I have been involved in a Men’s Spiritual Support Group for a while that’s entitled “Iron Sharpens Iron” from Proverbs 27:17. We meet on Sunday evenings, 6pm, at Calvary Tucson East Campus. There are men who come from different churches, and even different towns, that come together for one purpose, to Sharpen Ourselves and Sharpen Others. We work through many topics that most people won’t, all the way from character defects to personal trauma to Child Archetypes (what some people refer to as psycho-babble) that show us how much we all need God and why. There were about twenty of us last night, we opened with prayer and went straight to find out how we could intercede to pray for others. We went around the circle and each man shared two prayer requests, one for others and one for themselves, as the rest of us wrote them down. The one thing I noticed we all had in common was that we had all experienced broken connections and unmet emotional needs at some point. We all accepted that there were some people that have been involved in our lives at one time or another that had caused us to write a narrative of lies about who we are and we believed it. The question was raised as to why is it so difficult to put that script, that narrative behind us. We went over different verses and spent some time on *2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ [that is, grafted in, joined to Him by faith in Him as Savior], he is a new creature [reborn and renewed by the Holy Spirit]; the old things [the previous moral and spiritual condition] have passed away. Behold, new things have come [because spiritual awakening brings a new life].* We all came to the understanding that we must make peace with our past and fully engage our heart’s with God, but many of us struggle day after day. We need to stay curious about why we react or not react to certain people and situations in our lives while staying in the moment, and more importantly understanding the high calling of Christ to Walk in the Spirit as to not obey the Lust of the Flesh. Last night, there was an encounter group. I could see how all of the men there encountered God, were empowered by the Holy Spirit, and desired to glorify Jesus a little more when they left than when they arrived. The primary way to see if a ministry is a success is when you see lives transformed, if there is no change, no noticeable difference, we must evaluate whether or not we have had an encounter with God or are just going through the motions at a circus sideshow.  My beloved, I want to remind you all that we are not fighting for victory, We are fighting From Victory, because of the Victory of the Cross. If you are fighting alone I would encourage you to find some like minded individuals to come alongside you, to help you fight the battles before you, and may we all encourage each other to put on the Armor of God every day. pastord.blog