RESUME FOR GATEKEEPERS
Part 4

“Therefore let us not sleep as do others; but let us watch and be sober”
(1 Thessalonians 5:6).

We will now check the last points on the resume list:

8. We must watch over what comes in and what goes out

Ezekiel 44: 14 tells us of those who were “keepers of the charge of the house, for all the service thereof, and for all that shall be done therein.” 1 Chronicles 9:28 (HCSB) tells us about certain gatekeepers who “were in charge of the utensils used in worship. They would count them when they brought them in and when they took them out.”

As a guardians and gatekeepers of our homes we also watch over all the details of what happens in our home. Our “beady” eyes watch what comes into our home and what goes out! Nothing bypasses mother’s eyes.

9. We watch over all things in the home

1 Chronicles 9:29 (HCSB) tells us about other gatekeepers who “were put in charge of the furnishings and all the utensils of the sanctuary, as well as the fine flour, wine, oil, incense, and spices.” Everything in our home is significant. We are the keepers of our furnishings and therefore teach our children how to respect furniture and possessions. I don’t allow children to jump on beds and sofas. Get them a trampoline for jumping!

I only allow children to eat in the kitchen or at the dining table, never in the bedrooms or the rest of the house. It makes more crumbs, more marks on the carpet, and more work for mother that is unnecessary. Nor do I allow children to chew gum in my home. There is nothing worse than finding gum stuck on the floor or furniture. To save the problem I outlaw it! Each one of us are different so you will set the house rules that are important to you. And as the keeper of the home, you will make sure your children keep to the rules.

We are also the keepers over all our food as this Scripture tells us. Everything is sacred in your home when God lives in it. As a homekeeper and gatekeeper you watch carefully over your food supplies. You make sure you have basic foods in stock without running out. Ordering in bulk is much cheaper in the long run. When you keep running out of basics and have to run to the shop to replenish, you usually pay much more. You only have foods in your pantry that are healthy for your children to eat so you don’t have to continually say No to them when they want this and that.

1 Chronicles 9:31 tells us about Mattithiah who was the firstborn of Shalom (the chief gatekeeper). He was given the responsibility over “the things that were made in the pans.” Isn’t it amazing how all these things were important in the running of God’s house, just as they are in our home? Cooking, baking, and pots and pans--all part of God’s service.

Proverbs 31:27 says: “She looks well to the ways of her household, and eats not the bread of idleness.”

10. We must be altar guarders

Ezekiel 40:46: “And the chamber whose prospect is toward the north is for the priests, the keepers of the charge of the altar: these are the sons of Zadok among the sons of Levi, which come near to the LORD to minister unto him.”

The altar was where they attended to the daily sacrifices. God commanded that the fire upon the altar was to burn continually and never go out. To do this they had to attend to it every morning and every evening (Leviticus 8:13). Although we no longer have physical altars, this is a type of our meeting with God every morning and evening, a principle that God revealed in tabernacle and temple times. They had to guard the altar. They had to keep the fire burning continually. In the same way we have to keep the altar continually burning in our home. We can’t be slack. We must faithfully gather our families morning and evening to worship God and listen to Him speak to us.

Are you guarding the altar in your home? Or do you allow other things to crowd it out? Our commitment to the morning and evening meeting with God exposes our true commitment to God as a family. It’s easy to say that we are a Christian family, but our commitment to our family altar each day proves whether God is preeminent in our homes or not.

Read these Scriptures too: Exodus 27:20, 21 and 29:38-42.

11. We must be marriage keepers

Malachi 2:15, 16 (NLT) says: “Didn’t the Lord make you one with your wife? In body and spirit you are his. And what does he want? Godly children from your union. So guard your heart; remain loyal to the wife of your youth. For I hate divorce!” says the Lord, the God of Israel. “To divorce your wife is to overwhelm her with cruelty,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “So guard your heart; do not be unfaithful to your wife.”

I think we must read these Scriptures also from the King James version: “And did not He make one? Yet had He the residue of the spirit. And why one? That He might seek a godly seed! Therefore take heed (shamar) to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth. “For the Lord, the God of Israel, saith that He hateth putting away; for one covereth violence with his garment,” saith the Lord of hosts. “Therefore take heed to your spirit, that ye deal not treacherously.”

