Good News Brief For Men

Proverbs 4: 1 Hear O sons, the instruction of a father, And give attention that you may gain understanding, (NASB) Good Day Men! As I look at this verse for the day I see the seriousness of our responsibilities as fathers to our children.   Just as we are to look to our heavenly father for His wisdom applied to our lives through His word, our children are to look to us so that they too, in life, will gain understanding .   How prepared are we as dads to reveal to our children the truths of life as revealed in the Bible.   The first thing they see is our walk.   We can say all we want, but unless our walk reflects what we say, our children will not take what we say seriously.   At times they will test us and push us to the limit.   We MUST stick to our convictions. We also must fulfill the promises we have made to our kids.   If we told them we will be there for them at a game, or some performance, or some activity, we better be there.   ...

John 3:30   He must increase, but I must decrease. (KJV) Good Day Men! So, how can this happen?   The NIV translation states He must become greater ; and I must become less .   As we study more of God’s word and apply Him to our daily lives He becomes greater and we become less .   But herein there lies a major problem.   We cannot simply rely on what God can do only through the scriptures alone.   He wants to impact our lives through our personal prayer life, quiet time alone with Him, and our interaction with other believers as well as unbelievers.   He wants what is best for us and these are some of the ways we give Him access to our lives so we can grow more in Him.   We need to give Him our tongues so our speech honors Him.   We need to give Him our thought life so our mind will have thoughts of honor toward our Savior Jesus Christ.   We need to give Him our physical being so that we can serve others through our actions. ...

Ephesians 2: 4-5:   But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,   even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved) (NASB) Good Day Men! God is obviously rich in mercy.   According to this verse He also has great love for us.   It also states that we were dead in our transgressions (sin).   But what follows is absolutely incredible.   We are made ALIVE TOGETHER WITH CHRIST!!!!   When we ask Christ to come into our lives He saves us through His grace.   He instills His great love into our very souls and transforms us into his spiritual likeness through His Holy Spirit.   We need to give Him control of our lives.   We can trust Him in all things.   Do you have reason to smile?   You should.   Being made alive together in Christ is something to get excited about.   Where does your joy come from?   It comes from...

Luke 6: 31   “And just as you want people to treat you, treat them in the same way”.   (NASB) Good Day Men! As children most of us learned the golden rule from our parents, teachers or Sunday School Teachers.   Most Pastors that I know speak on the Golden Rule at least once a year if not more so.   We need to be constantly reminding ourselves that this rule is very real as it was spoken by our Savior Jesus Christ himself.   How do you treat your wife?   Do you talk to her as you would like to be talked to?   How about the kids?   Do you show them your love and Christ-like attitude when addressing their issues?   Do you treat your co-workers with a Christ-like attitude?   In treating others as you would like to be treated you are actually putting their feelings and concerns above your own personal desires.   This is what Christ wants for us.   We must have a servant’s heart to best represent Jesus Christ to the unsaved ...

Luke 18: 1 And he sake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not faint;   (KJV) Good Day Men! Have you ever prayed to God for something and it seemed that he had no answer for you?   Well I have good news for you.   God still and always will answer your prayers.   It may not be in your timetable but he will answer your prayer.   We must not give up asking for that which we sense God placing in our hearts to ask.   No request on our hearts goes unheard once it is spoken to God.   He hears our cries to him.   He knows our needs.   We need only to convey this need to him for him to begin his good work in us.   Often times God will use others to answer our prayers.   I know of an individual who prayed for years for the salvation of a husband.   One day just two months before he passed on he accepted Christ as his personal Savior and is now with the Lord. Don’t give up!   Persevere, for...

