Welcome to Spirit Formed Men. This site is dedicated to providing a place where men can share their stories, insights, resources, and lessons from their journey of life and faith. From the beginning of time, God has been in the process of forming the lives of men. Genesis 2:7 tells us that our Creator crafted us from the most common element on earth: dirt. From these humble beginnings the Lord formed a being capable of reflecting the nature and character of God to the world.
The pages of Scripture are filled with examples of God’s ongoing work in the lives of men. Each man was unique, and each one faced formational challenges similar in many ways to our own. Jeremiah the prophet witnessed firsthand the work of a potter shaping, crushing, and reshaping a pot that reflected his desires (Jeremiah 18:1-6). Similarly, God shapes, crushes, and reshapes the life of a man to reflect the Father’s expressed purposes for his life.
How many times have we as fathers agonized over our children as we have watched their lives being formed through the consequences of their choices in life? Similarly, the apostle Paul agonized as he witnessed the forming of Christ’s character in the lives of those in whom he had invested his life, (Galatians 4:19).
Where do you see God shaping and forming your life and the lives of men? What are you learning about your heavenly Father from this process? What experiences, relationships, and truths have most shaped your life to this point?
What Do You Think?
8 comments:
I want to be the first post! Unfortunately because of my other responsibilities with the youth I don't often get to be involved with the men's ministries at our church but I will look forward to reading this blog! I will assume the questions at the end of the post were not merely rhetorical and answer them! Pastor let me know if I am wrong there! My life is most definitely and deeply formed in the place of prayer. Especially prayer from the Word of God. No other place in my life goes so deep. As I pray God's Word back to Him I am changed. My heart DNA gets rewritten line by line. I am learning more and more that our Heavenly Father is a Daddy filled with great passion for his children. Even little ole me. What an amazing thing!
Beginning today I will no longer worry about yesterday. It is in the past and the past will never change. Only I can change by choosing to do so.
Beginning today I will no longer worry about tomorrow. Tomorrow will always be there, waiting for me to make the most of it. But I cannot make the most of tomorrow without first making the most of today.
Looks easy doesn't it? So it is with our character defects. We can choose to identify them, to become aware of them and accept them and, as a result, gain some measure of strength to manage them, instead of being managed by them. We can choose to share them honestly with our Lord, to tell it like it is and to ask His help in their removal, believing that He will remove them."
My wife Sherri signed us up for a class at First Assembly starting the first of Feb.07.
Little did I know what the Lord had in store for us...... So what comes to mind at this moment is He will let us make our own mistakes but will not allow us to choose the consequences. So at times we need to just get out of His way.
"Before they call, I will answer," goes an old saying, and that was true even
in my darkest days. Many of us can look back to realize that a certain force was moving us toward redemption long before we knew we needed it. But God works in ways that can seem to come from chance or coincidence. Quite often, we'll find that little events had far- reaching results in our lives. When we review how such things happened, we should not conclude that this happens only to certain "special" people. All human beings are part of God's creation and can avail themselves of guidance and direction. The more serious problem is that guidance and direction are sometimes ignored or rejected.
The last 5 weeks have been the hardest and yet most rewarding time in my life. Believe me when I tell you this, I lived a hard and fast life before I coincided to His terms. It took over 30 years of running from my God before I hit rock bottom.
This class has opened my eyes to family history! Believe me, If you knew where I come from you would gasp in disbelief. At present I have elder family members introducing alcohol to preteen family members.... It's starting all over again.
At the age of 13 my mother got me drunk for the first time. Several months latter I was introduced to pornography by my father. My life was consumed by a family curse. My mother's side of the family was involved in witchcraft, tarot cards, ( my father in later years ) mediums, etc. Mental illness has plagued my family, suicide, depression,etc. I trust the Lord will set my family free of this, I'm speaking of my children and grandchildren. My sisters daughter has now been introduced to magic. This leads only to eternal destruction. With all this said I hope you have a better understanding of what I'm dealing with. Demonic forces are working all around us, I've seen it first hand. No! I not off my rocker!! I guess the reason I'm posting this is I'm grossly misunderstood. I come across as a very abrasive hard nosed individual among my peers at church. I just want you all to know I'm tired. It's fear, will I be judged harshly? Will they whisper in disgust? The fear is slowly being removed, I've found a group of people within this class that have an honest desire to serve the Lord, To take time and minister to a born again sinner like myself. I'm sorry when I offend,When I speak before I think, I'm still hiding from myself to some degree or another. God is cleaning me up for a greater purpose, I can hardly wait..... I just needed to get this off my chest, Thanks Don for this opportunity, Thank You for your prayers.
