The safety of wholehearted love
Psalms 91:1-3 He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord , “He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.” Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler And from the perilous pestilence.
Psalm 91 is a great assurance of protection, but it is important to note that Psalm 91 is a qualified statement about abiding in God as your choice for safety in a time of trouble. It is an invitation to wholehearted love.
In its fullest expression, Psalm 91 is an end time Psalm, because the fullest expression of the pestilence, plagues, and destruction it describes will happen the most in the time of the Great Tribulation:
Matthew 24:21-22 For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened.
The promise of Psalm 91 is that if you make God's presence your dwelling place...what your life is about..THEN you can expect protection. BUT, it is for those who have made this life choice. Sincere love is different than wholehearted love.
The choice for wholehearted abiding in the presence of God is the part of this Psalm that often gets untaught. This isn't a promise for everyone. This is a promise for those who have gotten READY by choosing, in the daily choices of life, to abide in the presence of God as a priority.
The judgments of God are important to understand. If I don't take the time to sit down and study the judgments and find God's heart for them, I will presume much when the intensity increases. Unfortunately, many will find out the hard way that their presumption of what God was doing and what agreement with Him looks like, would cost them much:
Matthew 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
Lawlessness is presumption. Presuming that just because you are doing things that seem like things Jesus would be happy with... without actually abiding in an ongoing experience of His presence... is what leads to lawlessness. Mankind generally is most concerned with the destination, where God is really mostly trying to get us into a conversation.
Operating in the spiritual realm without making the abiding conversation with God the source of your direction and your primary goal...making God your source of information and the reward for putting that information to use, or obedience...this leads to lawlessness.
Lawlessness is the opposite of abiding in the presence of the most high...yet presuming approval simply because Jesus' name is being thrown about. This will not do. This won't actually protect anyone. It will increase rebellion. Strange fire causes death.
David is the example of the principle of "abiding protection." David is the one who lived out this principle of seeking God first, and then letting the rest be added unto Him... especially protection in a time of trouble:
Psalms 27:1-6 The Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked came against me To eat up my flesh, My enemies and foes, They stumbled and fell. Though an army may encamp against me, My heart shall not fear; Though war may rise against me, In this I will be confident. One thing I have desired of the Lord , That will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord All the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the Lord , And to inquire in His temple. For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion; In the secret place of His tabernacle He shall hide me; He shall set me high upon a rock. And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me; Therefore I will offer sacrifices of joy in His tabernacle; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the Lord .
This is what David's Tabernacle was all about. Unlike the kings before and mostly after David, David didn't presume he could value earthly reasoning, earthly strength, and earthly rewards and still trust in the protection of God! He knew that the point of life wasn't to build something good that God could bless, but rather to live "all in" on getting the earth to invite God back!
Psalms 132:3-5 “Surely I will not go into the chamber of my house, Or go up to the comfort of my bed; I will not give sleep to my eyes Or slumber to my eyelids, Until I find a place for the Lord , A dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob.”
That is the entire point of the Bible from Genesis 3 to Revelation 21...to get the source of life (God) back into the garden so life can begin again. If my life is about anything less than this, I really need to adjust my thinking to get on the same page as God. He is faithful to correct me for love, but that correction will become more and more costly as the day of His appearing approaches. That is because the intensity of this truth is increasing.
The reason that the earth gets more intense as the day of the Lord's appearing approaches is because the truth... that man cannot live apart from God...is being demonstrated to the earth INCREMENTALLY. That means many choices will need to be made to agree with truth, and many choices will be made to rebel against truth. For those that rebel, harder judgments will come, not because God hates, but because He loves...He desires no one should perish.
If I live in agreement with this truth, that God really is the only source of life, and the choices of my life reflect this value, I don't really need to be corrected by the judgments. That is what the judgments of God, the plagues, the pestilence, the violence, the lack of resources....that is what they are designed to do: teach righteousness.
Isaiah 26:9 With my soul I have desired You in the night, Yes, by my spirit within me I will seek You early; For when Your judgments are in the earth, The inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.
