Matthew 7:7-8 NKJV
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.”
Have you ever tried to straighten a bent metal part, but you could only find a child’s tiny hammer? How about starting to demolish the walls of your house for a remodel and you can’t find your sledgehammer? Maybe you need to break up your sidewalk or concrete step, but you don’t have anywhere to rent a jackhammer?
Life can be filled with moments where you need to bang something out, but you don’t have the right tool. Then we have to play out the different scenarios where we can either complete the task with something else or get what we need. This is very similar to other situations in life where we could use something we don’t have.
It’s too easy to let things build up around us that we can’t see a way to handle. Even taking things one at a time doesn’t always help. At first it starts piling up higher and higher until you have a waist high wall in front of you. Then as you move to go around it, you find that it is getting wider and curving around as it soon surrounds you.
As it grows even higher it is soon too tall to get over and no matter where you go you can find no cracks or doors. All this searching for a way out has you exhausted, and you soon collapse in a corner. You watch as the wall has you sitting in darkness that is much too black to see through.
A sense of dread begins to well up inside you, but soon changes to fear, anxiety, and panic. As you are overwrought with this hopeless feeling you crawl out of the corner to try to find a way out. You run your fingers along the rough surface feeling for a crack or weakness. You pound your fists harder and harder against it, but it won’t give at all. Inside you feel as empty as the black void you are in.
As we pause to take a breath during this type of struggle many of us may be wondering how we got there. Walls such as these don’t usually happen overnight and take years to grow to the point that they surround us to where we feel there is no escape. The buildup of every pain, every rejection, and everything ever done to us. Years of isolating ourselves, not handling the little things, and negative behaviors.
This is when we need to plot a way forward that can remove us from the darkness. Some of us may have excellent support systems around us that can help us break through any walls. Even if we do, we can all use a little extra to get us through. Looking higher as in the opening scripture is a place to start that requires nothing other than we ask, but asking for help is not something most people do well especially from the Lord.
We think that we are not worth His time or we are too far gone for Him to help us, but nothing can be further from the truth. Open your heart and ask the Lord to fill that emptiness inside. Sincerely ask Him to forgive everything you have done and you can find what is in Psalm 51:10, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.”
Now with that renewed Spirit, begin attacking that wall. You will begin to feel the peeling surface, the cracks as they form, and the mortar and stones as they loosen. With this progress a strength will start welling up inside you and want to burst forth until you are overtaken by a new confidence that you have not felt in a long time.
At the beginning I talked about having the right tool for the job you are doing. If you are planning to demo a concrete wall you would not try using a child’s hammer and even a normal carpenters hammer would not really work. Your next choice is a sledgehammer which you could do some real damage with, but by using the holy Spirit you have the world’s best jackhammer.
Now that you are equipped with the only tool you need, the next question would be where to begin. We can find plenty of guidance in scripture and a truth in Psalm 119:105, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” The Lord will show you where the cracks are forming and the best place to break through.
As you go to work with the Spirit beside you, the chunks of wall will start falling like Jericho and soon light will be streaming through the holes. The rush of light may be blinding at first, but soon your eyes will adjust with the warmth of the Lord shining upon you. As you step free of your prison you will feel the freedom that comes from the Lord.
Now you have to shift your focus to the future and beginning a new journey with God. As we do, we find another great reminder in Philippians 3:13, “Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead”
So, join me in restocking your toolbox with the only tools you will need for the rest of your life. The ultimate repair manual in God’s Word, the most awesome multi-tool in the Holy Spirit, and our faith in the Lord as the brightest shop light to light up the darkest corners. The hardest part will be how to contain what you can do when you are properly equipped to take on life’s worst repair jobs.
GRACE AND FORGIVENESS FROM ABOVE
I see it growing higher, so I try to move to the side,
No matter how far I go, I find it’s way too wide.
It slowly begins to surround me, there is no way through this wall,
Now I can’t see over it, it’s becoming way too tall.
As I bring my fists upon it, it feels sturdier with every strike,
I am stuck now in its darkness, hard to remember what day is like.
Lord, no matter which way I turn, I find no where to go,
How do I get passed this wall that just continues to grow?
Dear child, you have used every circumstance that happened in your life,
To build the place your trapped in, causing more pain and strife.
You need to let go of all the turmoil and come to me in prayer,
Then follow the sound of my voice, to find the cracks that are there.
My Spirit will help you break through, so you can step out in to the light,
Feel the Son on your face and see a future that is so bright.
There is no wall too great that can contain the Father’s love,
Just open your heart to accept My Grace And Forgiveness From Above.
Simple Faith Christian
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Simple Faith Christian 