Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    God's Challenge for Dads: A 90-Day Devotional Experiencing God's Truths
    God's Challenge for Dads: A 90-Day Devotional Experiencing God's Truths
    God's Challenge for Dads: A 90-Day Devotional Experiencing God's Truths
    Ebook197 pages3 hours

    God's Challenge for Dads: A 90-Day Devotional Experiencing God's Truths

    By Eric R. Ballard

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Have you gotten comfortable—maybe even complacent—in your spiritual life? Maybe you can check off all the right boxes—going to church, reading your Bible, praying before meals. Maybe you even lead a small group or serve as a deacon and tithe regularly. But when was the last time someone really shook up your faith, really challenged you to get after it, to pursue God with your whole heart?
    In this devotional written specifically for dads, Eric Ballard draws wisdom from the men written about in the Bible to push you out of your comfort zone and into a more authentic, whole-hearted relationship with God, which will lead to more meaningful relationships with your family, coworkers, and community. Each devotional includes a scripture, insight into the context and purpose of the passage, a brief prayer, and a challenge. Sometimes the challenges are external—simple ways to let your wife know you think she’s amazing or to make your children feel cared for. Sometimes they’re internal—like daring to let go of your own self-sufficiency and acknowledge you can’t do anything right without the Holy Spirit working through you.
    Allow yourself to be pushed, stretched, and molded into the dad God has called you to be. Discover the Bible’s wisdom on everything from work struggles to parenting difficult kids to loving your wife well. Take an honest look at the idols you need to lay down, now. Look a little closer at how you think and talk about work. Discover what godly parenting really means.
    Are you ready to accept God’s challenge? Your kids will be grown before you know it. Don't wait another minute to become the dad God wants you to be.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherGood Books
    Release dateMay 1, 2018
    ISBN9781680993615
    God's Challenge for Dads: A 90-Day Devotional Experiencing God's Truths
    Author

    Eric R. Ballard

    Eric Ballard is a youth and college pastor, an outdoor enthusiast, a husband, and a father to two beautiful daughters. He is the author of Finding Jesus in the Old Testament and Rite of Passage: The Making of a Godly Man . With an undergraduate degree in educational psychology from Mississippi State University, he also has an advanced degree from New Orleans Baptist Seminary in Christian education. He lives in Katy, Texas.

    Related to God's Challenge for Dads

    Related ebooks

    Christianity For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      4 Retirement Questions to Ask Before 'How Much Should I Save?'

      Feb 17, 2020

      One of the most common questions we get from our clients is, "How much do I need to save to retire?" To answer this question, we recommend focusing first on a few mostly non-financial questions designed to help you picture what "retirement" means to

      3 min read

    • Article

      Joy! News

      Nov 19, 2021

      Scan this QR code on your smartphone to sign up to our newsletters Pastor and best-selling Christian author Max Lucado shared an encouraging update about his recent “ascending aortic aneurysm” diagnosis. In a YouTube video, Lucado announced that t

      6 min read

    • Article

      Elon Musk buys Twitter

      Apr 29, 2022

      When Elon Musk said he would buy social network Twitter and take it private earlier this month, few took him seriously. Some even thought the Tesla founder “was making a joke about cannabis”, says Giulia Bottaro in The Daily Telegraph (420 is a slang

      2 min read

    • Article

      Before Explaining What To Do, Explain Why It Must Be Done

      Oct 29, 2021

      It was the first day of packing, and as a young Citrus Exchange field officer I was visiting one of the local packhouses. Shortly after I arrived, the hum and clatter of conveyor suddenly stopped. Looking around, I noticed a group of graders huddled

      2 min read

    • Article

      How to Talk About Money With Your Children

      Nov 6, 2021

      What's up, everybody? This is Brandon Copeland, AKA Professor Cope. And you are now tuned in to another very special … very, very, very special … very, very, very special episode of Cope'ing With Money. On this episode of Cope'ing With Money, it is t