Psalms 34: 5 Those who look to Him are radiant with joy; their faces will never be ashamed. (HCSB) Good Day Men, David experienced what it was like to look to God.   From David’s relationship with God radiance resulted in the life of David we see here.   David reflected the love of God in his life for the most part.   David found peace and strength in knowing God and this was reflected in his life.   We should look for ways to reflect God to all those we encounter each and every day.   The reflection of this holy radiance would give anybody great joy.   In this, our faces will never reflect shame. Key Thought: Looking to God will allow us to be in position to reflect Him to others that others may see Jesus in us. Prayer: Dear Lord Jesus.   Help me to look to You in all things that I may reflect You to others throughout each and every day in all that I say and do.     In Jesus name, AMEN! Have a GREAT day! In Christ, R...

Romans 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. (NKJV) Good Day Men, I have encountered several people over the past few weeks who have told me their prayer life has increased and in some cases become frantic, due to the current recession in which we have found ourselves.   I follow the question concerning the individual’s prayer life with another question; are you reading the Bible?   In most all the situations the answer was no or not much.   Their response was what I expected; I am waiting for God to answer my prayer so I spend more time in prayer.   Satan robs most people of God’s answer when He guides them away from God’s Word.   The guide God uses in His answers to our needs and requests through prayer is His Word.   If you want to know how He answers, go to His Word so you can expect His answer in His terms. ...

II Corinthians 10: 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. (NIV) Good Day Men, I have held this verse in my thoughts and heart for many years.   I have clear understanding of what it says.   We must always be aware of what is being said in our conversations, in what we say and what is being said to us.   We must stand by what is true and strong and powerful.   We must also commit our thoughts to Christ for we will be held accountable for our thoughts as well as our actions.   Are our thoughts pure?   Are our thoughts clean?   Christ knows our thoughts and the Holy Spirit is grieved when our thought life runs rampant and undisciplined.   In most cases this is a territory of ferocious battle every day and every hour.   The battle rages on for our souls and our thought life.   If Christ has your soul then the battle...

Ephesians 2:10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.   (NKJV) Good Day Men, What should be our daily focus?   What shall we as believers make the center of our attention in all that we say and do?   First we are the workmanship of our most holy God.   Second we were created for good works in Christ Jesus.   Third God prepared these works that they should be our daily walk.   These verse components should tell us that we were created so serve God.   He has great purpose in all that He wants to do through us.   Every task that is before us should be looked at as a responsibility toward God to do what is right.   The only exception is if what you are doing is contrary to God’s Word and His principles set forth in that Word, then you simply cannot do that task.   We have responsibility to serve God on His terms.   We need...

Psalm 37:4 Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.   (NKJV) Good Day Men, The definition of delight is “to express great joy.”   We need to find joy in reading God’s Word.   We need to sense the pleasure that comes from seeking Him where He may be found.   In doing this, God will provide you with NEW desires of your heart, desires that are genuine and deep that have great purpose.   The desires of our heart should not be the newest available computer game, nor should it be something that may rob you of your time with God.   The desires of our heart are much deeper and have far greater purpose and last much longer…… eternity. Key Thought: Check your personal desires at the front cover of God’s Word and seek His desires and purposes for your life.   Begin today.   What a journey that will be. Prayer: Dear Lord Jesus.   Help me to put your desires for me in the forefront of my life and...

Psalm 37:3 Trust in the Lord and do good; Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.   (NKJV) Good Day Men, WELCOME TO MONDAY MORNING!!!!! Take time this morning to trust in the Lord and seek to do good things.   Tasks you may not want to be a part of or you may even have a hard time doing, turn them into a mission and ministry.   Do them for God and watch how He turns your attitude around. Dwell in the land, don’t just exist.   Become proactive.   Get moving and realize that everything you are doing today should reflect your life in Christ.   You will quickly discover that others truly are watching and your testimony to them is so worthwhile. Feed on His faithfulness means we need a steady diet of dependency on God.   Faith requires that we depend and rely on Him in all things we encounter in life.   Try Him and find Him faithful. Key Thought: It’s time to wake up and realize how much you are loved and cared for by t...

