Psalm 91:2: I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.

Declare today that God is your protection. God the Father is our fortification. He surrounds us when we declare who we are in Him.

When I was a child growing up in Northern New York State we would get so much snow. The snow would pile so high in our cul-de-sac that the snow banks would be at the same height as our ten foot basketball hoop. My brother and I would spend hours carving out the most incredible fort to protect us from our neighborhood snowball fight. That fort was so strong and protected that nobody ever could come close to hitting us with snowballs. We had a tunnel system that allowed us to come and go, and since we never got hit once, we would always win the great snowball wars of the 90’s. Every neighborhood kid would look on with wonder and behold the strength of our fort and already feel exposed and defeated before the fight even started. Around April of every year we would see that fort of ours diminish to a pile of dirty, melted snow. It wouldn’t look so tough looking anymore. By May, all that was left was our stories and bragging rights in the neighborhood.

My point of all of this is to say that when we build ourselves a fortress, when we put our hands to building protection, time and environment will take it away. All that we can do on our own is temporary. But with God the Father, all the protection is eternal. When we put our trust in Jesus, then we never have to worry about the changing seasons. We have a forever fortress that no man or environment can break down. He is our refuge, He is our safety. Being fortified by the Lord is not an act on our part, but a declaration and an agreement to His promise. When we rest in Him as our fortress and refuge, we are no longer trapped inside walls of our own making, but a fluid shield that allows us to move freely in this world with the trust that we are not going to have to hunker down in a trench immobilized with fear from the coming attack. You can leave your house, leave your mind, and leave your fears behind knowing that wherever you go, you have His protection at all times. Trust and declare loudly that He is my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust, and see your life be transformed into a walk of confidence in the middle of any storm, including a blizzard that provides enough snow balls to make you champions of any neighborhood snowball fight