Daily Devotion for Men

HonorBound Devotion: May 24, 2010

Read Genesis 32:24-26 – Then Jacob was left alone; and a Man wrestled with him until the breaking of day. Now when He saw that He did not prevail against him, He touched the socket of his hip; and the socket of Jacob's hip was out of joint as He wrestled with him. And He said, "Let Me go, for the day breaks."  But he said, "I will not let You go unless You bless me!"  (NKJV)

A Man’s Model Prayer

Jacob’s praying takes on a new dimension when he wrestles with a Man, who was most likely God Himself. Jacob’s prayer was, “I will not let you go until you bless me.” He was determined to persevere in prayer, not giving up without an answer from God. Men, keep praying. It is NOT a lack of faith when you keep coming back to God in prayer with the same request. Join with Jacob and say, “God, I will not let you go until you bless me and my family.” “God, I will keep praying about this need until …”

– Cecil Culbreth serves as president of His Story Ministries, equipping the church to pray on behalf of students in America.

HonorBound Devotion: May 24, 2010

Read Genesis 32:24-26 – Then Jacob was left alone; and a Man wrestled with him until the breaking of day. Now when He saw that He did not prevail against him, He touched the socket of his hip; and the socket of Jacob's hip was out of joint as He wrestled with him. And He said, "Let Me go, for the day breaks."  But he said, "I will not let You go unless You bless me!"  (NKJV)

A Man’s Model Prayer

Jacob’s praying takes on a new dimension when he wrestles with a Man, who was most likely God Himself. Jacob’s prayer was, “I will not let you go until you bless me.” He was determined to persevere in prayer, not giving up without an answer from God. Men, keep praying. It is NOT a lack of faith when you keep coming back to God in prayer with the same request. Join with Jacob and say, “God, I will not let you go until you bless me and my family.” “God, I will keep praying about this need until …”

– Cecil Culbreth serves as president of His Story Ministries, equipping the church to pray on behalf of students in America.

HonorBound Devotion: May 21, 2010

Read James 4:7 – Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.  

The power key to victory is to submit to God and resist the devil.  This key is good only when it is used correctly. Try to resist the devil without submitting to God and you will find yourself in trouble. We are no match for the power of the devil. Man does not have it in him to resist all that the devil can throw at him. But the devil has no power over the man fully submitted to God. In fact, the best way to run him off is for him to see Christ in you. He knows that Christ in you is greater than all he can do to you.

– David Raley serves as the Field Representative for Light for the Lost.

HonorBound Devotion: May 20, 2010

Read James 4:5-6 – Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely? But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

 
Pride is opposite of everything God is about. Pride will cause a man to fall faster in life than most anything else. In fact, many times pride is the root of the things that cause men to fail in their walk with the Lord. Pride blinds you to your true self and limitations. The best way to cure your pride is to humble yourself. Take the second seat when your heart says you deserve the best seat. You will always have this war with pride. Your spirit struggles against God through pride. Humble yourself, and you invite God to rein in your life.
– David Raley serves as the Field Representative for Light for the Lost.

HonorBound Devotion: May 19, 2010

Read James 4:4 – You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.

There are three strong words used in this verse to describe faithless people. Those words are adulterous, hatred and enemy. When we have committed our lives to Christ and His work there is no room for friendship with the world. He characterizes our friendship with the world as an adulterous relationship. He characterizes our friendship with the world as hatred toward Him. Then He calls our friendship with the world as becoming an enemy of His. God thinks our fidelity is important and should not be compromised under any circumstances with the world.
– David Raley serves as the Field Representative for Light for the Lost.

HonorBound Devotion: May 18, 2010

Read James 4:3 – When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

Sometimes what we ask for is right but the reason we are asking is wrong. Motives mean everything in life. They especially matter in our requests to the Lord we serve. He knows us and our motives because he is all-knowing. We are silly to live in denial of this reality when we pray. If our motives are untrue, God knows and cannot answer. God wants you to pray, but be sure your prayers are sincere and true.
– David Raley serves as the Field Representative for Light for the Lost.

