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WELCOME Here is the real reason most believers stay quiet. It is not that we do not care. It is that we are afraid of the follow-up question. What about suffering. What about other religions. What about the part of the Bible that is hard to explain. We run the scenario ahead of time, picture ourselves standing there with nothing to say, and decide it is safer to talk about the weather. I want to take that fear apart today, because Peter already answered it and his answer is a lot smaller than you think. ——— THIS IS FOR YOU IF…You stay silent because you are scared of being asked something you cannot answer. ——— BOTTOM LINE UP FRONT You are not required to defend all of Christianity. You are required to explain your own hope. ——— OUR SPRINGBOARD FOR TODAY’S DISCUSSION IS: “but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect” (1 Peter 3:15, ESV) ——— WISDOM: GOD’S MASTER KEY TO LIFE God turned your story, and wisdom is how you answer the man who asks you why. We are giving away a free 30-day Master Class on God’s wisdom. Ten minutes a day, delivered straight to your phone. Text FAITH to (844) 847-6147 ——— MAIN MENTORING Read what Peter actually asks of you. Be prepared to give a reason for the hope that is in you. Not a reason for every doctrine. Not an argument for the age of the earth. The hope that is in you. That is your territory and nobody can take you out of it, because nobody else was there when God got hold of your life. And notice the setup. Anyone who asks you. Peter assumes your life is producing a question. If nobody ever asks, that is worth sitting with. Then the hard part. Do it with gentleness and respect. Plenty of us have the content and none of the tone. We win the exchange and lose the person. Peter puts gentleness in the same sentence as the defense, which means a harsh answer is a failed answer no matter how correct it was. And here is the freedom in it. “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” (Romans 1:16, ESV) The power is in the gospel, not in your ability to present it. You are not the engine. You are the guy with the message. So when you do not know, say you do not know, and tell them what you do know. ——— DAILY ACTION Write your hope down in four sentences or less. Where you were. What God did. What is different now. Why you still trust Him. Then read it out loud once. If you cannot say it in a driveway in ninety seconds, cut it down until you can. ——— THE DAILY CHARGE Know your own story cold. That is the only testimony you will ever be asked to give. ——— LET’S PRAY Father, I have stayed quiet out of fear of looking foolish. Forgive me for caring more about my reputation than about the person in front of me. Remind me what You brought me out of. Put gentleness in my mouth and confidence in my chest. I do not have every answer. I have You. In Jesus’ name, amen. ——— RAK CHAZAK!! Only. Be. Strong!Semper InvictusFaith. Fire. Victory. ——— JOIN US Tomorrow we name the thing that keeps a grown man silent in a room full of people he works with. Subscribe and come get it. My Reasons To Believe is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. ——— This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit myr2b.substack.com/subscribe

WELCOME Two weeks in and you have been working close to home. The name you wrote down. The person at your own table. The young guy on your crew. Now we go further out. Because there is a whole set of people in your life who have never once heard you say anything about God. Your neighbor. The guy at the counter. The woman in the next cubicle who thinks church people are a certain way and has you filed under something else entirely. You are already in the room with them. Today we deal with what you do in there. ——— THIS IS FOR YOU IF…Everybody you talk about God with already believes it, and you have made peace with that. ——— Salt that never touches anything is just sitting in a jar. ——— BOTTOM LINE UP FRONT You were not seasoned so you could sit with other salt. You were seasoned for the meal you are standing in. ——— OUR SPRINGBOARD FOR TODAY’S DISCUSSION IS: “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.” (Matthew 5:13-14, ESV) ——— WISDOM: GOD’S MASTER KEY TO LIFE God turned your story, and wisdom is what makes it taste like something to the people watching you. We are giving away a free 30-day Master Class on God’s wisdom. Ten minutes a day, delivered straight to your phone. Text FAITH to (844) 847-6147 ——— MAIN MENTORING Jesus says two things about you here and neither one is a suggestion. You are the salt of the earth. Salt does nothing in the shaker. It only works when it gets into the food. The whole point of salt is contact. And you are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. He does not say should not be. He says cannot. If the light is on, people see it from a long way off. So the question