The Gift of God’s Protective Shadow

My precious Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

What a wonderful time, in this century, in this country to be in the secret place of the most high, under the shadow of the Almighty!  In short, what a blessing to be in God’s corner!  I personally don’t think that there is a greater or more awesome promise of God’s security and protection in these times than that found in Psalm 91.

We are living in a dangerous, evil, corrupt, and violent country.  There is nothing that this world or that money could provide to guarantee us absolute peace and safety.  If we had the money to build a fortress as secure as Fort Knox, there would be weapons capable of blowing it apart.  There is constant talk about war heads being produced by other countries that can penetrate any facet of protection in this country.  If we had the means to secure the protection of the most renowned bodyguards and martial arts masters, we could not be guaranteed absolute safety.  If we subject ourselves to hypnosis, brainwashing, or tranquilizers we could not obtain the peace that comes only through truly knowing Jesus Christ and the love of an all knowing, all powerful God.  In Psalm 91, we are promised absolute protection from every possible attack, pitfall, and snare of the enemy.  We are promised protection from deadly pestilence.  This means protection from the deadly fire ants that are on their way, the African killer bees talked about and yes, even the deadly West Nile mosquito-borne virus.  What vaccine, what hospital treatment, what serums can provide the protection from destruction, protection from plagues?  We are promised security guards in the form of angelic beings.  We are promised protection from deadly animals and poisonous reptiles.  We are also promised protection from evil by the shield of God’s faithfulness.  Just to be promised protection from evil, has to cover 9,999 possibly dangerous life threatening situations, don’t you think?   God has promised us the crème de la crème of security packages.  It is the icing on the cake, it is the platinum card.  There is nothing available on this earth that can touch it.  Sisters and brothers, we have the “Goods”.  Do you not know that this type of an offer means there is nothing that can ever happen to us; except God allows it?  If He allows it, we know that “…all things work together for good for them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28).

“Why then are we cast down and our souls disquieted in us?  Hope thou in God?” (Psalm 42:5).  We say we know God is our protector, our provider, our keeper, our deliverer; however, sometimes our actions and our faces don’t reflect that knowledge.  I think this happens to us when we have “head” knowledge of what God says is available to us.  Often, we think we believe The Word. We think we are standing on that Word and that we believe that the promises of The Word are in our heart.  Those saints before us use to say the test comes when the “rubber meets the road” or that the “proof is in the pudding”.  The truth of the matter is that in most cases when we are downcast and ill at ease, we have not totally absorbed The Word.  We probably ate it, chewed on it, swallowed it and it hung right there in our chest or throat.  When the test came, it had not been absorbed and digested to nourish our heart and spirit.  Once we really, really know how much God loves us, how valuable we are to Him and who we are in Christ; we will know that we are destined to win, destined to succeed, and destined to be blessed.

Please know that this word is for me first.  I have to hear it and hear it often when the trials and tests hit with gale force winds.  Yes, God is working it out in us and for us.  In Galatians 6:9-10, the amplified version says it so well:

And let us not lose heart and grow weary and faint in acting nobly and doing right, for in due time at the appointed season we shall reap, if we do not loosen and relax our courage and faint.  So then, as occasion and opportunity open to us, let us do good (morally) to all people [not only being useful or profitable to them, but also doing what is for their spiritual good and advantage].  Be mindful to be a blessing, especially to those of the household of faith—those who belong to God’s family with you, the believers.

What can we add to the promise given us in Galatians 6:9-10?  God clearly tells us that if we do not faint in our heart, if we do not melt or break down, we will reap the blessings He promised.  If we are partakers of well doing, which in the Greek means to band together, hear, abide, provide, fulfill, execute, commit, yield and perform God’s will, we will reap the harvest of our labor.  Our seasons are not all necessarily at the same time.  Our seasons of reaping are determined by God.  Only God knows when we have mastered the lessons necessary to stand the test of time.  Only God knows when we can stand to be blessed.  If God released to us prematurely some of the things He wants us to have, we would possibly fall away from Him.  He desires that nothing will separate us from His love.  Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 (amplified) says, “All have heard.  The end of the matter, fear God—know that He is, revere and worship Him—and keep His commandments; for this is the whole of man (the full original purpose of His creation, the object of God’s providence, the root of character, the foundation of all happiness, the adjustment to all in harmonious circumstances and conditions under the sun), and the whole duty for every man.  For God shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing, whether it is good or evil”.

Remember that we have the victory, know that we have the victory, and know that if we remain in God’s corner we are destined to be blessed.  God has set us up to be victorious in every situation and in every circumstance in our life.  “Many are the afflictions (evils, troubles) of the righteous; but the Lord delivereth him out of them all” (Psalm 34:19).

Pastor Linda C. Martin

First Lady