Manup Moment - Jay Cookingham

Proverbs 4:23 has this warning for us…. "Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life." Proverbs 4:23 There are many things that will ask you for your heart today. Some will even demand it from you. Circumstances, trials, fears, are the biggest culprits. The temptation to settle for something less than God's best for you is a loud one.

I had coffee with Sam (not his real name) recently; Sam and I were trying to catch up after a few years of minimum contact with each other. Sam is in his early 50’s and he feels friendless…alone in his battle. This is the great tragedy of many men; their hearts are vacant and isolated. If nature abhors a vacuum, more so a man’s heart…it will try to fill it somehow. Sam fills his with porn.

The words we speak into our children fuel their journey through life. A father’s words guide and help set a course and those words have generational impact.

Your redemption, the rescue of your heart has made this position of sonship possible. It is not society, the world, or the enemy who gets to define who we are. Our past doesn't have the power to dictate it either…our failures or successes…what we have lost or what we have gained…none of this gets to define what kind of man we are.

I consider myself a "generalist" a "jack of all trades" type of guy. Yet, I don't hunt, my home repair skills are suspect and if I judge myself against a list of "manly things" I may not qualify for a mancard anymore. At least that's what my dad thought...and for years I suffered from that failure to live up to his version of manhood.

I believe Romans 8: 14 – 15 is a son’s declaration of…dependence, listen to this. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. (15) For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, "Abba! Father!"

One of the greatest battles a man faces is his past. We often allow those past events that haunt us… our mistakes; our failures and sins… affect our choices and decisions. The enemy loves that and plays that card repeatedly. It is time to end that game and walk like the redeemed sons we are.

So much has been taught about the human heart and how wicked it is…after all Jeremiah 19:9 states “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” Jeremiah 17:9 But that is not the whole story…Here are some heart checks to ponder.

I believe with all my heart that Father does want to speak a word over us today…that word is favor.

Did you know that the day you bent your knee to follow the Messiah, the King of Kings…you picked a fight? Did you also know when you entered a marriage covenant and said, “I do”…you picked a fight? When you stood your ground, drew a line in the sand and said…”as for me and my house…we will serve the Lord! You became a warrior… you entered a battle.

The word conspire is one with quite a negative rap, but at its Latin roots it means something really cool. The word conspire means to breathe together

Of all the books of the Bible...I get the Psalms. The experiences... the rollercoaster-ness of life with God is real and raw. What the Psalms say to me is that my emotions, my outlook, and the way I think and believe, is important to the Father.

Throughout the Gospels Jesus mentions the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Heaven over 90 times…do you think He was serious about Kingdom living? Jesus had a message to deliver.

His word pictures were of the charts…so was his intelligence. Jesus was able to debate and silence his harshest critics. His parables were masterful, weaving information of farming, fishing, human relations, politics and even the weather.

Every day, you and I are bringing a picture of Christ into our everyday world. Our life with its opinions, our personalities, our choices… the things that make up our walk are selling or delivering a picture of Jesus, whether we’re aware of it or not.

We have been invited into a mystery…the mystery of knowing Jesus… and by knowing Jesus….know the Father. Jesus didn't come to reboot religion…he came to show us how a human heart connects with God. He came to show us the freedom a human can have in relationship with God.

Was he an introvert or the strong silent type? The Gospels don’t really tell us outright yet they tell us that He experience life in all its fullness.

50 years ago a seven-year-old walked into a church for the first time and heard a remarkable story. It was the story of a man, who was God, who loved people so much he died for them on a cross. It was this story that drew me in, that captured my attention and it was the heart of this man, Jesus, who captured my own. I didn't fall in love with a theology…I fell in love with a person.

Love investment involves acceptance of the cause, it involves commitment to the cause and giving to the cause. What is this cause? Paul writes about it in Ephesians 3

Self-control is the cousin to dying to self, the companion that encourages sacrifice when it is hard to do so. It is the fierce, relentless bent to do what is right, not what is easy or comfortable, what is right.