God hates divorce, especially because it affects the children. God looks for godly children from our marriage union and He knows that divorce negatively impacts their lives. Therefore He says, “Take heed to your spirit.” Guard it from becoming hard and bitter toward your spouse. Hardness of heart is always the root of divorce. Be the gatekeeper of your marriage. Do not allow hardness, bitterness, hurt, despise, and negative thoughts to take root in your heart. Throw them out from your mind before they take hold.

12. We must prayer watchers

Jesus said in Matthew 26:41: “Watch and PRAY, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

Jesus also said in Mark 13:33: “Take ye heed (beware), watch and PRAY.” It is not enough to watch; we must also pray. Much of our watching in the home happens through prayer. We not only watch physical gates, but the ear gate, the eye gate, and the heart gate. These take a lot of prayer watching with our children.

It is impossible to be a true gatekeeper of your home unless you are a woman of prayer. This should actually be No. 1 on the resume, rather than the last point.

Luke 21:34-36 (ESV) says: “But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap. For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth. But stay awake at all times, PRAYING that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

PRAYER:

“Dear Father, Please help me to be a woman of prayer, watching over my children in prayer, and over everything that goes on in my home. Please expose all the hidden things that would be grieving to Your name. Please help me to establish a holy home. I ask this in the name of Jesus, Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

I am a prayer watcher over my home and family. I will not be taken unawares.

RESUME FOR GATEKEEPERS
Part 3

“Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.”
(Ephesians 6:10, 11).

The following are more qualities we must discover to be a gatekeeper of the home.

5. We must be strong and courageous

They chose the gatekeepers for the temple who were brave, strong, and courageous. 1 Chronicles 26:6-9 describes them as:
"mighty men of valor"
"strong men"
"able men for strength for the service"

Each one of these descriptions uses the Hebrew word chayil which is the same word that was used to describe David's brave soldiers who were also mighty men of valor. Chayil is used in the context of an army going out to battle and means “strong, courageous, and valiant.”

Doorkeepers required strength. They had to examine every person that came into the temple and be able to resist anyone who tried to come in by force. Ezekiel 44:9 says, “Nothing uncircumcised (nothing of the flesh) shall enter my sanctuary.” They couldn't be weaklings. They had to have the power of a "bouncer" if the need arose (if we could use that word in a positive way).

I remember when we pioneered a church on the Gold Coast of Australia, a place of many nightclubs. Our church looked out on Jupiter’s casino. One of the first converts who came into our church was a bouncer. He was a big black guy. One punch from him and the recipient would be knocked out flat! He didn't know any other work apart from “bouncing" and would come to us every night before he went to work and ask us to pray for him! I trust he did his job with a little more restraint! The wonderful thing is that God worked in this man and today, thirty years down the track, he is still preaching the gospel.

Did you know the word, chayil is also used about us women? Proverbs 31:10 uses the same word: "Who can find a virtuous (chayil) woman: for her price is far above rubies." To be a mother and homemaker we have to be strong and courageous--especially strong in God’s truth, our godly convictions, and in resisting the enemy.

As gatekeepers of our home, we must daily put on the armor of God and "bounce" out of our home all deception, evil, and anything that rises up "against the knowledge of God" (2 Corinthians 5:10). We examine everyone and everything that could defile our home. Our responsibility is not only to make everyone happy, but to keep our home cleansed and holy.

1 Peter 5:8, 9 says: “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour; whom RESIST steadfast in the faith.”

James 4:7 says: “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” To resist does not mean to tolerate that which is unclean and grieving to God. It means to oppose it, stand against it, and withstand it. That means you do something about it!

6. We must be wise

1 Chronicles 26:14 talks about Zechariah the gatekeeper who is recorded as “a wise counselor.” We certainly need God’s wisdom as we watch over the gates of our home. We dare not be satisfied with the humanistic wisdom that is purported by everyone around us. We must seek the Lord and His Word to exercise His wisdom, which is usually the opposite of man’s wisdom.

7. We must guard on all sides and all night

1 Chronicles 9:24 (HCSB): “The gatekeepers were on all four sides: east, west, north, and south.” We cannot leave one side or one door unguarded. It is important to hedge our home and family about with daily prayer for Satan continually looks for some opening or weak area to enter (Job 1:10 and 1 Peter 5:8, 9). Our job is to protect each one in our family from the ravages of the enemy. Other Scriptures about gatekeepers say they must watch at “Every gate” (1 Chronicles 26:13; 2 Chronicles 8:14; and 35:15). We cannot leave one area unguarded.

