 Joshua 1:8 - May I not let Your word depart from my mouth, but meditate on it day and night, so that I may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then I will make my way prosperous, and I will act wisely. (Ken Boa paraphrase)
This Verse is for You This verse, from the first chapter of Joshua, has been paraphrased in the first person to remind us that God’s Word has application in our lives. It is, in a manner of speaking, addressed to us. That’s relevant in light of the fact that this single verse is exhorting and instructing us to saturate ourselves in God’s Word. Why? Because that’s where we meet God, hear God, are confronted and instructed by God. In short, it is where we learn to “act wisely.” But It’s Not Magic Scripture encourages us to pursue wisdom on a daily basis. James puts it bluntly in the first chapter of the book that bears his name. Verse five reads, If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. It doesn’t get any plainer than that. Ask for wisdom and God will give it, generously. That seems simple enough. Yet what I have learned over the years of my spiritual pilgrimage is that this “formula” does not work like a magic genie in a lamp. You don’t rub the lamp and make a wish. It doesn’t operate like taking an aspirin for a headache. You don’t take two tablets and get wisdom in the morning. Instead, our text from Joshua gives us a pretty good understanding about how to attain wisdom. If the wisdom we want is God’s wisdom, and God has revealed his wisdom to us in and through his Word, then it would behoove us to read, study, mediate upon, pray over, and apply that source of wisdom. If we want God’s wisdom to rub off on us and get into our spiritual bloodstreams – into our hearts and minds – then we have to do the hard work of “not letting it depart from us.” We will want to “meditate on it day and night.” We will “be careful to do according to all that is written in it.” Only then will we become prosperous and begin to act wisely. That’s the cost to this component of faithful discipleship. It’s not easy and it certainly does not come instantly. This is not for the lazy or the faint of heart. But wisdom is a pearl of great price that is worth more than we can possibly imagine. Walking Points · Read through the Book of Proverbs and write down all the descriptions of wisdom you find. · What is it about wisdom that makes it so important to acquire? · How is wisdom different than knowledge? · What are three things you can start doing today that will help you grow in wisdom? Write them down and then share your list with a friend. Prayer All-wise and loving God, you have graciously revealed your wisdom to us in and through your written Word, and most especially, through the Word, Incarnate. I pray for wisdom. I desire it. I need it. I’m lost without it. And yet, O Lord, I have been guilty far too often of not doing what it takes to have such wisdom. I have expected you to dispense it like cheap grace. I know you desire to give it generously to those who ask, but please forgive me for neglecting your treasure chest of wisdom found in Scripture. Please, fill and lead me with your Holy Spirit so that I will turn to your Word, and then read, pray over, meditate upon, study, and apply it. Only then can I expect to truly act wisely. In Christ’s name I pray. Amen. This Week’s Prayer Guide [You can use this prayer guide in your own personal prayer time. However, I encourage you to use it with a group of Christian men. Each week you should spend time praising God for who he is, confessing your sin to him (be specific) as well as expressing gratitude to him for his gracious forgiveness. Also, don’t forget to thank God for the many ways he has poured out his goodness in your life. Then, focus on the following areas of supplication, which will change from week to week.] Petitions – prayers for yourself · Lord, help me to faithfully participate in the life of my congregation and for the sake of my community… Ø By my prayers Ø By my presence Ø By my gifts Ø By my service Ø By my witness · Today’s events and interactions with others, planned and unplanned · Other needs Intercession – prayers for others · My family · For those who serve in government, at the national, state, and local levels · For those who serve in law-enforcement · For those who serve in fire and rescue · For those who serve in our nation’s military · Other needs
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 A Tale of Two Ditches
Not too long ago a friend shared with me his struggle to faithfully teach “grace” to the folks he disciples. I certainly share that struggle. Faithful discipleship is a narrow path between the two ditches of legalism and licentiousness. I didn’t come up with that distinction. The Apostle Paul dealt with the same issues. On the one hand he had to warn the Galatian Christians about the ditch of legalism espoused by the Judaizers. These were folks who claimed Jesus was great, but you still had to obey the Law of Moses to be saved. On the other hand, he had to give an emphatic “NO” to those in the other ditch whose philosophy was, “Let’s sin up a storm so we can experience more of God’s grace.” In their view, Christians don’t have to worry about obeying God, because they’re under God’s grace. The path between the two ditches is hard and narrow indeed and Christian history is littered with examples of how individuals, (as well as groups of people), have fallen into one ditch or the other. Regardless of which ditch you fall into, you still end up dirty and smelly. Dangerous Grace To my struggling friend, and as a reminder to myself, I offer some counsel I once heard. Take comfort in the struggle of the narrow path because the Apostle Paul experienced the same. Grace is a dangerous thing. If we faithfully and accurately teach the biblical doctrine of grace, there will always be the risk someone might distort it in a libertine direction, just as a faithful and accurate teaching of obedience might lead some into the legalistic ditch. We are called to be faithful in our message of grace, even though we can’t control what people will do with it. Those who take the ministry of discipleship seriously will always struggle with this. However, we can use this struggle between the two ditches, the journey of the narrow path, to motivate us to be careful, loving, grace-filled, and faithful in our teaching, discipling, counseling, correcting, etc. Remembering My Own Struggle I know that walking the narrow path is hard for me, and I’ve been at it for some time now. I can still remember the early days of my walk with Christ. I often caught myself walking a little too closely to one side of the path or the other. Sadly, I sometimes found myself having to climb out of one ditch or the other. But in God’s goodness, he cleaned me up, disciplined me, and sent me along my way. This reminder of my own history will hopefully encourage me (and you) to be patient with those whom we disciple, especially those who are just beginning their own way down the narrow path. Thank God for his ever-present grace! Walking Points
Prayer Lord of the one true path, we enter life with you through a narrow gate and walk along a hard path. It’s not easy or comfortable, but you tell us that up front. You command us to count the cost before we pick up our crosses and follow you. You grace is a gift we do not deserve, but can and will change our lives when we receive it and live into it. And yet, O Lord how often do we take it for granted by assuming it allows us to live any way we want? Or, on the other hand, how often do we not trust your grace and seek to justify ourselves before you with our own attempts at righteousness? Please forgive us, O God of grace and mercy. Enable us to take you at your word and live according to your grace. It will require your precious Spirit to help us faithfully navigate it, but it leads to life. In the name of the One who has already walked the path and now waits to embrace us at the end. Amen. This Week’s Prayer Guide [You can use this prayer guide in your own personal prayer time. However, I encourage you to use it with a group of Christian men. Each week you should spend time praising God for who he is, confessing your sin to him (be specific) as well as expressing gratitude to him for his gracious forgiveness. Also, don’t forget to thank God for the many ways he has poured out his goodness in your life. Then, focus on the following areas of supplication, which will change from week to week.] Petitions – prayers for yourself · Give me greater love for those who are hard to love. · Help me to be compassionate and kind to those in need, even when it’s inconvenient. · Pour out upon me your courage and boldness to love those who do not know you and to share with them your Gospel, in word and deed. · Today’s events and interactions with others, planned and unplanned · Other needs Intercession – prayers for others · My family · My family and friends who do not have a saving relationship with Christ · For those in my other spheres of influence who do not know Christ · For evangelists around our city, country, and world who risk much in sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with those who are lost · Other needs  James 1:8 – he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.