HonorBound Devotion: May 17, 2010

Read Genesis 32:11-12 – Deliver me, I pray, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, lest he come and attack me and the mother with the children. For You said, 'I will surely treat you well, and make your descendants as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.' (NKJV)

A Man’s Model Prayer

Jacob realized his fear of Esau was because of his own deceitful behavior.  Jacob understood that his sin was forgiven and he asked God to deliver him from Esau.  Notice Jacob did not say, “deliver me because I have been forgiven” or “deliver me because I have faithfully served You.”  Jacob simply asked God to deliver him because God had promised that his descendants would be as numerous as the sands of the sea.  Jacob was standing on the promises of God’s Word in his prayer.  Prayer is not about us, but about God and His Word.  Men, don’t be reluctant to pray God’s promises.

– Cecil Culbreth serves as president of His Story Ministries, equipping the church to pray on behalf of students in America.

HonorBound Devotion: May 14, 2010

Read James 4:2 – You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God.  

Life is too short to spend it fighting and fussing. People get frustrated because they want things that they should not be seeking after. There is nothing wrong with possessions, positions or power. But when you spend your life striving for those things you will destroy your life and the lives of others in your pursuit. What we should seek after in life is God. When your desire for God becomes bigger than your desires for everything else, God can trust you with other things. Seek first God and let the rest of life trail after.
– David Raley serves as the Field Representative for Light for the Lost.

HonorBound Devotion: May 13, 2010

Read James 4:1 – What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you?

Most quarrels end up only raising one’s blood pressure and making people feel silly after the fact. Unfortunately there are those occasions when words are spoken or actions taken that have bad results for years. Consider a fight from the past and try to reason whether it was worth it? The biggest problems lie within us more than outside of us.  If we can win the battles within us, then the fights around us will cease and vanish. Those that do persist will not affect us because we have won the biggest battle of all – the one with ourselves.

– David Raley serves as the Field Representative for Light for the Lost.

HonorBound Devotion: May 12, 2010

Read James 3:18 – Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness.

The law of sowing and reaping is very powerful. It is a law put in place by the Lord. Whatever you sow, you can believe that you will reap a harvest. The truths are this: you will reap the same kind that you sow; you will reap more than you sow; you will reap in a different season than you sow. You cannot do anything about failing to have a harvest last season, but you can do something about the next year’s harvest by sowing today. If you will plant seeds of peace, you will harvest a crop of righteousness.

– David Raley serves as the Field Representative for Light for the Lost.

HonorBound Devotion: May 11, 2010

Read James 3:17 – But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.

Notice all the good and gracious things that come from godly wisdom. In a community of believers where these attributes reside, the enemy can do nothing to hurt this group. When people are more focused on others than they are themselves they will always be protected. It is far better for others to protect you than for you to have to guard yourself. These people are like magnets. People want to be close to someone who loves others more than they love themselves. Men cannot produce this environment. God in them produces this wisdom.

– David Raley serves as the Field Representative for Light for the Lost.

HonorBound Devotion: May 10, 2010

Read Genesis 32:10 – I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the truth which You have shown Your servant; for I crossed over this Jordan with my staff, and now I have become two companies.  (NKJV)

A Man’s Model Prayer

Even though Jacob knew he was going “back home” in obedience to God’s command he never presumed that God owed him something.  “I am not worthy…”  We must guard against the attitude that thinks God must answer our prayers because we have been faithful to Him.  God answers prayers not because of our faithfulness or goodness but because of His mercies.  While we can pray in faith and stand on God’s promises, we must ALWAYS cast ourselves upon God’s mercies when we pray.  “God be merciful to me.”

– Cecil Culbreth serves as president of His Story Ministries, equipping the church to pray on behalf of students in America.