Michael Murphy
Joshy
Welcome aboard! Absolutely you are free to answer the questions, that's why they are there. Praying the Word is such an incredible way to talk with the Father and it gives me so much more confidence when I know the Spirit's very words are helping me express my heart. As men, we often find it difficult to know where to begin. Scripture is filled with expressions of men's hearts to God. It's the best place in the world to jump off into the adventure of prayer.
Michael
Thanks for sharing your story. What an incredible trophy of grace you are. What I love about God is that it's not nearly as important where I was as it is where I am going. Who I was pales in comparison to who I am becoming.
What I love about the Father is that no matter how deep the wounds in our lives as men, whether self-inflicted or inflicted by others, these wounds become threads of healing grace that are woven together by the Spirit. That's the promise of Romans 8:38-39, ALL things work together for our good. Even our dumbest moments and the cruelest moments of others will not deter the work of God if our hearts stay focused on him.
If You're Offended
If you're offended, there is only one answer: get over it.
Offense is a stumbling block that Satan uses to keep many Christians from experiencing life to the fullest. You probably will not progress in your relationship with God if, every time someone hurts your feelings, you get offended. The word for offense that is used in the New Testament means "the part of the trap on which the bait lies to lure in its victim," and offense is part of Satan's trap to keep us from going forward in our walk with God.
The apostle Paul was offended by other brothers in Christ, but in each instance he decided to leave the person with God. For example, there was a man named Alexander, who did Paul a great deal of harm. What's Paul's response? The Lord will pay him back (2 Timothy 4:14). In that same passage, Paul writes about how various people have left him: At my first defense, no one came to my support, but everyone deserted me. However, he asks God, May it not be held against them (2 Timothy 4:16).
Paul may not have had power in his ministry had he been bitter towards others. Decide to forgive others through the power of God's grace. If you're offended about something others did to you, ask God, May it not be held against them. Forgiveness is the solution!!
I have found that God will not always use the same tactics to bring you around. Sometimes he will smack you up side the head, and say "THIS is the way you need to go". Other time he will put up signs on the road that tell you "You need to go this way". But won't push in that direction. I am noticing that God is showing me the signs, 'cause he already done smacked me up side the head. It is up to me to notice, and read the signs. I'm sure there are some other ways he uses to get us on the right track, but I don't think I want to find out. I noticed one of the last signs he gave me, it said: "let all that I am praise the Lord"
To believe that today or tommorow will be the same.
Psalm 119:67, 71, 75 Here is a word from the Word. It’s a word about affliction and the purpose of affliction and why affliction comes in our lives and how we should respond to affliction. After all, there’s nobody who won’t encounter affliction at some time or another in his life. Listen to what the psalmist says about affliction and what he learned from it: Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey your word. It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees. I know, O LORD, that your laws are righteous and in faithfulness you have afflicted me. NIV You see, the psalmist didn’t view affliction as a disaster. He saw it as a kind of corrective medicine. It was something that he needed to adjust his life. He says, “Before I was afflicted I went astray and I paid for it, but now,” he said, “I obey your word. I’ve learned my lesson. It pays to obey.” And then he says at the end, “O LORD…in faithfulness you have afflicted me.” You didn’t do it because You were cruel or because You were angry with me. You did it to straighten me out, to bring me back from my own evil way into your way, to find the way of peace. Are you in the midst of affliction? Don’t fight. Don’t argue with God. Ask Him the reason. God is afflicting you in His faithfulness. He has a reason. He’s trying to turn you back from something, to bring you out of the wrong and bring you into the right—a life of obedience to His statutes. - Derek Prince
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