A True Stronghold

I was listening to Casting Crowns Stained Glass Maquerade yesterday, and in light of what I was reading in the Bible that morning, these words from the song struck me:

Is there anyone that fails?

Is there anyone that falls?

Am I the only one in church today, feeling so small?

Cause when I take a look around

Everybody seems so strong

I know they'll soon discover

That I don't belong

So I tuck it all away

Like everything's OK

If I make em all believe it

Maybe I'll believe it too

So with a painted grin

I'll play the part again

So everyone will see me

The way that I see them

Are we happy plastic people

Under shiny plastic steeples

With walls around our weakness

And smiles that hide our pain

“With walls around our weakness...”

It is human nature to build walls around our pain, failures and flaws in order to hide our weaknesses and protect ourselves from being hurt. We construct a "stronghold" for ourselves, a place where we are the only one who knows who we truly are and what we struggle with. We hide our true self, but the "strongholds" we manufacture and the walls we put up, don't protect us. They isolate us. We fear opening the gate and letting people inside.

Did you know that the Bible talks about God being our stronghold? The word stronghold in the Bible means a fortified place, a defense. For thousands of years, ancient cities around the world have built high, thick, sturdy walls around theirs cities. Inside the walls there was protection and provision, and mighty warriors stood guard on top of the high walls to watch for approaching danger.

Psalm 59:16

But I will sing of your strength and will joyfully proclaim your faithful love in the morning. For you have been a stronghold for me, a refuge in my day of trouble. To you, my strength, I sing praises, because God is my stronghold — my faithful God.

The Psalmist describes the loyal love and steadfast strength God has given him as his stronghold. God has been a fortified place where he has been loved and provided for.

Psalm 27:1

The LORD is my light and my salvation —whom should I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life —whom should I dread?

When the God of heaven and earth, the One who commands the armies of heaven is our Rescuer, who do we have to fear? He surrounds us with His love, provides us with everything we need, and is our defense from the enemy and his lies.

Romans 8:1,31-33,35, 38-39

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 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.

When we are IN Christ Jesus- it means we are His child. We are welcomed into His kingdom where He is the high, thick, sturdy wall that surrounds our lives.

Inside our Mighty Stronghold, Jesus:

There is no condemnation (damnatory sentence) against us, because we have been forgiven and made right with God through faith in Jesus. We are His.

There is loving correction and clear direction.

God is for us. There is no enemy more powerful than our God. There is no temptation that can overtake us that God has not already provided an escape for us so we can endure it. (1 Corinthians 10:13)

We are justified.

He graciously gives us everything we need.

Nothing can separate us from His love.

We are invited to lay our burdens down, and to find our forever home and rest in Him. (1Peter 5:7, Matthew 11:28-30)

He will not reject or hurt us. He has promised to forgive us from all our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

He works through every situation to bring His good to our life.

We are an integral part of the body of Chirst and are given the beautiful and meaningful job of building up others. Instead of isolating ourselves, we are now part of a family where we get to carry eachother's burdens, lift eachother up in prayer, confess to one another, forgive one another and praise our great God together. (Ephesians 4:12-13, 1 Corinthians 12, Galasians 6:2, James 5:16, Matthew 11:26)

We don't need to fear other's opinions, because in God's kingdom, His opinion of us is what trumps everything else. We are His and He will continue to work in our lives until the very end. He doesn't leave us how He found us, broken and isolated. He heals us and sanctifies us, making our lives more and more like Him.

There is freedom inside Jesus. We don't need to hide, we don't need to put on "smiles that hide our pain" and pretend to "be happy plastic people." We can live in humble surrender to God, admitting our weaknesses, and submitting to His mighty, loving hand as He molds us into something beautiful and holy. We can thrive inside our Stonghold and the life-giving boundaries He has set for His children’s lives, because He is everything we need.

The song finishes with these words:

If the invitations open

To every heart that has been broken

Maybe then we close the curtain

On our stained glass masquerade

The invitaion is open. Come live inside the only stronghold that lasts forever. Come live where you will be perfectly loved, provided for and protected. Come live where you will never be alone.

Come to Jesus, because He cares for you.

In Christ,

Amy