Fortification: Made Strong to Pour Out

Our lives are under constant attack. We have a wall that surrounds us and blocks the enemy’s attacks, but the enemy is always looking for ways to harass us and take our focus off of God. He uses cunning and deceit to find an access point. He is smart enough not to waste his time attacking the strong part of the wall when he could find a weakness in our defenses and exploit it. These weakness, holes, gaps, or breeches give him the opportunity to harass, sabotage, destroy, and deceive us. If we are to serve Christ effectively these breeches must be repaired and our walls made strong. Most Christians agree up to this point, our lives are under attack and we need to have our “walls repaired” so that we are not open to the assaults of the enemy, but it is what happens next that devision begins. Once the wall has been repaired, what are we supposed to do?

Many Christians believe that we are delivered from the enemy’s attacks so that we could live healthy, wealthily, and prosperous lives. They expect to experience no hardships or difficulties, no trials or pain. They are confused of what fortification really is. They think that all pain and difficulties are from the enemy and that God only brings love and prosperity. But the truth is that there are two kinds of pain, enemy pain and God pain. The pain that the enemy brings darkness, confusion, disease, condemnation, abuse, lies, and death. God pain is the good kind of pain like being sore after exercising or birthing pain. It brings light, strength, truth, healing, and life. Once we have identified what is from the enemy and what is from God, we now know what we must resist and what to allow.

We are fortified, not that our lives may be sheltered for our own selfish desires, but so that we are made strong to pour out. Christ fortifies us so that we can turn outward and serve those in need, instead of constantly trying to ward off the enemy attacks. For far too long Christians have adopted a defensive battle strategy, to be inward focused, how to keep their lives from falling apart. We are called to fight for those who can’t fight for themselves. We are to be the deliverer of the poor, eyes for the blind, feet to the lame, the protecter of the orphan and widow, and to rescue the defenseless from the jaws of the wicked. As Christians we should be on the offensive, not just waiting to repel the attacks of the enemy, but to always our swords at the ready to storm the very gates of hell to rescue the lost off it’s doorstep. That is what we are fortified for, we are made strong to pour out our lives in service to our king. We are to always be ready to go and fight and lay our lives down for the cause of heaven, for to live is Christ and to die is gain.