ManUp Moment - Jay Cookingham

You were made for the presence of God. Not just enter into it…but to stay in it, linger and remain forever. You are not a trespasser, or a temporary fixture. No, you were invited, urged, desired to come and never leave. You are designed and created to be there. You were positioned, placed and chosen to be in His presence.

The feelings of not being good enough, the feelings of abandonment and rejection… do these powerful statements of false identity choked hope from your heart? Are they convenient excuses to accept failure and to settle for less?

Have you ever felt this way? For many men, failure is the wall they hit…and failure hits back with a vengeance. Sometimes…It is hard to go forward when backwards seems your only option. Do we quit or find another way through?

Steps are challenging but they take us places and when we follow the Master, they take us places beyond what we can imagine.

If we want to pray bold prayers, ones that move mountains, and change the lives of people we love, we may have to have our spiritual ears checked…along with our heart.

To cause a Godly uproar is to live a life of sold-out passion for Christ. The presence of God in our life should disrupt and challenge the darkness that chokes the souls of people all around us.

Only God can make America great….And, by the way…It’s God’s definition of great that counts…not ours!

I believe if we all pray these 3 simple prayers over our hearts, we will experience more freedom in our lives.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like, feel like, and look like… to be fearless in every area of your life? Can you imagine praying bold prayers that move mountains? Having a heart so bold it won’t back down from any fear thrown your way? What would it mean to you to have a voice so bold, so free and unafraid to speak truth?

I need to tell part of my redemption story today…I grew up in an abusive home; my father’s cruelty was part of everyday life. Father God convinced me that was the only way to be free of the pain. When I forgave my dad, the healing of my heart began.

The Father’s love is reliable, powerful, penetrating, redemptive, personal and life changing. His love for you is eternal, it’s forever, it’s everlasting and it reaches through you to all the generations to come.

Regret can be a bitter poison… To regret something is to wish it had never happened and for many men…our past haunts us with the pain of regret. To battle and overcome this handicap takes the huge bold step of forgiveness.

For the men who may be listening to this broadcast and have not made a decision to follow Christ…today could be your day of freedom.

Humility is usually not high on the list of manly attributes but humbling ourselves I believe it’s one of the toughest we could do as a man.

I should guard my heart, protect it, fight for it but never build a wall to enclose it…sometimes a wall can become a prison or worse, a cage. A caged heart can keep a man safe but not keep him alive.

If the God of the universe lives inside of you, and He does, how could you do anything less than great things?

So we should make every breath matter, engage every moment with an eternity mindset, and allow the past to remind of God’s goodness and nothing else.

Your life produces momentum, growth and changes the course of history…yes, history. If this was not true…why did God the Father create you?

A man typically defines himself by what he does, often using physical attributes, heritage, possessions, backgrounds and aspirations to describe themselves. Over time, these become an identity that shape one’s opinions, beliefs and values. Although these parts of our life give insight to the person we are, I think they’re incomplete…I believe God has a better definition of our identity.

This is invitation for some hardcore training…exercising our spirit to become strong and powerful for the battle we face daily.

The enemy wants us to believe our heart doesn’t matter to the Father, that it’s un-redeemable, corrupt and beyond hope. Thankfully, the truth is miraculously more powerful, Father God restores our hearts with His.

The Word of truth is the message about the greatest rescue mission ever devised… the Gospel message. This message readies us for action and completes us.

Fit to be tied…an old saying meaning someone better tie us up because we’re so agitated and out of control. Life presents everyone with “Man Up” moments almost every day…events that leave us angry and upset…fit to be tied…but what if we look at tied up in a different way.

In the Kingdom of God, pleasing God becomes a way we find ourselves and reinforces who we are in Christ. Sons find purpose and meaning in what our Father asks us to be.

The fear of falling is a strong phobia and can cripple, immobilize and rob freedom from the strongest person. For our heart, in a spiritual sense, it’s just as dangerous.