1. The Heart of a Man | Wild At Heart Experience | John Eldredge

Masculinity is a gift from God, filled with passion and dignity. He created the masculine heart and set it in every man. From it flow all the things that make your life worth living—friendships, love, adventure, career, dreams…and your relationship with God. It’s time to recover your masculine heart.

REFLECT
1. What adventures or games did you play as a boy?

2. What is your favorite movie? Why are you drawn to it?

3. The core desires of a man’s soul are a battle to fight, an adventure to live, and a beauty to love. How do you see these three desires expressing themselves in your life?

SCRIPTURE
Genesis 1:27
So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

EXCERPT FROM THE BOOK, WILD AT HEART
Eve was created within the lush beauty of Eden’s garden.

But Adam, if you’ll notice, was created from the earth itself, from the clay. In the record of our beginnings, the second chapter of Genesis makes it clear: man was born from the outback, from the untamed part of creation. Afterward he is brought to Eden. And ever since then boys have never been at home indoors, and men have had an insatiable longing to explore. We long to return; it’s when most men come alive. As John Muir said, when a man comes to the mountains, he comes home. The core of a man’s heart is undomesticated and that is good. “I am not alive in an office,” as one Northface ad had it. “I am not alive in a taxi. I am not alive on a sidewalk.” Amen to that. Their conclusion? “Never stop exploring.”

My gender seems to need little encouragement. It comes naturally, like our innate love of maps. In 1260 Marco Polo headed off to find China, and in 1967, when I was seven, I tried to dig a hole straight through from our backyard with my friend Danny Wilson. We gave up at about eight feet, but it made a great fort. Hannibal crosses his famous Alps, and there comes a day in a boy’s life when he first crosses the street and enters the company of the great explorers. Scott and Amundsen race for the South Pole, Peary and Cook vie for the North, and when I gave my boys some loose change and permission to ride their bikes down to the store to buy a soda, you’d have thought I’d given them a charter to go find the equator. Magellan sails due west, around the tip of South America—despite warnings that he and his crew will drop off the end of the earth—and Huck Finn heads off down the Mississippi, ignoring similar threats. Powell follows the Colorado into the Grand Canyon, even though—no, because—no one has done it before and everyone is saying it can’t be done.

Adventure, with all its requisite danger and wildness, is a deeply spiritual longing written into the soul of man. The masculine heart needs a place where nothing is digital, modular, nonfat, zip lock, franchised, online, or microwavable. Where there are no deadlines, smartphones, or committee meetings. Where there is room for the soul. Where, finally, the geography around us corresponds to the geography of our heart. Look at the heroes of the biblical text: Moses does not encounter the living God at the mall. He finds him (or is found by him) somewhere out in the deserts of Sinai, a long way from the comforts of Egypt. The same is true of Jacob, who has his wrestling match with God not on the living room sofa but in a wadi somewhere east of the Jabbok, in Mesopotamia. Where did the great prophet Elijah go to recover his strength? To the wild. As did John the Baptist, and his cousin, Jesus, who was led by the Spirit into the wilderness.

Whatever else those explorers were after, they were also searching for themselves.

Deep in a man’s heart are some fundamental questions that simply cannot be answered at the kitchen table. Who am I? What am I made of? What am I destined for? It is fear that keeps a man at home where things are neat and orderly and under his control. But the answers to his deepest questions are not to be found on television or on his smartphone. Out there on the burning desert sands, lost in a trackless waste, Moses received his life’s mission and purpose. He is called out, called up into something much bigger than he ever imagined, much more serious than CEO or “prince of Egypt.” Under foreign stars, in the dead of night, Jacob received a new name, his real name. No longer is he a shrewd business negotiator, but now he is one who wrestles with God. The wilderness trial of Christ is, at its core, a test of his identity. “If you are who you think you are…” If a man is ever to find out who he is and what he’s here for, he has got to take that journey for himself.

He has got to get his heart back.

RESOURCES:
Wild At Heart - The Book

Wild At Heart Study Guide

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[shivanisonawane]

I got here from watching Pints with Acquinas and I am glad I did. This is so beautiful and true. Praise be to God. I'll be sharing it with all the wonderful men in my life. Thank you!

[ipelengmafora]

This is an answered prayer. I searched this randomly after asking Holy Spirit for assimstance. Glory to Jesus.

