The Bible.com (or Bible App from YouVersion) has so many great plans to go through and read. As I continue through the list of dad devotionals using their search capabilities, I have come across today’s devotional which is a 12-day devotional titled 10 Challenges Every Dad Must Conquer. Checking out the publisher’s information and signing up for their newsletters as well as getting to download their survival gear, I am excited to get better connected with them as I believe they have many resources that will be helpful and useful for men who answer the call to step up and step into being the dads God has called and created them to be. Looking into this devotional and trying to better understand the purpose of Manhood Journey, I discovered they are “a ministry who helps dads become disciple-makers. We do this through various tools. Things like blogs, eBooks, Field Guides, Bible studies, digital courses, and live events“. I am so excited to get to go through this devotional with all of you and see where God will take us. I am excited to have gotten to communicate with Kent and to have found their resources as I believe it will be of great help to dads.
The Bible.com site describes this plan as follows:
“Feel overwhelmed—or worse—like a failure? We took your most-pressing challenges and matched them up with battle-proven, busy leaders who also happen to be dads—to give you theologically deep and super-practical help. You CAN be the dad God calls you to be. This plan will help.”
10 Challenges Every Dad Must Conquer
Today’s devotional points us to Ephesians 6:12.
‘For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. ‘
Ephesians 6:12
Remember how Jesus warned us: “In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.“? Remember how in James we are told about how to feel and respond to troubles and trials in our life when he said: “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.“? So today as we consider the struggles we face, let’s not be overcome but rather choose to be overcomers! Let’s choose to lead with love and joy in order to persevere through the trials and troubles of this dark world. Today’s verse points us to the truth about the struggles we face and how there is something bigger at work. It’s not people! It’s not the family! It’s not the kids! Our struggles are because of the rules, authorities, powers of this dark world, and spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Are you struggling with something today? Don’t lose hope but rather take heart! Are you facing a struggle that seems too big? Consider it pure joy because you know that it will build your faith to enable you to persevere and when that perseverance finishes its work you will be made mature and complete, lacking nothing! It’s a choice, some days a tough choice, either way, we need to decide how we will choose to respond to the trials, the troubles, and the struggles that we come up against today. Let’s choose joy! Let’s remember the truth and the faithfulness of God to help us in and through whatever it is that comes our way! Let’s choose to make sure we are attacking the problem, not the people! Let’s choose to make sure we are fighting the right battle! Let’s choose to make sure we are fighting the right enemies! Let’s do so and then Let’s choose joy!
Today’s devotional has been provided by Manhood Journey (more details can be found https://www.manhoodjourney.org/fieldguides/)
Reading through today’s devotional, here are some takeaways for me:
(check out the devotional on your own too to see if you pick up other nuggets, and please share your findings in the comments)
For more information, please visit Manhood Journey: https://www.manhoodjourney.org/fieldguides/.
Day 8 You’re fighting the wrong enemy.
- Let’s be the dads who are focused on fighting the right battles!
- Let’s be the dads who are focused on attacking the problem(s) rather than people!
- Let’s be the dads who are focused on the right enemy!
- This hits close to home today as we are facing a challenge with a decision made and then an experience that took place and how we are to respond. Fortunately we took some time to think about it, pray about it, and even speak to others about it. Our decision is going to change the direction of the future from where it was heading and yet because of the heart and the purpose behind it I know we can trust God to turn what the enemy had purposed and planned for evil and use it for good.
- Today’s devotional gets us starting this topic: “Identifying the true enemy”
- Let’s be the dads who want to thrive rather than survive!
- Let’s be the dads who in the midst of facing struggles that can try to frustrate our efforts to survive like “dangers, toils and snares”
- Let’s be the dads who remember that there is an enemy as today’s verse told us and that the enemy “is NOT your wife, not your kids, and not even culture.“
- Let’s be the dads who are looking to build stronger relationships with our wife and kids!
- Let’s be the dads who are looking to build bridges rather than tear them down between ourselves and our wife and kids!
- Let’s choose to not respond with a kneejerk reaction but instead take a breath in order to respond in a way that won’t create a wedge between us and them in our lrelationships and won’t tear down the bridges between us.
- Let’s be the dads who choose to stop, listen, and respond in a way that builds up our relationships and fills them with love!
- Let’s be the dads who choose to stop, listen, and respond with love rather than anger and frustration that would or could plant a seed of bitterness into our wife or kids.
- Let’s be the dads who choose to live our lives in a way that is modeled after our Heavenly Father and will help our wife and kids to be built up and encouraged, feeling loved and cared for.
- Let’s be the dads who choose to live our lives in a way that glorifies our Heavenly Father rather than giving the devil a foothold into our lives, our wife’s life, or our kids lives.
- The devil has a plan and it is to rob, kill, and destroy!
- So we need to be the dads who can see the spiritual realities of what is taking place and rather than taking it out on our wives and kids, we need to be directing our response back at the devil and his demons rather than at the ones we love!
- Today’s verse from Paul reminds us who is the cause and the reason for our struggles when he says: ““our struggle is not against flesh and blood” (Eph. 6:12). “
- Today’s devotional gives us a view into the devil when it says:
- “Satan is well aware of this reality. He’s had thousands of years to observe, research and learn from human behavior. He knows precisely how small tweaks of details here and there can affect our emotions and cause us to react. “
- “There will be attacks. There will be snares. There will be nakedness, danger and sword as the enemy comes at us with any and every combination he can muster of the world, the flesh and the devil. But we do not go alone. We go having been given the promise “I am with you” (Matt. 28:20) by the One who said, “Take heart, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).“
- So let’s be the dads who remember we aren’t alone and can ask God for wisdom in the moment before we respond, so that we respond properly and attack the right enemy.
- ‘If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do. ‘ James 1:5-8
- Let’s be the dads who don’t worry or get overcome by the attacks of the devil but pause, turn to God for wisdom and be overcomers through Jesus who has overcome the world. Let’s be overcomers by the blood of the lamb and the words of our testimony!
- Today’s devotional closes with this one question we need to answer in order to be the dads God created us to be and purposed for us to become.
