Dear Friends,
As you know by now, the name of my ministry is Strong Disciple. I chose that name for a reason as Jesus Christ calls us to be His disciples, His followers. My goal and purpose in writing these articles is to pass onto you godly, Biblical wisdom, insights, and instructions that will equip you, strengthen you, and help you become strong and effective in your role as a father, as a husband, and as a Christian. I am intentionally striving through these articles to mentor you by passing on my real-life stories and examples that illustrate the application of Biblical truths in ways that will inspire you, motivate you, and help you understand the hows and whys of application into your real-world faith, family, marriage, and personal life. I want to help you become a Strong Disciple. My goal is to help ensure your success in raising your children to love and follow Jesus Christ and to grow and sustain a godly marriage!
Not only have I put much prayer, time, and thought into each article, but I also put my heart and soul into each one. I often include links to specific messages that are designed to help you in a powerful, life-transforming way. It is my sincere desire that you get the maximum benefit possible from every one of these, that you can experience for yourself the power of each truth contained in every article in your personal and family life.
Therefore, I wanted to share with you how to get the very most out of these for your benefit and growth. I realize many of you are very busy men. I also know many of you get stuff sent to you all the time. You may often find your email inbox quite full. You may have great intentions but never get around to giving these articles the time and attention you intended, to gain the maximum benefit from them.
Recently I was talking with a man I have been mentoring. This specific thing came up in our conversation. He sometimes gets to the articles, other times does not. He said, “Mark when I read them, I am extremely blessed, but I confess, often I don’t take the time.” I made this suggestion to him. I said, “Brother, I would like to suggest you do this every week from now on. When you get this article, take your quiet time the next day and read this article as your quiet time for that morning, and give it careful thought and consideration. Think carefully over the scriptures I use and consider all of the article’s applications to your situation.”
Secondly take the time, while you are commuting or out on a walk to listen to the message links I send. You can do this on your phone if you like, using earbuds. These two practices will change the ball game for you as a man, a father, a husband, and a Christian. It will help transform your life, your fathering and your marriage.
Some weeks later he got back to me and exclaimed. “Mark, I took your advice and wow, it has made a huge difference! I am getting so much more encouragement and insights from your articles since I made it one of my quiet times for the week.” In addition this man has been writing to me each week what things he got from the article, and in this way it gave him the benefit of added accountability.
Since I first started writing Thoughts Provoking each week, the subscriptions have tripled! As a result, many of you missed the first 50-60 articles. I want to urge you, please, please go back and read them all. I say this in all humility, many of the things I wrote, and passed on to you fathers and husbands, you will not find anywhere else quite like them. I believe you will be greatly inspired, enlightened, and gain great wisdom if you go back and read them starting from Edition #1. They are all available to you on this link.
I would like to pass on this vitally important scripture that I have been carrying around in my notebook for 44 years. This has been the great secret to my Christian life, my growth, my fathering, my marriage and my years of ministry work. Burn it on your heart and mind.
And He said to them, “Be careful what you are hearing. The measure of thought and study you give to the truth you hear will be the measure of knowledge and virtue that comes back to you, and more besides will be given to you who hear!”
Mark 4:24 (AMP CLASSIC EDITION)
(For those not familiar with the word virtue, it means moral excellence and strength of character.)