      5 min read

    • Article

      10 Things Men Need To Know

      Apr 23, 2021

      10 Things Men Need To Know
      3 min read

    • Article

      Letters To The EDITOR

      Jul 21, 2023

      D ear readers, we love to hear your thoughts on the stories that we publish, what is going on around the world, and what the Lord has placed on your heart! Email your letter through to editor@joymag.co.za for a chance to be featured – please try to k

      6 min read

    • Article

      Letters To The Editor

      Jun 15, 2020

      A lot of people are asking why the world is the way it is. What’s going on? What on earth is God doing? Most of these people have never considered God before, but are questioning now that there is this terrible international crisis that is killing th

      7 min read

    • Article

      Letters To The EDITOR

      Jun 24, 2022

      Dear readers, we love to hear your thoughts on the stories that we publish, what is going on around the world, and what the Lord has placed on your heart! Email your letter through to editor@joymag.co.za for a chance to be featured – please try to ke

      7 min read

    • Article

      Pastor Jo Swart

      Aug 26, 2022

      Pastor Jo Swart
      7 min read

    • Article

      Letters To The EDITOR

      Jul 22, 2022

      Dear readers, we love to hear your thoughts on the stories that we publish, what is going on around the world, and what the Lord has placed on your heart! Email your letter through to editor@joymag.co.za for a chance to be featured – please try to ke

      9 min read

    • Article

      Modern-Day Bodhisattvas

      Sep 18, 2018

      PEMA CHÖDRÖN: There’s an ideal in the Buddhist teachings called the bodhisattva. Bodhisattvas are people whose purpose in life is to alleviate suffering. The main thing they want to do is soothe the sorrows of the world. I’m sure that Father Gregory

      8 min read

    • Article

      Letters To The Editor

      Oct 21, 2019

      Well done JOY Magazine for daring to ask the question, “Was Jesus White?” Not that it matters one little bit. The Holy spirit, who lives in every born-again believer is colourless and loves and empowers each one of us in exactly the same way. I feel

      6 min read

    • Article

      Letters To The EDITOR

      Nov 25, 2022

      Dear readers, we love to hear your thoughts on the stories that we publish, what is going on around the world, and what the Lord has placed on your heart! Email your letter through to editor@joymag.co.za for a chance to be featured – please try to ke

      8 min read

    • Article

      Letters To The EDITOR

      Dec 30, 2022

      Dear readers, we love to hear your thoughts on the stories that we publish, what is going on around the world, and what the Lord has placed on your heart! Email your letter through to editor@joymag.co.za for a chance to be featured – please try to ke

      8 min read

    • Article

      Thursday, June 24

      Apr 15, 2021

      SINCE MOVING INTO THE MARINA, we’ve intentionally built relationships by being hospitable and helping with fix-it jobs on our neighbors’ boats. We’ve made lots of friends, but we’ve yet to find another believer. Our neighbors’ lives are difficult and

      1 min read

    • Article

      Women Of Grace

      Nov 18, 2019

      God has an abundant life, and a great future planned for you. His plan is to take care of you, not to abandon you. God says in Revelation 22:13, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.” Nothing in your life s

      2 min read

    • Article

      Guidelines For Online Dating

      Mar 10, 2023

      Guidelines For Online Dating
      3 min read

    • Article

      Ask Val

      Sep 16, 2019

      Ask Val
      2 min read

    • Article

      Letters To The EDITOR

      Sep 23, 2022

      D ear readers, we love to hear your thoughts on the stories that we publish, what is going on around the world, and what the Lord has placed on your heart! Email your letter through to editor@joymag.co.za for a chance to be featured – please try to k

      7 min read

    • Article

      Letters To The Editor

      Oct 22, 2021

      Dear readers, we love to hear your thoughts on the stories that we publish, what is going on around the world, and what the Lord has placed on your heart! Email your letter through to editor@joymag.co.za for a chance to be featured – please try to ke

      4 min read

    • Article

      Forward March!

