“A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest— and poverty will come on you like a thief and scarcity like an armed man.”  Proverbs 24:33,34 (See also Proverbs 6:10,11 ( NIV))

Dearest Lord, 

You are not speaking of needed rest and times apart to refresh our souls. You speak to us of the harm of not engaging the old life patterns and thoughts within ourselves that seek to lull us into a false security. You, Who have been tempted in all the ways we are, yet never succumbing, know how to instruct us ( Hebrews 4:15). You know the myriad ways our old manner of thinking deceives us at key moments in time, keeping us from attending to the things that seem little, unimportant and insignificant on the larger stage of life. You know the pathway of little things. Both blessing and cursing grow large through practice. The fruit, once beautiful to Eve, brought death to all her children– no small thing indeed.  

Lord, shake us, wake us to listen to Your instruction. Let us attend to temptations when they are small and more easily plucked from the garden of our life. May we pull out by the root the ways of our old life’s choices, thoughts and tendencies to selfishness. These enemies seek to bring down from within the house that is our life. Everything that would destroy us begins small. 

Let us be attentive builders and gardeners, seeing trouble from afar through Your eyes. Give us shocking grace to energize our attack on such invaders of our soul. Let us not be pacified into dullness by the old voice that tempts us into accepting lies. We hear the old arguments– “Its not important… everyone does it… its trivial, and we can take care of the matter later, at a better time, when things aren’t so busy.” 

But today is the day to hear Salvation’s Voice and wake up to defend what You have given us—our new life! The war is on. The Spirit is at war with our old self! Let us not be found asleep at our post. Let these Temples of Your Holy Spirit stand on the solid ground of faith fully awake and fully engaged.

In Jesus Name Forever