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and Free BonusesChapter Nine
Dr. Jay Snell Newsletter Feed
and Free Bonuses
We have a heavenly Father, not a heavenly judge. Otherwise, none of us would make it. Psalms Ninety One is one of the most comforting Scriptures in the Word of God. This Psalm says more to the person who needs an uplift than anything in the world.
This chapter has much for the person who has come to the end of himself. The person who comes to the end of himself is like the prodigal son who came to his senses.
Luke 15:17
17 And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! (KJV)
"When he came to himself" implies that he hadn't been in his right mind to start with. No one allows himself to get pulled into the muck, unless he has something wrong with his brain. Otherwise, he would stop, think and not wait until he hit the bottom to do something about his situation. In the case of the prodigal son, the famine in the land did not occur until after he had spent every dime he had. If he still had his money, that famine would not have bothered him.
God timed that whole thing to get his child back. The famine did not occur in the whole land until that boy was out of bucks. When he was out of money, he had only two choices; turn to the hog trough and eat slop or go home. He made the choice to go home. Sometimes we get in that place before we make the choice to go home.
Ps 91:1-16
1 He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
2 I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.
3 Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.
4 He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.
5 Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day;
6 Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.
7 A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.
8 Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.
9 Because thou hast made the LORD, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation;
10 There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.
11 For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.
12 They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.
13 Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.
14 Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name.
15 He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him.
16 With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation. (KJV)
The key thing to see here is the necessity of dwelling in the secret place of the Most High. Dwelling in the secret place of the Most High is that point, time and place in your life when you move away from the world, jobs, families and businesses, into the quietness of your own spirit, into the presence of God. We must all take time to dwell there.
Nothing will take the place of our dwelling in the secret place. We must experience God on our own. The person who makes the choice to dwell there, is a person moving into the position to receive the blessings of God, no matter what adversities come. This is a person who is moving into a position where there is a protection and a covering, no matter what blows up in his life.
Your job may disappear. Your business may be running well today and tomorrow go bankrupt. Your home, family, wife, husband and children may be going perfectly right now and tomorrow disaster strikes. One of them wants a divorce, a child runs away or gets in jail, but when you learn to dwell in the secret place of God, there are some benefits that accrue to you simply from the fact that you dwell there.
You can't move in and out, you must learn to dwell in that place. We must step aside and enter the chambers of the throne room and dwell in the secret place of the Almighty. I have learned more at the feet of God, when I am in His presence, than I have in all the theology books and Greek grammars that line the walls of my study.
There must be a time when you enter the throne room. You must spend time in the presence of God. Then, and only then, will He become your fortress and refuge. At that point, you abide under His shadow.
This is a figure of speech. God does not have a shadow, neither does He have feathers and wings. These figures of speech are used here like Jesus used parables. The point is that if I am close enough to God to be in His shadow, I am close. If I am this close, since nothing harmful can get this close to God, it can't hurt me either since I am with Him. There is a refuge in the storm when we dwell in the secret place.
David pictures it as being a place where we are shadowed by the Almighty. He has no shadow. This is also a figure of speech. But when we are that close, nothing can get under that shadow and hurt us because God will not allow hurtful things to get that close to Him. If He will not allow them to get that close to Him, since I am that close to Him, it can not get to me because it cannot come near Him. This entire chapter gives us things that are predicated upon our dwelling in the secret place of the Almighty. Nothing can replace this in your life. There is a joy, peace and refuge that comes only from being in that place.
O
nce we are there, verse 3 says, "Surely He shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler and from the noisome pestilence." He shall deliver thee. If the fowler and the noisome pestilence should come close enough to the shadow of the Almighty to get to me, the Bible says, "Surely, He will deliver me." (He delivers primarily through your Five Offensive Weapons when you employ them in Spiritual Combat.)Do you have a storm brewing in your life? Are you living under circumstances that are painful for you? Is there a situation in your home that you really wish you could change, that has become like a fowler and a noisome pestilence? Is there anything in your work place that comes against you, robbing you spiritually and pulling you down physically? Has a demon induced sickness struck either you or your loved ones? Stop battling these things long enough to get into the secret place of God Almighty and get under His shadow. Under His shadow, He will surely deliver thee.
God is not obligated to deliver anybody who is outside His shadow. He will, however, deliver everyone who is under His shadow. There are some blessings and benefits that accrue to you simply because you have chosen to dwell there. They are listed in this chapter. You must have them in order to make it. These blessings are conditioned upon one thing, your willingness to come aside and enter the secret place of God, for protection is in that secret place. When you are in that shadow, He will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and the noisome pestilence.