How Wide are the Gaps? Let me ask you a few questions that relate to this issue of being double-minded. · Are you the same person at home with your family as you are at church? · Are you the same person at church as you are work? · Are you the same person when you’re out with your friends that you are in your small group or Bible study? · Are you the same person with your family as you are sitting alone in front of the computer or television screen? · Are you the same person away on a business trip as you are at home? · How radically different is your thought-life from your public persona? Those are some pretty tough questions. And while none of us moves from sphere to sphere – from group to group – with perfect consistency, we still need to ask the question: How wide are the gaps? Whole, Entire, Undiminished Part, maybe even most, of that consistency will come from how “integrated” our lives are regarding our relationship with God. The words “integrated” and “integrity” come from the same root word. One of the dictionary’s definitions for integrity is, “the state of being whole, entire, or undiminished.” The double-minded man, however, is not known for his integrity, but his duplicity. Duplicity means, “deceitfulness in speech or conduct; speaking or acting in two different ways concerning the same matter with intent to deceive.” Duplicitous men do not have integrity. They are not whole, entire, or undiminished. They have no unifying factor that keeps them whole. The Unifying Factor But the Christian, the man of God, does have such a unifying factor. The question is: Do he make use of it? Is he related or connected to it? This unifying factor isn’t an “it” at all. It’s God. We’re called to be God-centered men who live God-centered lives. Such a man will not speak, think, and act differently and deceptively with different people and in different settings. Why? Because the man of God will be vitally connected to the same God in every sphere of his life. God doesn’t change. Because the godly man’s life will have God as his unifying center, he will not change, from place to place, from circumstance to circumstance. God-centeredness will make and keep him whole instead of fragmented and compartmentalized. Loving and Glorifying God Think for a minute about what the Great Commandment says. Jesus says in Mark 12:30, we are commanded to, Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ That’s all of our heart, soul, mind and strength. In other words, with all that we are. Our whole being. Every aspect of our lives. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 10:31, So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. You’re not glorifying God in the big or small details of your life if you’re double-minded. God’s Expectation A couple of Old Testament texts that really hit home are,
God expects us to walk with integrity before him and others. How Are You Doing? How are you doing in the various spheres of your life? I don’t know about you, but I want to be the same man in every sphere of my life: In private, at home with my family, work, church, or with my friends. I want to be the same man regardless of who I’m with or where I am. How about you? Let’s pray God will form and shape us into the God-centered men of integrity he’s called us to be. Walking Points
· Mental Integrity · Sexual Integrity · Behavioral Integrity · Verbal Integrity · Moral Integrity · Relational Integrity Prayer Holy and gracious Lord of heaven and earth, you are the Creator and King of all there is. There is no area in human existence about which you are unconcerned. Forgive me for not surrendering all of my life to you… for trying to keep back even a small portion for myself and my own agenda. Please remind me daily that you want my whole life to be lived with integrity, no matter where I am, what I am doing, or who I am with. Please empower me with your Spirit to live a consistent life that continually and faithfully points others to you – by my words, my thoughts, my values, my beliefs, my attitudes, my desires, and my actions. In Christ I pray. Amen. This Week’s Prayer Guide [You can use this prayer guide in your own personal prayer time. However, I encourage you to use it with a group of Christian men. Each week you should spend time praising God for who he is, confessing your sin to him (be specific) as well as expressing gratitude to him for his gracious forgiveness. Also, don’t forget to thank God for the many ways he has poured out his goodness in your life. Then, focus on the following areas of supplication, which will change from week to week.] Petitions – prayers for yourself · Give me greater knowledge, depth of insight, and understanding of God’s Word. · Remind me daily of who I am in Christ. Let me be defined by who God says I am, not the world around me. · Guide me into greater understanding and faithfulness of God’s call in my life. · This week’s events and interactions with others, planned and unplanned · Other needs Intercession – prayers for others · My family · My pastor(s), church staff, and missionaries · Those struggling with anger, anxiety, or the overwhelming desire to please people at all costs · Other needs |
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