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Brave and Bold: 31 Devotions to Strengthen Men
What is the measure of a man? Is it athletic ability, strength, intelligence, or accomplishments? In Brave and Bold , Marty Machowski offers thirty-one daily devotions to encourage readers to become men whose strength comes from following Jesus and reflects him to a watching world. Each devotion calls men to grow deeper in compassion, kindness, courage, integrity, and service. Machowski explores the truth that becoming a real man means trusting God in every area of life, including serving, taking responsibility, and confessing failure. Through personal vignettes and practical application, men will be challenged to “be doers of the word, and not hearers only” (James 1:22) and to be examples of faithfulness, selflessness, self-control, and humble dependence on the Lord. Useful for personal reading, one-on-one discipleship, or small group discussion, Brave and Bold encourages young men to live on a mission to honor the Lord and to make him known in every part of life.
- GenresChristian
128 pages, Paperback
Published April 12, 2021
9 people are currently reading
18 people want to read
About the author
Marty Machowski
63 books123 followersMarty Machowski is a Family Life Pastor at Covenant Fellowship Church, a Sovereign Grace Ministries church in Glen Mills, Pennsylvania, where he has served on the pastoral staff for more than twenty years. As leader of their children’s ministry, Promise Kingdom, he has worked for many years to develop curriculum and devotional material that connect church and home. His passion is equipping families to understand the Bible as one gospel story and help them share that with their children. He is the author of The Gospel Story for Kids series including Long Story Short: Ten-Minute Devotions to Draw Your Family to God (OT); The Gospel Story Bible; and the Gospel Story Curriculum: Finding Jesus in the Old Testament and the forthcoming Old Story New (NT): Ten-Minute Devotions to Draw Your Family to God and Gospel Story Curriculum: Following Jesus in the New Testament. He and his wife Lois and their six children reside in West Chester, Pennsylvania.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
April 13, 2021
Marty Machowski is well-known as one of today’s preeminent authors for gospel-centered children’s and family literature. Now he has blessed the Church with a fantastic resource for men. Brave and Bold is refreshing spiritual boot camp for both young believers and longtime Christians—never heavy-handed, never watered down, always grace-filled, and brimming with applicable truth.
April 26, 2021
I’m not generally a fan of devotionals, but my children and I are currently going through Long Story Short (also by Machowski), and we are immensely enjoying it. So when I heard about the opportunity to read and review an advanced copy of his newest work, I jumped at the chance.
The first thing to point out is that, while this devotional is geared toward men (it says so in the subtitle, after all), the actions and attitudes proposed in this book (encouragement, truthfulness, confession, and so on) aren’t exclusive to men. They represent the calling of all of God’s children: young and old, men and women. So why the focus on men in particular?
Because men need instruction and training in how to apply core Christian responsibilities with God-honoring masculinity. As Machowski says in his book’s introduction, “Men are not born; boys are. Manhood requires education, development, and application.” (2) And as the book concludes, “The church needs men. While we should beware of simply affirming every cultural expression of manhood as biblical, we should nevertheless seek to champion men.” (113)
This devotional is an attempt to do just that. “Think of it,” Machowski says, “as manhood basic training…[or] your pocket biblical manhood boot camp.” (3, 4)
Each devotion begins with a Bible verse and a story of some kind (often from the realm of the author’s experiences in the armed forces), which are both tied together to illustrate a particular theme. This format is to be expected. However, a highlight of this devotional—and what makes it stand out from the rest—is its focus on practical application. Rather than leaving readers with thinking, “Okay, that was a nice perspective,” each chapter has two rubber-meets-the-road sections.
First is Get Started. This section includes a Scripture passage to meditate on. Because readers are lazy (including myself), the book prints the passage itself for easy reference. (You don’t even have to go find a Bible to look up the passage.) Also included are additional thoughts, action steps, or questions to ponder—all related to the chapter’s topic.
Second is Take the Challenge. This is where Machowski recommends action steps to apply the chapter’s material. Sometimes the challenge is simply to pray about a particular issue or to follow directions in memorizing a short passage of Scripture. At other times, the challenge is to seek accountability for a specific issue or to implement a new practice into your routine. In any case, these challenges help put feet to the principles explored earlier in each chapter.
You can, as the devotional itself says, read through the 31 chapters in 31 days (and pick just a few areas to focus on), or you can read one chapter a week and give yourself more time for application of each challenge. Whatever method you choose, the meditations, questions, and action points move the book from the realm of “merely theoretical” to “immediately practical.”
On rare occasions, Machowski defines manhood without what I would consider sufficient Biblical support, either because he assumes the reader agrees with him (which I do), or because he chooses a proof text that seems to be taken out of its proper context. Such moments, however, are few and far between.