Colossians 2:8 See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.   (NASB) Good Day Men, On occasion I have witnessed conversations where there seemed to be no focus whatsoever.   I wondered how they started and how it evolved into the current issue.   When that occurs, it always reminds me to have a focus and a desired end result whenever I open my mouth and not be drawn into pointless jaw flapping for the sake of just wanting to say something. God gives us such a wonderful purpose and in Him we will always have something to contribute to any conversation.   The key is to always be aware of each and every opportunity to represent Christ.   Sometimes that may involve your presence alone, other times you may be asked for your opinion and as believers we need to be prepared with God’s answer.   Alw...

Good Day Men, Jeremiah 33: 3   “Call upon me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.” Now men, for the second half.   God has already promised us that He will answer us.   Now what will He show us in His answer?   “Great and mighty things.”   All He gives is great and mighty .   He answers all our prayers, but maybe not in the way we would hope or expect but His answer is still great and mighty for He knows the future and He holds tomorrow in His mighty hand and He knows what is good for us, when, where and how we need what ever He gives.   We know nothing about His answers for us so we must wait in great anticipation for His response to our request, whether it’s a prayer for someone else, our families, something for ourselves, spiritual guidance…etc.   He still expects us to call out to Him.   So how will He answer us?   Let’s go to Psalm 23.   Verse 5 ends with our answer…....

Good Day Men, Jeremiah 33: 3   “Call upon me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.” (KJV) As great as this verse is I want to focus only on the first few words of this great promise.   “Call upon me and I will answer thee…….”   This speaks volumes.   He doesn’t promise to answer sometimes….or maybe He’ll answer when He feels like it….or maybe when He feels we are more deserving of His greatness.   No.   He promises us that all we need to do is call upon Him and He WILL answer us.   He always knows what is best and His timing is always BEST and His reasoning behind His answer is always for our own good.   So men, the challenge for you today is to believe that all we need to do is ask, and He WILL answer, and we don’t need to know when or how. We only need to understand that He just does it. May God richly bless us as we continue to seek His will and His way through His Word. Have a GREAT...

Good Day Men, Phil.: 4: 12    I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation whether fed of hungry whether living in plenty or in want.   (NIV) Often times when reading Philippians 4:13 we miss the intensity of the previous verse.   Paul talks of being both in need and to have plenty.   After some serious thinking and praying about this, I understand it to speak volumes to me.   Paul was content in ALL things because he had discovered and completely accepted the fact that Christ was and is ALL things to him.   He is our…comforter…companion…..sacrifice….brother….in other words He IS ALL things to believers.   It is up to the believer to accept this and move forward with the fact that Christ wants to be all things to us leaving nothing out.   He celebrates when we celebrate a spiritual victory…..He sorrows when we are spiritually down and He ...

Good Day Men, Psalm 118: 5 -7: In my anguish I cried to the LORD, and he answered by setting me free.   The LORD is with me; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?   The LORD is with me; he is my helper. I will look in triumph on my enemies.   (NIV) How many times have we cried out to a Holy God and waited for an answer.   The freedom experienced here was the relief of knowing that God was still in control.   He sets us free of dealing with the problem ourselves and we give Him control of the outcome.   “The Lord is with me; He is my helper.   I will look in TRIUMPH on my enemies.”   So what is your enemy today?   Paper that won’t feed in the printer when you’re in a hurry…..numbers that seem to rearrange themselves on their own…..a decimal place that WAS in the right place a moment ago….your wife with a headache and the kids with a bad cold.   Enemies don’t have to be people. The enemy could be a circumstance that rears...

Mark 12: 30-31 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.   And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.   There is none other commandment greater than these. (KJV)   Good Day Men, We are to love Christ with all that is in us.   The scriptures are very clear.   The key words are, heart, soul, mind, and strength.   In short we are to totally love God with ALL of our being.   In the second commandment we are given a great example of the kind of love we are to express.   Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.   (KJV)   Christ showed us the greatest sacrifice a man can make by the giving of himself to the world as His sacrifice for our sins.   John 15: 13 states Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.   In John 15:13   Christ ...