BUT, I don't have to wait to learn righteousness...I don't have to wait for trouble to force me, in a time of trouble, to choose abiding with God...which is practically expressed in praying day and night, or praying without ceasing...praying always... I can do that now, BEFORE the trouble increases. That is what Psalm 91 is really describing...the guaranteed protection of choosing that mode of life in advance..."because you HAVE MADE" God's presence your dwelling place:
Psalms 91:9-10 Because you have made the Lord , who is my refuge, Even the Most High, your dwelling place, No evil shall befall you, Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling;
Jesus promised this same protection, but only for those "counted worthy" who meet the qualification...praying always privately and corporately...is the qualification. Praying is abiding...talking to God, choosing Him as your strength:
Luke 21:36 Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.”
This is an end time promise. Night and day prayer...which was David's practical expression of abiding in the shelter of the most high... IS David's Key. Jesus promises that those that are faithful with David's Key can expect protection from the judgments...not by being raptured, but by being kept safe in geographic locations. BUT, you have to be found FAITHFUL in using that key!
Revelation 3:7-12 “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, ‘These things says He who is holy, He who is true, “He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens” : “I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name. Indeed I will make those of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews and are not, but lie—indeed I will make them come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you. Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown. He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name.
This is the same protection Psalm 91 and Psalm 27 are describing. David's key unlocks heaven, but it ALSO closes demonic and physical doors of access to those USING it. This is protection that really works, but you have to make it your strength. It only works if you turn the key.
Many, in presumption, will claim the protection of Psalm 91 without valuing the qualification of Psalm 91. We want to be loyal to the truth, because if I give myself false comfort from a blanket application of Psalm 91, I will short-circuit the very reason Psalm 91 IS a glorious promise!
I don't want to short-circuit the great thing the judgments of God are being released for: to teach me righteousness...to give me good incentive to run hard towards God. THAT is the whole point of the trouble that is happening...it is incentive to run towards God, to be with Him where He is...that is what Jesus prayed for:
John 17:15-24 I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth. “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me. “Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.
Everyone who loves Jesus in the final generation will come out of the world and sanctify themselves... set themselves apart... in His presence. Some will do it in advance, and they will be spared MUCH trouble... some will wait for the trouble, and it will cost them much. Jesus warned His disciples...sincere lovers of Jesus...to be ready, or they would suffer loss:
Matthew 24:43-44 But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
Psalm 91 is a great assurance of protection, but it is important to note that Psalm 91 is a qualified statement about abiding in God as your choice for safety in a time of trouble. It is an invitation to wholehearted love.
In its fullest expression, Psalm 91 is an end time Psalm, because the fullest expression of the pestilence, plagues, and destruction it describes will happen the most in the time of the Great Tribulation:
Matthew 24:21-22 For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened.
The promise of Psalm 91 is that if you make God's presence your dwelling place...what your life is about..THEN you can expect protection. BUT, it is for those who have made this life choice. Sincere love is different than wholehearted love.
The choice for wholehearted abiding in the presence of God is the part of this Psalm that often gets untaught. This isn't a promise for everyone. This is a promise for those who have gotten READY by choosing, in the daily choices of life, to abide in the presence of God as a priority.
The judgments of God are important to understand. If I don't take the time to sit down and study the judgments and find God's heart for them, I will presume much when the intensity increases. Unfortunately, many will find out the hard way that their presumption of what God was doing and what agreement with Him looks like, would cost them much:
Matthew 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
Lawlessness is presumption. Presuming that just because you are doing things that seem like things Jesus would be happy with... without actually abiding in an ongoing experience of His presence... is what leads to lawlessness. Mankind generally is most concerned with the destination, where God is really mostly trying to get us into a conversation.
Operating in the spiritual realm without making the abiding conversation with God the source of your direction and your primary goal...making God your source of information and the reward for putting that information to use, or obedience...this leads to lawlessness.
Lawlessness is the opposite of abiding in the presence of the most high...yet presuming approval simply because Jesus' name is being thrown about. This will not do. This won't actually protect anyone. It will increase rebellion. Strange fire causes death.
David is the example of the principle of "abiding protection." David is the one who lived out this principle of seeking God first, and then letting the rest be added unto Him... especially protection in a time of trouble:
Psalms 27:1-6 The Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked came against me To eat up my flesh, My enemies and foes, They stumbled and fell. Though an army may encamp against me, My heart shall not fear; Though war may rise against me, In this I will be confident. One thing I have desired of the Lord , That will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord All the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the Lord , And to inquire in His temple. For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion; In the secret place of His tabernacle He shall hide me; He shall set me high upon a rock. And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me; Therefore I will offer sacrifices of joy in His tabernacle; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the Lord .
