Building A Strong Wall

Building A Strong Wall

A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls. -Prov. 25:28

I get this often from a client..

"I need to talk. It's been a rough day, and I think I'm going to make a really bad choice."

Ever been there?  Here are a few of my thoughts...

Self-Control: The Great Wall of Defense

Francine Rivers is one of my favorite authors.  A few years ago I read her novella entitled "Rahab." If you are familiar with the account of Joshua and the battle of Jericho, this story took you on an insider perspective of that story. It gave an awesome depiction of the battle at Jericho.  What I distinctly remember was the emphasis on the city walls.  The city walls were also called the "Defensive Walls" and for good reason.  They protected the city from any outside dangers and harm.  If you wanted to conquer a city, you had to overcome the walls.

The walls around a city were tall and made of bricks and stones and mortar.  They were meant to be impenetrable.   Men with weapons guarded the wall--and the city gate.  The gate was the only place for outside forces to enter.

In order for Joshua to conquer the city, he had to first conquer the walls.  It seemed crazy what God asked him to do, but he marched and the horns blew and...well, the walls came down, exposing Jericho to a massacre of great magnitude.  No protection was going to keep out the army that had one thing on its mind--VICTORY!

A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls.  How extremely vulnerable and weak!  Worse than weak.  What is weaker than weak?  I can't seem to find a word for it.

We need city walls around our hearts and our minds.  We need impenetrable walls to keep us from utter defeat.  When I am lacking self control, I am very weak to the temptations around me.  That weakness brings about a massacre of epic proportions.  I can't afford that!  

The word of the day is: SELF CONTROL.  It is something that needs to be exercised.  It's like a muscle.  The more we use it, the stronger it becomes.

So, hopefully the client will get their minds set back on their goals and NOT make that bad choice, and I am blessed to help them out in those weak moments.

When you do make the right choice, and don't succumb to that stress and reach out for help..that is something to reward yourself. Check out yesterday's post on non-food rewards.