A Tale of Two Cities<\/strong><\/em>\u2026is a legendary novel by Charles Dickens. It is about London and Paris during the French Revolution. The social and economic events\u00a0during and prior to the Revolution are somewhat parallel between the two cities. It reflects abject poverty, appalling starvation, rampant crime, ruthless capital punishment, and aristocratic greed. This book was required reading at my high school. It also became a movie.<\/p>\n As I have been reflecting on the events in our nation and elsewhere over the past several years, especially the last six months, I was drawn to the stark contrast set out in Galatians. The Spirit through Paul reveals a manner of belief and\u00a0manner\u00a0of life as it relates to God and his Kingdom. Look at the comparison. I have simply broken them into two tales, so to speak.<\/p>\n Tale 1:<\/em>\u00a0Absence<\/u>\u00a0of God in the society or culture.\u00a0According to\u00a0Galatians 5.19-21:\u00a0\u201cNow the works of the flesh are evident:\u00a0sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions,\u00a0envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Tale 2:<\/em>\u00a0Presence<\/u>\u00a0of\u00a0God in the society or culture. According to Galatians 5.22,23:\u00a0\u201cBut the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things, there is no law.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n So,\u00a0what\u00a0allows the Presence to replace\u00a0and overcome\u00a0the\u00a0Absence?\u00a0JESUS CHRIST!\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Galatians 5.24 is quite clear.\u00a0\u201cAnd those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.\u201d<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0The battle is not a political one in our nation, it is a spiritual one.\u00a0Change the heart through Christ, you\u00a0change the culture.<\/p>\n Dads<\/strong><\/em>, you have been provided the authority and privilege to disciple your\u00a0children for the gospel of Christ.\u00a0Which is:\u00a0\u201cChrist died for our sins and rose from the dead\u201d<\/em>.\u00a0(I Cor. 15.1-5)\u00a0Save them from destruction, both in\u00a0their earthly lives and for eternity.\u00a0Works of the flesh versus works of the Spirit\u00a0is an ongoing battle.\u00a0What are you seeing in our society today?\u00a0They will be exposed to and influenced by every form of\u00a0fleshly deceit. I was,\u00a0so were you, and so will they!\u00a0Discipleship\u00a0begins in the home. Don\u2019t leave it to others. Trust God\u2019s word. Apply it in your life and help them\u00a0to do the same.<\/p>\n And\u00a0then, with confidence in your heart, you can say\u2014\u201cI have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth\u201d\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>(3 Jn.1.4).\u00a0You can\u2019t protect them from evil, but you can equip them to withstand and overcome. That\u2019s my take on the two\u00a0Tales\u00a0that I see today in\u00a0families in\u00a0America and elsewhere.\u00a0The choice is simple\u2014the flesh or the Spirit?\u00a0Joshua challenged Israel\u00a0with the same\u00a0question\u00a0and\u00a0declared\u00a0his stand.\u00a0\u201cBut as for me and my house, we will serve the\u00a0Lord\u201d\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>(Josh. 24.15b).\u00a0Which\u00a0Tale\u00a0will it be for you and your precious family?<\/p>\n The ministry of\u00a0Abiding<\/em>\u00a0Fathers and Padre de Corazon\u00a0is being used by God to\u00a0turn the hearts of fathers to their children, one dad at a time.\u00a0Join the movement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A Tale of Two Cities\u2026is a legendary novel by Charles Dickens. It is about London and Paris during the French Revolution. The social and economic events\u00a0during and prior to the Revolution are somewhat parallel between the two cities. It reflects abject poverty, appalling starvation, rampant crime, ruthless capital punishment, and aristocratic greed. This book was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5692,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64,119],"tags":[183,82,102],"class_list":["post-5691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mentoring","category-teaching","tag-fruit-of-the-spirit","tag-parenting","tag-weekly-devotional"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/af2.musiimes.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5691","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/af2.musiimes.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/af2.musiimes.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/af2.musiimes.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/af2.musiimes.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5691"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/af2.musiimes.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5691\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/af2.musiimes.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/af2.musiimes.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/af2.musiimes.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/af2.musiimes.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Two tales<\/h3>\n
Disciple your children<\/h3>\n
Equip your children<\/h3>\n