Good News Brief For Men

We have ALL been there and I expect more than once.  That dreaded construction zone just seems to show up at the worst times.  I must say though, I drive through one in Raleigh, NC every day and it's getting bigger but it actually has the most road workers I have seen on one particular site in a long time.  They do seem to be getting the basics underway. But in your spiritual life, what is a construction zone.  First lets look at the causes of the construction zone in the first place.  From what I can see, overloaded trucks in the form of dump trucks and going way to fast for a dump truck.  Then there are the 18 wheelers, just trying to deliver their loads on time to get paid.  But they drive the roads all the time.  I don't remember seeing too many overloaded (weight) cars or pickup trucks.  Before the need for reconstruction of paved highways there are potholes that appear and sometimes we are surprised by them and that result in tearing ...

Let's face it guys, we need help (sometimes).  When it comes to driving down the road especially one I am not familiar with I really need to pay attention to the highway signs and markers.  If I don't take the guidance they offer seriously I could end up going the wrong way on an interstate.  How bad would that be?  But as much as we have these road signs to keep us safe God offers the same guidance to keep us spiritually safe and growing in Him.  We read His Word on a routine basis ans you find yourself more prepared to push off the temptations that come your way from the devil himself.  I have said this many times before but my greatest reminder was when I was diagnosed with Cancer.  Even though I was Pastoring a church at the time I found myself groping for the right verses to help stabilize my mental attitude and the emotions this new found situation brought into my life.  Spiritually I felt even weak.  This kind of thing catches you by s...

If we were look at our lives as if we were driving down the highway or even a downtown street, the roadsides are full Billboard advertising.  I have seen everything from Church advertisements to Gentlemen's Clubs, as well as anything you might like to eat and "On Sale"......  But several years ago I was working in the Raleigh North Carolina area about 60 minutes from home and I decided to take a new route on the way home to see if I could shave off any time on my commute.  Well a new route requires that I look around and see what I could see and at the same time being safe.  I noticed some Motel Signs and that some had changed their names since the last time I had driven in this direction.  Then I saw it.  A sign advertising a Gentlemen's Club in the next town situated right at the interstate near a Truck Stop.  The sign was quite clear at what is was advertising.  There was NOTHING good about what they were offering.  As I drove this road oc...

Have you ever driven down the highway either two lane or four lane or more and been distracted by a Billboard or Road Sign?  Of course you have, we all have.  On my way to work the other day I began counting Billboards.  Some were stationary, some old, and some too old!  Some were digital (making you want to slow down below the speed limit to read or see all the advertisements) and some were small grabbing your attention to read the fine print.  Funny though, I don't remember what they were advertising.  But there is one thing for sure, I was distracted, and I don't even remember what the signs were saying.  Consumer 26, Vendor 0.  But what could I have been looking for?about Road Signs.  Speed Signs (ugh) reduce speed signs (double ugh).  There is one sign I would like to find but I believe they have all been taken down, "Resume Safe Speed".  Now I liked that one except it was normally followed by a  55 MPH 100 yards down the ...

Well we have entered an interesting time in our journey.  At our last meeting I left you on the “On Ramp”, your approach to the interstate of this incredible Journey.  Today we look at “Merging Into Traffic”. When I was in Drivers Education in High School several years ago, the instructor, Coach Frye, was good at telling us what to do and how to be safe in the process.  I really enjoyed learning under him.  He was an excellent instructor.  But one thing I remember him reminding us how to do is to plan our “Entrance” when driving onto the interstate.  Look early and pick your spot to merge and accelerate to match the speed of the oncoming traffic. In this particular situation I remember the Men around me at my home church and especially their “lack of interest” in Men’s Ministry.  I remember starting a Men’s small group knowing I would be inundated with guys interested in becoming “Men of God”.  So I set up our meeting room in one of our ...

My NEW green Devotional Bible For Men was really a great investment.  My life began to change in a very positive way and how other around me perceived that was encouraging as well.  But I was becoming more encouraged by how I was spiritually changing and my communication with God through prayer was beginning to develop greater focus and deeper purpose.  For the first time I was actually seeing how a personal relationship with God was supposed to look like.  So I put the things that I was learning into action and things that weren't so important to me (because they seemed so unobtainable before) began to become important because I realized God meant wonderful things in His word to become mine as well like a wonderful prayer life, just to start. Now I began develop a greater vision in watching for Men of God in my own home church.  Some were easy to spot because I began to understand their prayer life.  Others I began to understand because of a lack of pray...

Even though I had just acquired one of the greatest instruments in my growth as a Man of God, there were to be many obstacles along my path.  The Devotional Bible I was using was the "green one".  Some of you men may know exactly the one I am talking about.  It is an NIV translation and I was already quite familiar with that, so I knew pretty much what to expect as I read. I began to settle down for some serious reading and application of these unique devotional readings.  Day by day the readings became more challenging.  I would read the Verse For The Day, and the Passage For The Day.  But that alone didn't seem to extend me very much.  It seemed to meet my basic needs and created a hunger for more but the minimal just didn't seem to cut it.  I needed more.  Beneath each daily devotional I read was more verses.  I basically dismissed them as additional readings of the same theme.  Well I decided to try one morning when I had a li...

About 20 years ago I was struggling to find what a "Man of God" looked like and how was that kind of lifestyle to be maintained should I ever discover what that really was. I was in church for most of my life and my Dad was a great guy for the most part but I didn't want to just look or be like my Dad.  I loved him and I respected him even though his better decisions came later in life.  I did follow him in my profession as a Design Engineer and enjoy that line of work even today.  But I needed more, much more. I had teachers at school that I enjoyed learning from, and men at church that also inspired me to grow in Christ.  But no one-person seemed to have the skills to step into this much needed position as an "off-the-record" Mentor.  I have never liked the phrase "It takes a village to raise a child".  And to be honest, I don't know of any village I could trust with that responsibility nor would I want to deliver my children (now grown) into...

