![]() Jason Cruise Founder Outdoor Ministry Network The Man Minute...Sixty Second Investments in Christ-Like Manhood. This Man Minute will go a bit more than 60 seconds today. It will be worth your two minutes. Over the past few weeks it seems like every day I'm hearing news that people I know and love are getting divorced, are separated, or are on the brink of either of the two. The Man Minute goes out to thousands of people, and I hear reports all the time that many of you forward it to your brothers who walk with you in the Lord. So, I know that by the simple law of averages, many of you who get the Man Minute have been divorced. I cannot imagine how painful that chapter of your life was both then and even now, as it's still a part of your story. Therefore, the last thing I want to do is to heap any coals upon your head, because I know that any man's marriage can come to an end. I fully believe with all my heart that no person ever gets married anticipating a divorce in their future. Things just happen and you end up one day in a place you never thought you'd be. However, I cannot help but say to every man who gets the Man Minute, that unless there are clear, biblical grounds pointing to a separation, God's best for your life is to stay married. Yes, absolutely yes, there are at times circumstances where a marriage simply cannot make it. One party walks away and decides to quit, no matter how hard the other one tries to keep it together. Sometimes a person grows a heart that is like cement toward their spouse, and thus there is no possible option for recovery unless that person turns their heart toward God; and, you cannot make your spouse turn to God. Only they can make that decision. So I understand that. The thing that is grieving me the most is that what I'm seeing in the lives of people I know who are on the brink of divorce is that one, or in some cases both, of the people in the marriage simply want more freedom ... aren't having their needs met ... want to go back to a fantasy of high school dating, club hopping, etc, etc. In most cases I see around me right now, for the person who has chosen to end the marriage, there are absolutely no biblical grounds for it. It seems that the grounds for divorce these days are simply and purely selfish. My marriage is hard work, but not because my wife, Michelle, is hard to live with; she isn't hard to live with (most of the time!) It's hard because relationships are tough. However, I've never seen anything so rewarding as marriage. Michelle and I have a great marriage, but it's because we want to stay married, we want to honor one another, and above all, we want the anointing of God on our lives. All of this means that it takes work, but anything worth having is worth the work. Life-long relationships are tough!! What makes any of us think that we can live with one person as a friend, lover, and spouse for an entire life time and yet think that it's not going to, at times, be completely a marathon that must be endured?? In the end, you cannot force a person to stay married to you. You can, however, do everything you can possibly do to honor your vows. You stood before God and your spouse and you told both God and your spouse that you'd stay in this relationship until death parts you. Stay married. When I was 16 years old my mom and dad thought they could no longer live with one another. After four months of a separation, they even filed papers for divorce. There marriage was virtually non-existent, even before the papers were filed. Yet, my mom and dad both surrendered their hearts to staying together. Within the next 24 months all three of us gave our hearts to the Lord Jesus. I've said many times that the marriage I grew up watching isn't the marriage my parents have today. They are two completely different people when it comes to how they love one another. I watched with my own eyes that when two people decide to make massive changes in their lives, stop being selfish, and choose to love the Lord so that they can learn to love one another again, then any marriage can thrive. It can be done. But He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. - 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 *** Next week I'm going to share some personal experiences in my marriage that have taught me a lot about God, myself, and my wife. www.jasoncruisespeaks.com and www.outdoorministrynetwork.com
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![]() Jason Cruise Founder Outdoor Ministry Network The Man Minute sixty second investments in Christ-like manhood Most every man I've ever met, myself most certainly included, has a deep need to "be the man." Not necessarily from the standpoint of ego, but more from the viewpoint of competence. Every man wants to know that he's competent to navigate life's challenges. The desire of being competent has, in my life, become something that has been a driving force to excel. However, as with any other pursuit, those desires can also become deadly toxins that infect your heart, cloud your perspective, and warp your relationships when left unfiltered by the word of God. Over and over again, I've had to force myself not only to understand, but to truly give over my heart, to the eternal truth that in the end there's nothing I can do to make myself a fully competent man. I cannot be educated enough ... I cannot become wealthy enough ... I cannot be smart enough ... to actually handle life on every level. In fact, to think that I can is, in its truest form, a carnal approach to life. The fact that I'm in Christ, the fact that I'm washed in the blood of His eternal covenant, is what makes me competent. It's "Christ in me, the hope of glory" that makes me competent. My competence is tainted with far less than His best. My ability to try and be the man is only as good as the extent to which I know The Man. Knowing that truth, then, allows me to throttle down and live life without the bondage of having to perform. My performance is only measured by the truth of whether or not I am grafted into the Great I Am. Such confidence as this is ours through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant ... 2 Corinthians 3:4-6www.jasoncruisespeaks.com and www.outdoorministrynetwork.com ![]() Jason Cruise Founder Outdoor Ministry Network The Man Minute "Sixty second investments in Christ-like manhood" The longer I go in my journey with Christ the more I find that faith is every bit as much a mental game as it is a matter of the heart. Faith is about how you look at your world; it's about how you interpret the things that are thrown at you daily. Faith is about knowing something is true, not just believing that something is most likely true. Jesus said, "Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me ..." I've read this verse countless times, but it struck me today that Jesus told me to "learn" from Him. So the question becomes, "learn" what? Is there a connection between learn and rest ? It seems to me that the closer a man gets to the heart of the God who created him, that man must learn what it means to walk by faith and not by sight. Learning is a life-long progression. A man must learn that God is faithful, and that only comes over the duration of time. Interpreting life. Waiting. Watching, over and over again, day in day out, as God comes through, over and over again. I learn, based on previous experiences in every day life, that He is competent. I believe that what Jesus meant by "learn from Me" is that He wants me to learn that He is guaranteeing His faithfulness. He cannot lie. He cannot foul up. He cannot lead me in a wrong direction. So, when I learn that He truly is sovereign in every single situation of my life, then I can find "rest" for my soul, and for my emotions, because I have learned that in every situation, He is who He said He is. Faithful. www.jasoncruisespeaks.com and www.outdoorministrynetwork.com |
Jason CruiseJason Cruise is the founder of Mission. Mission was created to "vindicate the fatherless" in a country known as Moldova. To learn more go to www.themissionvision.net Jason is a well known speaker traveling across the country sharing his love for Christ at wildgame dinners and conferences. Jason has created many valuable resources for the outdoorsmen to take them deeper into their walk with their Creator. These items include DVD's, Bibles, and Bible studies. Archives
July 2014
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