ON ALL FRONTS!

 

"Appoint guards from the inhabitants of Jerusalem, each at his post, and each in front of his house" (Nehemiah 7:3).

 

God is very concerned about guarding. We don't have to wait long in the Bible to learn the principle. When God put Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden He told them to work in it and guard it! (Genesis 2:15) To guard a home is high on God's priority. We turn over from the first book of the Bible to the last and find that God has twelve angels guarding the twelve gates of the New Jerusalem. (Revelation 21:12) If it is important for God to have angels guarding each gate of His holy city, then surely it is important to guard the gates of our homes.

We go to 1 Chronicles 9:17-27 and see the gate-keeping Levites guarding the house of the Lord in Solomon's time, just as their ancestors had guarded the tabernacle in the wilderness. They guarded "the entrance" and they guarded "the four sides, to the east, west, north and south... And they spent the night around the house of God, because the watch was committed to them." In Nehemiah we read that they appointed guards, "each in front of his house."

We are also gate-keepers, guarding on all fronts! We can never let down our guard. The enemy is subtle and he is out to destroy marriages and fragment godly homes. The biggest threat to his success is godly gate-keeping mothers who will not allow one opening for him to enter their home. They watch at their entrance and they watch on every side. They watch what their children listen to, look at, read and even what they speak! They check what is happening on the Facebook accounts of their children. They establish God's standard of righteousness in their home, not the world's standard. Consequently, when the enemy comes running to attack he comes to a screeching halt at the gates of this righteous home! He has no access! No loop holes to get in! And he bows! Proverbs 14:19 says, "The evil bow before the good: and the wicked at the gates of the righteous."

One of the greatest ways we guard is by example. Your children see whether you have courage to act according to your conscience or whether you compromise. Sometimes on the weekend the extended family will come and we watch a family movie together. We have a big screen for our songs at church so we can play the movie on the big screen. It is sad that we sometimes find a scene that is not wholesome, even with family movies! What do we do? We have to immediately stop the movie-that's the end of that, even though we could be tempted to see the ending! But the children are watching. By our example they are going to learn to stand strong with their conscience or compromise!

An Above Rubies helper asked Evangeline how she guards her 10 children. She replied, "We train them to be gate-keepers themselves. We train their conscience. We teach them righteous principles and train them to keep to them, not just when people are looking, but to be true to their own soul."

We cannot weaken in training our children. Proverbs 29:15 NASB says, "The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child who gets his own way brings shame to his mother." You leave your children unguarded when you let them get their own way. You are teaching them how to give into temptation. You are setting them up to be a prey to the enemy!  You are preparing them to have a turbulent marriage. The diligent gate-keeping mother will teach her children how to say No to the temptations of the flesh.

We also guard our home by conducting Family Devotions with our family each day, morning and evening if possible. It is hard for the enemy to take hold when we read God's Word and pray together each day as a family. In Chronicles 8:13-14 NASB tells us that, "Solomon offered burnt offerings to the Lord on the altar of the Lord... and did so according to the daily rule... he appointed the Levites for their duties of praise and ministering before the priests according to the daily rule..." *This was a daily rule God expected of His people, morning and evening.

"What's all this business about a daily rule?" you argue. "Isn't that religiosity and legality? Shouldn't we do it when we feel the urge? I don't like the sound of duty." Yes, I am sure that it could become tedious if it is done without the anointing of the Holy Spirit who illumines the Word. 2 Corinthians 3:6 tells us that the "letter kills" but the Spirit gives life. But how can a "daily rule" be legality when we are reading LIFE GIVING WORDS? Jesus said, "The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life" (John 6:63). God's life-giving words, anointed by the Holy Spirit will guard your marriage and your children from the deceptions of the enemy. Read also Hebrews 4:12 and 2 Peter 1:3-4. Sadly many marriages are no longer together because they never established the daily rule of praying and reading God's Word together. Many families are in disarray because they have not gathered together daily around the Word of God which is our manual for life.

May the enemy be scared of you as you guard the entrance to your home! Guard your home on all sides! Give no foothold for the devil.

Love from NANCY CAMPBELL

 

PRAYER:

"Father, please teach me how to be a diligent gate-keeper of my home. Please show me areas that are weak in my marriage and in our family life and please teach me how to build up the wall again. I want our family to be a bulwark against the enemy. In Jesus' name, Amen."

 

AFFIRMATION:

I am guarding my marriage and my home on all fronts!

 

Further Scriptures to read: Exodus 29:36, 38-39; Numbers 28:3; 1 Chronicles 16:40; 23:30; 2 Chronicles 2:4; 13:11; 31:3 and Ezra 3:3-4.

 

To understand more of the Morning and Evening principle, go to Articles and Stories, Click on Bible in the Home and then The Morning and Evening Principle.

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