Tearing down walls

The people of Jericho had built this impregnable wall around them yet were shivering with fright as they watched the Israelites advance on the sands crossing Jordan. The Israelites must have been filled with confidence as they advanced through the sands of Jordan. They believed in a God that made all things possible to those who believed in Him. If God could part the Jordan River, He will tear that wall down. They had heard reports of the disheartened enemy. It was really a watershed moment for the children of Israel. Joshua’s devotion to God does not stop there, after crossing Jordan all the men of Israel who had not been circumcised, were circumcised. This ceremony must have left the soldiers completely paralyzed for a few days.

Was this not a defiant act toward the enemies to come before them and to willfully make themselves weak? A painful reminder of who was in control. A suffering that they persevered through, yet which filled them with hope that God was going to win this war for them. This was the fulfillment of a promise to Abraham 600 years ago, that one day they would possess the land of Canaan. They renewed this covenant by circumcision. A ceremony that sanctified them in the eyes of God.

As I was surfing the web the other day, I came across an innovative prayer strategy that the Campus Crusade for Christ at the University of Wisconsin employed. One of their staff members challenged them to form a group that walked around their campus to bring down the spiritual walls that prevented the students from coming to Christ. It was well received and their procession attracted much attention. They were able to draw some more students to their fold. I wonder what will happen to if people of God did silent processions of prayer around strongholds of evil and corruption?

As we look into our own lives and those in our community of faith, are there walls we are building about us, willingly or unwillingly? If we do build walls, do we find ourselves walling certain people out of our lives? Do we build walls that will be broken down only after our goals are achieved? Do these walls really manage to block people out of our lives? Can we hope for a day when the entire world will be without walls?

Today I find more and more people who have built walls that keep the love of God out of their lives. They make sure that they live lives that shut God completely out. I turn the television on with fear and trembling, that something will be shown that my son shouldn't hear or see. In the news often the people who get attention is the criminal. A sexual molester or serial killer is glorified by the media as they recount his string of crimes. The madness that we are living in is invited willingly or unwillingly into the heart of our homes. We live in fear that one of these madmen is going to confront us. A runaway prisoner, runaway bride, runaway car….why are we running away from God?

God longs for us to tear down all the walls that separate man from Him. When Christ died on the cross he tore down the wall of sin that separated man from God.He opened the gates of grace for us to approach the throne of mercy. It is time to tear down the walls that separate us from Christ and let him into every area of our lives. It is time that families came together on their knees in prayer for the community and for their own families. Build walls that will keep evil out and open gates of grace that will let broken hearts and lives in to be loved and cared for.

Today we as Christians should circumcise our hearts by the power of the Holy Spirit (Romans 2:29). John Wesley elaborated on this when he preached at St. Mary's, Oxford,
before the University, on January 1, 1733. Circumcision of heart implies humility, faith, hope, and charity. Humility, a right judgment of ourselves, cleanses our minds from those high conceits of our own perfection, from that undue opinion of our own abilities and attainments, which are the genuine fruit of a corrupted nature. This entirely cuts off that vain thought, "I am rich, and wise, and have need of nothing;" and convinces us that we are by nature wretched, and poor, and miserable, and blind, and naked. That "circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter;" -- that the distinguishing mark of a true follower of Christ, of one who is in a state of acceptance with God, is not either outward circumcision, or baptism, or any other outward form, but a right state of soul, a mind and spirit renewed after the image of Him that created it.

Let us pray with St Paul for out of the glorious riches Christ Jesus may strengthen our spirits with power through his Holy Spirit in our inner being. May Christ dwell in our hearts through faith. By the grace of God may we be filled with love, peace, humility, and hope. May we grasp how wide, long, high and deep is the love of Christ for us and all generations forever and ever(Ephesians3:14-21).