is not whether you are supposed to be out there. The question is what happens to salt that stays home. Then Paul tells you how to carry yourself once you are out. “Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.” (Colossians 4:5-6, ESV) Look at the word outsiders. Paul assumes you have relationships with people who are not in. He does not tell you to avoid them. He tells you to walk in wisdom around them. Gracious speech, seasoned with salt. Not bland and not bitter. And answer each person, which means you learn who is in front of you before you open your mouth. You are already in the room. Start acting like it on purpose. ——— DAILY ACTION Name one person in your regular week who does not believe what you believe. Not a stranger. Somebody you actually see. Today, do one deliberate kindness for them and say nothing about God while you do it. You are putting salt in the food. The conversation comes later. ——— THE DAILY CHARGE Get out of the shaker. The people who already agree with you do not need you there. ——— LET’S PRAY Father, I have built a life where everybody around me already believes. That was comfortable and it was not obedience. Send me back out. Give me wisdom with people who think I am strange, and grace in my mouth when I talk to them. Let my life taste like something they want. In Jesus’ name, amen. ——— RAK CHAZAK!! Only. Be. Strong!Semper InvictusFaith. Fire. Victory. ——— JOIN US Tomorrow we handle the fear underneath all of this, the fear of getting asked something you cannot answer. Subscribe so you have it first thing. My Reasons To Believe is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. ——— This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit myr2b.substack.com/subscribe

BASED ON: “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.” (Psalm 32:8, ESV) My child, You spent this week learning how to pour into someone else. I want you to stop and see who has been pouring into you. Every hard year taught you something. Every closed door was Me steering. The counsel you needed came, sometimes through a friend, sometimes through a verse that would not leave you alone, sometimes through a silence that made you finally listen. That was Me. I have never once taken My eye off you. I know you feel unfinished. You look at the man you are supposed to be and you see all the distance between here and there. Hear Me. I am not teaching you because you are behind. I am teaching you because you are Mine, and I finish what I begin. You are afraid of leading somebody else into a life you have not fully arrived at yourself. Nobody has arrived. Every man who ever pointed another man toward Me was still on the road when he did it. Keep walking and keep talking. I will cover what you lack. And when you say the hard thing this week, when you open your door and your life, I will be in the room. You will not run out of grace. You will not run out of Me. Rest today. Let Me instruct you a while longer before you go back out. I see you. I always have. Your Father ——— JOIN US Monday we start week three, and we step out past the people who already know you. Subscribe and walk it out with us. My Reasons To Believe is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit myr2b.substack.com/subscribe

WELCOME Every one of us has an edited version of our testimony. There is the one we tell at church, with the rough parts sanded down to a general statement about a hard season. Then there is the real one, the one with dates and damage and names we do not say out loud. We hide the second one because we think it disqualifies us. Today I want to show you from Scripture that God has been planning to use it the whole time. ——— THIS IS FOR YOU IF…You feel like a fraud pouring into somebody because they do not know what you actually did. ——— BOTTOM LINE UP FRONT God does not use your weakness in spite of the shame. He uses it as the evidence that He is real. ——— OUR SPRINGBOARD FOR TODAY’S DISCUSSION IS: “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” (2 Corinthians 12:9, ESV) ——— JOIN US AS A FAITH PARTNER Honest ministry is rare and it costs something to produce. Faith partners keep this unfiltered and free. If the honesty here has helped you, help us hand it to the next person. ——— MAIN MENTORING Paul had a wound he asked God three times to remove. God said no and told him why. My power is made perfect in weakness. Then watch what Paul does with that answer. He starts boasting about the weakness on purpose, so that the power of Christ may rest upon him. He quit hiding the thing and started pointing at it. Now look at how he talked about his past. “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him.” (1 Timothy 1:15-16, ESV) Read that reason again. I received mercy for this reason, as an example. Paul says the worst of his record became the display case for the patience of Jesus. The man you are mentoring is not looking for somebody