      Sep 4, 2020

      Forward March!
      5 min read

    • Article

      Ask And You Shall Receive…

      Feb 9, 2024

      When something is repeated over and over again, it can lose its impact. As Christians, how often do we hear the scripture, “Ask, and you shall receive ... knock, and the door shall be opened”? It is so popular, and so repeated, but yet is such a powe

      2 min read

    • Article

      Letters To The EDITOR

      Oct 27, 2023

      D ear readers, we love to hear your thoughts on the stories that we publish, what is going on around the world, and what the Lord has placed on your heart! Email your letter through to editor@joymag.co.za for a chance to be featured – please try to k

      6 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for God's Challenge for Dads

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      God's Challenge for Dads - Eric R. Ballard

      COMMUNITY

      God, Three in One

      COMMUNITY

      Then God said, Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. —Genesis 1:26A NLT.

      After five days of speaking creation into existence, God took a step back to examine His work. And it was good (Genesis 1:3, 10, 18, 21, 25, 31). But He wanted man to be different from all the other animals He had created. Man would bear His very own image in a mighty and mysterious way. So before Adam became a reality, God looked at the other two members of the Trinity and said, "Let’s make Adam like us."

      It has been suggested that God made man because He was lonely. But nothing could be further from the truth. Before the dawning of that very first sunrise, God had perfect company and community within Himself (John 1:1–2). And because this mystical holy band of brotherhood was so amazing, God wanted man to join in. He wanted man to be like the us of the Trinity.

      Do you have this type of community? This type of brotherhood? Friends that stick closer than a brother? Do you have an us to belong to? Most of us don’t, at least not anymore. In high school and college, we may have had more friends than we could count, but they seem harder to find nowadays. Most men, as we grow older and older, tend to withdraw from relationships more and more. We become isolated. And this trend is not limited to just our friends and neighbors. Men have a bad habit of disengaging from our family, as well. But this is not what God intended when He dug in the dirt and sculpted Adam with His bare hands. God’s creation of Adam was an invitation to join His community. When we choose to step away from community, we choose to step away from God’s original design.

      Let’s be intentional about embracing a community of men. Let’s find friends we can trust and share our true self with. Let’s be purposeful about becoming an us and not just a me.

      CHALLENGE

      •Read Ecclesiastes 4:12.

      •Don’t do this devotion alone. Tell a few friends that you are accepting this 90-day challenge and then invite them to join you so that you can learn and grow together.

      Being involved in community was part of God’s original design.

      LORD, bring other men in my life that will walk alongside me and help me become the man you created me to be. Amen.

      Jonathan and David

      CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP

      But if he is angry and wants you killed, may the LORD strike me and even kill me if I don’t warn you so you can escape and live. May the LORD be with you as he used to be with my father. And may you treat me with the faithful love of the LORD as long as I live. —1 Samuel 20:13–14 NLT

      There are several studies out there that suggest most men over the age of thirty don’t have real friends. Before you say, That’s ridiculous, I have tons of friends, really think about it. Do you? Do you have friends you can share more than just a meal with? Are there friends in your life that know your deepest struggles and fears? Do you have guys you can go to when your marriage is in trouble or work isn’t fulfilling you the way it used to? Who truly knows you?

      It seems the older we get, the more we choose our friends out of convenience than anything else. All a guy has to be is a coworker, neighbor, our kid’s friends’ dad, or the husband of our wife’s friend. Possibly none of whom we would voluntarily hang out with. When this is the case, it’s no wonder our friendships are shallow.

      Jonathan was more loyal to his friend David than he was to even his own father, who just happened to be king. Both Jonathan and David were willing to fight and die for their friendship. They wanted the best for each other even if it came at personal cost. And above all else they wanted the other to be in good standing with the LORD. Because God was at the center of their friendship, their lives were intertwined. If you and I are going to have true friendships that make us better men, we must find someone that loves God as much as we do. Don’t simply settle for men that happen to be in the nearest of proximity to you as friends; find men with whom you can wage war against this life to call friends. They are well worth the search.

      CHALLENGE

      •Read Proverbs 18:24.

      •Find a new friend. I know that sound elementary, but give it a try. Pray for God to bring a new friend into your life and the time to invest in that friendship. And pray for Him to do it quickly.

      Christian friendships will strengthen us like no other.