Proverbs 16: 3 Commit thy works unto the Lord, and thy thoughts shall be established .    (KJV) Commit is a very powerful word.   This word is not used in the form of a question asking us to commit our works to the Lord.   This word is used in the statement of a fact or command.   As a result of this commitment our “thoughts shall be established” .   Our thoughts will have a holy sense of organization, clarity, and will provide us with a sense of peace.   God provides that peace through His Holy Spirit, which dwells in us as believers.   A sense of turmoil accompanies satanic related activities or activities that may result in sin.   God’s activities in our lives do not result in turmoil.   If you sense turmoil following a commitment of your works to our most holy God then you may want to re-evaluate the commitment or re-examine your direction to make sure that it is something God will work in.   It must be a Christ-like ...

1 Peter 1: 15-16:   but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.”   (NKJV) Christ, in his life, was, and still is our greatest example in life today.   He never expects anything out of us that God has not given us the ability to produce.   The key here is the God-given ability.   When we step out on our own to accomplish things in life that God has placed before us we are in danger of absolute and complete failure.   When we do things on our own without including God in the equation we subject ourselves to pride and this is an area where Satan works to hurt us and is very effective in doing so.   We can be holy because God through His Son said that we can.   So obviously, it is within our make up through Christ to become holy, for He is holy. Commit to holiness in Christ today and experience His sense of peace and contentment in serving Him and Him alone. Prayer:...

Ephesians 5: 17  So then don’t be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.  (NASB) What really is the will of the Lord?   What is the understanding of God’s true will?   It really depends on the person.   But the basics are forever in place.   It is God’s will that we spend eternity with Him.   It is His will that we worship and honor Him in all things.   These are but a few of the many desires of God’s will for His creation.   The point we will cover here in this devotional is God’s will for our personal lives. It is His will that we pray to Him, and in so doing we honor Him.   I know some who pray once a day.   Is that truly enough?   Paul said for us to pray without ceasing.   That involves an attitude of prayer that appears to weave through our lives throughout the day.   Jesus, when He was facing the Cross prayed three or more times to His Father in Heaven concerning what was awaiting Him on G...

Psalms 13: 6  I will sing to the Lord for He has dealt bountifully with me.  (NKJV) In Psalms 13, David cries out desiring God’s peace in times of trouble.   As David was accustomed to doing throughout his many Psalms, in the beginning, he cries out to God but in the end, David praises God.   Obviously, David was very human and this is shown by the apparent spiritual ups and downs in his life.   However, at the end of each down there was at least one or more ups (times of praising God). We can learn from David and remember that God desires fellowship with us and we need to be attentive to His call in our lives to turn toward Him in ALL things including trials, tribulation as well as praise and adoration. Trust God today in the outcome of all things in your life.   David did, and so can we. Prayer:   Dear Father in Heaven, Help us always look beyond our circumstances that we may clearly see you and experience your purpose in our lives, even...

Psalm 18: 30 As for God, his way is perfect.   All the Lord’s promises prove true.   He is a shield for all who look to him for protection.   (NLT)   Good Day Men!   Living in Christ through our everyday experiences, we often forget the power and faith of our Holy God.   David says, “God’s way is perfect” and we should recognize God for his absolute completeness in all that perfect can be.   David further says, “All the Lord’s promises are true”.   David couldn’t say this unless he had personally experienced it.   One of God’s promises follows at the end of today’s verse.   “He is a shield for all who look to him for protection”.   In summary David says that God is perfect, keeps his promises, and is our shield in times of trouble.   We see that David recognizes the faithfulness of our Holy God and we should do the same.   But sometimes we get lost in the activities of the world, but we need to keep our focus on...