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Apples of Gold
Radio Script for August 4, 2009
“A Message for Dads”
Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.
My wife and I have been together for over a quarter century.
And in that time I have only ever asked for one painting.
It’s by Ron DiCianni and it shows a father kneeling at his son’s bedside.
The boy is asleep with his little Teddy Bear, unaware that his father is praying earnestly for him.
Meanwhile, outside the bedroom window is a celestial glow as an angelic being stands guard.
If you look closely you can also see a more sinister being with malice on his mind.
I love the painting because I am a praying father and I believe the painting represents the truth.
DiCianni titled this work “Spiritual Warfare.” Now I’m not really sure how spiritual warfare works, but here’s what I get out of the painting.
Because Dad is praying, an angel stands guard outside the home. Spiritual forces of evil would like to get at that home, but the angel prevents it, and the angel is there because Dad is praying.
The alternative is Dad not praying. If Dad isn’t praying, you get the impression that the angel would not be there. And if the angel isn’t there, then the evil being has ready access to the home.
Now I realize it’s just a painting, and the reality of things is not quite that simple.
But, as a husband and a father of four, I believe I must battle in the spiritual realm for my family.
I think often of the mental picture I get from Ezekiel 22:30. It says, “I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land…”
The King James says, “And I sought for a man among them that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me…”
It talks about building up the wall and making up the hedge. What are the wall and the hedge for? To keep out invaders.
That’s what’s going on in the DiCianni painting. The angel is blocking invaders from the home as the dad prays.
The dad is building up the wall, so to speak. He is making up the hedge to keep invaders out.
Now most dads know about keeping invaders out in the physical realm. We provide homes in more secure neighborhoods rather than scary neighborhoods. We have locks on our doors and lights around the house. Maybe we have a security system or a watch dog or a 12 gauge. We do what we can to build a hedge of protection around our family.
But what about a hedge of spiritual protection?
Look, do you believe in spiritual warfare? It’s all over the Bible and I could quote passage after passage.
Your family has spiritual dangers just like it has physical dangers. Dad, what are you doing to protect your family spiritually?
I don’t know if this is exactly how it works, but here is the way I imagine it. When I am living right, seeking the Lord, praying and obeying – then that helps build up the hedge around my family. But if I let my guard down, if I get sloppy in my walk with the Lord, if I make more worldly decisions than spiritual decisions, then that takes a bite out of the hedge. If I keep that up, the hedge starts to look like you gave a two-year-old clippers and turned them loose on a big afro.
I read an article the other day about a man who liked to watch the Girls Gone Wild videos. He was just a dad with this little guilty pleasure – no big deal, right?
So one day he sat down to watch a new video – and suddenly there was his own daughter on the screen, exposing herself. He said all he could think about was the tens of thousands of men who would watch that video, looking at his little girl as nothing more than a sex object.
To me, that is the opposite of the dad praying in Ron DiCianni’s painting. Here was a dad who did not stand in the gap for his family. Instead of building up a protective hedge, he lowered it.
So Dad, what are you doing? Are you building up the hedge around your family, or lowering it?
What will it take for you to realize how important this is?
Yes, you know to protect your home from physical dangers.
And now I hope you take more seriously the importance of protecting your home from spiritual dangers.
Comments?
E-mail me: dougapple@wave94.com.
May God bless you today! With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.
You can see the DiCianni painting here:
http://www.christcenteredmall.com/stores/art/dicianni/spiritual-warfare.htm
© 2009 The Arrow’s Tip
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(Proverbs 25:11 – “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”)
Why “The Arrow’s Tip”? Each morning, after diligently seeking the Lord, I write Apples of Gold. Then before I release it to the public I pray one final prayer, “Lord, send forth your arrows.” I envision Apples of Gold as arrows, tips dipped in the river of the water of life that flows from the throne of God (Rev. 22:1), sailing toward the hearts and minds of men and women around the world.
Doug Apple
General Manager - Wave 94
Christian Radio for Tallahassee
PO Box 4105
Tallahassee, FL 32315
(850) 926-8000
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