As I prayed for my family again this morning I also asked God what He wanted me to write about in my reminder to fast and pray tomorrow. I heard Jedadiah or Jedaiah. Who? I admit that I had to refresh my memory. Seems he returned with Nehemiah from Babylon with the burden of rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem. He was a descendent of Aaron the high priest and thus was supposed to serve the temple in his role as such. You remember that the families got together and started rebuilding the wall around the city and each family was to take care of the wall adjacent to their house. Well, it impressed me that he, a temple priest brought his family together and got his house and his portion of the wall in order before he assumed his duties to manage the workings of the temple. It was a dangerous job as they had to have armed guards to protect the families while they worked. Evil rulers in the area did not want the wall rebuilt so the workmen and women had to have swords ready while the work continued. Interesting lessons for us. In recent history, we have disinvited God from our schools and in many cases from our homes and as a consequence, we have armed ourselves against the encroaching evil in our midst.
Many spiritual leaders have neglected family and home while building their “religious” empires only to be drawn into darkness and their families have been attached and drawn off also. Do you love your family? Of course, you do, and yet I see it over and over again families are left to their own devices and evil creeps in. God makes it clear that we are responsible for our own household and we should get it in order and not leave any holes in the wall for the enemy to enter. More than ever I agree with Joshua, “For me and my house we will serve the Lord.” Israel lived through the good king bad king thing for years and we will also if learn to lean not on our own understanding but trust in the Lord. God bless you and keep you, Jim
LIFE does not meet tonight, see you next Tuesday.
L.I.F.E. Ministries