A view about manhood

My wife and I (with daughters) got away for the weekend and just returned. One reason to get away was to look beyond our current circumstances and look at the direction our lives are headed. She made a comment that she hoped our house would sell soon- which I'm in total agreement with her here. She was afraid that I was getting discouraged about working for the past 30 years and have nothing to show for it. We talked about the accounts we could use without getting into trouble financially. I made a comment that if we relied on those accounts instead of relying on God for strength and guidance, we would end up spending those accounts until we were forced to rely totally on God the Creator. Do we trust God or do we trust in something else? The Bible says to believe ON Jesus Christ. Not just to believe in Him, but to place all your burdens and worries directly on Him. He will sustain us, no matter what our past, present or future circumstances. He can be trusted completely.

In February of 1995 I made a decision to ask a woman to marry me. The perfect day to do this would be on February 14th. I went and got a ring and was prepared to do just that- so I thought. A few days before the planned moment, my Grandma Broadbent passed away. No big deal, I'll proceed with my plan. Then the funeral was to take place on Valentine's Day. I didn't know how the day would progress so I decided to wait until the following day- or at least after midnight. The decision to marry my wife is something I don't regret, and the decision to love my wife is a daily occurance. Love is not an emotion, it is an action word- something you decide to do. My love for my wife is greater today than it was the day we got married. Many men choose to not love their wifes because of some outside influence- or some weak reason. Men should stand up and be real men and have the courage to love their wives unconditionally. If more men would do this, unconditionally without excuses, o...

Last spring my wife Kim and I had been discussing how we could change our lives for the better. This involved making our lives less complicated- much less complicated. We needed to get rid of stuff! Most of this “stuff” was purchased by me. These were mostly items that took maintenance. This maintenance took time and money. By the summer these things hadn’t been accomplished because I was dragging my feet. I have always been a husband and father that would do everything for my wife and daughters. I had got my priorities mixed up. I had put them above God without realizing it. A better way to say this is that I didn’t put God in His rightful place. I do love my wife and daughters completely. I needed to somehow love God more. Through the last 5 months, He has brought this to my attention. I don’t discount my love for my family. My drawback is to find a way to love God more. HE has showed how this is done by sending His only Son to die in my place for my sin. We celebrate the earthly bir...

I made mention of an important task with two parts in my previous post. It is a task with two equally important parts. We usually focus on the first part and ignore, or fail at the second part. In Psalm 5 David cries out to God for protection. Verse 3 states “In the morning, O Lord, You will hear my voice; In the morning I will order my prayer to You and eagerly watch. (NASB)                 I have a certain amount of patience. This patience is sufficient as long as I am occupied with various tasks. If indeed I am asking the Lord for guidance and direction, don’t you think I should watch eagerly or expectantly for His guidance? If I am too busy with worldly tasks that have no significance, what does that show in regards to my view of God and His power in my request? If He shows me direction and guidance and I don’t pay attention to Him, is it a wonder that I am left searching for a direction to go? This doesn’t give me an excuse to be lazy, or a...

We can sometimes (play on words) find ourselves too busy. The fact is that life moves by much more quickly than we can account for. We put priorities on things we must do and can forgot an important element in life. That is to take time to stop and acknowledge what God has given us. Stop and wait patiently for the Lord to direct our next step. These times of "doing nothing" are more important than times of busy tasks. Our tasks no matter how important to ourselves or someone else are limited. If we stop and give thanks or ask He who has no limit- this can have a greater influence on the outcome of any certain situation. I often forget to look to the Lord for guidance and try to set my own path or plan and after the fact ask God to bless my plan. A time of prayer is the most important thing we do each day.

Being an effective leader requires a person that is decisive and secure. A leader must be secure to keep doubt and anxiety at bay. A leader can't focus on future events that "might" happen. If a leader focuses on these things that might happen, it leads to second guessing themselves and even retracting decisions already in place. All leaders at some point will encounter situations beyond their own capacity. A leader must then rely on something beyond himself for direction and guidance. A leader with a firm foundation that rests on Jesus Christ has something in his arsenal that never changes and will provide excellent counsel in any decision he (or she)  is faced with.

There is conflict in this world. I like to be able to see and identify my enemy. We have wars between nations, we have conflict between political parties in our country, and struggles in our churches and homes. There is also the battle taking place in each of us. In each of these struggles we would like to "see" our enemy. We identify someone as our enemy, or the cause of our problems and struggles. But ultimately our opponent can't be seen. The one we identified as our enemy is someone being used by our enemy. They may see things differently because their view has been distorted, our perhaps my view is distorted. "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places." It shouldn't shock us that battles are raging everywhere around us, including our churches, our families, and within ourselves. This battle has...