The "snare of the fowler and the noisome pestilence" is whatever comes against a child of God. It could be terminal disease, a financial disaster or the near break-up of a home. Whatever it is that comes near you, if you are under His shadow, God has promised that He shall deliver you. I want you to notice the word shall. This is not something God might do, it is something He will do. You can depend on it. He really will do it. "He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler and the noisome pestilence."
I have been in places in my life and ministry, where, had it not been for God and His grace, everything would have been over. I have had my life threatened. One time, I was in a city wide meeting in which the police got wind from the dope trade that they were going to get me. I had my wife and two little daughters in the hotel room with me. I became so fearful that something bad was going to happen, that I put them on a plane and sent them back to Houston. I did not want them to stay there. I have been in some tight places for the cause of Christ. But my source of strength, guidance and deliverance came from one thing only, the secret place. I had learned, even at that point in my life, that a shadow was cast by Almighty God and I was safe under it. Under that shadow, nothing is big enough to tackle God. If I am under His shadow, since the fowler and the pestilence dare not come that close to God, they cannot get close enough to me to hurt me either.
God shall deliver you, my friend, from the snare of the fowler and from the noisome pestilence just by getting under the shadow in the secret place. When all else has failed and you have come to the end of yourself, when everything you have tried has blown up in your face and there is not another scheme left in your worn out brain, just get under His shadow in the secret place, and calm down. God will put your emotions back into place. He will solve your problems. "He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the noisome pestilence."
All this accrues just because you got under the shadow. In addition, "He shall cover thee with His feathers and under His wings shalt thou trust, His truth shall be thou shield and buckler, thou shall not be afraid for the terror by night." Notice the things He said we do not have to fear. We do not have to fear the terror by night, nor the arrow that flyeth by day, nor the pestilence that walketh in darkness, nor for the destruction that wasteth in noonday. What else is there to make us afraid?
Many people never know what it is to lay their life on the line for the glory of God and the cause of Christ. David did. Knowing you have enemies who pack guns that could lift them, point them at your head and blow your brains out will drive you to the secret place.
Many of us never go to the secret place because God has blessed us so much. Everything is going so well that we just do not feel a need for God. So we tune Him out and go our merry way. I have been there too. From personal experience, you better get back under the shadow, back under the feathers of His wings, back into the secret place and dwell there. As long as you are on your own, those things that you enjoy which make you forget God, can suddenly be removed.
But when we are under the shadow, when God has His feathery wings around us like a mother hen has it around her baby chickens, there is safety there. This is our safety net. In that place, there is no fear. When I am close to God, I am not afraid of anything. When we get away from the secret place, we become too occupied in the daily things.
We can get so caught up and occupied in the ministry and the work of the ministry that we forget the one for whom we minister. We must be really careful and not get too wrapped up in those things that we hold so near and dear. We must never forget the source of our blessings, which is the shadow of God Almighty in His secret dwelling place. We must spend time in the secret place. Once I am there, I am not afraid.
Remember the fears He lists: the terror by night, the arrow by day, the pestilence in darkness and the destruction that wasteth at noonday. Every fear you will ever have is covered in these four things. Terminal disease, financial disaster and family break-up is in it. But as long as I am in the secret place, spending time with God, letting God talk to me and giving myself time to bathe in His presence, I am not afraid. This builds me up on the inside. I need to stop and let God recharge me. Recharging only occurs in the secret place.
Jesus told His disciples to come apart by yourselves in a place. He tried to get them away from the crowd. Jesus was always getting away from the crowd. He loved the people and He loved the crowd. But Jesus was always breaking free and getting loose from the crowd. He was always trying to get alone. He was always trying to get the disciples to get away from the crowd to be alone. Come apart by yourselves in a place. What did He mean by that? He meant that if you do not come apart by yourselves in a place, you are just going to come apart.
There must be time for the secret place. There are rewards, benefits and blessings here that provide everything you need just by spending time in the secret place. One of them is you will fear nothing. Another benefit is you will get off your guilt trip down unworthiness detour. Getting you on a guilt trip is one of the devil's favorite tricks. He will make you feel too unworthy to receive your healing because of some silly sin you did thirty years or thirty minutes ago.
See my book, You Can Receive Healing and Prosperity, which enables you to forever get off the devil's guilt trip down unworthiness detour. Satan will make you think you have lost your salvation or else that you are on the verge of it. This is nonsense and I prove it in the above book. Read it and build your faith to get off your demon induced guilt trip.
When I have just finished my prayer time and I get up filled with God, I am scared of nothing. I had one man get up and walk out of my church and the last thing he ever said to me was, "You listen to no one and you are not afraid of anything." He was mistaken on both counts.
