Build Bridges—Not Walls
WALLS REPRESENT PROTECTION. We all have a tendency to build our own walls in an attempt to protect ourselves against being hurt. As I have mentioned several times, although I have a very kind and wonderful husband, there are times when he hurts me. I finally realized that whenever my husband caused me emotional pain, I erected a wall—I am speaking spiritually—behind which I could hide and keep him from hurting me again. But the Holy Spirit showed me that when I put up walls to keep others out, I also wall myself into a solitary place of confinement.
Many people live isolated lives because they have erected self-made walls to protect themselves. However, those walls become prisons, and they are trapped in bitterness and loneliness. They erect protective walls to prevent themselves from experiencing emotional pain, but they are unable to love and be loved unless they are willing to be hurt.
Spending your lifetime trying to avoid pain is more painful than living normally and dealing with each issue as it arises. Jesus is the Healer and will always be available to minister comfort to you in hurtful situations.
I believe the Lord wants me to encourage you right now to take a step of faith and tear down your self-made walls. The thought will probably be frightening, especially if you have been living behind them for a long time. God can bring down those emotional walls that separate you from others, just as He crumbled the walls of Jericho (see Joshua 2:1-21; 6:1-27). The King James Version of Hebrews 11:30 states that “by faith” the walls came down.
I have to take a step of faith each time Jesus shows me that I have erected walls to keep others out. I must choose to put my faith in Him as my Protector, rather than attempting to protect myself.
There are several scriptures in the Bible that promise God’s protection. Isaiah 60:18 is one that ministers to me: “Violence shall no more be heard in your land, nor devastation or destruction within your borders, but you shall call your walls Salvation and your gates Praise.”
What this verse says to me is that salvation through Jesus Christ is a wall of protection about me. From the moment I become His, He takes upon Himself the job of protecting me. However, in order to activate the blessings in my life, I must believe that He is watching over me. As long as I continue to reject the Lord’s protection, trying to take care of myself, I will continue to live in bondage and misery.
Another wonderful scripture on the subject of God’s protection is Isaiah 30:18: “And therefore the Lord [earnestly] waits [expecting, looking, and longing] to be gracious to you; and therefore He lifts Himself up, that He may have mercy on you and show loving-kindness to you. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) are all those who [earnestly] wait for Him, who expect and look and long for Him [for His victory, His favor, His love, His peace, His joy, and His matchless, unbroken companionship]!”
Careful study of this verse reveals God as One Who is literally waiting for an opportunity to be good to us, to bring justice into our situations. However, He can do that only for those who are expecting and waiting for Him to do so. Give up the labor of “self-protection” and start allowing and expecting God to protect you.
Let God be God.
As you enter this new realm, by faith, I cannot promise that you will never be hurt, but I can promise that God is “a God of justice,” which means that He will eventually bring balance and will reward you for choosing His way.
Any person who chooses God’s way to handle his problems and hurtful situations is destined for great things: “Even as it is written . . . we are regarded and counted as sheep for the slaughter. Yet amid all these things we are more than conquerors and gain a surpassing victory through Him Who loved us” (Romans 8:36, 37, emphasis mine).
How can we be more than conquerors, and at the same time look like sheep being led to the slaughter? The answer is simple: While it may appear we are being taken advantage of, while it may seem that the Lord is not going to rescue us, we are more than conquerors because in “the midst of the mess,” we have a knowing inside that our God will never leave us nor forsake us and that, at exactly the right moment, our deliverance and reward will come.
BUILDING BRIDGES
One day while I was praying, the Holy Spirit showed me that my life had become a bridge for others to pass over and find their place in God. For many years, I erected only walls in my life, but now where there were walls there are bridges instead. All the difficult and unfair things that have happened to me have been turned into highways over which others can pass to find the same liberty that I have found.
I have learned to build bridges instead of walls.
As I stated in the fifth chapter of this book, God is no respecter of persons (see Acts 10:34). What He does for one, He will do for another, as long as His precepts are followed. If you will follow the precepts that have been outlined in these pages, you will discover the same freedom that I have found. Then you can become a bridge for others to pass over, instead of a wall that shuts them out.
In Hebrews 5:9 Jesus is referred to as “the Author and Source of eternal salvation.” He pioneered a pathway to God for us. He became a highway for us to pass over. It is as though He faced a giant forest and went in ahead of us so that when we came along we could drive right through it without having to fight all the elements and the density of the forest. He sacrificed Himself for us, and now that we are benefiting from His sacrifice, He is giving us a chance to sacrifice for others so they can reap the same benefits we enjoy.
Hebrews 12:2 says that Jesus endured the cross for the joy of obtaining the prize that was set before Him. I like to remind myself of that fact when the way seems hard. I tell myself, “Keep pressing on, Joyce; there is joy ahead.”
Make a decision to tear down your walls and build bridges. There are many, many people who are lost in their messes and need someone to go before them and show them the way. Why not be that person for them?
Walls or bridges? The choice is yours.
BEAUTY FOR ASHES
Not only does the Lord want to turn your walls into bridges, but as He promises in His Word, He also wants to give you beauty for ashes:
THE SPIRIT of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed and qualified me to preach the Gospel of good tidings to the meek, the poor, and afflicted; He has sent me to bind up and heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the [physical and spiritual] captives and the opening of the prison and of the eyes to those who are bound, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord [the year of His favor] . . . To grant [consolation and joy] to those who mourn (in Zion) . . . to give them an ornament (a garland or diadem) of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, the garment [expressive] of praise instead of a heavy, burdened, and failing spirit. (Isaiah 61:1, 2, 3)
These promises in Isaiah 61 are rich and plentiful. Read them and make a decision not to miss out on a single one. I will be in agreement with you as I pray that every person who reads this book will inherit the promises.
God has done His part by giving us Jesus. I have done my part by acting on the Word of God and obtaining freedom, then writing this book to help you do the same. Now, you must do your part by making a quality decision that you will never give up until you have allowed Him to:
bind up your wounds;
heal your broken heart;
liberate you in every area of your life;
open your prison door;
give you joy instead of mourning,
a garment of praise instead of a heavy,
burdened and failing spirit;
and
beauty instead of ashes.