Lesson 2, A Man’s Fights
A Man’s Fight – A Regular Devotion Time
Sometimes it bores us to read the Bible. We think, “Why would I waste the time to read the Bible and pray? I can do that stuff at church.” This thinking is false. If we truly love our Lord and Savior then why do we not spend time with Him?
We need to realize that as we study the Bible we can learn about the Lord and how He wants us to live. As we pray, read the Bible, intercede, ask, petition, and wait in silence we can know the Lord! Knowing the Lord personally and having Him speak to you is why a regular devotion time is so important. Without it we can easily get sidetracked and forget God’s truth and be deceived by falsehood. We must be in the Bible to have our minds renewed and transformed to be like Christ’s! However, heed this warning: do not lean on your own understanding as you read the Word, but allow the Holy Spirit to teach you its application to your life as you read it.
Your notes on the subject:
A Man’s Fight – Work and Laziness
Each man has a fight to pick with laziness. But he also has a fight to pick with work. You see, a man can work too much, making his work an idol.
Often times, we are entertained by our video games and technology so much that we neglect our responsibilities around the home and, sometimes, even our personal cleanliness. We like to beat the six hundredth level of Game Boy’s newest release or we want to build Legos all day long, so we put off our chores, school work, and, at times, even our regular time with God. This type of lifestyle is simply called laziness and it has to go if we want to get anywhere in our life, especially spiritually.
Your notes on the subject:
A Man’s Fight – Defender
As men, we are to defend the truth and those that cannot defend themselves. And just because you might not be a “full grown” man doesn’t mean that you can’t defend truth and others. When a soldier goes off to war, he does not have to only defend his country, but his family, his beliefs, and those whom he will never meet.
Are you a defender?
Your notes on the subject:
A Man’s Fight – Against Revenge
Scripture: Romans 12:19-21
We all like to get back at the people that annoy us or hurt us. But that intense desire to slap someone back is revenge. And revenge is not our responsibility. Yes, we are to defend, but there is a point where defense ends and revenge picks up the bat or the gun and goes the next dangerous step because of our hate.
Do you struggle with Revenge?
As Christians, we must forgive (Matt. 6:14-15). This does not mean that we agree with everybody’s choices or lifestyle. But it does mean that we understand that our ultimate battle our ultimate battle is not against the people of this world, but the spiritual evils that attack it and rule it. The battle will not end until Christ sets up His eternal kingdom.
Do you agree?
In short, we don’t have to worry about getting even, because our God is a just God and if He wills it, He will punish the other person on this earth, but shouldn’t we ask Him to have mercy on that person, that they will repent, like Christ did to His persecutors, instead of cursing or asking hell upon them? We should not take joy and happiness in seeing those we dislike suffer; but we should rejoice when God Providentially wages war on our behalf against the evil that we face. For example stealing is wrong, period. God has that rule to protect us and to enable us to live a life that is much more fulfilling than always looking over our shoulder in fear. Let’s let Him take the vengeance.
Your notes on the subject:
A Man’s Fight – Truth
Defending the True Truth is usually very difficult. But how will we know the truth if we don’t know The Truth, the One who gives and is Truth? The answer is: we can’t! God wants to know you personally, as your closest friend, but building a friendship like that takes time and a lot of commitment. Will you begin to pursue Him with a commitment to learn His Truth? Why or why not?
We will be deceived unless we know the One who will show us truth. That One is, Jesus, the root of all Truth (John 14:6). If we get to know Him and are willing to seek Him, studying and working to build our relationship with Him, He will show us Himself to us and we will acquire truth. But the key question that I want you to keep in mind is: will I give everything up to obey Christ? If you are willing to say yes to that and truly live by that answer, then God can do wonders through you and to you because have surrendered your will. He does not force us to obey Him. We have a choice and that choice determines if we will know the True Truth.
A Man’s Fight – Lust
Lust is passionately wanting (desiring) something that is contrary to God’s will so badly that you feel like you will die without it. We can shorten the definition to an ungodly desire. To clarify, we can desire the things of God as we delight ourselves in His Word and, as a result, desire the right things as the Lord purifies our hearts (Psalm 37:4). Or we can desire (lust) the things that are not of God like greed, pride, premarital sex, and revenge. This particular battle becomes harder the older you get, because you begin to desire more things that are contrary to the will of God. The only way to be ready then is to start the battle now. Stand up Young Men of God!
