 Many are saying of me, "God will not deliver him." But you are a shield around me, O Lord; you bestow glory on me and lift up my head.We receive messages about ourselves from the important people in our lives. We internalize these messages and carry them with us, repeating them to ourselves as if they were gospel truth. When the messages are shaming messages then the internal chorus chants "You are not lovable. You are beyond repair. Even God cannot help you." This chorus is a chorus of lies. The psalmist rejects these lies. And we need to begin to reject these lies as well. The Lord is a "shield around me", the psalmist says. A shield protects. It comes between the blows of an enemy and a person's vulnerable places. Most shields are small and can only protect a limited area from attack. But the shield which the Lord provides completely surrounds us. We can let this shield protect us from these attacking messages. The psalmist also says that the Lord "bestows glory on me and lifts up my head". Heavy burdens of shame, neglect and abuse have bowed our heads. The Lord listens, pays attention and cares about us. God's love counters the voices of our internal shame-chorus so that we can lift our heads. God replaces our shame with glory. It is a picture of a ragged, neglected child whose head is bowed and shoulders are bent. A king sees the child and goes to him. The king gently lifts the child's chin until his eyes meet his own smiling eyes. He asks the child to come home and live as royalty with him. The child is loved, honored, protected. You are the child. God lifts your head and bestows glory. God help me to stop listening to lies about you. Help me to stop listening to lies about me. Be a shield around me. Bestow glory. Lift up my head. Amen. Copyright Dale and Juanita Ryan National Association for Christian RecoveryBE HOLY.BE A MAN.
 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.Sometimes it feels like our hearts are breaking. And sometimes we worry that we will lose our minds. Both our hearts and our minds need protection. When we let go of the defenses that have protected us for so long, and we allow ourselves to be honest and vulnerable, it sometimes feels like we will 'come apart'. In these moments can find courage in God's promise of protection. God's peace can guard our breaking hearts and our troubled minds. Notice that God's guardianship of our heart and mind is 'in Christ Jesus'. It is in Jesus that we see most clearly that God is 'for' us. God can be trusted to guard us because God cares about us. It is in Jesus that we see most clearly that God understands the dangers to our hearts and minds. God can be trusted to guard us because God knows from personal experience the dangers we face. It is in Jesus that we see most clearly God's power. God can be trusted to guard our hearts and minds because God has the resources to do what needs to be done. The peace of God is not a 'blissed out' euphoria that helps us minimize or ignore our problems. God's peace does not participate in denial. This peace is not another Novocain, another 'fix' to alter our mood. It is the gentle guard that protects us so that we can face reality. It is the security that comes from knowing that God pays attention, that we are not forgotten, that God is with us, that we are loved. Guard my breaking heart today, Lord. Guard my troubled mind. Let your peace do its work in me, Lord. because I am in danger and I need your protection. Guard me with your peace today. Guard my heart and mind. Amen. Copyright Dale and Juanita Ryan National Association for Christian Recovery
 Be strong in the LORD and in the power of His might.Ephesians 6:10 is a verse about the supernatural power God has made available for our fight with unseen, demonic forces that come to war against the soul. The word "strong" is taken from the Greek word endunamao, which describes a power whose purpose is to infuse a believer with an excessive dose of inward strength. This particular type of endunamao power is so strong that it can withstand any attack and successfully oppose any force. Observe that this kind of strength is found "in the LORD." You gotta stay connected. The word "power" is taken from the Greek word kratos, and it describes demonstrated power. In other words, kratos power is not a power that one merely adheres to and believes in intellectually. Rather, this kratos power is a power that is demonstrative, eruptive and tangible. It almost always comes with some type of external, outward manifestation that one can actually see with his or her eyes. This means that kratos power is not a hypothetical power; this is real power! Paul uses kratos in Ephesians 1: 19-20 in his description of the power that raised Jesus from the dead. This was an eruptive power, a demonstrated power, an outwardly visible power. It was the strongest kind of power known to God or man.Paul uses this very word to describe the power that is available for our use! With this empowering Presence of the Holy Spirit working in our lives, we can expect the very same power that raised Jesus from the dead to operate in us! Remember, this is a demonstrated or outwardly manifested kind of power. So, when this power begins to operate in us, it immediately seeks an avenue of release so it can demonstrate itself. So, turn up your level of expectation! Start anticipating that this mighty power of God will begin to flow through you!Click here to see the force behind Kratos power.
Adapted from Sparkling Gems from the GreekBE HOLY.BE A MAN.
