Yesterday we learned that the most important dimension of true manhood his relationship with God. For the next two days we will explore this in more detail.

To strengthen his relationship with God, he studies the Word. Together with the psalmist, he sings of his love for the Word of God. Read Psalm 119:97-113.

How I love your law!

I think about it all day long.

Your commandment is with me all the time

and makes me wiser than my enemies …

From Daniel of old he learns to pray with unconditional surrender. Daniel continued to pray regularly, despite the proclamation of a law which prohibited worship of anyone other than the king.

When Daniel learnt that the order had been signed, he went home. In an upstairs room of his house there were windows that faced towards Jerusalem. There, just as he had always done, he knelt down at the open windows and prayed to God three times a day. When Daniel’s enemies observed him praying to God, all of them went together to the king to accuse Daniel.

Daniel 6:10-12a

From the account of the birth of Jesus Christ and the actions of Joseph, we learn that a man who is in a relationship with God submits to God’s will for his life.

This was how the birth of Jesus Christ took place. His mother Mary was engaged to Joseph, but before they were married, she found out that she was going to have a baby by the Holy Spirit. Joseph was a man who always did what was right, but he did not want to disgrace Mary publicly; so he made plans to break the engagement privately. While he was thinking about this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, descendant of David, do not be afraid to take Mary to be your wife. For it is by the Holy Spirit that she has conceived. She will have a son, and you will name him Jesus—because he will save his people from their sins.”

So when Joseph woke up, he married Mary, as the angel of the Lord had told him to do. But he had no sexual relations with her before she gave birth to her son. And Joseph named him Jesus. Matthew 1:18-21,24-25

A man in a relationship with God dedicates his life to the Lord. Hebrews 11:5 tells us about Enoch: It was faith that kept Enoch from dying. Instead, he was taken up to God, and nobody could find him, because God had taken him up. The scripture says that before Enoch was taken up, he had pleased God.

And can you say, I am he?

Prayer: Lord, help me to know you better daily through your word and to praise and worship you. Help me to submit every day to your will for my life and help me, like Enoch, to live to please you. Amen.