Ephesians 6:12-17

Over the past few days these words have had a huge impact on my life. Some events have occurred recently in my life where these words have come to my aid in my struggles in understanding what I am dealing with in life. I offer these words to everyone who are struggling with difficult times. God Bless

The Armor of God

12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place,15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

YouVersion.com - Mobile App

YouVersion.com - http://www.youversion.com

I started using this application on my Blackberry a couple of months ago and have found it indespensible for keeping up with my daily reading assignments for learning the Scripture. There are many different interfaces for this application so you DON'T have to have a mobile phone to use this. As a matter of fact the web interface is very easy to use and I have not run into any issues with it as of yet.

UPDATE: Just got an email as I was writing this post from YouVersion.com that stated that the application now being used by 9.1 million users. Just the month of August they saw record growth of 900,000 new mobile users. They say that September is expected to be much more.

Thank the Lord that people are are starting to seek His wisdom once again.

As A Parent We Do The Best We Can

I think all parents will agree with me that we do the best we possible can when it comes to raising our children. From providing food, shelter and love to instilling in our children our personal beliefs and values. Often times we mimic how our own parents raised us in our younger years. And our parents too will say “We did the best we knew how to raise you”. But what if there is a vicious cycle of bad values instilled in the family tree? What do you do to break that chain?

My advice would be to reflect on the values you are instilling into your children. Are you teach them principles that are taught in the Bible? Try this for starters; teach them the Ten Commandments first and foremost as these are the standard building block of a good value system:

Exodus 20:1-17 of the New International Version

1 And God spoke all these words:

2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

3 “You shall have no other gods before me.

4 “You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.

5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,

6 but showing love to a thousand {generations} of those who love me and keep my commandments.

7 “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.

8 “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.

9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work,

10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates.

11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

12 “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.

13 “You shall not murder.

14 “You shall not commit adultery.

15 “You shall not steal.

16 “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

17 “You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

I believe our decisions as adults are strongly influenced by our values that our parents instill in us while we are under their care. As parents it is our duty to ensure that our children have the right tools to make the proper decisions in life. If you are having a hard time with your children maybe it’s time to look in the mirror and ask yourself, does my child respect me as mom/dad? Do they respect others? Do they understand right from wrong? Are they acting selfish or hateful to other children?

Maybe its time to start acting as the authority figure God wants you to be.