Daily Devotion: Walls of Protection

Scripture:
2 Corinthians 10: 1-6

Main Verses:
2 Corinthians 10: 4-5
The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

Observation:
There is a spiritual battle going on in the lives of every Christian. If you are a Christian, and you say that you have never had any problems ever in your Christian life, think again. We are at constant war with our mind, and if we are not aware, this battle can easily spread to other areas of our life. Every day, from the moment we wake up to the time we sleep, we experience trials, temptations, the testing of our faith, problems, and difficulties. People close to us will hurt us, and when they do, it hurts the most because we have such high expectations from them. But if we know from the start that they can hurt us, we can spare ourselves from the heartache. If we know that they can cause us pain, we can prepare to love them inspite of what they have done.

Application:
When someone has offended us, our first defense is to avoid this person. We feel that the best thing to do is to be quiet about it, say "I'm okay," (even though you're not), and let time heal the wound. But honestly, when someone has hurt us, are we truly okay? Oftentimes, we are too proud to admit to ourselves and to the other person that we have been offended, and that's when we build a wall so that we can protect ourselves from being hurt again. We become selective in our relationships. We do not want to deal with anyone who has hurt us in the past. But as we build this wall of protection, we get imprisoned in our own fortress and it becomes difficult for us to love others, even to those who do not wish us harm. Building a wall will not protect us from the pain of getting hurt. Our failure to admit that we have been offended will cause us more pain because we let an unforgiving spirit dwell in our hearts. Let us remember what the apostle Paul said: we do not wage war as the world does. We have weapons that have divine powers to demolish strongholds, but we can only do that if we ask the Lord to break the walls of protection we have built upon ourselves. Ask the Lord to get rid of any bitterness so you may receive His unconditional love. We may never love unconditionally if we have so much anger in our hearts.

Prayer:
Lord, I believe I can claim victory over anger, bitterness, and resentment because you have already triumphed over them on the cross. There is nothing impossible in this world, and that includes loving those who choose not to love us or those who choose to hurt us. Forgive me if I have hurt anyone, and help me be more loving towards others. AMEN.