Unless the LORD builds the house,
They labor in vain who build it;
Unless You, Lord, build my house, my labor is in vain. Father, build my house with your wisdom and with your hands. Guide my every step...be there with me, brick by brick. You are the master planner and the master builder. You know my every desire and my every need...You know where fortification is necessary. You know where the protection and the extra security need to be. My house, Lord, is Your house....empty it and fill it with You. I want my house filled with Your light. I want it to be a house built and guided by Your hand. Anything else is vanity. Anything else might prove successful in the world's eyes, but will be an abomination to You.
Help me, Lord, not to labor in vain. Help me to build it according to your will and plan day by day. I want my "house" and my heritage (my family) to be erected eternally in the heavens.
Unless the LORD guards the city,
The watchman stays awake in vain.
Lord, You are my keeper....I trust in You completely. You are my shelter, my fortress, my refuge and my hiding place. You watch over "my house." You are an impregnable fortress surrounding me. Evil's darkness cannot penetrate Your light. Guard my house Father...show me the snares and traps along the way as I walk the path of life. Lord, You and You alone know the way I take. Search me O God and know my heart; try me and know my anxieties and see if there is any wicked way in me. Lead me, O God, in the way everlasting.
It is vain for you to rise up early,
To sit up late,
To eat the bread of sorrows;
For so He gives His beloved sleep.
Think about what sleep is for a minute. It is a forgetfulness of the world with all its cares, needs and responsibilities...it is a respite from all the problems we face. As the Lord's child we can rest in Him happy and free from care. Sleep is such a sweet rest when it is in Him. Aside from giving us sleep the text could also mean that He gives us, His beloved, blessings even while we sleep. The Lord blesses our resting and gives us more than those who stay up late and get up early who do not belong to Him. He gives His best to His beloved.
Father, keep me from striving. Protect me from me! Your word tells me to rest that you have given us the gift of sleep. That you give to us even as we sleep! Allow my sleep to be sweet as I rest knowing that you are my Keeper. You O Lord never sleep...You are always watching over me with a heart filled with love. You know it all...the path I need to take, my days, my ways, my thoughts and my words. You hedge me behind and before and lay Your hand upon me. Even when it feels as if the darkness will crush me, the night is light about me. No matter where I go, I cannot escape from You. You are always with me. Your right hand holds me. I can rest free from care!
Thank you Father, for sleep...I will lie down in peace and sleep; For You alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.
Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD,
The fruit of the womb is a reward.
4 Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,
So are the children of one’s youth.
5 Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them;
They shall not be ashamed,
But shall speak with their enemies in the gate.
Lord, this one is so important. Please help! I don't want to mess it up. My children are a heritage from You. They are your gift. Help me, Father, to raise them for You....to pray for them daily and seek Your guidance in any decisions regarding them. Enable me, by the power of Your Spirit, to leave them a legacy of You. Let them be like arrows in my hand (and let my aim be that of a warrior) so that I might aim them where You would have them go. I pray Father, that each precious one would live completely and utterly for You...drawing near to You and depending on you to be their hope and their help.
I pray that you will be my guide, Lord, and theirs, even unto death.
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