Most men live from the public place. Their energy comes from recognition. Their confidence rises and falls with performance. Their identity is shaped by what others can see. Jesus points in the opposite direction. “But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”— Matthew 6:6 (ESV) The secret place is not primarily a location. It is a reality of communion with God that exists beyond visibility, applause, and productivity. This is where false selves die. In the secret place, there is no audience to impress. No platform to build. No reputation to manage. Only a man and his Father. That is precisely why many avoid it. The flesh can survive on activity. It cannot survive on intimacy. A man may lead a team, serve at church, provide for his family, and still be spiritually malnourished if his life is fueled by public obedience without private surrender. The secret place exposes what the noise conceals. It reveals whether you love God’s presence or merely His benefits. Whether you seek Christ Himself or simply the outcomes He provides. Whether your obedience flows from communion or from duty alone. Throughout Scripture, God forms His servants in hidden places before He uses them in visible ones. Moses in the wilderness. David among sheep. Elijah by the brook. Jesus in the desert. God does some of His deepest work where nobody is watching. The world measures impact by visibility. The Kingdom measures it by faithfulness. Reflection What would remain of your walk with Christ if every visible expression of it disappeared tomorrow. No title. No beautiful family. No control. No audience. Would there still be a man meeting with God? The secret place is not preparation for the Christian life. It is the Christian life. Everything else flows from there. Prayer Father, Strip away every desire to be seen, admired, or validated. Teach me to seek You when there is no reward except Your presence. Expose the places where I have substituted activity for intimacy. Form in me a life that is rooted in what is hidden rather than what is visible.

It’s been incredible to see the response so far. We already have six Fire Teams signed up for the Stand Firm and Act Like Men study. If you’ve been thinking about joining, it’s not too late. Over the next six weeks, we’ll be walking through Joby Martin’s book together in small groups of men who are committed to showing up, telling the truth, and helping each other grow in our faith. And don’t worry—nobody is asking you to take cold showers, run marathons, or commit to some extreme challenge. The weekly challenges are practical applications from the book itself, designed to help you put what you’re learning into practice in everyday life. If you’re looking for accountability, encouragement, and an opportunity to grow alongside other men who are trying to follow Jesus faithfully, this is a great place to start. If you’re interested, send us a message and we’ll help get you connected to a Fire Team.

Brothers, as we enter this fast, please pray for SFC Jon Salva, a Ranger assigned to the 75th Ranger Regiment at Fort Benning. Jon is an incredibly fit man and an ultramarathoner, which makes what is happening all the more mysterious. A few weeks ago, he was medevaced to Walter Reed after multiple unexplained cardiac arrest events. On one occasion, his wife, Kimberly, had to perform CPR to resuscitate him. The doctors have been dumbfounded. It appears to involve the electrical signals of his heart not firing correctly, but they still do not have clear answers. The Ranger Regiment chaplain asked me to check on one of his Rangers, so I went to Walter Reed and met Jon and Kimberly. I asked if they would like to learn more about the story of God, and they both said yes. I shared the story using the Three Circles, and they were deeply impacted. They had never heard the story presented the way we are learning it here in Forge Tribe—as one unified story God is writing from Genesis to Revelation, with Jesus as the Hero. Afterward, Jon told me he wanted to learn more, so I came back, gave him a Bible and some resources, and he has since been listening to The Legend of Messiah, the story we walked through inside The Crucible. Since then, Jon has had several more cardiac arrest events. Today, they are flying him to Vanderbilt, where one of the world’s leading heart specialists in this area will see him. Jon gave me permission to share this prayer request and the picture with you all. Please pray: -That the doctors would discover exactly what is happening and provide the treatment needed to fix it. -That God would heal Jon’s heart. -That Jon and Kimberly would continue learning the story of God and come to full faith, belief, and surrender to Jesus our Messiah. -That God would strengthen and protect Kimberly as she walks through this with him. -That God would care for and provide for their three children back at Fort Benning, all under the age of 11. Brothers, as we fast, let’s carry Jon, Kimberly, and their children before the Father.

Brothers, our next 6-week Fire Team study starts the week of June 7 and runs through July 18. We’ll be walking through Joby Martin’s book, Stand Firm and Act Like Men: Becoming the Man You Were Created to Be Instead of Who the World Says You Are. This is not a book club. It is not a classroom. It is a Fire Team. Each week, we’ll read one chapter, do the “Doing the Stuff” challenge, meet with 3–5 men, and talk honestly about what happened in real life. The goal is simple: transformation over information, obedience over knowledge, honesty over image management, and brotherhood over isolation. Here’s how it works: - Join a Fire Team of 3–5 men. - Read only the assigned chapter each week. - Do the weekly challenge. Joby calls it “Doing the Stuff.” - Meet weekly with your Fire Team. Here is the link to the guide: https://www.skool.com/forgetribe/classroom/d4c7860c Tell the truth and help your brothers obey Jesus. If you want in, comment below with: 1. “I’m in” 2. Best days/times you can meet 3. Whether you’re willing to lead a Fire Team Check out the attached video. If God is stirring something in you, step in. Ready, break!

Here is a curated, categorized list of scriptures to meditate on while fasting with God's all-satisfying nature as the central theme throughout. These passages form a powerful arc to hold during fasting: from **thirst and hunger for God** → **the danger of substitutes** → **Jesus as the true Bread** → **humility and surrender** → **longing for his return** → **the Spirit as the overflowing spring**. Together they turn every hunger pang into a prayer. *** God as the Only True Satisfaction These are the bedrock texts for fasting meditation — declaring with the whole person that God himself is the longed-for object and fulfillment of the soul.[1] - **Psalm 73:25–26** — *"Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever."*[1] - **Psalm 63:1–5** — *"O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water... My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food."*[1] - **Psalm 42:1–2** — *"As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God."*[1] - **Psalm 34:8** — *"Taste and see that the Lord is good."*[1] - **John 6:35** — *"I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst."*[1] *** Man Does Not Live by Bread Alone These texts sit at the very heart of Jesus' own fasting in the wilderness — the declaration that God's word sustains more than food ever can.[1] - **Deuteronomy 8:2–3** — *"He humbled you and let you hunger... that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord."*[1] - **Matthew 4:4** — *"Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God."*[1] - **John 4:32–34** — *"I have food to eat that you do not know about... My food is to do the will of him who sent me."*[2]