September 10, 2008

• A Keeper at Home a.k.a GUARD

  God has been continuing to expand my understanding, over this past year, of what it means to be a ‘keeper at home’. For years I had understood the passage in Titus 2 regarding ‘a keeper at home’ to only mean ‘one who kept house’ in a domestic sense. A beloved one began showing me that the term ‘a keeper at home’ meant much more than just cleaning house. A keeper at home also involves guarding the home.

  
  

  CLICK HERE for a short but very good study on the word ‘keeper at home’.

  
  

  We have a few examples of guards in our time. The one I like to think of is a security guard at a banking institution. Their job is to protect valuable assets inside those walls. I’ve watched them make their rounds as they continually watch who is coming in and out of the building. They watch the cars that drive by and are acutely aware of any activity that might be a threat to the safety of the bank.  They know that danger can be lurking outside the walls, and sometimes inside, too. So, they are diligent to not let their guard down.

  
  

  WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A ‘GUARD OF YOUR HOME’

  
  

  The example is very much the same when it comes to guarding our homes. We’re to stand, in a sense, at the portal of our homes guarding the influences that come in. We’re to keep alert to any danger that could cause harm to our children or our husband. This is a woman’s ‘POST’. She is not to leave it. This involves time.. mental and physical time. How long would a guard keep his job if he showed up at the business he is to be guarding just a few hours a day and left his shift unattended the majority of the time?

  
  

   Each season of a marriage has it’s own temptations. When a woman is young and training her family there is a temptation to be so caught up in her children that she neglects the needs of her husband. Once the children have left home you would think that things would get easier but I haven’t found that to be true. The number of loved ones in my family has more than doubled in the past 10 years. That means more relationships to tend to. If I do not make a concentrated effort to keep my marriage relationship number one then it can very easily slip through the cracks of busyness with household duties and service to others in my family and in the church.

  
  

  The book of Proverbs is full of warnings about the woman who is waiting at her door to seduce another woman’s husband. She entices him by her speech and the way she is dressed. We have a responsibility to guard and protect our husband’s from this temptation. We need the Lord’s wisdom as we watch over and guard our homes and the heart’s of our husbands.

  
  

  CONCENTRATE ON YOUR HUSBAND

  
  

  One way that I am being reminded to ‘guard my home’ is to make a concentrated effort to spend focused time on him each day. It’s so easy to become busy with all the affairs of my household. There is always something that needs to be done.  If a wife has a ‘good’ husband who does not complain she can easily allow him to slip on her list of priorities. I’m being reminded again that I must make a conscience choice to keep my husband NUMBER ONE.

  
  

  Some areas I am working on …

  
  

  1.  Physical touch… MORE kissing, hand holding, sitting next to him

  
  

  2.  Listening to him when he talks (I mean REALLY listening)

  
  

  3.  Making HIS INTERESTS my interests. (I’m reading more about politics and the conservative viewpoints so that we can have more conversations about this since this is one of his passions)

  
  

  4.  Putting him first above everyone else.. (right now I am working on answering his phone calls quickly.. even if I’m on the phone with someone else)

  
  

  5.  Have dinner made and as many dishes washed as possible so that I can make clean up easy so that I can spend more ‘one on one’ time with him in the evenings.

  
  

  I’m continuing to pray for the Lord’s wisdom in this area as He continues to teach me all that is involved in ‘guarding and keeping my home’.

  
  

  What has the Lord taught you in this area of ‘guarding your home’? Is this the first time you’ve heard it taught this way?                                                                                                            

  
  

   

  • 9:29 am
  • 14 Comments