Walls vs Sanctuary
Today was our second day to learn about the 'walls' we have built around ourselves.
Our lesson was based on the 'Johari Window.' I had never heard of this teaching before, nor of Joseph Luft and Harrington Ingham who had created this window to help people better understand their relationship with self and others. I understand it is very popular in 'self help' groups.
Here is an example of the Johari Window:
As we continued the lesson, the wall got bigger and more chaotic with problems that do not make a sturdy wall, and especially lacks a solid foundation.
Once this happens, it is impossible to rebuild the wall again. It will never be the same. It will never hold up against the storms. It is evidential proof that what Jesus said in Matt 7:24-27 about a house built on sand is true. (Who would have imagined that Jesus spoke Truth?!!!
It is such a seemingly small lesson, but it's message is powerful. And only with the help of The Lord and Holy Spirit can we truly begin to remove the false 'bricks' from our wall and build a strong and solid stronghold around ourselves. Only with Christ as our Stronghold will we be able to withstand the storms and attacks on our lives.
The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
-Psalms 18:2
Our lesson was based on the 'Johari Window.' I had never heard of this teaching before, nor of Joseph Luft and Harrington Ingham who had created this window to help people better understand their relationship with self and others. I understand it is very popular in 'self help' groups.
Here is an example of the Johari Window:
#1. This is the part of ourselves that we share with others. This is what we want others to see about us. Good or bad. It is what we choose to reveal.
#2. This is the part of ourselves that we don't see on our own. But others can. This is where we receive criticism and correction for something. It doesn't have to be negative, but it's not always welcome.
#3. This is the closet where we hide our skeletons. This is where we keep our deepest secrets because we don't want anyone to know about it.
#4. This the part about ourselves that no one, not us our others, know about us. Perhaps someone is dealing with a fear they don't understand. It may be something we've blocked out or go back to something that happened to us as a baby that we were too young to remember.
It's important that we grow the #1 Open part of ourselves so that there are less 'blind spots' to catch us by surprise, less skeleton's to keep us insecure, and less unknown issues that we cannot deal with until we've identified it.
This Johari Window was a very good visual of how these four areas in each of our lives can lead us to building 'walls' around us. But I learned that not all walls are bad. Some walls can be good if they've been built on a solid foundation and are used to shelter us -not close out everything and everyone else.
Our instructor went on to create a demo using her children's toys (a firefighter and large lego's) to demonstrate all the things that can happen in our lives that build up our insecure wall.
As we continued the lesson, the wall got bigger and more chaotic with problems that do not make a sturdy wall, and especially lacks a solid foundation.
It is amazing how many of these I recognized for myself. And the hardest part is when our instructor demonstrated what happens to the wall when the storms come.
Once this happens, it is impossible to rebuild the wall again. It will never be the same. It will never hold up against the storms. It is evidential proof that what Jesus said in Matt 7:24-27 about a house built on sand is true. (Who would have imagined that Jesus spoke Truth?!!!
It is such a seemingly small lesson, but it's message is powerful. And only with the help of The Lord and Holy Spirit can we truly begin to remove the false 'bricks' from our wall and build a strong and solid stronghold around ourselves. Only with Christ as our Stronghold will we be able to withstand the storms and attacks on our lives.
The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
-Psalms 18:2
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