God will be with you, but you have to stand against the temptation to lust and actively fight against those wrong desires (1 Cor. 10:12-13; 2 Cor. 10:2-5). YOU CAN WIN WITH GOD!
Your notes on the subject:
A Man’s Fight – Family
You will have the responsibility to lead your future family one day; that is, assuming that you marry, and some personal preparation will go a long way. You can acquire this by studying the Scriptures and observing your own family and your friend’s families to learn how they function. However, if the families you observe do not line up with the principles of the Bible you must reject them as your model of family. One key need/component of a family is spending time with them. This “time factor” will become increasingly more difficult when school gets tougher and when work seems to always be piling up. It will be easy to get frustrated with so much to do and have a family, but there is a way to escape that crazy frustration. The way of escape is a relationship with Jesus Christ. Jesus can give you the strength to make it through the frustrating stuff, the key is trusting and focusing on Him (Matt. 6:33—look it up). It will not always be easy, but persevere anyway!
STAY TRUE TO CHRIST FIRST, AND EVERYTHING ELSE HE HAS FOR YOU WILL COME IN GOOD TIME. –this is true! Check out: Matthew 6:33
Your notes on the subject:
A Man’s Fight – Provider
Since the time of Adam, men have put food on the table for their families. Men have worked hard, selflessly, and humbly. They have served, fought wars, and led armies to provide protection and a life for their family. But providing is more than protection and money, it is supporting the members of your family, emotionally, spiritually, physically, and socially. Providing isn’t easy, but you have an opportunity to know your true providing character because it is tested every time you step into the shoes of a man.
In what ways are you a provider now? If you’re not, will you begin to prepare to be a provider?
Your notes of the subject:
A Man’s Fight – Purity
A pure life is a righteous life. . . So how do you acquire spiritual purity? By having a relationship with Jesus Christ. After you have received salvation from your sin through Christ’s sacrifice you still have “junk” to deal with in your life and the Holy Spirit will be there to help you deal with it. By renewing your mind daily in the Word, the Holy Spirit will realign your focus to Christ. It is this relationship with the Holy Spirit as the realigner, the counselor, the guide that will gently direct you toward purity if you let Him.
In the realm of physical purity, you will need to fight a battle and run to Christ for your strength. There are some great authors such as Joshua Harris and Elizabeth Eliot who have written extensively on this topic, please check their books out for deeper study about purity. However, by taking captive your lustful thoughts and making them obedient to Christ (2 Cor. 10:5) you can start fighting for your mental purity and this in turn can aid you in keeping your physical purity (i.e. not having sex outside of marriage or being involved in physical relationships with women or men).Temptation will come and urge you to give up your purity, but the temptations are not sin. It is when you dwell on, worry about, or fantasize about a lustful temptation or thought that you sin. When temptation comes, remember to run to the Lord and ask Him for help and the Holy Spirit will direct you on what to do from there (He may do this by bringing Scriptures to mind that you have familiarized yourself with on purity). Keep standing, fight the good fight, finish the race!
Your notes on the subject:
A Man’s Fight – Conviction
Conviction is a feeling or understanding that something is not right in your life or a certain standard that you hold to because you believe it is right. For example: if you stole a candy bar, God can convict you that it was wrong. This kind of conviction is meant to lead us to repentance. It doesn’t feel good and is often hard to act on (like asking for forgiveness), but it is still a blessing because it urges us to stay obedient to Christ. Likewise, going to church regularly is a standard you will probably have because you believe that going to church is important, thus you live like it is important— this is another form of conviction. On the other hand, God’s conviction will leave after you repent. If the feeling of guilt doesn’t leave, you are probably up against condemnation which is of the Devil and you don’t have to pay any attention to it because he is just trying to discourage you. When you are dealing with condemnation read John 3:17-18.
A word of warning: If you do not respond to the conviction (which is meant for leading you to repentance) of the Holy Spirit, you will eventually block the Holy Spirit’s gentle promptings out of your life and thus stumble and possibly even leave the faith. Be careful and continue to be obedient!
Do you have any convictions right now?
Your notes on the subject:
Work (personal assignment) For Growth