who never fell. He is looking for somebody who got up. Use wisdom on the details. Protect people who are not yours to expose. But quit hiding the fact that you were down there. That is the part he can stand on. ——— DAILY ACTION Write out the piece of your story you normally skip. Just for you, nobody else reads it. Then pick one true line from it you are willing to say out loud to the person you are walking with. ——— THE DAILY CHARGE Your scars are not a disqualification. They are the proof that God finishes what He starts. ——— LET’S PRAY Father, I have been ashamed of the very thing You paid for. Thank You for mercy I did not earn. Give me the courage to be honest about where I came from, with wisdom about what I share and who I protect. Let somebody find hope because I stopped pretending. In Jesus’ name, amen. ——— RAK CHAZAK!! Only. Be. Strong!Semper InvictusFaith. Fire. Victory. ——— JOIN US Tomorrow we close the week by naming who is already watching you, and it is probably not who you think. Subscribe so you catch it. My Reasons To Believe is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit myr2b.substack.com/subscribe

WELCOME Week two closes here, and I want to take the pressure off one thing and put it on another. The pressure off. You do not have to go find a stranger to disciple. God has almost certainly already placed somebody in your path. The pressure on. That means it is happening right now, whether you are paying attention or not. Your kids. A nephew. The young guy on your crew. The new person in your recovery group. Somebody is taking notes. You do not get to opt out of this. Somebody younger is already deciding what a man who follows God looks like, and they are using you as the sample. That is either good news or a warning, depending on the week you just had. Either way, it is happening. ——— THIS IS FOR YOU IF…You have been praying for an opportunity while walking past four of them a day. ——— BOTTOM LINE UP FRONT Faith does not travel by accident. One generation hands it to the next on purpose. ——— OUR SPRINGBOARD FOR TODAY’S DISCUSSION IS: “One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts.” (Psalm 145:4, ESV) ——— JOIN US AS A FAITH PARTNER Everything here is built to be handed down. Faith partners fund a work that outlives all of us. If that is worth something to you, join us. ——— MAIN MENTORING One generation shall commend your works to another. That is the whole transfer, in one line. Commend means to speak well of, to make known, to tell. It is verbal and it is deliberate. The psalm does not describe faith soaking into the next generation by proximity. Somebody has to open their mouth and tell what God did. Every generation is one silence away from losing the story. And the LORD told Israel exactly where this happens. “You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.” (Deuteronomy 6:7, ESV) Sitting. Walking. Lying down. Rising. That covers a whole day, and none of those settings are a classroom. This is dinner table work. Truck cab work. Standing at the sink work. So look around at who is already near you. You have been given people. The young man who asks you dumb questions. The kid who copies how you talk. They are already following you. Today you start doing it on purpose. ——— DAILY ACTION Name three people younger than you who are already in your regular path. Write the names down. Tell one of them, today, one specific thing God has done in your life. Not a lesson. A story with a real before and after. And there is a second half to this you cannot skip. Ask one of them a real question about their life and then be quiet long enough to actually hear the answer. Nobody follows a man who only talks. ——— THE DAILY CHARGE Do not let the story stop with you. Tell somebody younger what God did. ——— LET’S PRAY Father, open my eyes to who is already watching. Forgive me for praying for an opportunity while walking past the ones You gave me. Loosen my tongue at my own table. Let my children and the young ones around me hear what You have done and want it for themselves. In Jesus’ name, amen. ——— RAK CHAZAK!! Only. Be. Strong!Semper InvictusFaith. Fire. Victory. ——— JOIN US Tomorrow is Sunday. Set the work down and let Him speak to you directly. Subscribe so it reaches you first thing in the morning. My Reasons To Believe is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit myr2b.substack.com/subscribe

