Walls...They Will Fall

We all go through days and even seasons of feeling overwhelmed and like the walls are too big to get over or through.  So many people I know right now are in the middle of these wilderness days.  They look at what God has promised them, but all they can see are giants and obstacles and destruction.  

Walking the path that God has set before us can be a scary thing.  

1. You don't know how long it is going to last.  If He would just give us a human timeline than that would make it easier.  You know, because God's timing is not ours, but it's really our timing that we are most concerned about.

2. There are perceived dangers ahead.  We don't know what they look like, what they are, how bad they are, but we just know they are there.  The fear of the unknown paralyzes us and we abandoned God's path for our own "danger free" zone.  The problem is, our "danger free" zone is the most destructive path.  

3. We surround ourselves with a "support system" of doubters, complainers, path hoppers, people who have not been where you are going, so they cannot encourage you and challenge you to finish the journey.

As iron sharpens iron,

    so one person sharpens another.

Proverbs 27:17

We have to be around like minded people.  This is a big one.  If we surround ourselves with people who will listen, pray for us, help us, mentor us, and hold us accountable...WE WILL SUCCEED!! 

24 And let us consider how we may 

spur one another on 

toward love and good deeds, 

25 not giving up meeting together, 

as some are in the habit of doing, 

but encouraging one another

—and all the more 

as you see the Day approaching.

-Hebrews 10:24-25

4. Our inconsistencies knock us off the path and it seems like we have to start over again.  Consistency is a Discipline.  In my devotional this morning from You Version called "Walls Fall Down: God's Unusual Plan for Victory", the author addresses this very topic.  I am going to give you some quotes from this author.

"The Israelites had been walking the desert for 40 years.  That's 14,600 days of putting one foot in front of the other.  They finally arrive at Jericho, which was on the edge of their Promised Land, and God tells them to walk for seven more days."

We want to give up after a couple of weeks or months.  I can just hear a conversation, "After 40 years, you have the nerve to ask for 7, 7 more days of walking?!!!"  

Now, the first couple of days might have been easy.  Maybe their imaginations were swirling with a section of wall here or the people inside just opening the gates for them.  But after day four or five, this walking around, doing the same thing, nothing happening, how fast would we have abandoned this crazy plan? What would have happened if they had stopped a day short?  We have to see it to the end.  The Walls Came down because of their obedience, perseverance  consistency, determination, vision...Your/Our walls will come down the same way.   

DON'T GIVE UP!!  YOU CAN DO IT!!!  

Consistency...Like-minded, vision focused, iron sharpened encourager's will help you.  Fear is destructive to your journey.  Allow LOVE to guide you and joy to strengthen you.  Perfect love casts out all fear.  

Anyone who meets a testing challenge 

head-on and manages 

to stick it out is mighty fortunate. 

For such persons loyally in love with God, 

the reward is life and more life.

-James 1:12 MSG