You are My Gate Keeper
ISA 5:1 I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard: My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside. 2 He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines. He built a watchtower in it and cut out a winepress as well. Then he looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit.
YOU ARE MY BELOVED AND I HAVE GIVEN YOU FERTILE SOIL. YOU ARE TILLED BY MY SPIRIT AND I REVEAL TO YOU THE KNOWLEDGE OF YOUR SINS. YOU CAN DRAW FROM THE NUTRIENTS OF MY SPIRIT AND LIFE-GIVING WORD EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO LIVE A LIFE THAT PLEASES ME. I HAVE GIVEN YOU THE POWER OF PRAYER TO CLEAR THE OBSTACLES ON YOUR PATH. YOU LACK NOTHING THAT IS NECESSARY FOR FRUIT BEARING. IF YOU ARE LED OF MY SPIRIT, YOU CAN BRING FORTH FRUIT A HUNDRED-FOLD. I AM WATERING YOU FROM MY WELL OF LIVING WATER. YOU WILL NEVER BE ARID AND YOUR FRUIT WILL NOT WITHER. ONLY YOU CAN BLOCK ITS FLOW THROUGH SIN AND GRIEVING THE SPIRIT. I HAVE CLEARED THE LAND AROUND YOU OF STONES AND DEBRIS. I AM MAKING YOU THE GATE KEEPER AND OVERSEER OF ALL I HAVE GIVEN YOU. DO NOT ALLOW SATAN OR THE CRITTERS THAT WOULD DESTROY THE VINES CORRUPT THE BEAUTY AND PERFECTION OF MY VINEYARD. ISA 5:4 What more could have been done for my vineyard than I have done for it? When I looked for good grapes, why did it yield only bad?
SATAN LAMENTED THAT I THE LORD GOD ALMIGHTY PUT A HEDGE AROUND MY CHILDREN. HE IS CORRECT! JOB 1:10 “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED HOW SATAN CAN BREAK DOWN OUR WALL OF PROTECTION AND HAS A RIGHT TO ENTER OUR VINEYARD? SATAN ALWAYS COMES IN THROUGH THE OPENING WE LEAVE IN THE GATE (OUR SINFUL CHOICES). WE ARE IN CHARGE OF WHO AND WHAT IS ALLOWED INTO OUR LIFE. SOME OF OUR CHOICES CAN BE “GATE CRASHERS.”
MY WORD DECLARES THAT IF YOU LEAVE YOUR GATE OPEN OR LEAVE A HOLE IN THE HEDGE, YOU MAY BE BITTEN BY A SNAKE (SATAN OR EVIL THAT SATAN SENDS). ECC 10:8 Whoever digs a pit may fall into it; whoever breaks through a wall may be bitten by a snake. ALWAYS REPAIR YOUR BROKEN HEDGE THROUGH REPENTANCE OF ANY KNOWN SINS YOU HAVE COMMITTED. (1JOHN 3:20 KJV) For if our heart condemn us, GOD is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.
YOUR VINEYARD CAN BECOME OVERGROWN WITH THE WEEDS OF WORRY AND THE CARES OF THE WORLD SO THAT YOU NEGLECT TO PRAY AND BE THANKFUL FOR MY BLESSINGS. YOU WORRY AND ARE OVERCOME BY TROUBLE WHEN YOU FAIL TO TURN OVER EVERYTHING TO ME. REPENT OF ALL KNOWN SIN AND EXERCISE YOUR FAITH AND TRUST IN ME. RESIST SATAN AND HE WILL HAVE TO FLEE. SATAN CANNOT ATTACK THE FACE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS WITHOUT MY PERMISSION. I AM THE ONLY ONE THAT CAN REMOVE YOUR STONES OF STUMBLING AND GIVE YOU PEACE AND REST FROM YOUR TROUBLES. DO NOT FAIL TO CALL UNTO ME AND I WILL ANSWER AND SHOW YOU MY MIGHT AND POWER TO REMOVE THOSE THINGS THAT ARE NOT MY WILL FOR YOUR LIFE. 1Peter 5:7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
THE ONLY TIME I WILL NOT ANSWER YOUR CALL FOR HELP IS WHEN YOU ARE ALLOWING KNOWN SIN TO RULE IN YOUR LIFE OR WHEN I AM ALLOWING YOU TO BE TESTED TO TEACH AND STRENGTHEN YOU FOR YOUR OWN GOOD. IF YOU HAVE SINNED, SATAN CAN LEGALLY ENTER YOUR LIFE. REPENTANCE AND TURNING FROM SIN IS THE ONLY THING THAT WILL REMOVE SATAN. IF YOU ARE BEING TESTED, ASK ME, AND I WILL SEND YOU THE JOY OF THE LORD TO LIFT YOU ABOVE THE BATTLE. I WILL SUSTAIN YOU WHILE I AM ALLOWING NECESSARY TESTING. IN ANY CASE, MY CHILDREN, I WILL GIVE YOU GRACE TO OVERCOME AND A SPIRIT OF REJOICING IF YOU ASK ME. ROM 12:21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. 2Corinthians 1:3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. 5 For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.
