9.10.10 Becoming a Man of the Spirit

I am still working my way through Bob Beltz "Becoming a man of..." series. Half way through Becoming a Man of the Spirit today, I want to share a point he brings to light.

"Understanding the flesh leads us naturally to learning how to identify when we are operating out of it...The processing unit God has built into each of our lives to help us understand, identify and then decide which state we will respond to, is the mind....God has created us with the capacity to be self-conscious."

Romans 8:5 "Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires."

Colossians 3:2 "Set your minds on things above."

"Here is a simple reminder of the three steps we take to walk in the Spirit:

Step 1: Understand. Understand the feelings, desires, and behaviors that originate out of the Spirit and those that are products of the flesh. (Galatians 5)
Step 2: Identify: At any given moment, be able to identify which nature your promptings are coming from and which nature you are responding to.
Step 3: Decide. Choose to say no to the flesh and yes to the Spirit. Set your mind."



"Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God." John 3:5

2.24.10 Becoming a Man of Prayer

Ok, here's the laugh for you that I gave my children last night. "I'm on my way to becoming a Man of Prayer!" That was priceless. No really, I was looking for something on our shelves on prayer for me, when I found a Promise Keepers book called Becoming a Man of Prayer. I figured, well, prayer is prayer right? So, I have read the first two chapters and am very excited about it.



I guess part of prayer is developing a habit of taking "it to the Lord in prayer". So, Bob Beltz uses the Model Prayer (often called the Lord's Prayer) as a guide to developing a meaningful prayer life. I like what I've seen so far. He recommends to start by committing to pray for five minutes a day for five days, starting off by reading Luke 11:1-13 and one of Psalms 1-5 and then praying. This is just the start.

This is something I've struggled with for a long time. I know the lack of prayer has great consequences in my life. I am praying that the Lord will use this to open me up to all the many things that He would love for me to lay at His feet!