THE BRICK TRICK  

When I first took note of the verse about the “pulling down of strongholds,” it didn’t take long for me to figure out where they came from. Almost instantly, it made sense to me that strongholds do not appear overnight. We do not wake up in the morning and decide to steal money from the office or run off with a married man. We are not docile one day and full of rebellion the next. Tottering finances don’t suddenly appear and fractured families don’t become fractured when the members are adults and a significant unpleasant event occurs.

This was a sobering revelation, and as I went about my business, the truth began to dawn as to what really happens when things appear “out of nowhere” somewhere down the road of our lives. I gave it a name: The Brick Trick.

The Brick Trick goes like this. We steal a pencil from the person next to us in 3^rd grade. If we are not caught, Satan, with our cooperation, lays down the first brick. It could be the next week or the next year, but most assuredly, the temptation to steal will surface again. Sometimes, I imagine, there could be years in between, but I believe that frequency, and severity increases with each offense. When you are twenty-five or forty or nineteen, the stronghold is in place, and whether it ever comes out or not, it affects our life acutely.

If we are caught, and the handling of the issue is carried out in a Biblical manner, whether by godly parents or by a secular school system, a brick does not go down. Satan cannot construct one of his edifices in our lives if we are actively facing up to our sin and dealing with it harshly. How foolish to “sweep under the rug” our “slip ups” for in so doing, we have played the part of fellow mason with the enemy.

The same is true with temper. Parents often believe that kids will outgrow their tempers, but I think not, in most cases. People often become bitterly angry as they get older, seemingly out of nowhere; but I wonder about The Brick Trick when I see that.

You don’t wake up one day and decide to commit adultery. No, you’ve been flirtatious for a long time, maybe even since you were a young child. You’ve worn provocative clothes, even as a teen. You were “looking around” even when you had a boyfriend. The bricks were going down.

The older I get, the more I realize how clever Satan is. He knows what will make us fall or fail. So he chips away at that point of character relentlessly. The Bible talks of our having each thought and motive under God’s control. My mom made us learn the verse, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer.” We should become obnoxious in our reminding each other of that prayer, day after day. Parents should make this one of the Top Ten Teachings of their children…and set a perfect example themselves.

Keep in mind, all this being said, that the whole verse reads, “The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds.” Is there a stronghold in your life? Do you know someone else who has one of these GREAT BIG BUILDINGS in their life? It’s not too late! Pull it down!