The Mind of Christ

Psalm 94:22 But the Lord has become my stronghold, and my God the rock of my refuge.

G. Campbell Morgan sums up this Psalm much better than I could and he says…“In this song we see how the very things which assault faith, and threaten to produce despair, may be made the opportunity for praise, in the place and act of worship.”

The praise and worship that comes from the despair is in our focus verse for the day. That is, that God is our stronghold, our rock and our refuge.

God is our stronghold!

2 Corinthians 10:4-6 For the weapons of nour warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to robey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.  This passage discusses the nature of Christian warfare and the weapons used in it. The passage emphasizes that our weapons are not physical or worldly, but are divinely powerful for the destruction of strongholds, which can be understood as the fortifications of sin and error in a person’s life or thinking. Our thoughts and minds are clouded with sin and we need God to intervene and be the one to breakdown the stronghold that sin and Satan have on us.

God is our rock.

1 Peter 2:4-8 As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in Scripture: “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone,a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.” God sent HIS son Jesus Christ to be the stone that was rejected. He was rejected by the religious establishment and crucified on the cross. Christ now through His sacrifice has made us the “new” religious establishment in the form of priests. We GET to do what the levitical priests were supposed to do, and that is to herald the good news of the promised seed and that is Jesus and the forgiveness of sins. He is our foundation and our future!!

God is our refuge!

Romans 8:38-39  For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. This is my Pastors, unapologetically, favorite chapter in all the Bible and I can understand why. This passage and chapter is packed full of wisdom from Paul the author! My favorite part is that the believer most likely understands that through the death burial and resurrection of Jesus we have a certain future. That nothing can “separate” us from His love…not the death of our bodies, Satan, angels, creation. However the one word I missed for years was the word “life”.  This Psalm perfectly depicts this. When our life is faced with despair, trials, hardships, valleys of darkness…God tells us with full assurance that this CAN NOT separate us from His love. His love is as certain as the sun rising.  Nothing (this is a double negative in the Greek) so it should read that nothing nothing (reminds me of Sgt. Shultz on Hogan’s Heros) can separate you from the love of Jesus!!! What a glorious God we serve!