40. The Disabled Man

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In today’s bible reading I was greatly impacted by the reality that, the guy who discovered healing found that this moment impacted his inner and outer man. I think this is a profound truth that sometimes gets lost in how we look at our lives as Christian men and the transformation that has happened. 

Idea 1: Inner Man When we put our trust in Jesus there is a radical, life shattering change that happens. The Bible calls this a new creation, being born again of the spirit of God. There is a new man that has his old heart of stone replaced with a heart of flesh, a heart that beats for heaven’s agenda and the love, grace, mercy and justice of God. 

However, a tension will play in our lives like an old record, the old man and his way of life will still want to be resurrected. This guy in the story knew that his inner man had been reached, something deeply profound had stirred in his heart.

Do you know this moment, feeling and time when your heart first stirred and responded to the call of God on your life?  What does this mean for you, that the old has gone and a new man is alive? Do you still wrestle and battle for power between the old and the new?

Idea 2: Outer man The old man, or the outer man or earth suit as I like to call it, will wrestle with us for control. I think this is an age-old battle all men have encountered, but most live with the outer man in control whist only a few choose a different path. The path is surrender and yielding to the spirit of God, to feed, nurture and exercise the inner man is a spiritual discipline that isn’t for the faint of heart. 

Has your outer man still got control in any areas of your life? 

Idea 3: The breaking process There are many men and many books that can explore this process greater than I can, but what I do know is that in the Bible and my own experience God uses a range of tools to work on breaking the outer man and setting the inner man free. This stuff hurts and can feel like a desperate desert place where nothing grows, or it can be a season of difficulty, trial and uncertainty. But in these places God is forging in his men a heart and breaking the outer man to release even more of the spirit’s presence. 

Action

What does this look like for you? Need some breaking? Maybe you need the breaking to end soon? Call it out, be real and if you can, talk to some Christian mates about this stuff.