Please Note ~ As you progress through each affirmation, please have your Bible with you, and read each passage as you go, this way you might experience each word to its fullest extent. I recognize the readability is affected by all the references, but the reason for them is to point you back to the Bible for your own benefit.
We all experience the waves and seasons of life. We know that there are bright and sunny seasons filled with joy, laughter and happiness. Harder to grasp and accept, however, are the chapters of our lives that are filled with storms and darkness. It’s the times of our lives we don’t like talking about. No matter where we turn, the path we tread is riddled with confusion and obstacles– and it is here, in the shadows of ourselves, we are truly, and completely tested.
A refuge is a shelter or place of protection from danger and distress. A refugee is a person who flees to a foreign country or power to escape danger or persecution. When Adam and Eve were in the garden, they were uncovered and in their natural habitat, in the place of their birth. However, after they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and committed the first sin, they became aware of their nakedness and the danger that would befall them if they remained exposed. They had become foreigners in their own home, and their first act as refugees was to seek refuge among the trees (Gen. 3:7-10).
Jesus Christ is called the Last Adam (1 Cor. 15:45-49) because through Him, we can become citizens of His kingdom; therefore, allowing us to seek refuge in Him while we are in this world. The Last Adam became a life-giving spirit, and it is His spirit that revives our soul so that we might seek refuge in Him.
Our flesh is constantly at war with our born-again nature in Christ, as it states in Galatians 5:17, and because we currently dwell within this fallen and fleshly world, it is easier to seek refuge in the things of this world, instead of seeking solace in Christ (2 Cor. 4:4, Luke 4:5-6). Just like our physical being thirsts for natural water, the born-again being thirsts for the water from the Spiritual Rock (1 Cor. 10:4). Therefore, Matthew 5:6 says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” When the fleshly nature seeks refuge in the things of this world (1 John 2:16-17), it is seeking to feed the carnal man (Rom. 8:6).
People who are born-again through repentance (Matt. 3:8) and baptism, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38), must humble themselves before God. This involves making a habit of prayer, turning from wicked ways and seeking His face (2 Chron. 7:14), therefore, regaining the right to run to God in times of trouble (Ps. 71:3, Prov. 18:10).
This allows God to give us his Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:11-13), which teaches us to keep His laws (Ezek. 36:27). However, the same Rock of Refuge (Ps. 94:22) will be a Stone of Stumbling (1 Pet. 2:7-8) to a person who isn't born again or who rejects Christ. Just like Psalms 119:105 says, when we have nowhere to go or feel lost in this world, and we sincerely seek Him out and act in obedience to His Word, He will light our paths in the darkness of our minds, revealing to us the next step in our journey of life.
More to come,
Michael Apa
(and thank you to my most beautiful wife, Meliah, for all her hard work on the web design and social media graphics)
