Ephesians 6:10 - Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.

James 4:7 - Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Philippians 4:13 - I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.

1 Peter 5:8 - Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

As I spoke to my spouse this week, quite the analogy came to us. And I thought it was an excellent thing to share this week on the blog. And I believe the scriptures above, for sure, apply to what we were talking about.

Most of us know the story of the "Three Little Pigs." There were three different houses built. And the wolf came to blow these houses down. The house of straw was blown down. The house of sticks was blown down. The house of brick was not blown down. Even in this childhood fairy-tale, I got from it at a young age that you would want a strong house so nothing would happen to it. As a kid, this was something I could grasp, and as a fairy-tale, there's some truth to it. But, I know as an adult it isn't The Truth.

As I think about this storyline, I realized that as I first came into Christianity and as I first started reading my Bible and as I first started going to a faith-filled/Word church, it was almost like my thought patterns were more like the house of straw. I could very easily be swayed. I didn't understand much for myself so I would have to rely on others more as far as what the Bible said. I would take every sermon I heard and be like oh, that makes sense, I see that now. That also means, it was very easy for me to hear something that maybe wasn't quite what the Bible said, but I wouldn't know any better and it would be easy for my thinking or understanding to be swayed.

As time went on and I devoured the Word and began to understand it more and more, you could say, my understanding and thinking for sure became like a house of bricks. I knew what it meant. I understood what I was reading in the Bible. The Bible was no longer a storybook or a fairy-tale. It became the real deal. It is now much harder to sway me on certain things. I know what the Bible says and I have an understanding of it.

However, as I was thinking on this, brick isn't a sure thing. Did you know that bricks can fall to pieces? Bricks can crack from the weather. Bricks can become unstable over time. If the mortar joints fail, those actually aren't too bad to fix, but once the bricks start cracking and chipping, it can be a bigger undertaking. To be properly fixed, the bricks need removed and completely replaced. And the thing about bricks is when you get a crack in one of them, it's very easy for water and ice to move down the bricks that are directly below the originally affected brick. So, now we've gone from a brick that needed to be repaired to the entire side that needs to be repaired. This can be on a house or chimney. Whichever is easiest for you to envision.

Basically, it's a warning; we need to make sure if we get any cracks in our faith; or any cracks in what we know the Bible says, we need to repair that as soon as we recognize it. If you don't take care of that slight bit of doubt immediately, it can tear your "brick house" down. Cracks are usually pretty unnoticeable at first. As time goes on, they become bigger and more damaging. And your brick house will no longer stand the devourer, who is seeking for someone to destroy.

So, stay strong in the Lord and keep yourself sturdy for when the "big, bad wolf" comes.