Wide Open

A person without self-control is like a city with broken-down walls.
Proverbs 25:28 NLT

What do you think of when you read about cities with walls? Do you think of Jericho with walls so thick you could drive a chariot on the top of them? Do you picture castle fortresses? Maybe you think of the Army forts in the Wild West or places like the Alamo Mission. One thing for sure, if you saw it in a movie, you knew when the walls were breached, defeat was imminent.

In The Message, this same verse reads, "A person without self-control is like a house with its doors and windows knocked out."  Does that make more sense? Does it give you a better visual in your mind's eye? How much protection from the elements is a house with no doors or windows? We can have the best HVAC system in the world but how effective will it be if we have no doors or windows? How good is it for keeping out unwanted critters or trespassers?

We are left wide open - defenseless - and delusional if we think otherwise. If we have not nurtured the fruit of the Spirit found in Galatians 5:22-23, that's how we are if we do not walk in self-control. Wide open to the onslaught of the enemy, defenseless and delusional.

Prayer:

Father,
Help us to walk by Your Spirit so that we don't gratify the desires of our flesh. "Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other." Give us clean hands and pure hearts so that we may inherit Your Kingdom. We want to walk fully in "the fruit of the Holy Spirit - love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control for against such things there is no law." In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

Within These Walls

13 And Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever. 

14 The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.”

Exodus 14:13-14 NKJV

Who or what's the thing you fear most? Imagine running from it until you're backed against the wall - or in the Israelites' case - the Red Sea. Try as you might, there's no getting out of that situation. Behind you is the wall of the whole Egyptian army. In front of you, all you can see - as far as you can see- is a sea so wide (190 miles wide!) and no boats or ships to transport one Israeli, let alone the great multitude that stood at its shore.

And in the face of these two woeful walls, Moses doesn't say, "Start swimming" because he knows that won't work. And he doesn't say, "Get ready to fight" because that's a lost battle waiting to happen. He boldly proclaims our Promise for Today,  Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever."  And he goes on to declare, "The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.”

When faced with fight or flight options, there isn't anything within us that would choose the tactics Moses proposed: 

Don't be afraid.

Stand still.

Just watch...

To which God added HIS walls. Verse 21b-22, ...the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea into dry land, and the waters were divided. 22 So the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea on the dry ground, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.  God's walls that got the Israelites safely to the other side of the sea were the same walls that destroyed the enemy. 

The walls that seem to have you boxed in are not your end. 

Don't be afraid. Stand still. Just watch... God's got this.

Prayer:

Father,

           Thank You for Your Word - the Truths that light our way when there seems to be no way. Thank You, Father, that we are safe within Your walls. Manifest Your presence so that we are able to do as You commanded - Don't be afraid. Stand still. Just watch. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen