My personal thoughts regarding men's spiritual being and ministry

Why do so many men lack spiritual power? “The problem is that you don’t know the Scriptures, and you don’t know they power of God” (Matthew 22:29, NLT). We have to remember that we are not alone and that our spiritual lives that we will always face both negatives and positives. We all need to focus in following God for today and tomorrow. We have to remind ourselves that if we frequently relive our reasons for discouragements, we will lose our positive spiritual direction. Romans 8:28 basically means "Christian should always have hope" and later in Romans 15:13, "Hope comes from the Holy Spirit." In First Peter says: "Adding to our faith in obedience goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness and love. If we possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep us from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ". We Christian men can & will have equal opportunities to be successful but not everyone would be successful according to God's will and plan. Romans 8:28-29 "And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them." We have to remember that "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." (Gal. 6:9) because in 2 Peter 1:3 says "His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness." 2 Corinthians 9:8 "And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work."

Why do so many men seem tepid (lacking in passion, force, or zest, an absence of enthusiasm or conviction) in their faith? What are we lacking? Men often forget the most important is the Holy Spirit who is able to lead us to be great spiritual leaders. The problem is this, we do not know what Spirit-filled really means nor do we know how to practice Spirit-filled virtues. In Ephesians 5:18 where the present tense of the verb in Greek means: "Keep on being filled with the Spirit." I have learned that it is God's will to submit to the Holy Spirit and keep on filling me. Like an athlete when training, I should always keep drinking water so that I won't be dehydrated and feeling weak. With that thought in my mind, I should always keep filling the Holy Spirit in my life so that I am able to react to any difficulties in my life with God's power (Grace). The power of Grace through the Holy Spirit is my strength that I am able to boast and win for Christ at all costs (see 2 Corinthians 12:1-12). If men are submitting to the Holy Spirit, who will give them fruit. Let the Holy Spirit do what He will through you. Spirit-lead is outlined in Galatians 5:22-23 "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control."

Why do so many men seem lukewarm? Think of this: If you ever had occasion to drink a lukewarm soft drink, you know the feeling. This is an illustration of a lukewarm drink to describe the distaste that makes God spit out the church at Laodicea. He doesn't want to have anything to do with it because they nauseate God because they know the truth but often pride and self play the primary reason why men lacking spiritual growth. Spiritual growth requires Christian men learn from their mistakes. While examining their mistakes, they must be careful to avoid two opposite errors: the first is being too easy on themselves and the second is being too hard. From "my own experiences", there are lessons in life we can learn best from "failures". When we most aware of our weaknesses, we are more inclined to collapse into God's strength and experience His amazing grace. "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness." (2 Cor. 12:9). Trials (of all kinds) are often a two-sided coin. One side trials may be viewed as coming from God to bring out the BEST in us (See: Gen. 22:1,2,15-18; Hebrews 11:17). On the other side of the coin, Satan attempts to tempt us and trials to bring out the WORST in us (see: James 1:13,14). With God's grace, we have the power to reach the prize of God's will. Reading Hebrews helped me understood that I am to be aware of obstacles and hindrances I would meet during my life, to throw me off balance that hinders doing the Will of God that could entangle my life easily if I do not submit myself to God's power of grace. God's grace is more than sufficient in my life that I am to fix my eyes on Jesus who is my author and perfecter of my faith (Hebrews 12:2). Faith and Grace together is to "Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:13-14, NIV). Situations such as this have forced me to study more deeply into great faiths of the Bible and that I have finally learned and understood MORE about why their faith were so great. It’s NOT about their faiths that were great but rather, how they trust and love God with their lives. They refrained from using their rights and privileges they were entitled to by God's grace because they desired to do God's will out of love and obedience as if they were after God's own heart. Many of them were willing to let go of their rights, privileges and lives in the interests of doing God's will. In other words, they put up with anything that came to them, endured and overcame their circumstances rather than hinder God's will.

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"What I am great advocate of looking into the past, I could warn everybody against living in the past. The only justification for looking to the past is that we may learn great lessons from it and apply them" (Martyn Lloyd-Jones)

By avoiding the mistakes of the past: "Those who fail to remember the past are condemned to repeat it" (George Santayana)

By repeating the victories of the past: "Those who fail to remember the past are condemned not to repeat it" (David B. Calhoun)

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“Our tendency is to overestimate what we can accomplish in one year, and underestimate what we can accomplish in ten years.” (Richard Foster) <>

God's agenda for our lives may be far different from our own. He cares more about our character than our convenience, comfort or cash. (Joseph M. Stowell)

When God's sheep are in danger, the shepherd must not gaze at the stars and meditate on "inspirational" themes. He is morally obliged to grab his weapon and run to their defense. (A.W. Tozer)

<>Everybody thinks of changing humanity, but nobody thinks of changing himself. (Leo Tolstoy) <>

If Christianity is really true, then it involves the whole man, including his intellect and creativeness. Christianity is not just "dogmatically" true or "doctrinally" true. Rather, it is true to what is there, true in the whole area of the whole man in all of life. (Francis Schaeffer) <>

Circumstances may appear to wreck our lives and God's plans, but God is not helpless among the ruins. God's love is still working. He comes in and takes the calamity and uses it victoriously, working out His wonderful plan of love. (Eric Liddell)

Final Thoughts

Reading Psalm 119 many times made me realized what the whole purpose of the Bible. “O LORD, You have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You do scrutinize my path and my lying down, and are intimately acquainted with all my ways” (Psalm 139:1-3). God knows all our habits, plans, aims, desires, attitudes, ambitions, etc. are known to Him. “You understand my thoughts from afar” (v.2b). “He knows the secrets of the heart” (Ps. 44:21b). Jesus said, “God knows your hearts” (Lk. 16:15). The LORD said to Samuel, “God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart” (I. Sam. 16:7). Again to King Solomon God said, “The LORD searches all hearts, and understands every intent of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will let you find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever” (1 Chron. 28:9). 2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.