      Father, I don’t want to try to live this Christian life on my own. Send me friends that will stick closer than a brother. Amen.

      Nathan

      BE A REAL FRIEND

      David was furious. As surely as the LORD lives, he vowed, any man who would do such a thing deserves to die!

      Then Nathan said to David, You are that man! —2 Samuel 12:5 and 7A NLT

      After David’s affair with Bathsheba, he had Uriah, her husband, killed so that his infidelities would remain secrets. But the prophet Nathan came to the king and told him a story about a rich man that had numerous sheep and cattle stealing the only lamb from a poor man so that he could feed a visiting guest without killing one of his own animals. This sort of injustice outraged the king, and he demanded to take action against such a selfish and careless man. Then Nathan informed David that he is the man. That as king, David could have had anyone he wanted as a wife, but he chose to take the wife of another. Broken by the truth, David’s eyes were finally opened to his misdeeds.

      Nathan was being a true friend to David. Several people in David’s palace must have known the truth about Bathsheba, but only Nathan loved David enough to do the hard thing and confront him with the truth.

      A good friend doesn’t simply agree with everything we say or do. A good friend loves us enough to be honest with us. They tell us when we have something stuck in our teeth, when there are boogers hanging from our nose, and when we are being idiots with the choices we make. We need to be this kind of friend to others and to our wife. Let us love her enough to be honest with her. To be truthful with both the good and bad news. As painful or embarrassing as the truth may be at first, it is always beneficial and appreciated in the end, especially when it is delivered out of love.

      CHALLENGE

      •Read Proverbs 27:6.

      •Is there anyone in your life that you need to speak a difficult truth to? Ask God to place that person on your heart and for Him to give you the words to say.

      True friends tell the truth. Even the hard ones.

      Father, help me love my family and friends with honesty. Amen.

      Samson

      THE NEED FOR ACCOUNTABILITY

      So he attacked the Philistines with great fury and killed many of them. Then he went to live in a cave in the rock of Etam. —Judges 15:8 NLT

      Samson’s commitment to following God can be described as up and down at best. At times, he was a mighty warrior for the LORD, and at times he simply did whatever he wanted to regardless of his Nazarene vow. A big part of his waywardness was due to his isolation.

      Part of Samson’s adult life was spent living alone in a cave. Secluded and away from a community of other men, Samson lived a life with no accountability. Alone in the cave, there was no one to seek guidance from and no one to step in and put a stop to Samson’s foolish actions. There was no one for Samson to learn from and no one to truly show him how to use his God-given strength.

      As men, we still live lives mostly withdrawn from the community of other men. There are several studies that suggest a large portion of men over the age of thirty do not have friendships with other men that reach further than acquaintance or coworker. We may have buddies that we may watch the game with or share a drink with, but few of us have friends that we truly share our lives with. This is a detriment to our spiritual and physical lives.

      If you and I are going to have real friendships and accountability, then chances are we are going to have to search them out. Gone are the days where we are thrown into a college dorm to forge deep friendships. Today we must seek them and work for them knowing that they can be life-changing. Meaningful friendships will make our relationships at home stronger.

      CHALLENGE

      •Read Ecclesiastes 4:9–10.

      •Make a list of the three people outside of your family that you consider to be your closest friends. When was the last time you talked to them? (Not by text, email, or social media … actually talked.) Which of them do you go to for advice? Encouragement? When your marriage is struggling? When your kids seem distant or rebellious?

      •Pray that God would place men in your life for strong Christian fellowship.

      We need a community of men to help keep us accountable.

      Father, You did not place me on this earth to live alone. Bring faithful men into my life that will stand alongside of me and help me grow closer to you. Amen.

      Uriah

      THE GOOD SOLDIER

      When David heard that Uriah had not gone home, he summoned him and asked, What’s the matter? Why didn’t you go home last night after being away for so long?

      Uriah replied, The Ark and the armies of Israel and Judah are living in tents, and Joab and my master’s men are camping in the open fields. How could I go home to wine and dine and sleep with my wife? I swear that I would never do such a thing. —2 Samuel 11:10–11 NLT

      David called Uriah back from war under the

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1