Little Boys, Armor and Halloween

Yesterday Shannon took the boys to pick up a costume for Benjamin. He wanted a specific costume so she ended up having to go to one of those costume shops. She successfully found the costume. Last night Eli told me how Sam was scared of some of those costumes. You know the ones I am talking about, those that scare even some of the adults. I could tell that Sam wasn't the only one scared, I could tell that he was scared to. So that led to the conversation about monsters and demons and angels. I sat the boys down and told them what real power the demons have. They cannot physically attack us like the pop culture and even some churches teach and believe. Instead I explained how they can tempt us to do evil things, things that are in disobedience to the Lord. We worked through Ephesians 6:10-18 and explained how to do real spiritual battle, how to use the Armor of God. Well once we were done Elijah looked at me in the eyes and simply broke down. He started to tell me of some of the bad things he had done, his heart was broken that he had disobeyed the Lord. That so struck me because that is exactly what the Lord desires is a tender, broken heart before the Lord. I held Eli close and said you have been forgiven my son, the Lord has also forgiven you. So as we come upon Halloween where all the world celebrates the darkness, remember to keep the belt of truth buckled around your waste (along with the rest of the armor) and stand strong in the Lord. There is nothing to fear except the Lord alone.

The little feet that follow

Yesterday I was driving the family over to Eckert's Farm to do some apple picking. My sons never cease to amaze me. It amazes me how much they pick up on, just when you think they aren't listening they are. Samuel has become quite the little parrot, everything Elijah does he would mimic him. If Elijah does his goofy goober dance (I will let my wife post on that ;) ) Samuel will do it, but with less inhibition. If Elijah makes some sort of goofy sound Samuel will follow up but will do it louder. If Elijah gets angry about something Samuel will get angry about the same thing usually getting more angry. So what I observed was that not only did Samuel mimic Elijah he would do it to a higher degree. Over the past few years I have watched my sons learn so much from me, the good, bad and ugly. Usually though they take it to the next level. I have had to watch so much of what I do. The song by Casting Crowns, "Slow Fade" sums it up so well. (Turn up your volume and the song should be playing.) Men our children will walk where we walk, they will look where we look, and yes they will do what we do... only better... and... worse. One evening while praying at the dinner table we usually ask the Lord's blessing and give thanks for our food. As we bowed our heads and folded our hands Sammy looked at me and immediately followed suit, Shannon, of course, had to snap a picture. I am so glad she did as this picture reminds me of where I need to walk.




Daddy's always remember Proverbs 4:23-27 because there are little feet that will follow.

Proverbs 4:23-27
23 Above all else, guard your heart,
for it is the wellspring of life.

24 Put away perversity from your mouth;
keep corrupt talk far from your lips.

25 Let your eyes look straight ahead,
fix your gaze directly before you.

26 Make level [b] paths for your feet
and take only ways that are firm.

27 Do not swerve to the right or the left;
keep your foot from evil.

What is worship?

I have been involved at some level in "worship leading" for the past 17 years or so and lately there has been been a stirring in my heart with regard to worship. As I have walked out my journey of healing these last couple of years the Lord has really "reset" my focus through scripture reading and through prayer. Honestly after things kind of came to a head in 2006 I became disenchanted with "worship" as we know it. So why do I keep putting the word worship in quotes? Well I have found that many Christians define worship as what happens on a Sunday morning or during a prayer meeting. That is true, that is worship, it is a form of worship; however one should ask is that the kind of worship God is looking for? Take a look at Psalm 40:6. It states: "Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but my ears you have pierced." Also take a look at Psalm 51. Read that whole psalm. Notice what is states in Psalm 51:16, 17: "You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise." Pretty interesting. I have been in many churches where music was the centerpiece of the service, where performance and how things look and sounded were more important than peoples heart. Don't get me wrong, music has its place; however it is but a small portion of what our walk with the Lord should be. It is but the preparation for entering into the Temple, are we more interested in prepping to enter the Temple or the Temple itself? I see the Lord reshaping me in worship, in what worship really is. True worship, is John 4:21-24, true sacrifice is a broken heart. Lord, keep my heart broken before you. This is a journey for me... stay tuned.

How Time Flies

It never ceases to amaze me how the older you get the faster time seems to go by. I can remember my grandma (who we affectionately called "Kiddo") would say that time goes by so fast when I would get impatient waiting at her house to go home for Thanksgiving. See when I was younger I would spend the week before Thanksgiving over at my great-aunt Estelle's house. Then on Thanksgiving day we would go over to Kiddo's house. Kiddo always made the turkey. From there we would then head back over to my house. Thanksgiving was also when we would celebrate my birthday, so I always looked forward to getting home to get my gifts. Well anyway I took the long way around to reflect over the past year. It amazes me how much the boys have changed. You can check out my beautiful wife's blog at: shannonaprille.blogspot.com for events over the past year. We are coming up on the one year mark where Shannon and I were able to take a trip out to the southwest where I had a conference in Las Vegas and then came back home through Colorado. I will post some pictures in a few days. I admit I hated Las Vegas, it truly is Sin City; however that place is surrounded by some very beautiful country. I just cannot believe it has been a year since we took that trip.

Now I can't slow down time. As Shannon's post http://shannonaprille.blogspot.com/2009/07/i-know-i-cantbut-i-wish-i-could.html says, I know I can't but I wish I could. Enjoy the moment, love your kids, time is short.

