Ephesians 1:13-14

... Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession--to the praise of his glory.

This post is long over-due and my wife has been asking for it for quite some time. So I am finally doing it to show her that I am proud of her and I love her.

I read this verse after being completely moved by the Spirit in Sunday morning service about a month ago. It just completely jumped off the page at me and I felt the joy and high of knowing beyond all doubt that God is, has, and will always be with me, and someday I will be with Him in Heaven. That Sunday morning I felt the Holy Spirit in a much stronger way than ever before. If you are familiar with the five love languages, I am a physical toucher, and therefor I believe that when God wants to show me love he does it physically. I bowed my head to pray before I took communion, and all at once the words of the sermon began to rush through my mind and penetrate my hardened heart. I realized that the lesson had been meant for me and it made perfect sense all at once. I get this tingling feeling all through my body (usually followed by a stream of tears) when such a revelation is realized as only the Spirit can reveal it. I felt renewed and refreshed.

In case you were wondering, the sermon was on the armor of God. The pastor gave a great analogy of the shield and how it can protect the soldier, but at times it could hurt those around him. When the archers would shoot their flaming arrows, the common defense for the foot soldiers was to form a shell around themselves using their shields. But the archers would soak the arrows in some sort of feul that cause the flames to "bounce" off the shields and spread around them. However, the soldiers could also soak their shields in some sort of counteractant and the flames would not spread. For the soldiers of God, this counteractant would be the word.

This story revealed the mistakes that I had been making for so long. For as long as I can remember, I have had the shield of faith and never really doubted that God had his hand on me at all times, so selfishly, I never really pursued Him through the scriptures as I should. Through my faith, I knew I was protected and safe. Nothing else seemed to matter, but that morning it was revealed to me that while I had been protecting myself from sin, I had been deflecting the flames of sin on the people around me, mainly my wife and son. I truly felt sorrow like I had never felt it before. I had abandoned my post of leadership in this house and I could see how we had gotten off course. Many things have changed since then and I can honestly see a big difference in all the relationships of this home.