September 21, 2009

 And The Walls Came Tumbling Down!

In Joshua 6 the bible tells the story of Joshua and the children of Israel fighting the battle of Jericho. But the part I find to be the most significant is the part I think we can apply to our own personal walls. In Joshua 6:1-5 we find the situation, the instruction and the result or promise. It says, 1 Now the gates of Jericho were tightly shut because the people were afraid of the Israelites. No one was allowed to go out or in. 2 But the Lord said to Joshua, “I have given you Jericho, its king, and all its strong warriors. 3 You and your fighting men should march around the town once a day for six days. 4 Seven priests will walk ahead of the Ark, each carrying a ram’s horn. On the seventh day you are to march around the town seven times, with the priests blowing the horns. 5 When you hear the priests give one long blast on the rams’ horns, have all the people shout as loud as they can. Then the walls of the town will collapse, and the people can charge straight into the town.”

The Situation-Many of us, have walls that have been set up in our lives. Walls that were built because of some hurt that we experienced or some fear we have of being hurt again. Our walls are like the gates or walls of Jericho.

The scripture says Jericho was tightly shut because the people were afraid. No one was allowed to go in or come out. These were walls of protection, the city was fortified, but when walls of protection are established we have to remember that we are not only keeping others out, we are imprisoning ourselves.

The question we have to ask is what walls have been set in place for our protection? Our protection from being hurt again may also be the hindrance to our walking in our God ordained purpose or future. You were in a marriage that ended in divorce. It is not what you wanted, you tried everything you could to keep it together, you went to counseling, but it still ended against your will, now you have decided you will never love like that again. You will never allow anyone that close to you again. Maybe you weren’t even married to the person, but you loved them.

The truth is that it hurt when they walked out with that other person and never looked back. You did not even see it coming, how can you ever love or trust like that again, so up come the walls. Your walls cause you to trust yourself and what you think you know instead of trusting God. Your walls make you untouchable by those that God has put in your life. Those that He sent to show you true love, understanding and compassion. Your walls keep them out and you locked in.

The scripture said nothing could come in or out. That sounds like prison. The walls you have built for your protection have become walls of imprisonment. Walls of protection cause you to push away the very people God has sent to expedite your deliverance, friends, family, co-workers and Jesus Himself. You have a form of religion, but not a real relationship.

I can speak to this because I built some walls of my own to protect myself. I could not trust myself to love or trust anyone to love me, because I had been disappointed. I had been hurt. I was sure I would mess up again and love the wrong person, so I chose not to love anyone. My walls were securely in place. Weight can be a wall. Addictions are walls. Separating yourself from others is a wall. Bad relationships can be a wall. Let me clarify. You keep choosing relationships with people that will love you more than you love them, because it makes it easier for you to cut them off and walk away. They might be hurt, but you won’t because you will not be that far in. Or you choose a relationship that is not challenging, a person that just goes along with your program.

I had given my love to someone that did not deserve it and was not prepared to receive it, but instead of realizing that as the truth, I sealed myself off, looking at God’s promise from a distance, knowing that He can do what He said He would do, but not applying that to my own life. The honest truth is while I can say this now, I did not even know that is how I thought then and if you had told me I felt that way, I would have denied it.

The realization of how much damage we do to ourselves and how we limit our possibilities, really hit me this week as I prepared to lead a life group session. I thought about a friend that was married for 25 years and divorced. He did not understand what happened, it devastated him.

I thought about another friend that was married for 20 years and then the marriage was over and it devastated him. Then I had two additional friends, one of them married and his wife left him for someone else, he never saw it coming. The other came home one night to have his wife say, she wanted out, she packed her clothes and left. Yet another friend attempted suicide because of a relationship that went bad. We usually hear these storied from the female perspective, but the truth is that the enemy is no respecter of persons. He does not care who he hits, his intention is to steal, kill and destroy, by any means necessary.

These are all good men who found themselves in a bad situation and in each case the walls of protection went up. And then I have my own story like so many of my sisters and brothers. The walls have to come down if we are to walk in the purpose and into the future God has for us. The walls have to come down to allow someone to touch us again and to allow us to touch someone else.

The Instruction-The scripture from Joshua goes on to give us instruction. It lets us know that bringing down the walls is a process. The process is both strategic and specific. The Israelites were instructed to march around Jericho once every day for 6 days and on the seventh day they were to march around seven times and to blow the horns and shout. Look at the scripture God is very specific in what he tells Joshua to do to bring the walls down. It makes no sense to us and it probably did not make much sense to Joshua either, but he did what God told him to do. God will also be very specific in His instruction to us on bringing ours down. You may not have to walk around a building or the house seven times. Healing your situation may require counseling or asking for forgiveness, because you were in a place you should never have been in the first place, you were warned not to get into that situation and the whole time you were in it, it was a struggle.

The place to start if you really want to bring your walls down is with a real relationship with God through Jesus Christ, spending time in prayer, study of the word, fellowship with other real believers like yourself who are trying to live a life that is pleasing to God. The place to start is seeking God. Real love brings down walls. You can’t look for it in another person, look for it in God and allow Him to lead you in the direction He has for you to go.

You will be amazed at the way He works out your situation. It will not be the way you expected. When you find yourself apologizing to people that hurt you, you will know that God really has your heart and is cleansing, purifying and molding it to be more like His. You may not understand what He is telling you to do. It may make no sense at all, but Pastor Troy told us the other day when you don’t understand, just do what you are told, you will understand later, while you are in the middle of enjoying your blessing, gained through your obedience.

The Promise-In the beginning of the scripture it started with a promise. God told Joshua He had given him Jericho. God has given us some things also, but we will never be able to enjoy them as long as the walls are intact. The walls have got to come down in order for the promise to be fulfilled. If you want a wife or husband, you will have to let go, really let go of the past relationships that you had that hurt you. You have to let go of the blaming and as you get closer to Jesus Christ, He through the Holy Spirit will begin to show you the things that are walls in your life if you ask. The truth is that if you are really seeking Him, you won’t have to ask, He loves you enough to just start showing you and peeling stuff away.

There is territory God has for us, there is a purpose that God wants fulfilled in our lives, but it can only be fulfilled through our seeking Him.

What promise has God made to you? Are you willing to bring down the walls that you established and trust Him to fulfill it? You don’t have to trust everyone else, you trust Him and let Him deal with the rest. He will soften your heart where it needs to be softened. He will give you wisdom in situations that you need to be careful in. He will direct your path if you seek Him to guide you through the maze of your life and around your own personal Jericho. Are you tired of living in a fortified compound that does not allow anyone or anything in or anything out including you? Are you tired of settling for a half life and ready to receive all that God has for you? Ask God to release you and then do what He says.  

Weekly Scripture:

Joshua 6:1-5:
1 Now the gates of Jericho were tightly shut because the people were afraid of the Israelites. No one was allowed to go out or in. 2 But the Lord said to Joshua, “I have given you Jericho, its king, and all its strong warriors. 3 You and your fighting men should march around the town once a day for six days. 4 Seven priests will walk ahead of the Ark, each carrying a ram’s horn. On the seventh day you are to march around the town seven times, with the priests blowing the horns. 5 When you hear the priests give one long blast on the rams’ horns, have all the people shout as loud as they can. Then the walls of the town will collapse, and the people can charge straight into the town.”