Some of the gatekeepers spent all night around the house of God to guard it day and night. We must also guard our homes day and night. We can’t be up all night of course, but just as we check all elements and lights before going to bed, so we check out the whereabouts of every family member to know where they are, what they are doing, and what time they will be home.

We then commit the keeping of the bodies and souls to God, building a protective hedge about them in prayer. Claim the wonderful promise in Psalm 34:7: “The angel of the Lord encamps round about them that fear him, and delivers them.” We better be sure to walk in the fear of the Lord.

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

PRAYER:

“Dear Father, please strengthen me for this important task you have given me. Help me not to cave in for the sake of being “nice” when the holiness of my home is at stake. Help me to know what is right and to stand on the side of right. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

I’m “bouncing” all evil out of my home.

RESUME FOR GATEKEEPERS
Part 2

“Be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the Lord.”
(Isaiah 52:11).

Today we continue looking at the criteria required for gatekeepers of the home.

2. We must be clean

King Jehoiada of Judah “stationed the gatekeepers at the gates of the house of the LORD so that no one should enter who was in any way unclean” (2 Chronicles 23:19 ESV). Gatekeepers were responsible to guard the temple from any unclean person entering in. They had to make sure that nothing unholy or impure got past the gates as they guarded the holy temple. They were meticulous gatekeepers. They could not allow a little bit of uncleanness into the house of the Lord, not even one tiny bit. A little bit grows into more. “Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?” asks Paul in 1 Corinthians 5:6.

As you guard your house of the Lord you must allow no uncleanness to enter your home. Satan tries his best to smuggle it in, but you are the gatekeeper. Uncleanness doesn’t get past you! This morning I read a post on Facebook from a friend: “Just confiscated five phones, four laptops, and two tablets. I will bore these children into shape.”

Sometimes uncleanness creeps in unnoticed, but when we notice it, we have to get rid of it. In King Josiah’s time he ordered the priests and the gatekeepers to bring out of the temple all the vessels that were made for other gods and they burned them to ashes (2 Kings 23:4). Our first task as gatekeepers is to guard uncleanness from coming in, but if it comes in, we take action to cast it out.

When Nehemiah was restoring the gates of Jerusalem he said: “I commanded the Levites that they should cleanse themselves and that they should come and keep the gates” (Nehemiah 13:22). Gatekeepers had to be cleansed before they took on their job.

Cleansed mothers are more able to keep cleansed gates!

3. We must be alert

1 Chronicles 9:19, 20 (HCSB) tells us how the gatekeepers were “assigned to guard the threshholds.” A guard cannot go to sleep on duty. He must keep alert with his or her eyes open. Verse 20 reminds us of Phinehas who was leader of the gatekeepers in earlier times. At one time the Israelites began worshipping Baal with the Midianites. The LORD’s anger blazed and He commanded the ringleaders to be executed. As this judgment was being issued one of the Israelite men brazenly brought a Midianite woman into his tent!

But Phinehas was on the job. He didn’t just observe the treachery; he took action. He immediately jumped up, took a spear, and rushed after the man into his tent, thrusting them both through with the spear. He was an alert gatekeeper.

Because Phinehas not only looked, but took action against the evil, God said: “Behold, I give to him my covenant of peace, and it shall be to him and to his descendants after him the covenant of a perpetual priesthood, because he was jealous for his God and made atonement for the people of Israel” (Numbers 25:10-15 and Psalm 106:28-31). It was as a gatekeeper that Phinehas rose up against the evil and stopped the judgment of God upon his people. He later became a high priest in Israel.

As gatekeepers of our homes, we also have to be alert, not only watching with our physical eyes but with the eyes of our spirit. It’s no use being a gatekeeper if we don’t see what is coming in through our gates.

Jesus told the story of the man going on a journey who told his “doorkeeper to be alert” (Mark 13:34 (HCSB). The NASB says he “commanded the doorkeeper to stay on the alert.”