WELCOME Here is where most mentoring relationships quietly die. Not in a blowup. In a silence. You see the thing. You know it is going to cost him his marriage or his sobriety or his integrity. And you decide today is not the day. Every man who has ever mentored anybody has stood in that silence and told himself the same lies. He is not ready to hear it. I might be wrong. It is not my place. Sometimes those are true. Usually they are cover. Then next month is not the day either. And a year later the thing you saw coming shows up and takes him apart, and you are standing there having said nothing. Today we fix that. ——— THIS IS FOR YOU IF… You keep swallowing the hard conversation because you do not want to lose the relationship. ——— The irony is that the silence costs you the relationship anyway. It just takes longer. ——— BOTTOM LINE UP FRONT Open rebuke from a friend is worth more than affection that lets you die comfortable. ——— OUR SPRINGBOARD FOR TODAY’S DISCUSSION IS: “Better is open rebuke than hidden love. Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy.” (Proverbs 27:5-6, ESV) ——— JOIN US AS A FAITH PARTNER Truth that costs something is what we do here every day. No softening, no flattery. Faith partners keep that voice going out to people who need it and cannot pay for it. ——— MAIN MENTORING Hidden love is love that stays quiet to stay comfortable. Solomon says open rebuke beats it. Then he gives the picture. Faithful are the wounds of a friend. A friend can wound you. That is not a contradiction. A surgeon cuts because he wants you alive. And the other half lands harder. Profuse are the kisses of an enemy. The one who flatters you, who agrees with everything, who never questions a thing you do, that man is not for you. He just does not care enough to risk anything. Ask yourself which one you have been. Now the guardrail, because this gets abused. Plenty of men have used Proverbs 27 as cover for being harsh. “Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ.” (Ephesians 4:15, ESV) Truth and love travel together. Truth without love wounds for no reason. Love without truth watches a man walk off a cliff. So say the hard thing. Say it privately. Say it once. Say it because you want him standing, not because you want to be right. ——— DAILY ACTION There is one sentence you have been holding. You know what it is and you know who it is for. Pray over it this morning, check your motive, and say it before the week ends. Not in a text. Not in a group. Face to face if you can get there, on the phone if you cannot. Open with what you see in him, name the one thing, then stop talking and let him answer. ——— THE DAILY CHARGE Do not let somebody you love walk off a cliff while you protect your own comfort. ——— LET’S PRAY Father, I have called my silence kindness and it was fear. Give me courage for the conversation I have been avoiding. Check my heart before I open my mouth so it comes out as love and not as ammunition. Let my words put a man back on his feet. In Jesus’ name, amen. ——— RAK CHAZAK!! Only. Be. Strong!Semper InvictusFaith. Fire. Victory. ——— JOIN US Tomorrow we go after the part of your story you have been hiding, and why it may be the most useful thing you own. Subscribe. My Reasons To Believe is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit myr2b.substack.com/subscribe

WELCOME You will hit this wall. Everybody who has ever poured into another person hits it. You give them the truth. You give them time. You give them your phone number at midnight. And they go right back to the same thing that was killing them. Then it starts eating you. You lie awake running the tape. What did I miss. What should I have said. Maybe if I had pushed harder. Somewhere along the way you started measuring your obedience by his progress. That is a scale God never gave you and it does not weigh right. Maybe you already tried the other extreme. Pull back. Go cold. Tell yourself you are done. That does not work either, because you still love him and you know it. There is a third way and Paul lays it out. ——— THIS IS FOR YOU IF…You are carrying somebody’s choices like they are your failures. ——— There is a line between loving a man and trying to be God for him. Today we find it. ——— BOTTOM LINE UP FRONT You are responsible to them, not for them. God gives the growth and He has never asked you to do His job. ——— OUR SPRINGBOARD FOR TODAY’S DISCUSSION IS: “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.” (1 Corinthians 3:6-7, ESV) ——— JOIN US AS A FAITH PARTNER Nobody here is pretending to save anybody. We plant and water, seven days a week, and leave the growing to God. Faith partners keep that work in the ground. ——— MAIN MENTORING Paul is settling an argument. People were picking sides between teachers, and he cuts the legs out from under the whole thing. I planted. Apollos watered. God gave the growth. Planting is real work. Watering is real work. Paul does not say it does not matter. He says neither one of us is anything next to the One who makes it live. So when the man you are pouring into relapses, or walks away, or stalls out for a year, ask yourself an honest question. Did I plant. Did I water. If the answer is yes, you did your part. The growth was never on your schedule and never in your hands. “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” (Galatians 6:2, ESV) Bearing his burden means walking with him under the weight. It