, he subsequently renewed his faith in Him. Then, Peter soon preached the first Spirit-filled sermon on the day of Pentecost to the crowd gathering to see what the commotion was (Acts 2:14-41). Acts 2:41 says "Those who accepted his message", meaning Peter's message, "were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day." Peter's message led to the salvation of about 3,000 people in a single day!

What an amazing testimony Peter had. Certainly, Peter had his moments of failure, and some of them quite bad, but he always repented, and came back even stronger than before. As men we will sometimes fail; we sill stumble and fall, but we need to get back up and try again. Jesus will gladly restore our faith and make us even stronger than we once were if only we'll let Him.

Jesus saw the potential in Peter for a great man, and He wasn't disappointed. Sure, as God, Jesus knew that Peter would betray Him. As God, Jesus knew Peter would have doubts and fears. He knew that Peter was a man, and that Peter would make the same mistakes that we all make as men. Jesus still picked Peter first. How great it is that God looks at our potential for serving Him and chooses us, rather than looking at our potential for failing Him.

Love Like a Man

Many may already be familiar with the passage 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 where we find one of the most powerful definitions of love the way we should love others, and the way we should love our Saviour. This passage beautifully describes the characteristic behaviors of love.

1 John 4:7-8 tells us that if we don't have love for others, then we do not know God. 1 John 4:15-16 tells us that if we are saved, God is in us; God is love. 1 John 4:21 even goes so far as to explain that we are commanded by God that if we love Him, we must also love our brother.

These passages show us that have no claim to know God if we don't demonstrate our love to others. We often tell people that we love them. We tell our parents, grandparents, siblings, children, and grandchildren that we love them. We tell our spouses that we love them. Do we show it?

There is no lack of manliness in showing love. Loving someone so purely as defined in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 is an amazing way to actually demonstrate our manliness. Our world has moved from chivalry; it has moved away from love. And looking around us, we can also see that our world has moved far away from God. Through Christ we are capable of showing love in a way that others are incapable. Let's demonstrate God in us today by showing love to those around us, that others will be inspired both to serve God, and to strive to have as pure of love as ours.

The Man Jesus

What is your perception of Jesus as a flesh and blood human being? I was curious to see how many artists had ever thought to portray Jesus “the man” and not Jesus “the emotion”. So, I did several searches through Google Images using various methods and keywords, and found only one image of a non-feminine Jesus Christ.

Think for a moment of all of the pictures you’ve seen of Jesus in your lifetime, and then think of the sort of life that the flesh and blood Jesus Christ lived. Jesus Christ, the baby born in a stable, with a feeding trough for a crib; Jesus Christ, the child raised by a carpenter. I’ve worked in a several different carpenter’s shops. I’m by no means cut out for that work by the way, and kudos to you if you are. Even with all of our fancy machines and all the technology we have now, it STILL isn’t easy work.

According to Luke 5:4-7, the adult man Jesus was welcome aboard fishing vessels. Watch The Deadliest Catch some time if you think being on a ship fishing ship is easy, then imagine it without any of the fancy technology. And don’t think for a second that anyone could get away with not working on a fishing boat back then. I can only imagine trying to heave a big net into a boat. I tried to seine a pond one time with a little net and thought I was going to die.

This man wasn’t by any means weak. The man Jesus walked all over an area approximately 5600 square miles ( around 140 mi x 40 mi) for about 4 years. This man is supposed to be the embodiment of what we as men should strive for today. Hebrews 4: 15 says, “For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.”

Jesus the man had human desires. He had human emotions. It is by His life and by His words that we can measure what we should be. He spoke out boldly against the sins of the flesh; if He was without sin, and He spoke out against those things, then He did not participate in those things. Those are all easy traps for us men to fall into: lust, greed, sloth... to name just a few.

However, Mark 11:15-17 tells us that we’re not supposed to wuss up. Jesus (without sin) threw the merchants and their customers out of the temple, He overthrew the moneychangers’ tables and the seats of the guys selling doves. He was manly enough to take physical action without hesitation to defend what was right.

In our quest to become more Christ-like, let’s closely examine and remember who He really was. Let’s take into full account the life that He lived. I know I don’t measure up. But I also know that with God’s help I’ll continue to try. I would be PROUD to be so manly as Jesus.