The Sword & Shield: Devotionals for Men

Our current season of isolation is raising up old and new issues for many. In idle time alone, temptations are rearing their ugly heads, causing problems. So what can we do? In this episode, I offer some practical principles for protection for these challenging days. The content here is gleaned from my latest book Believe, Become, Be: Becoming the Man God Believes You Can Be.

We all understand that the enemy wants to destroy, but when crises come, what is God doing? In this episode we look at the biblical pattern of destruction vs disruption. And then looking at the state of the world today, as ourselves, what is the message for us as men who follow Christ?

Our world needs hope more than ever before, yet we live in a day when hype is all around us. We try to live in hope while sifting through the hype for the facts. Today's episode is an entry from my The Sword & Shield Devotionals for Men that talks about these two opposing forces in our world.

Jesus came to build the ultimate bridge between God and man. But He constantly encountered walls built by the religious leaders and the cultural stigmas of the day. This episode asks the question of what are we building with our lives.

As Christian men, over the course of our lives we will experience a few landslides—sudden crashes of our character. But the real enemy and the greater threat is the daily emotions and attitudes that can creep into our lives to harm us and others.

In today's celebrity-crazed, viral-driven culture, we tend to get pedestals and platforms confused. Today's episode is a quick challenge to evaluate which one we have and which one we really want.

To make a living we have to be involved in creating transactions. But as Christ-followers we are commanded to focus on relationships first. In this episode I talk through this paradigm and how we can practically live in the balance of honoring God and others while doing what we have to in the marketplace.

Matthew 4:1-11 gives us one of the most fascinating conversations ever to take place on the earth—Jesus and Satan. There is so much we can learn and apply in our own lives by reading what each said. In this episode, I give you three P's to remember when you're tempted, gleaned from Jesus's response to the enemy.

As Christian men, we understand the need to forgive others. But what about ourselves? What if we do something that we just can't seem to let go of? This episode explores that dilemma we all face and offers three practical steps toward freedom and forgiveness.

As guys, we work to stay in the comfort zone, but God is constantly challenging us to change. This episode talks honestly about what it means to coast and what we can do to get back on the road towards change.

This episode focuses on three simple W's that can help us practically remember what we are doing here in this life, and why we are here at all.

What causes one guy to keep carrying over the goals of last year to this year and another guy to report amazing change that has happened in his life? In this episode, we take a look at two key factors that can help us stop procrastination and make real, lasting progress.

God doesn't need days and nights, the change of seasons, old years or new years. but he gives them to us for our benefit. As we close a year ,as well as a decade, and enter into the new, let's talk about how God can use pauses, starts, and stops in our lives to help us get where He wants us to be. This episode includes an evaluation resource to help you reflect on the past year and strategize for the new year.

Luke 2 is such a familiar passage this time of year that we can easily miss some amazing details about the story around Christ's birth. In fact, the guys to whom God chose to give the birth announcement were actually the introduction of a pattern to whom his ministry would be for. Check out some new thoughts on the traditional Christmas passage.

There's a man in every manger scene and every Christmas pageant that is always present but quite invisible to most people. But he was incredibly important to God. We can learn so much from this man as we read the Christmas story about his choices to obey God and love his wife.

Every great story has a villain and Jesus' birth is no exception. But we won't see this guy in the manger scenes. Herod was a egomaniacal genius who wanted to take out this baby King. But the cold hard fact is we all have a little Herod in us and that's exactly why Jesus had to come at all—to save us from sin and our selves.

The stats and the news feed tell us we have an epidemic on our hands. From young men with their lives ahead of them to middle-agers fighting off mounting stress to elders with a bleak future, taking ourselves out has become an option we can't and shouldn't take. In this episode, I share my own personal experience with suicide as well as three practical points to try and reach out to the men who are struggling, while encouraging other men to step up and speak out. My prayer is this episode saves someone's life ... maybe yours.

This is the first in a series of Christmas-focused features. In this episode, I talk about the Charlie Brown Christmas Special and the powerful truths we find in this animated timeless classic.

This is the fourth episode in a short series from my new book Believe Become Be: Becoming the Man God Believes You Can Be, releasing today, November 25. Why did Jesus call some men and they dropped their nets and followed Him immediately and then He called other guys who gave Him some reason why they needed to delay going with Him? In this episode we look at Matthew 4:18-22 and Luke 9:57-62 for clarity on our own daily choice to follow Him or offer up an excuse.