does not mean taking the weight off his shoulders and putting it on yours. A man who never carries anything never gets strong. Keep planting. Keep watering. Keep showing up. Then go to sleep, because the growing happens at night in the dark where you cannot see it and cannot help. ——— DAILY ACTION Name the person whose choices you have been carrying. Say this out loud in prayer today. God, I planted and I watered. The growth belongs to You. Then let it go and mean it. Then do one thing for him that is actually yours to do. Send the text. Make the call. Keep the door open. You are not quitting on him. You are quitting the job that was never yours. ——— THE DAILY CHARGE Do your part all the way. Leave His part alone. ——— LET’S PRAY Father, I have been trying to do a job that was never mine. Forgive the pride in that and forgive the fear under it. I hand You the person I have been carrying. I will keep planting and watering and loving, and I will trust You for the growth I cannot see. Give me rest tonight. In Jesus’ name, amen. ——— RAK CHAZAK!! Only. Be. Strong!Semper InvictusFaith. Fire. Victory. ——— JOIN US Tomorrow we talk about the conversation nobody wants to have, the one that actually proves you love somebody. Subscribe and come ready. My Reasons To Believe is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit myr2b.substack.com/subscribe

Life can be heavy, and you don’t have to carry it alone. Whatever you’re facing today, we would be honored to pray with you and for you. Share your prayer request below. Whether it’s for healing, your family, your marriage, your finances, direction, strength, or simply a closer walk with God—we believe in the power of prayer. You matter. Your prayer matters. And God hears you… SPECIAL BONUS: A FREE 30-DAY MASTER CLASS ON GOD’S WISDOM Just text FAITH to (844) 847-6147 | You will receive a daily 10 minute Master Class through your phone. WISDOM: God’s Master Key To Life! My Reasons To Believe is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit myr2b.substack.com/subscribe

WELCOME Somebody is reading this right now trying to figure out the format. How often do we meet. What book do we use. How long does this last. Do I need to prepare something. I understand the instinct. Structure feels safe. But if you build the structure first, you will end up with a class instead of a disciple, and there is a difference. Today we look at how Paul actually did it, and it is going to cost you more than an hour a week. ——— THIS IS FOR YOU IF…You want to pour into somebody and you keep trying to schedule it instead of live it. ——— The New Testament word for this is not curriculum. It is presence. ——— BOTTOM LINE UP FRONT Discipleship happens in the car, in the kitchen, and on the job site, not just across a table with a book open. ——— OUR SPRINGBOARD FOR TODAY’S DISCUSSION IS: “So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us.” (1 Thessalonians 2:8, ESV) ——— JOIN US AS A FAITH PARTNER Sharing your own self is the expensive part of ministry. Faith partners make that possible here every single day. If you have room to carry some of it, step in. ——— MAIN MENTORING Paul says he gave them two things. The gospel of God, and his own self. Most of us are willing to give the first one. The second one is where we flinch. Giving your own self means somebody gets access. They see your house, your schedule, your marriage, your bad mood on a Thursday. And notice why he did it. Because you had become very dear to us. This was not a program he was running. He loved them. That is the piece you cannot fake and cannot schedule. A man will forget the outline you taught him. He will not forget that you picked up the phone at eleven at night. “What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.” (Philippians 4:9, ESV) Learned. Received. Heard. Seen. Three of those four require proximity. They had to be near enough to watch him. So stop trying to design this. Start bringing one person along. Take him with you to the hardware store. Let him sit at your table. Let him see how you pray when the news is bad. Access is the curriculum. ——— DAILY ACTION Pick one ordinary thing on your calendar this week. An errand, a workout, a job around the house. Invite that person to come along and do it with you. No agenda. Just bring them into your actual life. ——— THE DAILY CHARGE Give them access, not just answers. That is what they will remember in twenty years. ——— LET’S PRAY Father, I have been hiding behind structure. It is easier to teach a lesson than to open my life. Give me the courage to let somebody close enough to see the real thing. Let them find You in my ordinary days. Make my home and my week a place where somebody learns to follow You. In Jesus’ name, amen. ——— RAK CHAZAK!! Only. Be. Strong!Semper InvictusFaith. Fire. Victory. ——— JOIN US Tomorrow we deal with the trap that takes good mentors down. If you have ever tried to carry somebody who would not carry themselves, be here. Subscribe. My Reasons To Believe is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit myr2b.substack.com/subscribe

