

"The LORD [is] my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God,
my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my
salvation, [and] my high tower.
I will call upon the LORD, [who is worthy] to be praised: so shall
I be saved from mine enemies."
Psalm 18:2&3
Do we feel weak and in pain? God is our rock and our salvation,
our strength and our high tower. He saves us from our enemies, and
we praise Him. It is important to note here that God does not say
that we will not have enemies. "Many are the afflictions of the
righteous, but the Lord delivereth them out of the ALL." Psalm 34:
19
The Rock... Is our foundation, our stability.
Our Fortress... God surrounds us with His love and His protection.
My Deliverer... He sets us free from evey bond of the enemy. And
who He sets free is free indeed.
My Strength... The joy of the Lord is our strength. Even in the
face of adverse circumstances, that joy (which is not an emotion)
can fill us and give us strength.
My Buckler... What is a "buckler"? Not something that we have in
modern terminology! But the buckler was a thing that held a warrior's
armor together, and kept it in place. So the Psalmist is saying
that God is our "buckler" and holds our "armor" together and protects
us. With out Him, it would all fall apart.
The Horn of my Salvation... Whenever you see the word "horn" in
scripture, it conotates strength and power. Who is the "horn" of
our Salvation? Jesus.
My High Tower... What is a "high tower"? And what was it used for? Back in Bible days, they had these towers built around their cities
as watchtowers to see if there was an enemy coming. They also built
these towers out in the middle of their fields, and the watchmen
would watch for anything that might harm the flocks or the crops
that they were put in charge of.
As pray-ers, we are also watchmen, put in charge of our territory,
and we go up into that "high tower" and watch and pray. If we see
a threat to our territory, we take action, and we guard our territory. What is our territory? Anything that God has put in our lives,
and anything that affects us is in our territory, or anything that
touches those that we love. It is up to us to keep that territory
free of invaders.
One lady that I prayed with for years said it like this... Those
of you who do gardening might be able to relate. She said that when
you set up a garden, you first have to plan where you are going to
put it, and how big it will be and set up the borders. You define
the edges, and put up stakes and draw a line with a string.
Then you break up the ground, till it, and plant your seeds. Then
you water the seeds, and watch it sprout and grow. You do not dig
up the seeds while they are germinating. Let them grow, and when
they sprout, care for those little plants until they reach maturity.
But you are also watching to see what else is growing in your garden,
too. If you see a weed seed sprouting in your garden, you rip that
thing out on the ground, and get it out of there.
When we pray, we are doing the same thing. God has given us the
garden, and it has set boundaries. Things that He has given us to
watch over and pray out. We till the ground by prayer, and keep
it soft and weed free. And we plant those seeds in the ground by
the words that we speak out in prayer. Then we continue to water
that seed until it manifests.
Many times when you have a garden, it isn't so much the weeds that
will prevent things from bearing fruit. It is little animals that
come in... The Word calls them "little foxes" that come in and snip
off the flowers before they reach maturity. Around here, we don't
have too many foxes, but we do have rabbits and deer and other things
that can come in and eat the flowers right off of the plants. So
you get up in your tower, and watch for those things.
A lot of times it is the little things in our lives that will prevent
the plan and purposes of God from reaching maturity, too. Little
things... Like busy-ness. It might not seem to be a bad thing,
but it nips off your fruit. Little foxes...
So we go up in the high tower, and watch and pray.
"I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, [which] shall never
hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the LORD,
keep not silence," Isaiah 62:6
