Heaven and Hell

Every night Jaaf or I will read a night time devotion out of a book called, "Goodnight Warriors!" I love the name of the book, because I will have 3 little warriors for Christ that I am raising, and I feel like this book brings out what kind of warrior the Lord has called boys/men to be. So tonight's story was about Jesus being tempted by Satan. I guess we have never really talked about Satan or Hell all that much. So the boys kept asking why is Satan being so mean?? I would tell them that Satan was an angel and he thought he was better than God and so God took him out of heaven and Satan lives in Hell. I let them know that hell was not a good place and it is describe in the Bible as being like a constant fire! They asked if it was like the fire Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were in. I told them yes, except the people who are in Hell are not protected by God, so they feel the fire. We went on to talk about how Satan wants all of us to worship him and not God, so he tries to make us do things that we shouldn't. They wanted to know why. I told them it was because Satan thinks he is better than God and doesn't want anyone to worship God. I told them that it is so important that when we believe in God we listen to Him and do what He wants us to do. Jaxson asked, "How do we hear God?" I told him that we have to listen to what our heart is telling us to do because God will tell our hearts if it is right or wrong. I gave the boys a few scenarios and to see if they thought it was right or wrong. I told them that they knew that because God had been teaching them. And if we ever question if something is right or wrong we pray and ask God to show us what is right. So then they started to panic a little bit and were afraid of Satan getting them. I told them that if we believe in God, He has sealed us and Satan cannot come near us. We do need to be on the look out for his schemes though. I also told the boys that another way we protect ourselves is by putting on our Spiritual Armor. Every morning on our way to school i have the boys put on our Helmet of Salvation, the breastplate of righteousness, the belt of truth, the shield of faith, the sword of the spirit, and our shoes fitted to share God's love. Our armor keeps us safe. Then Jaxson went on to say, "If a grizzly bear ever sees Satan, he's going to bite him really hard. Grizzly Bears are meat eaters mom!" I just love the way a child's brain takes and receives God! It was quite the heavy topic tonight, but what a joy to talk to my kiddos about our God! May we all be reminded to put on our Armor!

"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. 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."

Eph 6:10-12