What do you think a Man of God looks like?  When someone sees you what do you think comes to their mind, not look at you but just see you for a moment just in passing.  What do they see, or maybe what do you think they see?  Do you even care what they see or notice in passing. Over the years in writing Devotionals for Men I have encountered many different attitudes in men.  Some pleasant, some hurried, and some could care less.  The ones that don't really care what others see in them are making a strong statement that they don't really care about their reflection to others.  They come across as cocky and short answered.  Let's face it, we are not all alike in any way.  But we were created by God as His greatest creation, not invention, but creation.  Inventions can be improved upon, but God created us "Complete".  Then sin entered the picture and things changed as sin impacted the many lives of God's greatest creation, us.  Sin go...

For the next several months this Blog will be focusing on Men and God's desire for them.  We will be covering many issues related to Men and God's desire for them in this day and time.  We will be covering topics like: What is Godly Strength and how does it apply to my life today, What is Godly Courage and how can I obtain it?, What does it really mean to wait on God and what does that look like and what can I expect in the meantime?  What do I look for. All of these are valid concerns and I will address them as well as other issues along the way through the next several months. Our first post will be this Wednesday.  Our Subject will be What are our examples of Godly Men found in God's Word and how is this relevant to us as men today. Enjoy the Journey, I will..... Rev. Ted J. Wilkins Founder and Director of "Good News Brief For Men Ministries"  (established 1998)

Proverbs 12:5 The thoughts of the righteous are right, but the counsels of the wicked are deceitful.  (NKJV) Good Day Men, Looking at our thought life we need to ask ourselves, what are we thinking about?  What, for the most part consumes us mentally?  In Philippians 4:8-9 we are told by Paul what we should dwell on or think about.   Those verses alone is a great resource, however the training required for us to do this on a consistent basis comes from the frequent reading and study of God’s Word.  In Romans 8:29 we see that God is at work conforming us to the image of his Son Jesus Christ.  His desire for us causes us to respond to Him through dedication.  He always knows what is best for us and is constantly at work drawing us to His greater cause for our lives.  This will result in the abundant life He desires for us in John 10:10 .  We need to understand what the wicked do.  That too is covered in John 10:10....

Luke 11:17 But He, knowing their thoughts, said to them: Every Kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and a house divided against a house falls.   (NKJV) Good Day Men, Reasoning that our thoughts are deep and very personal, today’s verse tends to overturn this cart of contentment that no one knows what you are thinking.  God always knows what you are thinking. Bringing every thought captive into Christ (2 Cor. 10:5) has new meaning doesn’t it.  He knows our thoughts and He even knows the reasoning behind those thoughts.  He knows our motives behind everything we do.  As much as we would like to dismiss this fact, we simply cannot.  There is no reason for evil or bad thoughts toward someone especially knowing that God will handle it.  We just need to place issues in His hands and let Him deal with……..  us. If I deliver someone to God to “take care of” concerning a certain situation, I can expect Him to answer my...

2Corinthians 10: 4-5 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.  (NKJV) Good Day Men, The battle for our thought life as men is quite complex, but that doesn’t excuse us from the battle. In John 10:10 we see that Satan desires to only destroy us.  He hates it when we pray.  He has nothing to fight our prayers with other than distractions in our thought life that are not healthy for us.  Praying without distractions is almost impossible, but we should never give up. Satan likes to attack us on other fronts as well.  As long as he can keep us from reading our Bibles and spending time in prayer and going to church and Bible Studies he will continue to win these skirmishes for the mind.  We need to give the control of our thought life to G...

Philippians 4: 8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things.  (NKJV) Good Day Men, Paul gave us some very serious guidelines for our thought life.  If we don’t control our thought life, how can we truly be men of God?  Paul is giving us standards to live by.  Maintaining this avenue of thought can benefit us greatly as men.  If we control our thoughts and use this verse to guide us, it will produce healthy useful thoughts and that will be reflected in how we live in all areas of our lives.  Is this easy?  Of course not.  Challenging?  To be sure! Our thought life needs to be healthy.  It needs to be reliable.  If you think by conforming to this life of the virtuous mind set you will be leavi...

Psalms 37: 4 Delight yourself also in the LORD; And He will give you the desires of your heart.  (NKJV) Good Day Men, Several years ago I had the men in my “men’s small group” to do an exercise.   We went through this procedure carefully.   I asked them what the desire of their heart was.   Their most immediate answer had little similarity to their final answer at the end of the Bible Study that night.   We had been meeting for some time and our focus, spirit and thought life had become more mature and in line with God’s purposes for our lives. Aligning our lives with the purposes God has for us, takes time and patience.  But it begins with a change in our desires in life focusing on God’s purpose and His desired outcome for our lives reflecting Him.  It’s all about Him and not about us.  My life personally, has changed and continues to do so as I seek more of Him and less of me.  This truly is the abundant I sought so long for....

John 8:12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world.  Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”   (NIV) I love this promise of Jesus’ direction in our lives.  He tells us we must follow him but he doesn’t stop there.  He further promises that if we do so “we will never walk in darkness.”   He could have easily stopped there but he continues to expound on the benefits of following him by saying that we “will have the light of life.”   I have noticed in my search through the scriptures that nothing is left incomplete.  It all ties together and has been packaged for us to read and feed from.  As believers sometimes we find it confusing when we don’t understand the application.  But we must be patient.  God does deliver on his promises to us.  He reveals Himself through His Word in areas that he wants us to grow.  We could become overwhelmed at all...