WELCOME Week one you got the assignment, checked your own cup, and made contact with one person. Now the work starts. And it does not start with what you are going to say to them. Most of us prepare the wrong thing. We think about the conversation, the verse we will use, the way we will explain it. Meanwhile the person we are trying to reach has been watching how we handle traffic, money, our wife, our temper, and a bad week at work. They formed an opinion a long time ago. Today we deal with what they saw. ——— THIS IS FOR YOU IF…You are willing to teach somebody the truth, and you have never really considered whether your ordinary week backs it up. ——— That question is not meant to shame you. It is meant to get your attention while there is still time to answer it. ——— BOTTOM LINE UP FRONT Your life is the first lesson you will ever teach, and you have been teaching it for years. ——— OUR SPRINGBOARD FOR TODAY’S DISCUSSION IS: “Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity, and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us.” (Titus 2:7-8, ESV) ——— JOIN US AS A FAITH PARTNER This ministry runs on people who decided their faith should cost them something. Faith partners keep these episodes free for anybody who needs them. If your life is going to preach, let your giving preach too. ——— MAIN MENTORING Read Paul’s order to Titus again. Show yourself a model of good works comes first. In your teaching comes second. Paul is not telling a young pastor to be perfect. He is telling him that his life carries the message before his mouth gets a turn. Then look at the three words for the teaching itself. Integrity. Dignity. Sound speech. Integrity means the same man shows up everywhere. Dignity means you do not have to clown for attention. Sound speech means what you say holds up under weight. And the reason Paul gives is worth sitting with. So that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us. He assumes somebody is looking for a reason to dismiss you. Your job is to make that hard. This is where most discipleship dies. Not in bad theology. In a gap between the message and the man. “In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16, ESV) They see the works. God gets the glory. Nobody said a word yet and the whole thing already happened. So before you plan your next conversation, look at your last seven days. That was the lesson. That is what they heard. ——— DAILY ACTION Ask one person who lives with you this question and do not defend yourself when they answer. What is one place where what I say and what I do do not line up? Write down what they tell you. Do not fix it today. Just sit with it and take it to God tonight. ——— THE DAILY CHARGE Close the gap between the man and the message. Everything else you build will stand on that. ——— LET’S PRAY Father, search me. Show me where my life has been saying one thing and my mouth another. I do not want to be a teacher who cannot be followed. Make me the same man at home that I am in public. Give me integrity in the small hours nobody sees, so the person watching me has something real to follow. In Jesus’ name, amen. ——— RAK CHAZAK!! Only. Be. Strong!Semper InvictusFaith. Fire. Victory. ——— JOIN US Tomorrow we get into what mentoring actually looks like, and it is not a weekly meeting with a book. Subscribe so you have it first thing. My Reasons To Believe is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit myr2b.substack.com/subscribe

Life can be heavy, and you don’t have to carry it alone. Whatever you’re facing today, we would be honored to pray with you and for you. Share your prayer request below. Whether it’s for healing, your family, your marriage, your finances, direction, strength, or simply a closer walk with God—we believe in the power of prayer. You matter. Your prayer matters. And God hears you… SPECIAL BONUS: A FREE 30-DAY MASTER CLASS ON GOD’S WISDOM Just text FAITH to (844) 847-6147 | You will receive a daily 10 minute Master Class through your phone. WISDOM: God’s Master Key To Life! My Reasons To Believe is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit myr2b.substack.com/subscribe

