Berean Journeymen

A few years ago, like many of you men, I saw no benefit in meeting with another man and talking. I was a manly man and I did not need to have a conversation with another man to feel good about myself, or to help me deal with life. I believed you do things on your own, and your encouragement comes from a job well done, or task being completed. Not only did I see no reason to share my feelings with another man, I was also quite intimidated by the thought of it. I had heard other men share the need and benefits of meeting together to share and keep other accountable, but my pride convinced me that I did not need that. When I got around my pride, my fear of asking another guy to talk crippled any attempt for it to progress any further.

So why am I sharing this with you? I believe that God knows how difficult life is. I believe that God is very much aware of how prideful we men are. I believe that when we are obedient and live life according to God's word and his instruction for us, we are greatly blessed. I believe we are blessed so that God can be glorified, and so that Satan can be put back in his place and we learn to develope a confidence in God, and recognize when Satan is discouraging us. That confidence God is instilling in us, strengthens our faith in him.

So many of your are asking yourselves how does this apply to my life? I've shared several emails over the past couple of months that I feel God has put on my heart to share. In each of these emails, I have encouraged the men to take baby steps towards God. The first step was to Come to the Altar, and meet God there. The second email encouraged you to join men Friday mornings at 6:30 am in the Chapel for prayer, encouragement, and sharing of some of God's Word and repentance of our sins. This message is to urge you to meet regularly with another guy to encourage one another and do life together.

Guys, I know we are ALL struggling with the same issues. We are all having problems in our lives, and we are trying to solve these problems alone. God has given us instruction on how to deal with lifes problems and struggles. For the last 2 years, I have met with a friend who has helped me do life better. This friend is not a counselor or someone who has vast biblical knowledge and teaching skills, he is another man just like me who has similar struggles and anxieties and problems in life just like I do. This friend can hear my struggles and relate to them, give me advice from personal experiences and often knows a biblical principle to apply to the given situation. I know that we both have relied heavily on each other the past several years, and God has used us meeting together to encourage us and increase our faith in him. Satan had me convinced that I did not need an accountability partner in my life. God has blessed me by doing it and being faithful in our meeting together.

You may be asking yourself, how has God blessed you Tim? God has blessed me most of all in my marriage. I have often met with him, and been discouraged or frustrated about how things are going in my marriage, and through sharing with him my struggles, and hearing a outside perspective, and praying together over our struggles, my marriage has improved. I can hear things from my friend, who if I heard from my wife, I would rebel and probably become angry and argumentative about it. When I hear it from a friend whose foundation is biblical I am more receptive, and often humbled in realizing I am wrong. God has also blessed me by helping me to realize I am not alone in my struggles. My friend and I have gone through many of the same trials. We are very seldom down on the same day, if one is down, the other always seems to be up to encourage the other and share some words of encouragement on how God has been faithful and brought them through a similar trial. Does that sound like a biblical principle. I think this makes it clear.

Ecclesiastes 4:10 - If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!

Thank you Phil for helping me up many times!

God gives us baby steps for a reason. The reason is so we can learn to trust in him one step at a time. I want to encourage all of you brothers to start with one of these baby steps. God is faithful, you will be blessed if you start seeking and being obedient to God's will. Before I close, let me give you a couple of other versus which also verify his instruction to us.

Hebrews 3:13 - But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness.

Hebrews 10:25 - Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

God Bless, and Welcome to Our Blog.

See You at the Altar,


Tim