This is what David's Tabernacle was all about. Unlike the kings before and mostly after David, David didn't presume he could value earthly reasoning, earthly strength, and earthly rewards and still trust in the protection of God! He knew that the point of life wasn't to build something good that God could bless, but rather to live "all in" on getting the earth to invite God back!
Psalms 132:3-5 “Surely I will not go into the chamber of my house, Or go up to the comfort of my bed; I will not give sleep to my eyes Or slumber to my eyelids, Until I find a place for the Lord , A dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob.”
That is the entire point of the Bible from Genesis 3 to Revelation 21...to get the source of life (God) back into the garden so life can begin again. If my life is about anything less than this, I really need to adjust my thinking to get on the same page as God. He is faithful to correct me for love, but that correction will become more and more costly as the day of His appearing approaches. That is because the intensity of this truth is increasing.
The reason that the earth gets more intense as the day of the Lord's appearing approaches is because the truth... that man cannot live apart from God...is being demonstrated to the earth INCREMENTALLY. That means many choices will need to be made to agree with truth, and many choices will be made to rebel against truth. For those that rebel, harder judgments will come, not because God hates, but because He loves...He desires no one should perish.
If I live in agreement with this truth, that God really is the only source of life, and the choices of my life reflect this value, I don't really need to be corrected by the judgments. That is what the judgments of God, the plagues, the pestilence, the violence, the lack of resources....that is what they are designed to do: teach righteousness.
Isaiah 26:9 With my soul I have desired You in the night, Yes, by my spirit within me I will seek You early; For when Your judgments are in the earth, The inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.
BUT, I don't have to wait to learn righteousness...I don't have to wait for trouble to force me, in a time of trouble, to choose abiding with God...which is practically expressed in praying day and night, or praying without ceasing...praying always... I can do that now, BEFORE the trouble increases. That is what Psalm 91 is really describing...the guaranteed protection of choosing that mode of life in advance..."because you HAVE MADE" God's presence your dwelling place:
Psalms 91:9-10 Because you have made the Lord , who is my refuge, Even the Most High, your dwelling place, No evil shall befall you, Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling;
Jesus promised this same protection, but only for those "counted worthy" who meet the qualification...praying always privately and corporately...is the qualification. Praying is abiding...talking to God, choosing Him as your strength:
Luke 21:36 Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.”
This is an end time promise. Night and day prayer...which was David's practical expression of abiding in the shelter of the most high... IS David's Key. Jesus promises that those that are faithful with David's Key can expect protection from the judgments...not by being raptured, but by being kept safe in geographic locations. BUT, you have to be found FAITHFUL in using that key!
Revelation 3:7-12 “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, ‘These things says He who is holy, He who is true, “He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens” : “I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name. Indeed I will make those of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews and are not, but lie—indeed I will make them come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you. Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown. He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name.
This is the same protection Psalm 91 and Psalm 27 are describing. David's key unlocks heaven, but it ALSO closes demonic and physical doors of access to those USING it. This is protection that really works, but you have to make it your strength. It only works if you turn the key.
Many, in presumption, will claim the protection of Psalm 91 without valuing the qualification of Psalm 91. We want to be loyal to the truth, because if I give myself false comfort from a blanket application of Psalm 91, I will short-circuit the very reason Psalm 91 IS a glorious promise!
I don't want to short-circuit the great thing the judgments of God are being released for: to teach me righteousness...to give me good incentive to run hard towards God. THAT is the whole point of the trouble that is happening...it is incentive to run towards God, to be with Him where He is...that is what Jesus prayed for:
John 17:15-24 I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth. “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me. “Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.
Everyone who loves Jesus in the final generation will come out of the world and sanctify themselves... set themselves apart... in His presence. Some will do it in advance, and they will be spared MUCH trouble... some will wait for the trouble, and it will cost them much. Jesus warned His disciples...sincere lovers of Jesus...to be ready, or they would suffer loss:
Matthew 24:43-44 But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
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