Today is the 11th day of the second Adar and you might be noticing, depending on where you live, that Spring is upon us or it’s just right around the corner. If you are looking outside and there’s still snow on the ground, just hold on – Spring is on the way. For many, that means the opportunity to get out in the yard, dig in the dirt and plant flowers and vegetables. For some, its therapeutic just to work in the yard

There’s just something about watching things grow, hearing baby birds chirping for their mothers and the aroma of fresh-cut grass. And then, top it off with a soft Spring shower. That’s the time of year when most of us, growing up, would like to get outside and play in the rain. My brother, sister and I would go stomping around in the puddles and, to Mom’s chagrin, roll around and play in the mud. I remember how we would take the mud and pile it up to make a little wall, and then watch to see if we could redirect the water. No matter how hard we tried, the water, always on the move, would find a way to get around our little mud barriers. It would always find the path of least resistance and move along its way. Depending on how much rain there was, sometimes it caused our mud walls to disintegrate, meaning that our fun didn’t last very long. The water could always find a way to get around these obstacles.

Thinking back on this memory from childhood, it occurred to me that, as humans, we often build walls in an attempt to hold things back. Sometimes we do it purposely. Sometimes we do it without realizing it. For instance, we will try to will ourselves to block off destructive tendencies, or emotions that bring back bad memories We think that if we block them out of our mind, and ignore them altogether, they’ll simply go away. The problem is those kinds of things, like rain water, will find a way to seep back into our lives, always taking the path of least resistance. If those tendencies are strong enough and if those emotions are bitter enough, ignoring them can be destructive. These strong feelings, left unattended, can easily overpower our feeble attempts to deliver ourselves.

Oddly enough, these kinds of walls can be the very thing that impedes what we do need in order to live a victorious life. We might be constructing walls that limit what the Father wishes to do in our life. We know that He desires to bless us and that He wants us to walk in liberty and peace. However, for that to happen requires that the walls we’ve build must come down. We’re going to have to trust Him in every aspect of our lives, including and especially those components of our lives that we want to ignore, block off and retain control of. This reminds me of a passage found in the book of Malachi:

“Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and try Me now in this, says the Lord of hosts, If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, so that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground, nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field, says the Lord of hosts.” (Malachi 3:10-11)

I realize that this passage is speaking of tithing, but the principle is simply this: when we relinquish control of our lives to the Creator, that’s when we will see blessing overtaking us, like rain falling on a thirsty ground. When we decide to retain control in any area of our lives, whether it’s money, fear or emotion, we build up a wall that separates us from the blessing the Creator wants to bestow upon us. Relinquishing control and removing those obstacles that we have put in place, regardless of our motivation, might be the very thing that is preventing the Creator from doing a work in our lives. This is yet another example of how we are to continually die to ourselves that He might live in us and through us.

If you’ve built up walls because of hurt, fear, distrust or any other strong emotion, allow the Holy Spirit to bring rain into your life in such abundance that those walls are washed away. Let us pray that the magnitude of His blessing He wishes to bestow upon us will cause remove all the barriers that we may be filled with His Presence and joy.

Today is the 11th day of the second Adar and you might be noticing, depending on where you live, that Spring is upon us or it’s just right around the corner. If you are looking outside and there’s still snow on the ground, just hold on – Spring is on the way. For many, that means the opportunity to get out in the yard, dig in the dirt and plant flowers and vegetables. For some, its therapeutic just to work in the yard

There’s just something about watching things grow, hearing baby birds chirping for their mothers and the aroma of fresh-cut grass. And then, top it off with a soft Spring shower. That’s the time of year when most of us, growing up, would like to get outside and play in the rain. My brother, sister and I would go stomping around in the puddles and, to Mom’s chagrin, roll around and play in the mud. I remember how we would take the mud and pile it up to make a little wall, and then watch to see if we could redirect the water. No matter how hard we tried, the water, always on the move, would find a way to get around our little mud barriers. It would always find the path of least resistance and move along its way. Depending on how much rain there was, sometimes it caused our mud walls to disintegrate, meaning that our fun didn’t last very long. The water could always find a way to get around these obstacles.

Thinking back on this memory from childhood, it occurred to me that, as humans, we often build walls in an attempt to hold things back. Sometimes we do it purposely. Sometimes we do it without realizing it. For instance, we will try to will ourselves to block off destructive tendencies, or emotions that bring back bad memories We think that if we block them out of our mind, and ignore them altogether, they’ll simply go away. The problem is those kinds of things, like rain water, will find a way to seep back into our lives, always taking the path of least resistance. If those tendencies are strong enough and if those emotions are bitter enough, ignoring them can be destructive. These strong feelings, left unattended, can easily overpower our feeble attempts to deliver ourselves.

Oddly enough, these kinds of walls can be the very thing that impedes what we do need in order to live a victorious life. We might be constructing walls that limit what the Father wishes to do in our life. We know that He desires to bless us and that He wants us to walk in liberty and peace. However, for that to happen requires that the walls we’ve build must come down. We’re going to have to trust Him in every aspect of our lives, including and especially those components of our lives that we want to ignore, block off and retain control of. This reminds me of a passage found in the book of Malachi:

“Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and try Me now in this, says the Lord of hosts, If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, so that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground, nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field, says the Lord of hosts.” (Malachi 3:10-11)

I realize that this passage is speaking of tithing, but the principle is simply this: when we relinquish control of our lives to the Creator, that’s when we will see blessing overtaking us, like rain falling on a thirsty ground. When we decide to retain control in any area of our lives, whether it’s money, fear or emotion, we build up a wall that separates us from the blessing the Creator wants to bestow upon us. Relinquishing control and removing those obstacles that we have put in place, regardless of our motivation, might be the very thing that is preventing the Creator from doing a work in our lives. This is yet another example of how we are to continually die to ourselves that He might live in us and through us.

If you’ve built up walls because of hurt, fear, distrust or any other strong emotion, allow the Holy Spirit to bring rain into your life in such abundance that those walls are washed away. Let us pray that the magnitude of His blessing He wishes to bestow upon us will cause remove all the barriers that we may be filled with His Presence and joy.