This is the third episode in a short series focusing on my new book Believe Become Be: Becoming the Man God Believes You Can Be, releasing November 25. Today is a few thoughts from the second part of the book regarding Being a Man of Truth. I talk through some principles regarding our speech and personality, encouraging us all to allow Jesus to be Lord over both.

This episode is the second of a short series focusing on my new book Believe Become Be, releasing November 25. In this excerpt from the book, I talk about how the majority of the world's belief systems teach that you have arrived or been enlightened when you go from ignorance to knowledge in their religion. Jesus consistently taught that application, not simply belief or knowledge, was the arrival of faith in HIm. As James said in chapter 1, "Don't just listen to the Word. Do what it says." Believe to become to be.

This episode is the first of a short series focusing on my new upcoming book, Believe Become Be, releasing November 25. Topics include a look at Paul's raw and honest confession in Romans 7, the difference between doing and being, and the gift of realizing your heavenly Father believes in you. Click to see the book here.

When we pray, we want and expect God to answer, which He always does in one of three ways. But we have to be very careful how we handle if he doesn't say 'yes'. As a good and holy Father, His answers to our prayers are always going to be the best for us. But how do we navigate that? How do we respond and interpret God's answers?

A lot of people today get confused between the anger of God in the Old Testament and the love of God in the New Testament. Why is there such a difference? What's the deal? Is there a connection between the two? Today's episode speaks simply into this tough and sometimes touchy topic.

In this episode, I share some insights from Hebrews 5 about the life of Christ, focusing on the fact that while Jesus was 100% God, He was also 100% man, a fact we often forget. As men transformed through the power of Christ with and in His Spirit, we have the privilege of making the same choices He made.

When was the last time you heard someone share the simple truth of the Gospel? When was the last time you shared your story with someone? Our lives and our churches can get off-track when we get off-message and begin to neglect the simple truth that saved us. In this episode, I share an old road story and a challenge to keep the Gospel central in our lives. 

While we make a lot of decisions every single day, sometimes we find ourselves at a critical crossroads when a choice we face needs serious attention. In this episode, I offer five points to help you the next time you face a high impact decision. Check out The Sword & Shield 40-Day Devotional for men on Amazon or anywhere you buy books.

As men we must constantly evaluate who is setting our standards for living. In every area of life, if anyone else is calling the shots of what we will or won't do, we will lose. When we allow the Lord to set them for us as we follow Him, our foundation is secure. Check out The Sword & Shield Devotional for Men on Amazon or wherever books are sold. Audiobook is also available.

There are times we need to connect Bible stories together in a sequence, even though the writers chose to put a chapter break or a sub-heading in between them. There are also times in our own lives when we need to connect the dots between events that occur. God may want us to not see two circumstances as mutually exclusive but rather put them together to see what He is doing. Check out My The Sword & Shield 40-Day Devotional for men on Amazon or wherever books are sold.

As busy men, we can treat God like a cosmic Santa Claus: jump up in His lap, read off our list, and expect Him to deliver what we ask for. Or maybe we've made prayer such a "have to" that we've stopped altogether. But God wants a relationship with His sons where there's a real conversation. This episode presents a fresh take on speaking with God and investing in our own lives through prayer. Check out The Sword & Shield Devotional on Amazon.

As men, we all have issues and problems. We can decide that something in our lives cannot be defeated, that there is no answer for us. But if we follow Christ, we have to realize we are then saying there is something God cannot do. So how do we reconcile this faith dilemma? Check out The Sword and Shield Devotional Book on Amazon.

Reading the words of the Bible is intended to be far more than some religious "have to" exercise. Psalm 1:1-3 holds a fascinating and powerful principle about the importance of taking in Scripture.  In this episode, I  introduce the Cow Cud Principle that God wants to use to impact your life and your world by His Word in you. Check out The Sword and Shield Devotional Book on Amazon.

We all know that great teams score points on offense and stop points on defense. As a Christian man, the same is true for our spiritual lives. In this episode, learn a simple Bible study method to develop practical principles for growth and maturity. Check out The Sword and Shield Devotional Book on Amazon.