How to Build a Godly & Manly Foxholeنموونە

NOTE: This devotional is meant to be consumed mainly in audio form. The text below simply serves as an outline for the audio material.

RECAP: In days 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 of this devotional, we spent some time diving into five questions:     

• 1. What makes a godly man?, 2. What makes a manly man?, 3. Can you be both godly and manly? 4. Was Jesus a manly man?, & 5. What is a foxhole?
      
  • 1. What makes a godly man?
            
    • 1. Truths outside the self (the narrative of humanity), and      
    • 2. Truths displayed publicly (answers the question: What makes a godly man?)...
                  
      • Listed characteristics of a godly man                         
  • 2. What makes a manly man?
            
    • At Undaunted.Life, we have a definition of what a “man” is, and it’s this: “A man is a male that cultivates spiritual, mental, and physical resilience DAILY.”               
  • 3. Can you be both godly and manly?  
            
    • Yes. Yes, of course!     
    • Adam Brown is certainly an example.     
    • Went deep into the story of Nehemiah, specifically the first 4 chapters of the book of Nehemiah.               
  • 4. Was Jesus a manly man?
            
    • Obviously Jesus is a godly man, because He's God.     
    • Jesus is manly because he’s the perfect man. He’s a perfect man. Perfectly manly.     
    • Jesus cultivated spiritual, mental, and physical resilience DAILY.      
    • Stories like him turning over the tables in the Temple and his 40 days of temptation in the desert show this.               
  • 5. What is a foxhole?  
            
    • “A foxhole is a group of men that constantly push each other to cultivate spiritual, mental, and physical resilience DAILY.”     
    • Talked about how Jesus had a foxhole.      
    • 12 Apostles                         
• Make sure you’ve listened to days 1, 2, 3, 4, & 5 before you take in today’s lesson.
  

Today’s question: WHY DO MEN NEED A FOXHOLE?

John Eldredge - Wild at Heart (CH 9: A Battle to Fight: The Strategy)     

• Eldredge was discussing how we needed to use Christ’s authority, to walk in it...
      
  • “One more thing: don’t even think about going into battle alone. Don’t even try to take the masculine journey without at least one man by your side. Yes, there are times a man must face the battle alone, in the wee hours of the morn, and fight with all he’s got. But don’t make that a lifestyle of isolation. This may be our weakest point, as David Smith points out in The Friendless American Male: ‘One serious problem is the friendless condition of the average American male. Men find it hard to accept that they need the fellowship of other men.’...  
  • We don’t need accountability groups; we need fellow warriors, someone to fight alongside, someone to watch our back. A young man just stopped me on the street to say, ‘I feel surrounded by enemies and I’m all alone.’ The whole crisis in masculinity today has come because we no longer have a warrior culture, a place for men to learn to fight like men. We don’t need a meeting of Really Nice Guys; we need a gathering of Really Dangerous Men. That’s what we need. I think of Henry V at Agincourt. His army has been reduced to a small band of tired and weary men; many of them are wounded. They are outnumbered five to one. But Henry rallies his troops to his side when he reminds them that they are not mercenaries, but a ‘band of brothers.’   
            
    • We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;     
    • For he to-day that sheds his blood with me     
    • Shall be my brother . . .     
    • And gentlemen in England, now a-bed     
    • Shall think themselves accursed they were not here;     
    • And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks     
    • That fought with us.               
  • Yes, we need men to whom we can bare our souls. But it isn’t going to happen with a group of guys you don’t trust, who really aren’t willing to go to battle with you. It’s a long-standing truth that there is never a more devoted group of men than those who have fought alongside one another, the men of your squadron, the guys in your foxhole. It will never be a large group, but we don’t need a large group. We need a band of brothers willing to ‘shed their blood’ with us.”          

Big 3 Takeaways from that passage:

1. Being in a foxhole prevents you from being in isolation.

2. We need to surround ourselves with dangerous men.

3. We need to be in a group that is forged in warfare.

All of this reminds me of a truly amazing story from the Gospels that doesn’t get enough play.     

• Mark 2:1-12

Big 3 takeaways from that passage:

1. These men are clearly friends of the paralytic. 

2. Jesus is FLEXING on these doubters.

3. They acted as a faithful foxhole.

So, why do men need a foxhole?

Here’s the point: you can’t do battle alone.     

• You need dangerous men around you that are willing to go to battle for and with you.     
• It won’t happen by accident either. Foxholes don’t just forge themselves.     
• To find out how to build and maintain your foxhole, don’t miss tomorrow.

Before you move on to the next thing, here are some questions to ask yourself:

1. Have you allowed yourself to become isolated?

2. Are you surrounded by dangerous men that have been forged by warfare?

3. Who to your right is protecting you? Who to your left are you protecting?

For more content like this, be sure to check out our other YouVersion devotionals.

Make sure you come back tomorrow for Day 7 where we wrap up this devotional and go over how to build/maintain a foxhole.

Until then, keep pushing back darkness… keep forging spiritual, mental, and physical resilience… KEEP SEEKING THE LION OF JUDAH.