YOU CANNOT ALLOW YOUR WORK IN MY KINGDOM TO BE BLOCKED BY YOUR LAZINESS AND LACK OF ZEAL FOR MY KINGDOM. PRO 15:9 The LORD detests the way of the wicked but he loves those who pursue righteousness. PRO 15:19 The way of the sluggard is blocked with thorns, but the path of the upright is a highway. IS YOUR PATHWAY BLOCKED WITH THORNS OR ARE YOU WALKING IN FREEDOM OF THE LORD ON THE HIGHWAY PREPARED BY THE LORD? AS YOU “WILL TO DO” SO YOU WILL “WALK AND DO”! MY DESIRE IS FOR YOU TO HAVE MY HIGHEST AND BEST, BUT IF YOUR DESIRES DO NOT REACH UP TO MY HIGHEST WILL FOR YOU, I CANNOT ALTER YOUR COURSE. I CAN, HOWEVER, WORK WITHIN YOU TO “WILL AND DO” OF MY GOOD PLEASURE. PHI 2:13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. YOU ARE THE GATEKEEPER! SOMETIMES I MUST CAUSE “PAIN” TO GET YOUR ATTENTION AND CAUSE YOU TO CHANGE YOUR MIND AND ALTER YOUR COURSE.
MANY OF MY CHILDREN’S VINEYARDS HAVE BECOME OVERGROWN AND REQUIRE WEEDING, AND THE HEDGES ARE BROKEN DOWN! I AM CALLING TO MY CHILDREN TO REPAIR THE HEDGE AROUND YOURSELF, YOUR HOUSEHOLD, AND ALL YOU POSSESS.
Psalms 80:12 Why have you broken down its walls so that all who pass by pick its grapes? 13 Boars from the forest ravage it and the creatures of the field feed on it. 14 Return to us, O God Almighty! Look down from heaven and see! Watch over this vine, 15 the root your right hand has planted, the son you have raised up for yourself. 16 Your vine is cut down, it is burned with fire; at your rebuke your people perish. 17 Let your hand rest on the man at your right hand, the son of man you have raised up for yourself. 18 Then we will not turn away from you; revive us, and we will call on your name. 19 Restore us, O LORD God Almighty; make your face shine upon us, that we may be saved. AMEN.
My response to God:
We pray to you, our loving Father, in the name of our redeemer. We ask you to help us restore the vines that we have allowed the foxes to eat. We repent and confess that we have been weak and not valiant in destroying the works of the enemy. We know this is a new day and a new hour and that your Holy Spirit is mighty in battle. We want to join with you in that battle. Help us to repair the damage in our own vineyard and look to you until our fruit is perfect in your sight.
I am the gatekeeper of my own vineyard and therefore responsible for allowing these destructions to enter that which you have planted and would have protected had I been vigilant. Show me how to walk pleasing to you and to remain under your protection at all times. Perfect me now, I pray, and may I exalt you and lift up your beloved son at all times. My desire is to be righteous in your sight! Make my love for you steadfast and eternal. O Lord God, restore us and make your face shine upon us. Amen.
Here are some of the “hedge crashers” I noticed in the scriptures He gave me to study:
- Disobedience.
- Lowering God’s standard to meet ours.
- Compromise with evil.
- Turning a blind eye to known sin.
- Not repenting and turning from our sins.
- Letting our vineyard become overgrown because we have failed to weed out satan and sin.
- Failure to pray for protection over our household and gifts.
- Not to separate ourselves from the world and its culture of sin.
- The closing of our eyes to the encroachment of evil and failure to pray.
- So busy with “self effort” that we fail to walk in God’s spirit.
- We have to become engaged in self protection when we have failed to close the gate or repair the hedge.
- If we fail to guard our own vineyard, how can God trust us to guard His work and kingdom?
Ask the Lord to reveal any broken hedges in your life. Often you know you have left the gate open because you can see satan at work in your vineyard.
In Christ’s love,
Anita