 How long, O Lord, must I call for help but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, "Violence!" but you do not save? Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds. Habakkuk 1:2-3,13Where were you God? Where were you when I needed you? Didn't you see the violence? The abuse? The injustice? Didn't you care? There are times in life when we are full of questions about God. The pain of past trauma can be intensified when we begin to struggle with these hard questions about God. It is important to acknowledge that these questions about God are not academic questions. No theoretical explanation of the problem of pain will soothe our raging, confused hearts. These are urgent, personal questions about God and about God's involvement in our lives. We want to know that God sees and cares and intervenes in our lives. We need God. We need God's love. We need God's help. It is an important source of encouragement to know that we are not the first to ask these hard questions. There is clear biblical precedent for asking difficult questions about God. People of faith have always struggled with questions like these. We can take comfort and courage from knowing that the prophets also asked urgent questions similar to our own. God, I am afraid. I don't understand. Violence and abuse happen and you do not stop it. You seem absent. You seem uncaring. I need to know that you see and care. I am calling to you for help, God. Please hear me. Please respond. Amen. Copyright Dale and Juanita Ryan National Association for Christian Recovery
 "Now, the whole thought in prayer is to get the will of God like that done in our lives and upon this old earth. The greatest prayer any one can offer is, "Thy will be done." It will be offered in a thousand different forms, with a thousand details, as needs arise daily. But every true prayer comes under those four words. There is not a good desirable thing that you have thought of that He has not thought of first, and probably with an added touch not in your thought. Not to grit your teeth and lock your jaw and pray for grace to say, "Thy will be endured: it is bitter, but I must be resigned; that is a Christian grace; Thy will be endured." Not that please. Do not slander God like that. There is a superficial idea among men that charges God with many misfortunes and ills for which He is not at all responsible. He is continually doing the very best that can be done under the circumstances [that He designed] for the best results. He has a bad mixture of stubborn warped human wills to deal with. With infinite patience and skills and diplomacy and success too, He is ever working at the tangled skein of human life, through the human will. (pg 202)" -S.D. Gordon To read more about prayer, go to the book, Quiet Talks on Prayer by S.D. GordonBE HOLY.BE A MAN.
 Listen carefully to my words, let this be the consolation you give me. Job 21:1-2Listening should be easy. But it is not. At a minimum, listening means that we have to be quiet. We cannot listen when we are talking. Not talking is the hard part. There are many reasons for this. We prefer talking over listening because it gives us a sense of control. We can control the silences between words by choosing when to talk. Since silences of even a few seconds can cause our anxiety to increase, we fill the silence with words even when we really have nothing to say. It is a remarkable experience to have someone really listen -- to have someone's undivided attention and interest. When someone listens, they communicate to us on a very deep level that we are valuable. Their listening breaks our isolation and aloneness. And it decreases the fears which come when our thoughts and feelings are confused. Talking out loud in the presence of a person who listens carefully allows us to gain clarity and perspective. Gradually, being listened to can begin to convince us that we are worth someone's attention and worth being loved. When someone listens with respect and acceptance we are comforted and consoled. Our pain is soothed. Our burden is lightened. Thank you, Lord, for those who listen to me. And thank you for the people who trust me enough to allow me to listen to them. Give me the courage to talk honestly. Give me the grace to listen well. Amen. Copyright Dale and Juanita Ryan National Association for Christian Recovery
 God has a way of showing us that we don't know as much as we think we do. He will act to show us that we do not know better than He does. That's what happened to King Nebuchadnezzar, who had to learn some lessons in humility. Talk about humbling: For seven years the king was mentally ill and roamed the pastures outside the palace and chewed grass like a cow. After paying the price for his pride, the once self-centered king declared: "Now, I Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, because everything He does is right and all His ways are just. And those who walk in pride He is able to humble" Daniel 4:37. In this confession, two words and one phrase are key for me: everything, all, and His ways. These words speak to the king's new understanding of God's control and to the choice we must all make: His way or my way. Some men simply do not ask God, "How do you want me to handle this?" or inquire, "What does God's Word call me to do in this situation?" The reasons for not asking those questions are simple ignorance or blatant ignorance. Neither befits God's man, and both carry high price tags. Taken from Every Man, God's Man
 Has porn taken you down a path you can't talk about? What about lust, envy, pride? Do you find yourself wallowing in the mud? You WERE a prodigal eating old cobs of leftovers in the pigsty. To restore your relationship with your Father, you had to get out of the mud and start walking home. You didn't have to clean yourself up first, but you did have to make that first step. On the road ahead, the Father would be waiting with a ring, a robe, shoes, and everything else an honored son is meant to have. But, FIRST, you had to come to your senses and take your first step toward home --toward purity--toward holiness--to being a REAL man--by making that covenant with your eyes. "I made a covenant with myself to never undress a girl with my eyes" Job 31:1 Before long you may have felt a new light and lightness in your soul. Your sexual sin had brought a darkness so deep and smothering that when it vanished, the difference was so real you could practically touch it. You are loved and approved by God. Along with inner peace comes an outer peace that affects your daily life. Now is the time, say a quick prayer asking for God's strength to leave your sin and your pigheadedness. BE HOLYBE A MANadapted from Every Man's Battle
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