November 5


Take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that in heaven their angels always see the face of My Father who is in heaven. Matthew 18:10


It is easy to underestimate God’s keeping power.  Jesus said that nothing could hurt his followers, and here He speaks of the ceaseless vigilance of heaven over all children, let alone those who follow Him.  The angels continue vigilantly both to watch over children and to watch the Father’s face.  Nothing can escape this vigilance, and therein lies our assurance.  Young converts in Africa are sometimes mistreated by parents and village elders, who try to maintain their authority through superstition and witchcraft.  One young convert was tricked by his mother into visiting a witch.  His mother told him they were visiting an aunt, but secretly she had begged the witch to drive Jesus out of her 24 year-old son.  As soon as the witch entered the room where he was sitting, she screamed with horror and shouted: “Get him away!  The power in him is stronger than my power!”  God’s keeping power is more than enough to keep us from every harmful thing, whether we are old in the faith or new.  Note, too, the means by which God keeps us.  He has surrounded us with the armies of heaven, and their work is to be a link between the love of God the Father in all its tenderness, and the circumstances in which we find ourselves.  The keeping power of God is that of a Father.  Even an earthly father will not allow any harm to come near his children; how much more the Father in heaven, who sees the approach of enemies that are invisible to the human eye.  Rest secure in the undying vigilance of heaven over you.