Overall, as someone who rarely reads devotionals, I can confidently state that Brave and Bold, especially with its unique application sections, promises to be a means of grace for real and lasting growth in manhood—not in the macho or milquetoast extremes of our culture, but in the Christ-like character we all desperately need.
The first thing to point out is that, while this devotional is geared toward men (it says so in the subtitle, after all), the actions and attitudes proposed in this book (encouragement, truthfulness, confession, and so on) aren’t exclusive to men. They represent the calling of all of God’s children: young and old, men and women. So why the focus on men in particular?
Because men need instruction and training in how to apply core Christian responsibilities with God-honoring masculinity. As Machowski says in his book’s introduction, “Men are not born; boys are. Manhood requires education, development, and application.” (2) And as the book concludes, “The church needs men. While we should beware of simply affirming every cultural expression of manhood as biblical, we should nevertheless seek to champion men.” (113)
This devotional is an attempt to do just that. “Think of it,” Machowski says, “as manhood basic training…[or] your pocket biblical manhood boot camp.” (3, 4)
Each devotion begins with a Bible verse and a story of some kind (often from the realm of the author’s experiences in the armed forces), which are both tied together to illustrate a particular theme. This format is to be expected. However, a highlight of this devotional—and what makes it stand out from the rest—is its focus on practical application. Rather than leaving readers with thinking, “Okay, that was a nice perspective,” each chapter has two rubber-meets-the-road sections.
First is Get Started. This section includes a Scripture passage to meditate on. Because readers are lazy (including myself), the book prints the passage itself for easy reference. (You don’t even have to go find a Bible to look up the passage.) Also included are additional thoughts, action steps, or questions to ponder—all related to the chapter’s topic.
Second is Take the Challenge. This is where Machowski recommends action steps to apply the chapter’s material. Sometimes the challenge is simply to pray about a particular issue or to follow directions in memorizing a short passage of Scripture. At other times, the challenge is to seek accountability for a specific issue or to implement a new practice into your routine. In any case, these challenges help put feet to the principles explored earlier in each chapter.
You can, as the devotional itself says, read through the 31 chapters in 31 days (and pick just a few areas to focus on), or you can read one chapter a week and give yourself more time for application of each challenge. Whatever method you choose, the meditations, questions, and action points move the book from the realm of “merely theoretical” to “immediately practical.”
On rare occasions, Machowski defines manhood without what I would consider sufficient Biblical support, either because he assumes the reader agrees with him (which I do), or because he chooses a proof text that seems to be taken out of its proper context. Such moments, however, are few and far between.
Overall, as someone who rarely reads devotionals, I can confidently state that Brave and Bold, especially with its unique application sections, promises to be a means of grace for real and lasting growth in manhood—not in the macho or milquetoast extremes of our culture, but in the Christ-like character we all desperately need.
June 19, 2021
Men play a vital role in the spiritual development and growth of their families. However, many times men are not equipped to achieve this goal and do not know how to do this well. There is a dire need in the church for men to be better equipped as the spiritual leader in the home. In his new devotional book for men Brave and Bold: 31 Devotions to Strengthen Men (NewGrowth Press, 2021), pastor and author Marty Machowski seeks to help men become better spiritual leaders.
As stated in the subtitle, the book is broken into thirty-one devotions on differing topics pertaining to manhood and spiritual leadership. These subjects include: worship, prayer, discipline, fidelity, courage, and service just to name a few. Each topic begins with a corresponding scripture passage and then a story to illustrate the topic being discussed. At the end, there is a Scripture passage for meditation and then a challenge in order to put into practice the topic being discussed. All thirty-one devotions follow this structure, and can be read within ten to fifteen minutes. This lends itself to the busy daily lives of most men who are juggling the responsibilities of family, church, and work.
Continue reading the review here: https://readingfortheglory.wordpress....
As stated in the subtitle, the book is broken into thirty-one devotions on differing topics pertaining to manhood and spiritual leadership. These subjects include: worship, prayer, discipline, fidelity, courage, and service just to name a few. Each topic begins with a corresponding scripture passage and then a story to illustrate the topic being discussed. At the end, there is a Scripture passage for meditation and then a challenge in order to put into practice the topic being discussed. All thirty-one devotions follow this structure, and can be read within ten to fifteen minutes. This lends itself to the busy daily lives of most men who are juggling the responsibilities of family, church, and work.
Continue reading the review here: https://readingfortheglory.wordpress....
February 18, 2022
This is an excellent book to use to foster discussion and application of Biblical principles in a men’s group or 1 on 1 discipleship context. I imagine I may use it for both of those purposes.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews