Camp Fuego 2014 Checklist for a Godly Man: Job 31 Checklist for a Godly Man: Job 31 A 31-day Bible study Welcome home from Camp Fuego! Our prayer is that God lit, or renewed, a fire in your heart during camp and that you re hungry to learn more about who He is and who He is calling you to be. This Bible study can be a good place to start, but you should also talk with your youth pastor and any family and friends who can support you in your walk. Having a daily quiet time Any relationship will suffer if you never take the time to talk to others, to really listen, and to let them into your life. True friendships offer wisdom, guidance, love, support, and so many other valuable benefits! The same is true for our relationship with God. We have to seek Him out daily; we are promised in Jeremiah 29:13, You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. By spending time in prayer each day and reading His Word, we are not only talking to God but taking the time to listen as well. Just like a conversation with a friend, it cannot be one-sided you must talk and also be willing to listen and learn. The first step in establishing a quiet time is to decide when to have it. In the same way we should tithe the first portion of our money to God, we should also give Him the first and best portion of our time. That doesn t always mean first thing in the morning, but you may find that s the best time for you. What it does mean is that we should give Him our best time of each day, not our leftover, grumpy, rushed, or almost asleep times. Jesus chose both morning and evening at different times. Mark 1:35 tells us, Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where He prayed. On the other hand, Luke 6:12 says, Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God. In addition to finding the best time for us, we also need to find a good location. In both of the examples above, Jesus found a quiet place to be alone with God. Jesus seemed to feel close to God while outside, in nature. Personally, I enjoy a certain, cozy spot on the couch in the bright, warm beams of morning sunlight. Some may like a quiet house after everyone has gone to sleep, while others may prefer the bus to or from school. Where is the best place for you? A few other tips for having a quiet time and studying God s Word: Write your prayers down, find a journal and keep track of your prayers and how God answers them. Also include your Thank You s to Him; see how many you can record in a year! Find a version of the Bible you understand and enjoy, and write in it! Underline, highlight, write down dates and events, make it part of your journey. Most of us have admired the well-worn Bible of an older person they didn t buy it that way! Begin creating your own legacy to pass along one day. Seek out great Bible studies and devotionals, but also take the time to just read His Word. Make goals of finishing a certain number of books in a month or read the entire Bible in a year! God wants us to spend time with Him every day, but sometimes our normal schedule can get disrupted and we might miss a day that s okay, reconnect with Him as soon as you can!
Camp Fuego 2014 Checklist for a Godly Man: Job 31 Pray for God to supernaturally carve out time for you to spend with Him. He wants to have that time with you, and if you want it to happen, it will. Some people challenge themselves in order to make their quiet time a daily habit they will not watch TV, read for pleasure, get on social media, etc., until they have had their quiet time. It s possible, it s worth it, make it happen! Tips for getting the most out of this Bible study: If possible, print out the 31 worksheet pages and write down your responses to each passage. Store the worksheets in a binder or folder, perhaps along with a journal (as recommended above), that you can keep and use for future Bible studies. Don t feel like you have to complete this study exactly 31 days after you ve begun; as with most things in life, the journey itself is more important than how long it takes. After you ve completed the study, keep your worksheet pages and look at them from time to time; sometimes we don t realize how far we ve come on our journey until we look back at where we ve been. When responding to God s Word, don t overthink it. You don t need to respond like a professor of theology or find some deep, life-changing idea in every verse. Sometimes God just wants us to acknowledge a simple, sometimes even obvious, truth about Him or ourselves; sometimes He s just asking us to take one tiny, baby-step in His direction.
Camp Fuego 2014 Checklist for a Godly Man: Job 31, Day 1 Look upward. What is God revealing to me about Himself here (His character, His heart)? Look inward. What action or behavior is He asking from me, to be more like Him? Being completely Look forward. Pray: God, change my heart with [these specific issues]. Give me the strength to do Part 1: I protect my eyes (and, therefore, also my mind and heart) from lust and temptation. Is it a coincidence that the very first thing on Job s list deals with lust? No, men have struggled with many of the same temptations since sin came into the world, and human nature isn t going to change anytime soon. Jesus says in Matthew 5:28, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust in his eye has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Jesus knew that sin begins in the mind, long before any action even takes place, and that (maybe even more so for men) our eyes are directly linked to our minds and hearts, for good or bad. It appears Job understood this as well, which is why he chose to make a covenant (a sacred promise) with his eyes, to honor God by not being tempted by lust. In today s society, where sex sells and we are constantly bombarded by temptations everywhere we turn, what would a covenant with my eyes look like for you? Using the 3-step process above, read Job 31:1 and respond below.
Camp Fuego 2014 Checklist for a Godly Man: Job 31, Day 2 Look upward. What is God revealing to me about Himself here (His character, His heart)? Look inward. What action or behavior is He asking from me, to be more like Him? Being completely Look forward. Pray: God, change my heart with [these specific issues]. Give me the strength to do Read Romans 6:1-23 and respond below.
Camp Fuego 2014 Checklist for a Godly Man: Job 31, Day 3 Look upward. What is God revealing to me about Himself here (His character, His heart)? Look inward. What action or behavior is He asking from me, to be more like Him? Being completely Look forward. Pray: God, change my heart with [these specific issues]. Give me the strength to do Read Colossians 3:5 and respond below.
Camp Fuego 2014 Checklist for a Godly Man: Job 31, Day 4 Look upward. What is God revealing to me about Himself here (His character, His heart)? Look inward. What action or behavior is He asking from me, to be more like Him? Being completely Look forward. Pray: God, change my heart with [these specific issues]. Give me the strength to do Part 2: I do not lie or deceive to get what I want. When everything else was crumbling around him, Job could stand tall because of his integrity and righteousness; Job knew that the cornerstone of integrity is honesty (Job 31:5-6). Like it or not, you have a reputation in the eyes of those around you will your reputation be one of deception or of integrity? Read Psalm 12:1-8 and respond below.
Camp Fuego 2014 Checklist for a Godly Man: Job 31, Day 5 Look upward. What is God revealing to me about Himself here (His character, His heart)? Look inward. What action or behavior is He asking from me, to be more like Him? Being completely Look forward. Pray: God, change my heart with [these specific issues]. Give me the strength to do Read Matthew 15:1-20 and Matthew 18:11, 17-20, then respond below.
Camp Fuego 2014 Checklist for a Godly Man: Job 31, Day 6 Look upward. What is God revealing to me about Himself here (His character, His heart)? Look inward. What action or behavior is He asking from me, to be more like Him? Being completely Look forward. Pray: God, change my heart with [these specific issues]. Give me the strength to do Read Psalm 36:1-12 and respond below.
Camp Fuego 2014 Checklist for a Godly Man: Job 31, Day 7 Look upward. What is God revealing to me about Himself here (His character, His heart)? Look inward. What action or behavior is He asking from me, to be more like Him? Being completely Look forward. Pray: God, change my heart with [these specific issues]. Give me the strength to do Part 3: I seek and follow God s path. In Job 31:7-8, Job says that if he has strayed from God s path may everything he has be taken from him and given to someone else. What would it take for us to live this way, to live truly all or nothing for God? Read Matthew 5:13-20 and respond below.
Camp Fuego 2014 Checklist for a Godly Man: Job 31, Day 8 Look upward. What is God revealing to me about Himself here (His character, His heart)? Look inward. What action or behavior is He asking from me, to be more like Him? Being completely Look forward. Pray: God, change my heart with [these specific issues]. Give me the strength to do Read Psalm 24:1-6 and respond below.
Camp Fuego 2014 Checklist for a Godly Man: Job 31, Day 9 Look upward. What is God revealing to me about Himself here (His character, His heart)? Look inward. What action or behavior is He asking from me, to be more like Him? Being completely Look forward. Pray: God, change my heart with [these specific issues]. Give me the strength to do Read Ephesians 5:1-20 and respond below.
Camp Fuego 2014 Checklist for a Godly Man: Job 31, Day 10 Look upward. What is God revealing to me about Himself here (His character, His heart)? Look inward. What action or behavior is He asking from me, to be more like Him? Being completely Look forward. Pray: God, change my heart with [these specific issues]. Give me the strength to do Part 4: I treat those I m around daily with fairness and respect. Let s be honest, respect is HUGE for guys we crave respect from those around us, oftentimes more than we crave their love and affection. Yet, if we aren t careful, we can take for granted our family and closest friends, and we begin to treat them worse than we would even treat complete strangers. We all know the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. If you want respect, you have to give it first, long before you start seeing a return on your investment. Challenge: How would today be different at your house if you truly lived by the Golden Rule? Can you keep it up for the next seven days? Read Matthew 7:1-12 and respond below.
Camp Fuego 2014 Checklist for a Godly Man: Job 31, Day 11 Look upward. What is God revealing to me about Himself here (His character, His heart)? Look inward. What action or behavior is He asking from me, to be more like Him? Being completely Look forward. Pray: God, change my heart with [these specific issues]. Give me the strength to do Read Matthew 19:17-19 and respond below.
Camp Fuego 2014 Checklist for a Godly Man: Job 31, Day 12 Look upward. What is God revealing to me about Himself here (His character, His heart)? Look inward. What action or behavior is He asking from me, to be more like Him? Being completely Look forward. Pray: God, change my heart with [these specific issues]. Give me the strength to do Read Romans 15:1-19 and respond below.
Camp Fuego 2014 Checklist for a Godly Man: Job 31, Day 13 Look upward. What is God revealing to me about Himself here (His character, His heart)? Look inward. What action or behavior is He asking from me, to be more like Him? Being completely Look forward. Pray: God, change my heart with [these specific issues]. Give me the strength to do Part 5: I help those in need. The Bible gives a clear list of those who need our help widows and orphans, in particular, are mentioned throughout both the Old and New Testaments; our verse today expands that list to anyone who is truly alone and helpless. Too often we have an endless stream of excuses why we cannot or should not help those around us, so we harden our hearts and walk past them without even seeing them. What Jesus asks of us, however, is to love your neighbor as yourself. Helping someone in need isn t just about providing tangible goods water, food, clothes, shelter, or money; it s also about stopping and seeing them, acknowledging that here is another human being who isn t that different from the person in my mirror and who needs my help right now. Do you see the invisible people around you every day? Read Matthew 25:34-40 and respond below.
Camp Fuego 2014 Checklist for a Godly Man: Job 31, Day 14 Look upward. What is God revealing to me about Himself here (His character, His heart)? Look inward. What action or behavior is He asking from me, to be more like Him? Being completely Look forward. Pray: God, change my heart with [these specific issues]. Give me the strength to do Read Isaiah 58:7-9 and respond below.
Camp Fuego 2014 Checklist for a Godly Man: Job 31, Day 15 Look upward. What is God revealing to me about Himself here (His character, His heart)? Look inward. What action or behavior is He asking from me, to be more like Him? Being completely Look forward. Pray: God, change my heart with [these specific issues]. Give me the strength to do Part 6: I control my anger (my hand and my tongue), even when I know that no one is watching or that no one will stop me. Anger overwhelmingly leads to a wide range of destructive behaviors; unfortunately, in our society, we men learn early that anger is one of the few emotions we can show without being labeled as weak. While we see Jesus display a righteous anger when he cleared the Temple of merchants and money changers (John 2:13-17), Jesus clearly warns of the dangers when we nurture anger in our hearts (Matthew 5:21-26). Do you control your anger, or does it control you? Read Genesis 4:5-7 and respond below.
Camp Fuego 2014 Checklist for a Godly Man: Job 31, Day 16 Look upward. What is God revealing to me about Himself here (His character, His heart)? Look inward. What action or behavior is He asking from me, to be more like Him? Being completely Look forward. Pray: God, change my heart with [these specific issues]. Give me the strength to do Read Matthew 5:7-9 and respond below.
Camp Fuego 2014 Checklist for a Godly Man: Job 31, Day 17 Look upward. What is God revealing to me about Himself here (His character, His heart)? Look inward. What action or behavior is He asking from me, to be more like Him? Being completely Look forward. Pray: God, change my heart with [these specific issues]. Give me the strength to do Read Colossians 3:8-15 and respond below.
Camp Fuego 2014 Checklist for a Godly Man: Job 31, Day 18 Look upward. What is God revealing to me about Himself here (His character, His heart)? Look inward. What action or behavior is He asking from me, to be more like Him? Being completely Look forward. Pray: God, change my heart with [these specific issues]. Give me the strength to do Part 7: If I have something which makes me feel special (money, social standing, athleticism, even godliness, etc.), I don t put my faith in it rather than in God (the gift over the giver). Are you good at something like, really good at it? Then you ve probably had to work at it for a long time to get that good. When all the practice finally pays off, it s easy for us (and society expects us) to beat our chests and yell, Look at ME! However, Galatians 6:3 says, For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself remember, God loves all people equally. Do you use your gift to glorify yourself or to glorify the One who gave it to you? Read Ephesians 5:5-9 and respond below.
Camp Fuego 2014 Checklist for a Godly Man: Job 31, Day 19 Look upward. What is God revealing to me about Himself here (His character, His heart)? Look inward. What action or behavior is He asking from me, to be more like Him? Being completely Look forward. Pray: God, change my heart with [these specific issues]. Give me the strength to do Read Habakkuk 2:4-11 and respond below.
Camp Fuego 2014 Checklist for a Godly Man: Job 31, Day 20 Look upward. What is God revealing to me about Himself here (His character, His heart)? Look inward. What action or behavior is He asking from me, to be more like Him? Being completely Look forward. Pray: God, change my heart with [these specific issues]. Give me the strength to do Read Psalm 62:1-12 and respond below.
Camp Fuego 2014 Checklist for a Godly Man: Job 31, Day 21 Look upward. What is God revealing to me about Himself here (His character, His heart)? Look inward. What action or behavior is He asking from me, to be more like Him? Being completely Look forward. Pray: God, change my heart with [these specific issues]. Give me the strength to do Part 8: If I have something which makes me feel special, it doesn t cause me to gloat or to look down on others and mistreat them. Honestly, sometimes it s hard to feel good about ourselves; the cheap and easy way to build our own selfesteem is to tear down someone else s. But when we remember that we are all created by the same God, then it gets a little easier to respect each other; King David describes it well in Psalm 139:13-16: For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. Read Romans 14:1-23 and respond below.
Camp Fuego 2014 Checklist for a Godly Man: Job 31, Day 22 Look upward. What is God revealing to me about Himself here (His character, His heart)? Look inward. What action or behavior is He asking from me, to be more like Him? Being completely Look forward. Pray: God, change my heart with [these specific issues]. Give me the strength to do Read Matthew 6:1-4 and respond below.
Camp Fuego 2014 Checklist for a Godly Man: Job 31, Day 23 Look upward. What is God revealing to me about Himself here (His character, His heart)? Look inward. What action or behavior is He asking from me, to be more like Him? Being completely Look forward. Pray: God, change my heart with [these specific issues]. Give me the strength to do Read Psalm 49:1-20 and respond below.
Camp Fuego 2014 Checklist for a Godly Man: Job 31, Day 24 Look upward. What is God revealing to me about Himself here (His character, His heart)? Look inward. What action or behavior is He asking from me, to be more like Him? Being completely Look forward. Pray: God, change my heart with [these specific issues]. Give me the strength to do Part 9: I do not put other idols before God. On the surface, it s easy to think we ve got this one down pat after all, we don t dance in front of a golden calf or throw sacrifices into a burning volcano. But our God is a jealous God, as we will see in today s passage (among many others); if you give more of your heart to anyone or anything other than Him, then He sees that as idolatry. Here s an easy test, if you can be completely honest with yourself: What do I think about more than anything else from day-to-day? Read Deuteronomy 5:8-10 and respond below.
Camp Fuego 2014 Checklist for a Godly Man: Job 31, Day 25 Look upward. What is God revealing to me about Himself here (His character, His heart)? Look inward. What action or behavior is He asking from me, to be more like Him? Being completely Look forward. Pray: God, change my heart with [these specific issues]. Give me the strength to do Part 10: I do not rejoice at others misfortune or curse my enemies. Job understood the heavy load of bitterness that comes with the desire for revenge. In Romans 12:19-21, Paul reminds us to leave vengeance to God. He reminds us what the Scriptures say to do instead: If your enemies are hungry, feed them. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink, and they will be ashamed of what they have done to you. Like Job, Paul understood that taking revenge hurts you just as much as it does your enemy, for you nurse evil in your heart. To paraphrase Paul in verse 21, Do you let evil get the best of you, or do you conquer evil by doing good? Read Matthew 5:43-48 and respond below.