The Once and For ALL Sacrifice

"For I know my transgressions an my sin is always before me." Psalm 51:3

This morning I was reading Hebrews 10. I love this chapter because it talks about how Christ came as the perfect sacrifice once and for all! We no longer have to offer the blood of a goat or a lamb for our sins every year for the blood of Christ was our perfect sacrifice once and for all! Why is this important to me you ask? Consider this: We have a Creator who created the whole universe and put us in it. He made us in His image and likeness. When He made us He gave us the free will to either accept Him or reject Him for that is True Love. Now when we rejected Him we could no longer exist in fellowship with the Holy of Holies, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, sin and holiness cannot exist together, we were cursed... cursed to die. We will die not only a physical death but a spiritual death as well. Enter the love of the Creator, He knew the cost of our sin and knew it would take a sacrifice once and for all. The blood of Jesus Christ, our Creator, the Son of the God Head had to be shed to take away our sins "because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy" (Hebrews 10:14). Through the blood of Jesus Christ "Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more." (Hebrews 10:17)

So then what? Christ calls us to live in Holiness, to be Holy because He is Holy (1 Peter 1:16). There is also a curse in the blessing of Christ: "If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God." (Hebrews 10:26-27)

Christ came and made the sacrifice once and for all. If we would only be pierced through our hearts and seek Him out, He has made himself known to us, He loves His creation... will we reciprocate that love?

A Father's Greatest Legacy

I spent many years trying to figure out how I can make an impact on this world. From high school until about 3 years ago I spun my wheels serving at various churches some in the capacity as worship leader and others as just a member, I spent time in various mens groups, trying to get ahead at work, looked for ways to possibly sing for a living, and went down a lot of wrong roads. All the while feeling like I had to do something that would make a difference. Then it happened, wham! The Lord got my attention, I was thrown off the road I was on. Throughout 2006 and 2007 the Holy Spirit showed me my sin, convicted me to get into the Word of God and was turning my world upside down. All I had thought, all I had sought after suddenly faded away. After all toiling was meaningless, only the Creator and Lover of my soul brought meaning. I had read through most of the Old Testament and what struck me was how messed up Israel had gotten. I read Lamentations and my heart ached, I saw a lot of our own country in how Israel had hardened their hearts and turned away from the Lord. Weren't the warnings given in Deuteronomy 9 and 10 enough? Apparently not. With each generation Israel grew further and further from the Lord. Their hearts were hardened. Why did that happen? What jumped out at me was reading 1 and 2 Kings. As it went through each king it always started off with the king's name, age, how long he ruled and then most would say "He committed all the sins his father had done before him". Typically it would refer to what that king's father had done. Oh every so often it would say "and so and so did what was right in the eyes of the Lord" but that was the exception. However the father lived is typically how the son lived. It all started with David. David was a man after God's own heart; however he did evil in the eyes of the Lord. His sons (remember most of David's sons were from many wives, Solomon was from Bathsheba) took notice and most often repeated what David did, but more often worse than what David did. The trend continued with Solomon and so-on. Now please understand this has nothing to do with generational curse baloney (that's a whole other topic); however, Dad's, our sons learn from how we live. What the Lord had revealed to me was this: The greatest legacy and impact I will have on this earth is how I raise my sons. I have 3 sons, each one will probably have their own children, and each of them their own children. Folks if we want to turn this country around focus on your children, teach them how to live. As Deuteronomy 11:18-24 states (please read that whole chapter in context):

"Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the doorframes 0f your houses and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land that the Lord swore to give your forefathers, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth. If you carefully observe all these commands I am giving you to follow - to love the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways and to hold fast to him - then the Lord will drive out all these nations before you, and you will dispossess nations larger and stronger than you."

It took many generations to get where we are at today and it will take many generations to change it... starting, Fathers, with our own children. If you haven't yet, listen to the song "Slow Fade" by Casting Crowns... wow! Nothing happens overnight. I urge all Fathers, to surrender to the Lord, turn away from your sins, be broken and humble before the Lord, if you do that then we will start to see change, raise your children in a manner that will honor and worship the Lord Jesus Christ. That will be your greatest legacy!

Take from the Rich and give to the Richer?

Just a thought on all this talk about health care and redistribution of wealth. The idea behind cash for clunkers, the healthcare bill, new taxes on the ultra wealthy is really about the redistribution of wealth. The US government is the most powerful and wealthy entity on the planet, so why would we want to take money from an individual and give it back to the government? Ah but you say well the government is making everyone equal. Greed exists regardless of the society, or in other words whether the society is a Lennon Utopia (Imagine All the People), socialistic, communistic, or capitalistic we live in a fallen world. The interesting things here is that the 2 of the wealthiest people live right here in the US. Did they take money from the poor to get that wealthy? In the US we have laws against stealing, so the answer to that is now. Those men created their wealth through the innovation of their products and ideas. So why would we allow the government to steal from anyone? If anyone has any thoughts please let me know.

Hank Hanegraaf this past week has had Dr. Jay Richards on his show talking about capitalism. It has been a very intriguing and though provoking conversation. Dr. Richards has written a book called Money, Greed, and God. I plan on purchasing this book and reading it so I will post more of my thoughts later.