ON THE VANGUARD

ATTACK AT HOME
“Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong.”
I Corinthians 16:13

Maybe I am still inspired by the truth behind Courageous; maybe that is what is spurring today’s devotional. Maybe it is the realization that I have dropped the ball too often and am seeing my screw ups without the lenses of rational finally. Or maybe I am just fed up with the way my life has gone and the cheap shots I have allowed the enemy to take on me and my family. Granted I know that my past has been filled with more smut than I care to admit, but when I hear of the enemy working to attack my children I get mad. And why not? Isn’t it my responsibility as the father to be the spiritual leader in my home and not let the enemy have any ground? So then imagine my anger when this weekend my son confessed to me that someone had introduced him to pornography.
Right away you may think it was I since my past used to have this stain. You may think that I didn’t cover all my tracks or had a falling back. But in truth it was not me. Honestly, who it was doesn’t matter. What matters is how we proceed with it going forward. I have before me the choice to do nothing or to do something. I can push it to the side, ignore it, not make a big deal about it, and in time watch my son become an addict to this his self. Or I can take a stand, get righteously indignant, break its hold, fight with the tenacity of a great army and refuse the devil and his cohorts any more place in my house. The battle has come to my home, so what am I going to do?
Maybe more so than answering what my next step is, I should review how this first step was even allowed. How did the enemy get access to my son to begin with? I don’t have to be a rocket scientist to answer that question. I let my guard down. In some ways I thought I had more time before we would be at this point. I myself was not introduced to it till around age twelve, so to think of him being introduced at age eight or nine caught me unprepared. Instead of holding my weapons in place and standing watch, I was sleeping on the job. And please, don’t hear me wrong. I am not inflecting self abuse on myself. Quite the opposite really. I am announcing my error so that you other parents and warriors will see the times in which we are in. The enemy is coming in, anyway possible and any age obtainable, and his desire is to steal this next generation. Will we let him?
In the last two days since learning of this information, I have been taking a stand. I have been standing as a prayer warrior of my family, as a father they can speak openly to, and as a dictator in some aspects, dictating what I will and will not allow to pass through my doors. I have taken the verse in I Corinthians 16:13 to heart. It is my job description as a man, husband, and father. “Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong.” I refuse to let the enemy attack my home again. I refuse to let my faith dangle at the side. I refuse to run when I am scared. And I refuse to be weak in spirit. It is time I rise up as the warrior and champion God has called me to be. Sin has no place in my home, and will not find a home in my place anymore!