As I have
sought the Lord earnestly over the past month I have studied David’s life.

In Psalm
34:15, 17 he was a man of prayer. “The
eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous and
his ears are open unto their cry. The righteous cry and the Lord hears and
delivers them out of all their
troubles.”

He loves the
house of the Lord in Psalm 27:4, “One
thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in
the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the
Lord, and to seek out the Lord in his temple.”

David was also
a great example of repentance and Godly sorrow. In reference to Uriah and
Bathsheba David says, “I acknowledged my
sin unto thee and mine iniquity have I not hid.” (Psalm 32:5)
All through Psalm 51 he refers to me, mine, and my.

Vs.1 “Have mercy upon me, O God, according
to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot
out my transgressions.”
Throughout this classic of Godly sorrow David points no fingers, except to say,
“against thee only, have I sinned, and
done this evil in thy sight.”(Vs. 4)   God calls David,  "a man after his own heart." (Acts 13:22)

1 Chronicles 16:27 says, "Glory and honor are in God’s presence." When David was in the field of anonymity with the sheep, he gave glory and received glory form the Almighty. When he was sent for by Samuel to come to Jesse’s house he received the honor of being anointed the next King of Israel. 

In your field of anonymity  (when no one sees)  keep following hard after God. If God doesn’t honor you in man’s house, he will Hnor you in a house not made with human hands, eternal in the heavens. (2 Corinthians 5:1)

"Except the LORD build the house, they labor in vain that build it." Ps 127:1

There are many scriptures in the Word that compare our life as a believer to that of a building’s construction:

"You are God’s building….as a wise master I have laid the foundation."                      I Cor. 3: 9 – 10

"I commend you…to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up…."      

Acts 20:32

Each time we go to a prison we are taking the Word. His Word becomes a building block in the lives of these men and women. We are making a difference…

One of the blessings of this ministry is working alongside others that God has called to do this same construction work. We have an awesome team of volunteers that go with us to prisons. They not only encourage and minister to the inmates, but they encourage us as well. We thank God for each of them.

Ecclesiastes
4:9-10 Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their
work: If one falls down, his friend can
help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!

I actually knew a man who was
working alone in a home when he fell from his ladder. He lay unconscious on the floor until the owner arrived and
called 911. Ron went to visit him in
ICU and there he lay alone and unconscious. If this had happened just a few years before his wife of many years, as
well as a host of church friends would have surrounded his bed. However, he had abandoned his wife and his
church friends to play the fool.

Two are better than one when
one is linked up with a good worker or a wise man. However, I’ve heard someone
say, “Friends are like the buttons on an elevator, they can take you up
or they can take you down.”

My former boss had a saying
every time he heard about boys getting into trouble. The saying was, “One boy…whole brain, two boys…half brain, three
boys…no brains at all.” Choose friends
wisely.

Proverb
13:20 He that walks with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools
shall be destroyed.

One insight that prisoners
receive when they go to prison is that they learn who their real friends are.

We thank God for providing generous, wise and merciful friends. We are so blessed.