Better Husbands
Better Fathers
Better Followers of Jesus
Better Men
- Nate Whitson -
Growing up, I was taught that repetitive prayers were not good. I was given the impression that they were done in a thoughtless, sterilized way that was not genuine or right.
There may be some truth to that, I suppose, but that certainly made me shy away from rehearsed, rote prayers like these until just a few years ago.
In fact, it was about 3 years ago that I started an online community for Christian men called Get In The Fight (you should check it out sometime) and yet, I wasn't really even intending to start anything or help anyone else. I was just trying to work on myself and help me get back into the fight to be a better man. That was all I was trying to do.
A part of that journey for me in those early days was brainstorming and coming up with words and phrases that I felt were significant to me and that would continually point me back to what it looks like to live like Jesus.
I wrote down a long list of words that I wanted to be like or that I wanted to be a part of my life. But in the end, I came up with 4 (what I now refer to as The 4 Principles).
Honor. Discipline. Strength. Joy.
These 4 words and principles were the guiding ideas to help me align my daily life with Christ's. I knew that if I was becoming a man like this, I would be on the right track.
What about you? What are the guiding principles that guide you and point you back to Jesus and His example of "living life to the fullest" (John 10:10)?
If you don't have yet any, I'd love to share mine with you!
Here's what I suggest that men in our Fight Club do and you should too: make it your daily prayer (we call it our Fight Club Prayer)!
It goes something like this:
"God, make me into a man of HONOR. Help me to live with integrity in my private and public life and help me to keep the commitments I've made to You and to others.
Make me into a man of DISCIPLINE. Help me to do the hard right things, over the easy wrong things - every time!
Help me to be a man of STRENGTH. Help me to be mentally, emotionally, spiritually, sexually, and relationally strong and help me to use the strength you give me to honor You and to serve others well.
Help me to be a man of JOY. Help me to live today to the fullest and help my happiness and attitude to not be dependent on my circumstances or feelings - or that of others."
We then finish our prayer by praying through 1 Corinthians 16:13-14. (I'll share why that's so powerful in a different newsletter.)
But for now, if you are into repetitive prayers like this and think that it would be a great prayer to add to your day, then let me know and I'll send you a free copy that you can print off and put in your Bible or on your bathroom mirror (or wherever else you may easily see it throughout the day).
Email me at [email protected] and ask me to send you a copy of The Fight Club Prayer and I'll hook you up!
This is what it looks like to Get In The Fight! I hope you will!
Nate
P.S.
Don't like these emails? Feel free to unsubscribe anytime.
Will I cry? Maybe.
But no hard feelings, truly.
However, if you find them helpful, please stick around and - in fact - email me if you've got any questions about how to do this, or just let me know how it's going for you today.
What are your biggest challenges, obstacles, or issues that you're dealing with? I'd love to hear or help if I can!