BASED ON: “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.” (John 15:16, ESV) ——— My child, You spent this week wondering if you are qualified. Let Me settle it. You did not find your way to Me by being impressive. I came for you. I chose you when you were still turned the other direction, still convinced you were too far gone, still rehearsing all the reasons I should pass you by. I chose you anyway. That was not an accident and it was not a second choice. I know what you think disqualifies you. I was there for all of it. I did not choose you in spite of the version of you that failed. I chose the whole person, past included, and I am not embarrassed by you. And I did not choose you just to keep you safe. I appointed you. That word matters. I gave you an assignment and I attached My own authority to it. So when you look at that name you wrote down this week and your stomach turns, hear Me. You are not going alone. You are not going on your own strength. I put the wisdom in you, and I will open the mouth that carries it. Do not measure the fruit by what you can see this week. I said your fruit would abide. What you plant in one person outlasts your lifetime. Rest today. Let Me refill what the week emptied. Tomorrow we go again. I chose you. I am still choosing you. Your Father ——— JOIN US Monday we start week two, and we go after the life that speaks before you do. Subscribe and walk it out with us. My Reasons To Believe is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit myr2b.substack.com/subscribe

WELCOME Week one of October closes here. You have the assignment. You have the sequence. Now we answer the question you have been circling. Who? ——— THIS IS FOR YOU IF…You are waiting for God to hand you a crowd when He has been handing you a person. ——— The first man ever to bring somebody to Jesus did not organize anything. He walked down the road and got his brother. ——— BOTTOM LINE UP FRONT Kingdom impact starts with a name, a conversation, and a walk across the room. ——— OUR SPRINGBOARD FOR TODAY’S DISCUSSION IS: “He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, ‘We have found the Messiah’ (which means Christ). He brought him to Jesus.” (John 1:41-42, ESV) ——— JOIN US AS A FAITH PARTNER Andrew brought one man. That one man preached at Pentecost. You never see the full return on a small obedience. Partnering here works the same way. ——— MAIN MENTORING Andrew gets about two sentences in the whole account. He found his brother. He brought him to Jesus. That is it. Simon became Peter. Peter preached the sermon that added three thousand souls in a day. All of it traces back to a brother who could not keep his mouth shut over dinner. Andrew had no training. He had been following Jesus for roughly one day. He did not have answers to hard questions. He had one sentence: we found Him, come see. You already have that sentence. Look at who Andrew went to. His own brother. The person who knew his worst, who could have laughed in his face. Home is the hardest room and it is still the first room. And listen to the harvest. “And he said to them, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.’” (Luke 10:2, ESV) Jesus never said the problem was a shortage of interested people. The field is full. The workers are scarce. That gap is where you live. So pray for laborers, then show up as one. Walk across the room. Make the call. Say the sentence. ——— DAILY ACTION Take the name you wrote down Thursday and make contact today. A call, a text, a coffee. No agenda, no speech. Just tell them what God has been doing in you lately and let it breathe. ——— THE DAILY CHARGE One name. One conversation. That is the whole week. Go do it. ——— LET’S PRAY Father, I have been praying for a harvest while standing outside the field. Send me. Give me the words for the person You put in front of me, and take away my fear of being awkward or rejected. Let one honest conversation open a door only You can open. In Jesus’ name, amen. ——— RAK CHAZAK!! Only. Be. Strong!Semper InvictusFaith. Fire. Victory. ——— JOIN US Tomorrow is Sunday, and He has something to say to you directly. Subscribe so it lands in your inbox first thing. My Reasons To Believe is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit myr2b.substack.com/subscribe

WELCOME Yesterday you wrote down a name. Good. Today we deal with why that name has been sitting there unspoken for a long time. ——— THIS IS FOR YOU IF…You believe you should be pouring into somebody, and you keep stalling because deep down you know how thin your own walk has gotten. ——— That is not a disqualification. It is a diagnosis, and God is not shocked by it. ——— BOTTOM LINE UP FRONT Private intake comes before public output. Every single time. ——— OUR SPRINGBOARD FOR TODAY’S DISCUSSION IS: “For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the LORD, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel.” (Ezra 7:10, ESV) ——— JOIN US AS A FAITH PARTNER Somebody poured into you before you knew you needed it. Faith partners do that for strangers every day here. If this ministry has filled your cup, consider filling somebody else’s. ——— MAIN MENTORING Ezra gives us the sequence and it never changes. Study. Do. Teach. He set his heart to study the Law. That is intake. Not a verse glanced at on the way out the door. He dug in. Then he set his heart to do it. That is the ugly middle step everybody wants to skip. Ezra lived it before he opened his mouth about it. Only then does teaching show up. Most of us reverse