Psalm 127
[[A Song of degrees for Solomon.]]
Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh [but] in vain.
[It is] vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: [for] so he giveth his beloved sleep.
Lo, children [are] an heritage of the LORD: [and] the fruit of the womb [is his] reward.
As arrows [are] in the hand of a mighty man; so [are] children of the youth.
Happy [is] the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.

The thought of my children speaking to the enemies in the gate was not one that I embraced. I had thought to keep my children from the enemy sounded like a better plan. Just how I would do that I was not sure , but I thought if I did a lot of things differently than my parents had, surely there would be different results. The result I hoped for was no enemies. The result I got was, the exact same enemies that I had faced , the exact same enemies that my parents had faced, were in fact the exact same enemies my children and grand children faced. Now that I have found this is not out of order but actually in line with God's Word, I have decided to do all I can to share my success and failure stories with my children. I figure that rather than keeping my adventures with the enemy a secret I will tell them all they would like to know. The victories as well as the defeats. If David had not also written , Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies, I might be inclined to have some doubt as to this latest course of action. It had always seemed like a good idea to me to speak little of the enemy . Why give him the pleasure of knowing he warranted any of my time. However, in doing so I failed to give the Lord glory, for He has won victoriously over mine enemies and I find it easier and easier to live in this world but not be of it.
The great joy of my victories will also have to be kept a secret if I am not willing to share of times of defeat. One thing I hope for my children above all is that they enjoy more time in the victories of Jesus than I did.
It is with great confidence that I can assure them that nothing separates us from the love of God.
With such great love for us He provided everything for us , including defeating the enemy we often see standing at our gate.
All we need do is ask Jesus to go with us to the gate. There our response to the enemy will be guided by Him , our good Shepherd Who takes care of His sheep. He rebukes the enemy for us and He tells us truth to speak in return to his lies. He gives us strength to do the will of our Father in heaven. And every time the enemy thinks he has been successful at stealing from us , Jesus looks at what seems to be lost and restores.

John 11:35 Jesus wept.
Luke 19:41 And when He approached, He saw the city and wept over it.
John 11:33 When Jesus therfore saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her, also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled, and said, "Where have you laid him?"

WATCH.....Just one word but with many meanings. My first impression for 2007 was........ look up to Heaven in the year 2007 for the LORD is drawing nigh. To make it fit into my charismatic friends conversation I tweaked it a little. In the year 2007 He will open the windows of heaven. That sounded close, after all if the LORD is drawing nigh, good stuff is bound to pour down upon us. However, day after day my spiritual bread seemed more on the emphasis of watching , rather than getting all excited about the blessings to come.
You've heard me talk about the voice of truth. My first admonition to watch came quite quietly one morning while waiting on the LORD.
Miriam was a watcher. She had been commanded to watch her baby brother (un-named at the time) as he rocked to and fro in a woven ark his mother had made for him.
Not a big deal, watching. But had she not been watching she might of missed the opportunity of a life time. Can you imagine the courage it would take for a young slave girl to approach the Pharoh's daughter and suggest anything to her ? Oh, but she had been watching, and was aware of the daughter's attitude upon finding this child. Miriam was a watcher, and as it turned out , that was a very important thing to do.

I Thes 4:4 That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour;
The word honour stood out to me as I read this verse. I have been doing a lot of thinking about honour . I began a quest to honour the Lord on the Sabbath. I wasn't sure how or why, I just felt I should. It wasn't long before I began to feel that I was coming up short of the honour I wanted Him to have. Then I realized I could never honour Him enough.
I had picture in my mind about honour. It was of a brass pot that needed to be polished. If polished some, rather than just ignored and let go , it was honoured. It could be honoured some . The degree of honour to the pot could be determined by the amount of polishing.
Perhaps abstaining from watching T.V. on the Sabbath is viewed as honour unto Him. I hope so. If I set aside time specifically for Christian fellowship , I think He might view this as honour.
To begin to think of possessing ones self as a vessel in sanctification and honour might mean that you hold your self back from lust, to honour Him.
I could never fathom myself honouring the LORD on the Sabbath when I had a very low opinion of myself. Some how even now it seems like a stretch. Like someone at sometime soon is going to come and say, "YOU ? You are honouring the LORD ? Who told you that you would be able to honour Him ?"
Maybe that is why it is hard for people to possess their vessels in sanctification and honour. They don't realize the honour their obedience would give to Him. Also maybe they just don't realize they are to be honoured. As one who desires to serve the LORD and worship Him only, their intent should be honoured , at least by fellow believers.
just a note: honor in the Bible is spelled honour . Since I was speaking in Biblical terms I used the Bible's spelling.

