A Champion's Path: 40 Days to Reclaiming God's Role for Men

By Justin Oneacre

Who doesn’t like to win?

If you’re frustrated with trying to figure out what it looks like to not just run your race as a godly man, but how to achieve victory along the way, you’re not alone. All men must stare life in the eyes and settle the matter in their own minds. In A Champion’s Path: 40 Days to Reclaiming God’s Role for Men, Justin Oneacre shows you how to:

•develop a personal relationship with God
•cultivate a healthy, vibrant marriage
•serve in a local body of believers
•be a living testimony of God’s goodness to the world

It’s time to destroy every lie of the enemy and exert our God-given rights as Priests and Kings! It’s time for the men of God to arise and follow in our Father’s footsteps: “The LORD will march out like a champion, like a warrior he will stir up his zeal; with a shout he will raise the battle cry and will triumph over his enemies” (Isaiah 42:13, NIV). It’s time to walk A Champion’s Path.

50% of the net proceeds of this book will be donated to Christian charities.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Justin Oneacre
• Release date: Mar 28, 2016
• ISBN: 9781310337505

Justin Oneacre

Justin Oneacre is a contributing writer for epictrek.com and has almost 20 years of experience helping worship ministries in the Houston area. A graduate of Texas A&M University and Berklee College of Music's Master Certificate in Music Production using Pro Tools, he also enjoys writing, recording, and producing music. Justin currently lives outside Houston, TX with his wife and high school sweetheart, Rachelle, and their three hyperactive Boston Terriers.

Book preview

Acknowledgements

Before we jump into the content, I must give credit to some people who have poured into my life and were instrumental to this book being birthed.

Jim Ed - thank you for seeing something in me that I never did and pushing me to lead and use the gifts that God has given me in both music and writing. The first time I lead out in worship was under your leadership in youth group and the first time I wrote a devotional was for your ministry, epictrek.com. Thanks for always believing in me!

Kent - thank you for establishing what it looks like for a man to lead everything with excellence.

Nicholas - thank you for always demonstrating your faith by your good works.

Todd - thank you for challenging me in how to lead a team.

James - thank you for showing what it means to love well.

Les - thank you for your wisdom in all things marriage and men. The four main sections of this book are based on a men’s class I heard him teach.

Curtis - thank you for proposing that I use my writing to create some resources for men.

Rachelle - thank you for your never ending love and encouragement to pursue and complete this first book. If anyone is reading this devotional, it’s because my wife thought this was too important not to be said. I love you.

Introduction

The purpose of this devotional is to help men seek after the Lord, draw closer to Him, and grow into all that God has called us to be.

It is laid out into four main sections:

1. Personal

2. Marriage

3. Church

4. World

Each section consists of ten days’ worth of devotions on various topics, all focusing our hearts and minds on Christ and what He has for us.

At the end of each day’s devotion, there are several sub-sections to reinforce and solidify the day’s topic.

• Dig Deeper: this will provide further Scripture reading relevant to the topic of the day.

• Call To Action: this will prompt you to put into action what we’ve covered for that day.

• Song: A playlist has been created for this devotional on Spotify called A Champion's Path 40 Day Playlist. In this section, you will find the relevant song for that day for you to listen to and allow the lyrics to further cement the theme into your mind.

• Thoughts: this is where you will write in what you feel the Holy Spirit is speaking to you through the devotional, Scriptures, song, etc. for each day.

• Prayer: use this section to help you pray through specific things for each day. Use this as a launching pad to start developing your own prayers to God as you progress through the devotions.

Personal

Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye (Matthew 7:4)? In order to start this journey off on the right foot, we must begin with ourselves. Learning to develop and grow personally in our walk with the Lord should be our first priority and will help lay the foundation for all the other sections to follow.

Day 1: Priorities

"Learn to say ‘no’ to the good so you can say ‘yes’ to the best." –John C. Maxwell

An honest inventory of what’s real and important to you is a great place to start this trek. Each day there are endless tasks to complete, never ending emails to reply to, and the constant struggle over needs vs. wants, seesawing in our minds. So where do we begin? How do we decide what is most deserving of our precious time and attention?

For better or worse, our actions will ultimately follow the desires of our heart. I can remember a season in our marriage when we did not have all our priorities lined up correctly. I was working two jobs and going back to school, my wife was also working and we were both still serving every week at our church. There was always so much going on, that I let our marriage start to slowly slip away to the back burner while the seemingly more pressing demands were dealt with. The irony is that when I look back at this season, I don't remember many of the details, but do recall a whirlwind of activity and not really ever seeing or talking to my wife. Fortunately, we were able to do a major rework and get things back on the right course, starting with God and our marriage.

Let’s start with this simple command from Deuteronomy 6:5, posed as a question: do you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might? If the answer to this question is yes, then this will be the filter by which all the other priorities in our lives must pass through. If we love the LORD first and focus our heart’s attention here first, every other activity will be colored with more joy and purpose or grant us the peace to replace nonessential time wasters by devoting more time with family and loved ones.

I can hear the Realists sighing right now: But what about all the other stuff in our lives? If we put our time and focus primarily on God, what about all the other details in our lives? Don’t worry. Jesus reassures: seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you (Matthew 6:33, NKJV).

Dig Deeper: Study Mark 1:35 through the lens of why. Why would Jesus, the Incarnate Son of God, do this?

Call to Action: Decide what you can do today to better align your priorities for the next forty days.

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Song: Love the Lord by Lincoln Brewster

Thoughts: Jot down some thoughts about today’s topic and/or what you feel the Holy Spirit prompting you.

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Prayer: God, give me a love and desire for You and to hold most highly the things that You hold most valuable. Help me to love You with everything I have and to let that define and prioritize all the days of my life. In Jesus' name, amen.

Day 2: Prayer

"I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom and that of all about me seemed insufficient for that day." –Abraham Lincoln

Imagine you are a soldier. You are assigned to defend and protect a post that is continually being assaulted and attacked by the enemy. What if you were given a