Battlefield Instructions for Men, Pt. 2

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WW II GI's Surrounded by the Fog of War

We live in a world where spiritually and morally, these same disorienting type things continue to demand our attention. We can be swayed easily, go the wrong direction, and do what we never thought we would do. That is why battlefield instructions are so important. That is why we must have a plan before we take that first step onto the battlefield we call life. Choosing to be a one woman man will radically transform your life. That kind of life begins with our eyes and moves to every part of our body. It's why the Bible exhorts us to offer our bodies as living sacrifices (See Romans 12:1). Because our eyes begin the process, make sure you read Part 1 of this blog to get the clear ("crystal, sir!") instructions for a man's battle for purity.

3 additional ways we prepare for battle:

Choose to be faithful with your lips - A man committed to his wife is no flirt. He doesn't play junior high games with other women. He doesn't kid roundabout being interested in someone else. He doesn't make jokes about getting together with other women. Such jesting comes under the umbrella of having a few harmless laughs. But some things are off-limits...marriage is one of them. Marriage is sacred and holy. It's should never be reduced to a joke at your wife's expense or to the detriment of that relationship.

Choose to be faithful with your hands - Remember when you were a child and your mother used to say keep your hands to yourself? I remember, it was usually after I had whopped or irritated my brother. Keep your hands to yourself is a great piece of advice if you want to be ready for battle. It's like preventative maintenance. It keeps you prepared to fight the war. Be careful how you touch the opposite sex. Why be careful? Because you're committed to one woman. And that is Semper Fidelis...being always faithful.

It would do us all well to look at 1 Corinthians 7 together:

Now concerning the things about which you wrote, it is good for a man not to touch a woman. But because of immoralities, each man is to have his own wife, and each woman is to have her own husband. (1 Corinthians 7:1, 2 NASB)

There's nothing wrong with a hug. Many times it comes from the purest of motives. But next time you think about hugging a woman, and you're not sure about your motives, then don't. So if you want to hug somebody, the best thing to do is go find your wife.

Choose to be committed with your feet - 1 Corinthians 6:18 says it flat out: "flee from sexual immorality." That's how a man prepared to battle for puriity deals with movies, magazines, videos, internet, or any situation he finds himself in that is counterproductive to marriage commitment. He flees.

The problem is is that most men who flee temptation usually leave a forwarding address.… That won't cut it if you're going to win this battle. A one-woman man doesn't hang around to check out a pornographic magazine for its "artistic value." He doesn't hesitate to walk out of a movie that violates his value system. He takes the lead in turning off the TV or the DVD or the computer or the smart phone or the iPad when it's inappropriate. That's what it means to flee. Feet to demonstrate your commitment.

Let me finish with these words of insight that should help you understand why our eyes, minds, lips, hands, and feet are so important to winning.

If we are going to protect ourselves from the epidemic of adultery, we must understand the process that leads to adultery. David sinned with his eyes, his mind, his lips, and his hands before he ever hit the sheets with Bathsheeba. David had already lost the battle before that moment of pleasure. Adultery did not begin with physical contact. That horrible, destructive act began with a glance that turned into a gaze that became an obsession and finally an act of willful disobdience (Read more in 2 Samuel 11). It was an act that nearly destroyed all the good David had done for the kingdom.

You see, adultery does not begin with the act, it begins with the mind. And the Man begins with his commitment to his wife each day will be a man of holiness and a lethal weapon in the hands of God.

This presentation is from puritycoalition.org. God, give us clean hands, give us pure hearts!



There is hope and we can win!

Pastor Trey Rhodes


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Battlefield Instructions for Men, Part 1

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Do you have your battlefield plans?

In order to be able to fight in the battle, you've got to have a plan. Whether it's in the streets of Fallujah or the halls of your home, you must know what you need to do to win. These principles apply to the married man or the single man. We all need help winning this battle. So, with these things in mind, let's take a look at some choices you can make starting today.

Choose to Be Committed with Your Eyes - In the Bible, Job put it this way: "I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a girl." Job 31:1. Job is making a commitment to a special kind of blind love. That is Semper Fidelis. Note that the Bible doesn't say that we must never notice a woman. It says that we are not to look lustfully at a woman. Good-looking girls and women are everywhere. You can't help but see them. There is a difference, however, between seeing a beautiful woman and lusting after her. Just point is simply this: there is a difference between a look and a lustful look. Note the words of the Message translation, which is really is a scripturally blunt definition of LUST:

Keeping your eyes focused on Jesus...

"never to undress a girl with my eyes." (Job 31:1, MSG)

Here's what I'm saying, a man who is committed with his eyes will avoid certain kinds of magazines, television programs, and shows that are offered in a hotel room when you could possibly be hundreds of miles from your wife and kids. Train your eyes to appreciate beauty rather than cause you to stumble.

Jesus said that if our eye offends us, pluck it out. That means that men must take extreme measures like removing themselves from a situation. Do you really need a TV in your hotel room? Could you bring someone with you on overnight trips? Should you avoid the new stands in the airport on trips? Whatever it is, if we are going to win this battle, we must get extreme.

Do you remember a man named Dick Butkus? He is truly a legend. There has never been anyone so extreme or sold out to his task of stopping running backs in the history of football. He bit, hit, punched, slapped, fought, and slammed his adversaries into the ground to stop them. It's time we got Dick Butkus extreme with our eyes if we want to be the kind of men God wants us to be.

'Nuff Said

Choose to Be Committed with Your Mind - It was Oscar Wilde he said, "I can resist anything except temptation." Do you ever feel like that?

Here's God's take on the situation found in 2 Corithians 10:3-5:

The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

We can't stop bad thoughts from entering our mind, that's temptation. It is not wrong to be tempted. Jesus was tempted but never sinned. The ideas that we must fight are those tempting ideas that want to run our life. Those must be brought to obey Christ instead of our flesh. Learn to sift through the wrong ideas and take them captive to Christ. Tranform the temptation into an opportunity to win. Tha happens with Bible study as we engraft our hearts with His Word. (Go here for some simple but effective memory verses)

Bill Hull (author of The Disciple-making Pastor) writes that a man "must know the Bible well enough, through study, to fight temptation and protect himself against the ideas and philosophies of the world. He is confronted daily with thousands of messages and ideas. A biblical defense system must sort out the ideas, take what is obedient to Christ, and reject what is not."

The point is this: learning to deal with your thought life is the spiritual equivalent of learning to dribble with your left hand. It is work to learn, and you will not be successful at first. You'll feel overwhelmed, discouraged, and frustrated. You'll begin to think you'll never make progress. But slowly and surely you will develop a new habit. It doesn't come easy, but what worth-while habit does? You'll be developing a new pattern of thinking. If it's something that you've been doing for 25 years, you're not going have it down in a few weeks. It will take time and effort and perserverance, but it can be done.

It's high time we all quit making excuses and run to the battle!

More tomorrow that will help you win your battles.

Pastor Trey Rhodes

For the complete podcast, go to Being a One Woman Man and a Loving Wife

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