As I sat there this morning watching the sun rise up over the mountains I had everything to be thankful for and yet I was just plain numb.
It seemed as if I was surrounded by a wall on all sides and there was a large part of me that just wanted to turn around and stop looking at them. I didn’t feel God’s presence, I didn’t hear His voice, my mind was running around in all different directions and I just didn’t want to be there. It was more than just being Monday. Have you been there?
I realized that the only reason I was there was because the Lord told me to be there. To start my day with Him in the stillness of the morning. I realized something I had forgotten along the way and that was a lesson I had been taught during some hard times. It was the simplest advice I have ever been given and yet it was the hardest to follow. This morning was just one of those times when if I was going to find the Lord I had to deal with the… wall.
That’s when I began to hear the voice of my dearest brother in the Lord, Pastor Dave Baker. He is the one who reminded me that the reason I get up early to read the Word and pray is not because I get goose bumps or some tremendous revelation breaks through. It’s not because my earliest minutes are filled with praise and worship that make my spirit soar. No, while I experience those things from time-to-time, they aren’t the reason I get up early. The reason I get up every day to spend time with the Lord is the lesson Dave shared with me a long time ago.
Spiritual Discipline!
Spiritual discipline looks past the goose bumps, the revelation, the soaring worship and those wonderful moments of peace when the Holy Spirit fills your heart with His presence. Spiritual discipline is all about commitment, commitment to the Word of God that says that faithful obedience is the key to our spiritual maturity. Discipline is what provides the strength to face those mornings with the walls – walls without names – that seem to be closing in and you just don’t have the strength, desire or will power to tear them down. It’s the discipline that builds your faith in the One who has not only shown you how to tear those walls down but gives you the promise that He is waiting for you on the other side.
If you find yourself facing walls and everything in you says, “just forget it, get on with the day;” don’t buy into the easy way out. It’s really not easy and it’s not a way out. There is only one thing to do when you “don’t know what to do.” There is only one thing that will give you victory and that’s to put everything out of your mind and lift your spirit in praise. You don’t need to have a formula, you don’t have to have the answers, and you certainly don’t have to know what to pray for; at the end of the day the Lord may not choose to provide you with the answers. But, if my life is any proof, when you employ the chief weapon of spiritual warfare the walls “will come down.”
There is example after example in the Bible of Israel being victorious when she led her army in to battle, preceded by worship… the defeat of Jericho certainly being the example we all remember. But just read the history in Chronicles and be encouraged. God is the same yesterday, today and forever.
As I write this, has the fog lifted and is my spirit soaring? No!
But my being disciplined to stand and worship the Lord this morning when I just didn’t feel like it did tear down that wall. And I have the peace of knowing that that is all the Lord asked me to do this morning. I really don’t remember what I read in His Word or what I was trying to pray for. Perhaps that will come tomorrow morning. All I know is that it’s Monday morning, the wall is down, and I am in His presence.
I will leave you with the advice Pastor Dave gave me… never ever walk away from a wall. Be disciplined, don’t look at the wall, just lift up your voice in praise and worship the Lord. You will accomplish 3 things: 1) your discipline will strengthen your foundation and your faith in His Word and His promises will grow; 2) you “will” tear down that wall that is trying to stand between you and the Lord; and 3) according to the Word you will be executing judgment on the enemy (Ps 149) and next time it will be a little easier because your confidence in the Lord will be standing on firmer ground.
Yes, my spirit is lifted up, but not because I have Holy Spirit goose bumps. Even though I didn’t see it happen, I know the enemy took a beating this morning when the wall came down and I am encouraged and strengthened to get up again tomorrow morning and do it again if I need to.