The Importance of Strong Walls!

Now that we've talked about the difference between God's discipline and the enemies torture (see the last 5 or so blog posts), I want to go back to Spiritual Fortification. I believe that understand this is so key to our becoming strong fortified Christians.

In Bible times, the strength of a fortress or city (and sometimes a nation) was determined by the strength of its walls. Could the walls stand against the attack of foes? As long as the walls could stand strong, and there were no breaches, the city would not be overcome. (The only exception, where a city was almost overcome, was through starvation.)

As Christians today, we are to be God’s temple and strong fortress. He lives here with us and in us through His Spirit (see Eph. 2:22). Because of this, we are to stand strong against the attacks of the enemy. We are not only to stand strong, but we are to fight and take territory from the enemy. And while the world may mock and say it can’t be done, we keep marching forward, just like the children of Israel conquering Canaan, gaining victory over one heathen nation (over one sin) after another.

We can gain the victory because God has not only given us His promise for victory, but He’s given us every provision to be victorious. Yet, despite this divine calling, and despite this divine enabling, for many of us, there seems to be something wrong, for rather than being victorious over the enemy nations (the sin in our lives), we are falling left and right. We are the ones being overcome! Could it be that there are holes in our spiritual walls, breaches that the enemy is taking advantage of and sneaking through? Could there be an “Achan” hiding within our own tents? 

Obviously, we all have our own trials and our own weaknesses. What is a strong temptation to one is not always a temptation to another. However, the devil is smart. He hasn’t been around 6,000 years for nothing. He has studied mankind well, and he is a master at tripping us up and making us fall. He’s also lazy. He doesn’t want to waste time trying to beat down a strong wall when he can sneak in a small crack or hole in our wall. Thus he’s constantly looking for a breach. He’s constantly testing the bricks around our fortress to see if he can find one loose stone that he can pull out and sneak through. He’s constantly checking to see if we’ve accidently left the back gate unlocked, or if we’ve dropped the key. He doesn’t care what the “breach in our wall” is called or how small it is. It might be “impatience,” “unforgiveness,” “lusts,” or “vanity.” As long as he can find a breach, he can squeeze through, and as a result, he can do all the damage that he wants within our fortress.

“However trifling this or that wrong act may seem in the eyes of men, no sin is small in the eyes of God. Man’s judgment is partial, imperfect; but God estimates all things as they really are. The drunkard is despised, and is told that his sins will exclude him from heaven; while pride, selfishness, and covetousness too often go unrebuked. But these are sins that are especially offensive to God; for they are contrary to the benevolence of His character, to that unselfish love which is the very atmosphere of the unfallen universe… Sin, however small it may be esteemed, can be indulged in only at the peril of infinite loss. What we do not overcome, will overcome us, and work out our destruction.” Steps to Christ, p. 30,33 

Being fortified spiritually is not just important. It is vitally important! And Satan knows this. That’s why he’s doing everything he can to gain a foothold in our lives so that he can break down our walls of protection.

Review:

• Bible Thought: We need to ask God to help us build strong walls!
• Blessing: God will give us strength, for He has promised. He's not only promised to make us strong, but He promises to give us strength to stand in the breach for others.
• Battle: Not to allow the enemy even one foothold!