When we urgently need an answer, silence is the last thing we want to hear. Silence can be unsettling, even painful. We see the answer as so obvious; God just has to make the move. It’s the end of the month, and the mortgage is due. Or a family member or friend is very ill, and God needs to give the doctors the wisdom and ability to intercede. Maybe you’ve been there—praying late at night...
Does your faith only grow when God says “yes?” When the promotion comes through, when the family member or friend recovers from their illness, even when we avoid the consequences of a bad decision, we celebrate and proclaim His goodness. But what happens when our prayers seem to go unanswered, when God’s timeline isn’t ours, or His response is “no”? That’s when our faith gets tested. Many...
Today’s world is addicting us to speed—overnight deliveries, instant streaming, instant answers. Anything that makes us wait is totally unacceptable. In Real Faith Isn’t Based on Results, we touched on how impatient we’ve become, but let’s lean in a little closer. If a package doesn’t show up the next day, or if the Wi-Fi lags for thirty seconds, it feels like the end of the world...
There are times in life when it feels like you’ve been thrown into the fire and left there. God’s voice seems silent. His presence feels distant. The solutions appear to be few. The days blur together, the nights feel longer, and prayer feels like shouting into an empty sky. Let the pity party begin. Maybe you’ve been there—watching dreams fall apart, relationships disintegrate, health...
Is not reading a map or ignoring the assembling instructions part of a man’s DNA? Let me kick off this devotional with one of my favorites “we probably lost” stories. Famed baseball player Yogi Berra is credited with many hilarious remarks. Once, Yogi was driving to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, with some other players. After passing the same landmark three...
You are being discipled every day, whether you know it or not—either by Christ or something that wants to replace Him. Disciples are simply followers, learners. The question isn’t if you’re being shaped, but by what. Let’s face it. Most of us didn’t decide one day, “We’re going to let the world tell us who we are.” The discipling process was subtle, almost unnoticed...
You may not have had a strong start, but your past does not limit God. Not all of us came from strong Christian homes where our faith was built on a solid foundation. Our past haunts many of us. Some men struggle with the difference between “forgiving” and “forgetting.” Forgiveness is a choice. It’s an act of the will, empowered by God’s grace. Forgetting is...
The men who walk closely with God—the ones who lead well, finish well, and remain faithful—don’t get there by sheer willpower. Remember this axiom: hang around the wrong places and you’re bound to come in contact with the wrong men. Men who decide to walk faith’s road alone usually stumble or fall—under the weight of life’s challenges. Real faith does not grow in a vacuum. It...
Maybe you feel like you’re late to the game—like you should have learned this stuff years ago. I came to Christ at 33, after years of ups and downs—poor choices, painful consequences, and missed opportunities. My parents’ marriage was marked by conflict and eventually divorce, and I often wish my childhood had been different. But when I gave my life to Jesus, everything changed. With Christ at...
The kind of man you want to be isn’t built in a single moment or decided by a single event. Our character is formed under pressure. It’s being formed or reformed every day—in the way we respond to situations. In the way we handle challenges at work, conflicts with other individuals, with how we handle stress and anxiety, or when our kids decide to widen the boundaries. Do we sideline our...