Camp Fuego 2014 Checklist for a Godly Man: Job 31, Day 26 Look upward. What is God revealing to me about Himself here (His character, His heart)? Look inward. What action or behavior is He asking from me, to be more like Him? Being completely Look forward. Pray: God, change my heart with [these specific issues]. Give me the strength to do Read James 4:11-12 and respond below.
Camp Fuego 2014 Checklist for a Godly Man: Job 31, Day 27 Look upward. What is God revealing to me about Himself here (His character, His heart)? Look inward. What action or behavior is He asking from me, to be more like Him? Being completely Look forward. Pray: God, change my heart with [these specific issues]. Give me the strength to do Part 11: I am friendly and generous, even with strangers. Jesus set an example for us by consistently showing compassion and love to people who did not know Him. His parable of the Good Samaritan shows that people in Jesus day weren t that different than those today. As we saw just a few days ago, Jesus says, If you love only those who love you, what good is that?... If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? (Matt 5:46-47). Do you treat strangers like strangers, or do you share God s love even with them? Read Matthew 22:37-40 and respond below.
Camp Fuego 2014 Checklist for a Godly Man: Job 31, Day 28 Look upward. What is God revealing to me about Himself here (His character, His heart)? Look inward. What action or behavior is He asking from me, to be more like Him? Being completely Look forward. Pray: God, change my heart with [these specific issues]. Give me the strength to do Read Genesis 18:1-8 and Hebrews 13:2, then respond below.
Camp Fuego 2014 Checklist for a Godly Man: Job 31, Day 29 Look upward. What is God revealing to me about Himself here (His character, His heart)? Look inward. What action or behavior is He asking from me, to be more like Him? Being completely Look forward. Pray: God, change my heart with [these specific issues]. Give me the strength to do Part 12: I m not afraid that others will judge me; I don t hide my sins or pretend my life is perfect; I willingly share God with others. When we fear that our sins will be discovered by others, often our first instinct is to cover it up with lies so that others will like us. But we can t hide from God (and, honestly, we re not really that good at hiding our sins from others either). When you acknowledge your sins, you free yourself to receive forgiveness. When we truly understand God s love and forgiveness, we can t help but share the Good News with others. Do you try to keep others from seeing the real you? Read Job 31:33-34 and respond below.
Camp Fuego 2014 Checklist for a Godly Man: Job 31, Day 30 Look upward. What is God revealing to me about Himself here (His character, His heart)? Look inward. What action or behavior is He asking from me, to be more like Him? Being completely Look forward. Pray: God, change my heart with [these specific issues]. Give me the strength to do Read Luke 12:4-9 and respond below.
Camp Fuego 2014 Checklist for a Godly Man: Job 31, Day 31 Look upward. What is God revealing to me about Himself here (His character, His heart)? Look inward. What action or behavior is He asking from me, to be more like Him? Being completely Look forward. Pray: God, change my heart with [these specific issues]. Give me the strength to do Read 2 Timothy 1:6-10 and respond below.
Camp Fuego 2014 Checklist for a Godly Man: Job 31 Next Steps Congratulations on completing this 31-day Bible study! God has no doubt shown you more of who He is and who He wants you to be. So keep going! This same 3-step process can be applied anywhere in the Bible to better understand God s heart and our own. If you aren t sure what to read next, here are a few ideas: Go back through your checklist and find the verses we weren t able to fit into this one brief study. They may give you additional insight into each item on your checklist. Go through the corresponding checklist on the other side of the page. Knowing the kind of person God wants your future spouse to be can help you to be more sensitive to and supportive of him or her when the time comes; in addition, putting these things into practice now can also strengthen your other friendships and relationships. If you liked the 31-day format of this Bible study, then you can always read through a chapter of Proverbs each day there are 31 chapters so, if today is the 3 rd day of the month, read and respond to Proverbs (BTW, you ll probably find that next month on the 3 rd, God will show you something completely new and different that you didn t notice the last time; re-reading scripture is always like that.) Talk to your parents or youth pastor for more ideas and resources. We hope you keep this study and your responses to God s Word and look at it from time to time; sometimes we don t realize how far we ve come on our journey until we look back at where we ve been. Last thing: we began this study at Camp Fuego by applying our 3-step study to a specific verse let s do that again. Then [Jesus] said to the crowd, If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily, and follow me. Luke 9:23 (NLT)