Joshua 24:27 And Joshua said unto all the people, Behold, this stone shall be a witness unto us; for it hath heard all the words of the LORD which he spake unto us: it shall be therefore a witness unto you, lest ye deny your God.
The big point here was , do not have idols in your life. If you do, then you will be denying God. The side point is that Joshua used a stone as a witness. I could talk about that and perhaps I will later on. However, right now I am really interested in God removing the idols from my life. This has been my cry for so long. Some are gone now, but not all. They must all be gone ! I can not rest until they are all gone.

Titus 1:16 They profess that they know God; but in works they deny [him], being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.
I set myself up, again , with a temptation. I am not going to get down on myself for that because I think it must be human nature to want to test my limits. God does not tempt me, I however seem to have this desire to show Him how well I can do if tested . When I run into trouble I cry help. The help that I need is truth so today I cried out for help before I was in trouble. Why not carry the truth with me ?
The truth is that I must not deny Him.
The power of His might, His power that can be perfected in my weakness. All about Him, not just the one or two aspects that I might mention today in my devotional. He is beyond compare and my desire is to not deny Him.
The goal, the object of my race is set before me. Yet at the same time I have this awesome awareness that at any time I need it, I can stop and have a party, and dance with Him in His field of grace.
I look again at the field I am to travel across today. A set up by my flesh that I can hardly back out of now. Yet I know that He is with me. His voice of truth is ringing in my ears.
The reason I picked out this passage of scripture today is because I think a lot is to be learned by others mistakes.
I certainly am not any better than they. How is that they missed such a great and wonderful promise to be fulfilled in their lives? Weren't they lovers of God? Didn't they want to know Him too?
I think they did. Otherwise why would they profess to know Him? Why bother with the good works at all if they had no love for God? Yet missing the power of His might. Not being able to not deny Him.
What I really love about God is the way He looks at our actions. If I really do not want to deny Him, am trying not to deny Him, but do it anyway, He looks at it as if I just was trying to walk but fell down. That is where the field of grace comes in. His grace is sufficient for me. Then after I spend sometime receiving His grace, I must go out and try it again. I don't know why. It is just what I do. The field is there , the trials and temptations are there. How else can I reach those lost souls that are out wandering around in the field ? What I would like to tell them about first is : the field of grace. It seems once you needed to stop what you were doing and come into a party but now the party will come to you, if you will but receive it.
Eph 6:10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.

Ps 51:6 Behold, Thou dost desire truth in the intermost being, And in the hidden part Thou wilt make me know wisdom.
When one asks for God to reveal truth in the inward parts I suppose one is expecting that He will show them sin. Some kind of a transgression that they are guilty of.
Perhaps like David they have been made aware that they are outwardly sinning but inwardly had not really been convicted. Yet David knew he ought to be convicted, so he asked, give me truth.
David's faith in God's forgiveness gave him the boldness to request such knowledge. As I become more aware of God's great compassion and ability to give great mercy and grace, I too become bolder and able to ask for truth in my inward parts.
And to make me know wisdom.
Just knowing about a transgression doesn't do me much good unless there is some wisdom to go along with it to inform me as to how to not repeat the transgression again.
Sin pointed out by another person does little to help me , unless I take that information to God and pray this prayer.

I have for so long made this my prayer asking for truth in my inward parts that I failed to realize that David was stating a fact. God desires truth, in our innermost being.
I think my having a desire for truth is most important. When I think I do not really have to know the truth about something I am trying to slip back into an apathetic state of hypocrisy. Although not knowing the truth might seem like an easier course because truth will always require some action.
However, once again I remind myself , I have the hope of wisdom, as David requested of the LORD so might I also receive.