There are walls…and then there are walls
Proverbs 25:28 “He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls.”
There are walls that the Lord gives for our protection and care.
And there are walls that we erect to keep the Lord at a distance….or because of some sin in our lives.
One of the great walls that the Lord gives us…to keep us protected….is separation from evil. We are to keep ourselves from “the unclean thing” (impure, lewd).
2 Corinthians 6:17 “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,
And I will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.”
(It is interesting to note that “touch” here means to attach oneself…to have a relationship with)
God says that His Almightiness is used, as we keep ourselves from evil.
Proverbs 2:6-7, 10-13 “For the Lord giveth wisdom: out of His mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.
He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: He is a buckler(shield, armor) to them that walk uprightly.
When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul;
Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee;
To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward things;
Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness;”
To keep ourselves separate from those who walk in darkness is wise….and thankfully the Lord gives us wisdom.
One of the walls of the Lord’s protection is peace
Philippians 4:6-7 “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
This “keep” is garrison….like a fortress.
Peace is a mighty protector. When we are upset, or have worry, or are anxious….then we are seeing the circumstances more than our God.
But when we “in prayer and supplication with thanksgiving” come to Jesus and tell Him “everything”….then He gives us His peace. (John 14:1, 27) Peace steadies us….when we are wobbling back and forth. Peace encourages us to believe and trust.
Another wall the Lord fortifies us with…is love…His love.
Ephesians 3:17-19 “That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;
And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.”
This breadth, length, depth and height…I picture as surrounding us on all sides…holding us up….from the anger and hate….from the resentments and hurts that come by walking in this world.
Deuteronomy 33:27 “The Eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms:…”
His love gives courage to stand the way He wants for us….and clears away the debris of circumstances in the mind….that we may see clearly!
But then there are walls which we have erected, to keep the Lord at a distance….these need to come down.
Song of Solomon 2:9-10 “My Beloved is like a roe or a young hart: behold, He standeth behind our wall, He looketh forth at the windows, shewing Himself through the lattice.
My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.”
This believer had come a long way with Christ, the Beloved….but during that time, she had also built a wall, stone by stone. Things which had not fully been taken care of by confession….some things she had put off doing, for one reason or another….some resentments she did not know how to deal with….some people she would not have anything to do with.
All of these are stones in this wall…..part of her experience….yet an experience that had not led her out with Him…in victory (leaping on the mountains, skipping on the hills)…but instead kept her from growing in grace with Him.
For she did not deal with these things….but rather tried to ignore or excuse them.
This wall is easily dealt with….for the Lord is calling her on…”Rise up my love, and come away.” Rise up and deal with these….I will help you, show you what each stone is. Then you can leap these mountains of impossible things….and skip these difficulties, with Me.
But there are other walls which are built….built to hide us from the Lord, because of sins of imagination.
Ezekiel 8:8-10, 12 “Then said He unto me, Son of man, dig now in the wall: and when I had digged in the wall, behold a door.
And He said unto me, Go in, and behold the wicked abominations that they do here.
So I went in and saw; and behold every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, portrayed upon the wall round about.
Then said He unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery? for they say, The Lord seeth us not; the Lord hath forsaken the earth.”
(the term imagination comes from “image”….a term for idol. Imagination is first used in the Bible in Genesis 6:5 “…that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil…” It means to form a conception of something in the mind…to fabricate,…twisted. In the Bible it is never in a good sense.)
How can we deal with these walls?….do not worry, the Lord has us covered here as well as in everything
2 Corinthians 10:4-5 “(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;”
A sanctified mind is what Paul is speaking of….a mind fully taken up with Christ,… putting everything in relationship to Him.
In our walk, there is always the putting off (the old man)….to put on (Christ). There is always the casting down….before there is the building up. And we are to cast down imaginations….those things (those “what if’s..) that come to our minds as we are praying. We are to cast down those lustful thoughts.
(this is the same as “…gird up the loins of your mind,…” 1 Peter 1:13 We are to pull up our thoughts out of the world’s glitter, or the world’s anger, and get them ready for HIs Work. When you girded up your garment…you tie it up so that it would not get in the way of our feet….our walk with God.)
Our thoughts of God and of His Christ need to be right. Faith and love are two mighty helpers in tearing down the wrong walls…and giving God the way in us, to build the right walls…His walls of love, peace and protection…. around us.
Preaching, Teaching, and Notes 