[johnroman]

I read this book after my divorce 13yrs ago .. I read it 10 times over .. made hundreds of notes in it - it changed my life 🙏

[blyvoor]

Spent time reading this book in 2016. In 2017, I attended a WAH Bootcamp at Crooked Creek YL camp in Colorado with 200 other men. What an experience WAH has been —it lead me into a new way/chapter/season of my life. Do this for yourself today!

[olutunbi]

Wish I can click the like button twice. "We are haunted by beauty", almost helplessly so. Thank you

[radutron]

After reading Robert Moore, Carl Jung, Joseph Campbell, finally accepting Jesus into my life --- now I'm nearing completion of the Wild At Heart book gifted by a friend, its wild that I found this series on youtube just a day after it was posted. Thank you! These questions are great journal topics.

[terahwieland]

Can I just add….every mother with BOYS…should listen to these; or read the books!!

[johnnyromanov]

Love the cinematic shots! Whoever is in charge of the video production did a great job!!

[markwiseman]

I have the book, but the Holy spirit guided me to this series and what a revelation! This could not have arrived at a better time in my self improvement journey. Thank you so much!!

[ForgingFatherhood]

This is awesome! Really looking forward to going through this series.

[tspence]

Men if you haven’t watched this take time it will change your life

[Titantitan]

Man I’ll never forget my band of brothers growing up. Still see almost all of them at least once a week. Looking back there was situations that I gotten into that I wouldn’t want my son or my friends to have to see. But lately I’ve grown more accepting that its just how it has to be lol. Boys will be boys. Sometimes you got to barely avoid death to learn how fragile you really are.

[logancoffey]

Awesome series so far just started it: I’m in the process of reading wild at heart for the 10th time!!! Keep up the good work Mr Eldredge. The algorithms are working for the hilt spirit now who would have thought. After listening to you the algorithms turned me on to so many other different people that have your same view. It’s help cultivate a passion in me to share this path that god has for all us men with the young men at our church. Thanks again

[MrX-zzvk]

Re: "... The yearning for action, adventure and beauty."

And purpose

[lanedickens]

It’s rare something ACTUALLY changes lives… but Wild at Heart and Fathered by God did just that for me.

After losing absolutely everything, God called me to go alone into the most uncomfortable “adventure” of my life. Alone was not something I was used to. A month into the journey, and after much protest on my part, Wild at Heart found me while I was killing some time in a book store. I knew it was God. That book gave me the courage to stay the course. A year and a half later and having grown immensely, I feel God is closing this chapter of my life and preparing to bring me out of my wilderness.

Men, trust in His process and heed His call to adventure no matter how uncomfortable or unwanted it is. Only He knows the plan and the purpose behind it. Glory to our Heavenly Father.

[lucasmartins]

I follow John and his team since 2018 from my country, Brazil, and personaly this message of redemption has helped me to understand what going on in the inside. Some time I feel like I am fighting alone because other guys are not aware that there is battle to win for your own heart. What I adimire of the remnants of Jesus in this earth is that they know what battle is worth of figth, the salvation of our souls. If you win inside you will have won outside

[johnnygomez]

JE Bless u brother…”He leads u in the paths of righteousness…for His sake.”(Ps 23:3) He continues to lead you & I for one have been blessed & challenged by your ministry. THANK YOU
NOT only in the human realm but Wild in Heart as taught me that’s what our creation as well yearns for.
I’m a dog trainer for over 30 years & what I tell clients is, ”At the heart of every dog there’s a spirit to be free…Wild & Free.”
And what I have learned about being Wild in Heart I have applied to the dog world around me as well with its many behavior problems. 90% of dog behavior problems are because humans have not allowed canines to be what they were created to be…Wild & Free

[guyesmith]

I remember always wanting to be a sports hero. And I can relate to the man who said he never rode his bike without imagining he was doing something epic. We played a lot of cops and robbers on bikes.

[anamercyrodrigues]

How much sensitivity. this is wonderful! This video will definitely be presented to places and people you can't even imagine... I feel like it will even be taken to universities, with the aim of rescuing the male soul. May the Lord reward you! 🙏🏼

[melindafletcher]

The new generations are living out their warrior heart through the Xbox and PlayStations! I call it the dumb box but it is the new adventure in their life instead of boredom. Sadly it’s not just teens but grown men who are living vicariously in the latest game at the cost of their God given purpose! God help the fallen world!