the order or we drop the middle. We read enough to sound informed, skip the doing, and then wonder why our words have no weight with our own family. Your kids are not listening to your theology. They are watching your Tuesday. Jesus built His men the same way. “And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach.” (Mark 3:14, ESV) With Him, then sent out. Three years of proximity before the pulpit. He was not stalling. He was filling them. So if your cup is dry, the answer is not to try harder at discipling somebody. The answer is to get back under the faucet. Time in the Word. Time on your knees. Obedience in the small things nobody sees. Fill up. The pouring takes care of itself. ——— DAILY ACTION Take fifteen minutes today with the Word before you take any minutes with your phone. One chapter. Read it slow. Ask God one question about it and sit there until He answers. ——— THE DAILY CHARGE Guard your intake like your ministry depends on it. It does. ——— LET’S PRAY Father, I have been running on fumes and calling it faithfulness. Forgive me. I want what Ezra had, a heart set to study, a will bent to obey, and a mouth that has something real to say. Fill me up again. Meet me in the quiet before You send me to anyone. In Jesus’ name, amen. ——— RAK CHAZAK!! Only. Be. Strong!Semper InvictusFaith. Fire. Victory. ——— JOIN US Tomorrow we get specific about who. Most people overthink this and miss the person standing three feet away. Subscribe and come back for it. My Reasons To Believe is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit myr2b.substack.com/subscribe

WELCOME New month. New ground. September was about staying in the fight when everything in you wanted to quit. You learned to hold. Now comes the part nobody warns you about. God does not build endurance in you so you can sit on it. ——— THIS IS FOR YOU IF…You have been walking with God long enough to know He is real, and you still think discipleship is for pastors and missionaries and people with a platform. ——— Somewhere along the way we decided the Great Commission was a specialty job. It was given to eleven ordinary men standing on a hillside, most of whom had failed Him within the last six weeks. ——— BOTTOM LINE UP FRONT Every ounce of wisdom God gives you comes with a delivery address, and it is not your own front door. ——— OUR SPRINGBOARD FOR TODAY’S DISCUSSION IS: “And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’” (Matthew 28:18-20, ESV) ——— JOIN US AS A FAITH PARTNER This month we are talking about handing things off. Faith partners are the reason these episodes keep going out seven days a week, free, to people who will never pay a dime. You carry the load so somebody else can find the truth. That is multiplication too. ——— MAIN MENTORING Look at the order of that passage. Authority first. Assignment second. Jesus does not say go because you are qualified. He says all authority has been given to Him, therefore go. The power is His. The sending is yours. That kills the excuse before you can get it out of your mouth. And notice the verb. Make disciples. Not make converts. Not make an audience. A disciple is somebody who learns to obey, and Jesus spells it out: teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. Observe means do. You are not passing along information. You are showing somebody how to live it. Here is where this gets practical. You cannot teach someone to observe what you are not observing. The whole assignment runs through your actual life. Then the promise lands. I am with you always. He knew you would feel unqualified. He knew you would feel too new, too messy, too far behind. So He closed the command with His presence instead of a pep talk. The power is not in you. The obedience is. “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:8, ESV) Jerusalem first. Home. The people who watched you fall apart. Start there. ——— DAILY ACTION Write down one name. One person in your life who is behind you spiritually. Do not build a plan. Just write the name and pray over it today. ——— THE DAILY CHARGE You are not waiting to be qualified. You are already commissioned. Start where you stand, with the authority that belongs to Him. ——— LET’S PRAY Father, thank You for the wisdom You have poured into me. I confess I have been holding it. I have treated Your command like it belonged to somebody more equipped. Today I receive the assignment. Show me the one person You want me to walk with. Give me the courage to open my mouth and the humility to live what I say. Your authority, my obedience. In Jesus’ name, amen. ——— RAK CHAZAK!! Only. Be. Strong!Semper InvictusFaith. Fire. Victory. ——— JOIN US Tomorrow we go after the reason most believers never disciple anybody. It is not fear. It is something quieter, and it is fixable. Subscribe so you catch it. My Reasons To Believe is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit myr2b.substack.com/subscribe