4. We must have God with us

1 Chronicles 9:20 (HCSB): “In earlier times Phinehas son of Eleazar had been their leader, and the LORD was with him.” We can’t fulfill our great task of gatekeeping our home without the enabling of God. We need His presence, power, wisdom and anointing moment by moment for this great task. We cannot effectively watch our gates without the power and presence of God with us.

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

PRAYER:
“Oh God, please help me to be a faithful gatekeeper, always alert and watching. Help me to have courage to take action again uncleanness coming into my home or casting it out of my home. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:
I want to be an ABC gatekeeper--Anointed, Bold, and Clean through the power of the blood of Jesus.

RESUME FOR GATEKEEPERS
Part 1

“I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness”
(Psalm 84:10).

Dear wife and mother, God has graciously given you a home to make into a place where God loves to dwell. You are also the doorkeeper of your house of God. Can you reiterate the words of this psalmist? Are you happier to be a doorkeeper in your home than to go to a career each day, leaving your home unguarded?

Gatekeeping is not insignificant work. It reveals the likeness of God. 2 Kings 12:9 talks about the priests who guarded the doorway. The word “kept” in the KJV or “guarded” in other versions is the Hebrew word shamar which means “to keep safe, to preserve, guard, protect, watch, and hedge about.”

The very first time this word is used is about the home. Genesis 15:2 says: “And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it (abad, to work in it) and to keep it (shamar)". What is God’s plan? We are to work in our homes and guard them. Not very difficult to understand, but this great work is a fulltime lifestyle.

The Hebrew word, shamar is the same word used of God who is our Keeper and the Keeper of Israel.

God reveals Himself as our Keeper six times in Psalm 121:2-8:
v. 3: He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth (shamar) thee will not slumber.
v. 4: Behold, he that keepeth (shamar) Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.
v. 5: The Lord is thy keeper (shamar): the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand.
v. 6: The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.
v. 7: The LORD shall preserve (shamar) thee from all evil: he shall preserve (shamar) thy soul.”
v. 8: The LORD shall preserve (shamar) thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even forevermore.

What blessedness to know that God watches over us night and day. He never slumbers or sleeps. He watches our coming in and our going out. He doesn’t miss one thing we are doing. We are continually in His watchful care. God guards us individually, but He also guards our homes, especially if we fear Him. Psalm 34:7 says: “The angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them” And He has specifically promised to guard Israel. The land of Israel would not be standing today without God watching over her.

Just as God faithfully watches over us, in the same way we must faithfully watch and guard the rooms, walls, doors, and gates of our home. In Revelation 21:12 we read that God has twelve angels guarding the twelve gates of the heavenly Jerusalem. If God deems it necessary to the guard the gates of His city, surely we should seriously guard the gates of our homes.

During the time of David’s tabernacle he appointed 4,000 gatekeepers (each doing their duty in their courses) to guard the entrances and treasures of the temple. As we read through the Scriptures we see that gatekeepers had to be of a certain caliber. They could not be wimps. They didn’t casually become gatekeepers. 1 Chronicles 9:22-29 tells us they were “chosen,” “ordained,” “given oversight,” “given charge,” and “appointed.” The word “chosen” is barar and means “examined, cleansed, polished, purified, purged, and made clean.” They were examined and cleansed before they could fulfill their task of gatekeeping.

It’s amazing to read the different character qualities that are required for gatekeepers. These qualities should also be part of our resume as the gatekeepers of our homes. Let’s look at the resume needed:

1. We must be trustworthy

1 Chronicles 9:22 (HCSB) tells us that David and Samuel appointed the gatekeepers to their “trusted positions.” The word in the Hebrew is emuwnah and means “moral fidelity, faithfulness, stability, truth.” A number of translations use the word “dependable.”

1 Chronicles 9:26 (NLT) says: “The four chief gatekeepers, all Levites, were trusted officials.” It takes dependability to be a gatekeeper. We cannot give up on the job. We cannot guard our gates effectively if we leave them.

We’ll continue the resume next week.

PRAYER:

“Dear Father, thank you for showing me the importance of my role of gatekeeping. Thank you for choosing me for this position. Please help me to be faithful and dependable as I guard my marriage and the children in my home. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

I am a trustworthy gatekeeper of my home.

To learn more about gatekeeping, you can purchase the book, Gatekeepers of the Home. Go to: http://tinyurl.com/GatekeepersOfTheHome