Rebuilding the Ruins – Continued
In Weeping for the Broken: part 4.2, we began rebuilding the Fish Gate. This is the place where, as we begin rebuilding our relationship with Jesus, He calls us to follow Him. And as we begin following Him, He takes us on the field trip of our life. Here is where He leads us in Paths of Righteousness illustrating to us what the Kingdom of Heaven is like. While watching and learning about the Kingdom of Heaven, we begin making decisions that are protection for us and for the people around us. We begin to learn who the helpers are and who the hindrances are. We begin to know who we can trust to help us grow. We begin to know who we can begin to privately counsel with on our journey and in our time of beginning to grow.
The Old City Gate
Now we come to the place where the Old City Gate is being built in Nehemiah 3:6. This is where the old broken down person that we are is rebuilt and made new. 2 Corinthians 5:17 expresses this so beautifully! “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; and new life has begun!” (NLT) We become like the lame man who was healed in Acts chapter 3. This is the place where we are in an intimate relationship with Christ and as a response, we come to this place where we answer the call of baptism in the flesh and in the Holy Spirit.
The Old Made New
We, like the lame man, begin leaping and skipping and praising God for we know that we have such an intimate relationship with God that He has forgiven us and healed us of the things of the past…those broken down places are repaired. For some of us it is an instant healing. For others, it is a long drawn-out process. Some of us are able to be outward in our praises. Some of us are only able to praise Him to the heights of heaven, within the confines of our own minds, without the knowledge of anyone around us. Nevertheless, we are, in both circumstances, made new in our hearts and relationship with Christ.
Laying the Beams
As the beams of support and strength are laid through this intimate relationship with Christ, we are like the lame man who was forgiven and as we are filled with strength, we are able to stand with Christ and become strong in the strength that He has given us. He no longer counts our mistakes against us but leads us in His promises of strength and forgiveness. He is our friend and we walk in His counsels because we are able to discern and to hear His voice saying, “This is the way, walk in it.” (Isaiah 30:21, NLT)
Setting up the Doors
In Revelation 3:8, Jesus says, “I know all the things that you do, and I have opened a door for you that no one else can close. You have a little strength, yet you obeyed my word and did not deny me.” (NLT) With this little bit of strength, we have been reconciled with our Lord and Savior. Now we become ambassadors for Christ in this new life that we have been granted to walk with Christ as our friend and redeemer. This is where we are led into the kind of ministry that the Lord has promised us in His counsels with us.
Installing its bolts
Look at this blessing of Moses in Deuteronomy 33:24-26:
“May [you] be blessed above other [people];
May [you] be esteemed by your brothers [and sisters];
…May the bolts of your gates be of iron and bronze;
May you be secure all your days…
…There is no one like the God of Israel.
He rides across the heavens to help you,…
…The eternal God is your refuge,
And His everlasting arms are under you.” (NLT) [emphasis: mine]
This is like the promise that Jesus makes when He says, “Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord will personally go ahead of you. He will be with you; He will neither fail you, nor abandon you.” Deuteronomy 31:8 (NLT)
These promises are our sure strength! I can tell you that they have been my strength as I experience trials and come through them. I cannot claim that I have done anything spectacular but that the Lord has always been present.
Installing its bars
This is the place where all the strength and fortification we have in our relationship with Jesus enables us and leads us as we continue to interact with divine appointments and as we meet people who have been as broken as we have been and in similar places like where we have been broken. We are able to minister to the people that are brought into our lives for their healing. Remember how the ministry of Jesus is our ministry, too. He knows the people we need to reach for Him better than we do. We become to them as stars in the night sky as we give to them the things the Lord has given to us. These are one of the many references the Bible gives to us as “bearing fruits.”
Tell Me About Your Old City Gate
Have you had that experience where your Old City Gate has been rebuilt or is in the process of becoming a New Gate in your life? Romans 6:6 says, “We know that our old [broken] selves were crucified with Christ so that [brokenness] might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to [brokenness]. For when we died with Christ, we were set free from the power of [brokenness].” (NLT) [Word Adaption: Mine] If you have not made a decision to break free from the brokenness that holds you, would you make that decision today? If you have made that decision to break free from brokenness, are you willing to share your journey? Tell me about it in the comments below or write to me at [email protected]
