What About You Dad, Are You Causing Your Family To Sin?

I was reading in my Bible this morning in the book of 1 Kings and saw something in verse 26 that while I have read numerous times, the Holy Spirit brought out a level of meaning that I had not seen before. It says: "He (The current King of Israel.) did evil in the eyes of the Lord, following the ways of his father and committing the same sin his father had caused Israel to commit."

The thought came to me that a king can cause his subjects to sin, and a father can also lead his family to sin. Now let me tell you, that made me sit up and take notice. I've been on this journey of discovering what a true authentic man of God is for quite some time now, and today I think I've put another piece of the puzzle into place. I don't have a complete picture yet, but it is coming more and more into focus all the time.

As fathers, we lead our families in the way that God wants us to go, if we are doing it correctly. This can be a little bit overwhelming if we will let it however. And the reason that it can become overwhelming is if in fact we are trying to do this on our own. The more we lean on our own understanding of things, the more we will become stressed when things get tough. You see, we were never made to figure everything out on our own. If that were the case, then why did God say that if we lacked wisdom we should ask Him for some? (James 1:5)

What I think is one of the biggest problems that men have, is this tendency to isolate themselves and think that they should be able to handle any situation that comes along. Then when they fail (And eventually, they will.) that failure sends them into a downward spiral that causes them to go even more into isolation and the failures come even faster.

We were never meant to do this alone, and when we do, the leading of our families goes awry and they begin to do things on their own. We, as men, are the source for all the needs our families have. Our source as men, is God. So when our family has a need they bring it to us, and we in turn bring it to the Father, and He supplies our need so that we can supply theirs. If we are alone in this, then we have no source, and when our family brings their need to us, our supply gets depleted and we fall into sin.

By our example, our family then falls into sin as well, and before you know it, you have led your family into sin, just as some of the kings in the Bible led Israel astray and after other gods. It's insidious, and something that the enemy has been using for a very long time. Remember, there is nothing new under the sun. (Ecclesiastes 1:9)

What we as men have to do, is to lean more and more on the Holy Spirit as our helper, asking God to reveal to us what our next step is. We need to let our families see us pray, and ask for help. We need to let them see where our help comes from, and in doing so they will begin to have faith to seek His help as well. Fathers are responsible to teach their children about God, this does not mean you have to have a set devotion time every day. (Something that is terribly difficult in our fast paced world nowadays.)

Just make the most of all the time you have with your children. Teach them Scripture as you drive to sporting events, have them read a passage from the Bible as you're driving them to school, or to a friend's house. Pray together (And keep it short.), ask them what they are needing from the Lord and agree with them about it. Most of all however, as fathers let your kids see that you love your bride, kiss her, hug her and make a game out of grossing your kids out with your affection.

Men, we don't have to lead our families into sin, if we will keep ourselves centered on what we are supposed to do, be humble to ask God for help and be transparent with our brides and kids, they will be transformed into what they are supposed to be for God. So men, get 'em up and let's go lead our families into the Kingdom!

The Kingdom of Heaven Is At Hand and Heaven, Are They Different?

Jesus made the following statement while He was on the Earth, "The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." Now I think that anytime you see Jesus say something, then it probably is something that we should take note of. But I think this statement gets caught up in the religiosity of the Christian community and takes on something other than what Jesus perhaps meant.

Here is what I mean, Jesus says, "The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." and we hear, "Everything you will ever need you will have in Heaven." You've heard it said, and maybe even said it yourself to friends, family members and co-workers that are not born again, "Don't you want to get saved so you can go to Heaven?" (And yes, I too have used that lame line to try and win someone to the Lord. Father forgive me for misrepresenting You in that way.)

Yes I believe that if you die, and have been born again you will go to Heaven, but I don't believe for a minute anymore that that is the end all of what Jesus purchased for us with His death, burial, resurrection and ascension. Everything that Jesus did, He did for us here on Earth. He came to return us to the original design. (That would be Adam & Eve in the Garden with a personal relationship with God the Father.) Yet, we cheapen it for so many people when all we try and do is get them saved without telling them what the real purpose is for that.

We were designed to have fellowship with the Father, Son & Holy Spirit, that is God's original idea. But because of the sin of Adam and Eve we fell, and that relationship was cut off. God sent Jesus to die for us, in our place, for the punishment of that sin so that we could return to the fellowship that God had desired in the first place. But until we actually accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we cannot be a part of that.

Look at Luke 4:17 -1 9: And there was delivered to Jesus the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord." And then He sat down and said, "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your ears."

Jesus told the people there that this is why He had come, to bring the Kingdom of Heaven to Earth. We have everything that we need right now, are you poor, the Kingdom can make you rich; are you brokenhearted? Jesus was sent to heal your broken heart. Are you bound, then deliverance is yours. Can you not see (Either for real or spiritually?), then you can recover your sight. He has brought us liberty, and the year of jubilee, which when it happened meant you get all your stuff back! Hallelujah! That's good news.

So this whole thing is for the here and now, not in the by and by. We can have all of our needs met, whatever they are in the here and now, if we will just believe and act in faith. I don't know about you, but that makes me want to do a little happy dance. (Something I took time to do just now.) I am getting excited about my future, it is a bright one, and I will be operating in the Kingdom of God today, not when I get to Heaven, how about you?

Get 'em up folks, let's go out and whip something for the Kingdom of God today!