A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing;
Our helper He, amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing:
For still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe;
His craft and pow'r are great, and, armed with cruel hate,
On earth is not his equal.
Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing,
Were not the right Man on our side, the Man of God's own choosing:
Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He;
Lord Sabaoth, His Name, from age to age the same,
And He must win the battle.
And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us;
The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure,
One little word shall fell him.
That word above all earthly pow'rs, no thanks to them, abideth;
The Spirit and the gifts are ours through Him Who with us sideth;
Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also;
The body they may kill: God's truth abideth still,
His kingdom is forever.
Date: 16th century
Writer(s): Martin Luther
Background for writing: We cannot know for sure when Luther wrote this hymn, but the inspiration seems to come from Psalm 46. Most suggest it was during the Diet of Spires in 1529 when the word "Protestant" was introduced to the world for the first time. This hymn is not only a favorite hymn of Christians today, but it also became an anthem of the Protestant Reformation.
8 Lessons:
- God's strength is never failing. Men's strength will fail.
- The devil will not give up on trying to harm us, and he should not be underestimated. There is none like him.
- If we seek to engage in spiritual warfare with our own strength, we will lose.
- Jesus Christ is the only hope we have for spiritual victory.
- Because Jesus has already defeated death, sin and Satan, our final salvation is guaranteed.
- Not even death will have the last say over us.
No comments:
Post a Comment