I may not listen to man, but I listen to God, and when I listen to God, I always get the right information. When I am filled with God, even when what I am about to do looks absolutely crazy to the eyes of the world, I am still not scared of anything. The Bible says, "Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night, the arrow by day, the pestilence in darkness, nor the destruction that wasteth at noonday." I do not have to fear them. It is not a matter of just turning this over in my brain, make a positive decision here and not be afraid, when I am really scared half to death. That is not what this means. It means that if you spend the time in the secret place, these things will not frighten you because you have been given a power and an authority that even David did not have. You can combat demons, beat them and overcome them. That is why we are not afraid. We know who we are and what we have.
Look at verse 7. These four terrors, the snare of the fowler, the noisome pestilence, the arrow that flieth by day and the terror by night, will cause "a thousand to fall at thy side and ten thousand at thy right hand, but it shall not come near thee." This is shouting ground. I have seen it. I have seen them fold up and snap like straws in the wind. I have seen them fold up and drop. I will not be afraid, this can not hurt me. There is not one thing in the world these things can do to me. A thousand shall fall at my side, but they will fold up before they can get to me. They will snap like straws in the wind.
Psychiatry is a very booming business, but the suicide rate among psychiatrists is very high. They do not have the answers. There is no answer apart from the secret place. When a man spends his time in the secret place, he may get blown right out of the water, but he can still hang in there because he has the power and the presence of God inside his spirit. We sing that old hymn, "It is well with my soul". This was written by a man standing on the seashore, who had just gotten word that his wife and little child had gone down in the ship, lost at sea. He would never see them again in this life. But that man had been in the secret place, and not even this tragedy could bend or break him. In this condition, he penned the words to this immortal song. The only way this man could have done that is to have been alone with God in the secret place.
When you take the time to get into the secret place, you are tapping the ultimate energy source. God is energy. He is power and everybody needs more power. The only place and the only way to get it is plug into the source by getting alone with God in the secret place. Thousands get blown out of the barrel by the adversities of life. Get into the secret place and you will not be one of them.
You will see wickedness, but you will not be touched by it. "Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked." What the wicked do will not touch me. Only with my eyes will I see it, but it will not effect me, because I go to the secret place regularly and I stay there long enough to get my batteries charged. Go to that secret place, get under His shadow and abide there, under His wings. These things do not blow you away. I watch them drop like flies. I see them, but they do not touch me.
The word because is used in this passage twice. Verse 9 says," Because thou hast made the Lord, who is my refuge, even the Most High, thy habitation." Since you made David's God your habitation also, verse 10 says, "There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plaque come near thy dwelling, for He shall give His angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways, they shall bear thee up in their hands lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. Thou shall tread upon the lion and adder, the young lion and the serpent shalt thou trample under feet."
Here is the first use of because. Because you took the time to dwell in the secret place. There is power, force and strength in the secret place. When you form the habit of going into the secret place, the first because, in verse 9, kicks in for you. "There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come near thy dwelling, He shall give His angels charge over thee."
"Because thou hast made God thy habitation," David said, "I will give my angels charge concerning thee. No pestilence shall come against thee, no evil shall befall thee. My angels," God says, "will see to that." There is only one condition you must meet; get alone in the secret place.
The second because occurs in verse 14 which says, "Because he has sat his love upon me, I will deliver him. I will place him on high, because he hath known my name. He shall call upon me and I will answer him. I will be with him in trouble. I will deliver him, I will honor him, and with long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation." This is the second because.
We miss it. We do not take the time to get into the secret place. There must be time in the secret place. None of the above accrues apart from the secret place. When we move into it, make that our dwelling, live there more than we live out in the world doing other things and live there even when we are out in the world doing other things, God moves into gear and all this becomes ours.
God has said that no evil shall befall me, no pestilence and no plague shall come near my dwelling. He said, "I will deliver him in trouble, I will honor him, I will satisfy him with a long life." Then what is there to be panicky about? What is there to fear? God is on my side. He is for me. Paul said in Romans 8:31, "If God be for us, who can be against us?" This is a Greek rhetorical question which demands a certain answer: nobody can be against us and prevail. Hordes can be against you, but they can not beat you. We are winners. We are over the top. We are above not beneath. We are the head and not the tail. We are conquerors.
We need to get into the secret place and recharge our battery. We need to take time out and get into the secret place. Then, our lives will not unravel. God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind. When our minds go haywire and start thinking strange things, our answer is not in a tranquilizing pill, it is in the secret place. There, things level out and everything comes back into place. Then, I can function the way God intended. Everything comes together in the secret place.
Get into the secret place. There, you develop the confidence and courage to meet head on any demon or sickness the devil can bring against you. Go for it!
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Date Last Updated:
June 01, 2010
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