7 Things God Directly Promises in Psalm 91

Psalm 91

1 He who dwells 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 I will trust.”

3 Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler[a]
And from the perilous pestilence.

4 He shall cover you with His feathers,
And under His wings you shall take refuge;
His truth shall be your shield and buckler.

5 You shall not be afraid of the terror by night,
Nor of the arrow that flies by day,

6 Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness,
Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.

7 A thousand may fall at your side,
And ten thousand at your right hand;
But it shall not come near you.

8 Only with your eyes shall you look,
And see the reward of the wicked.

9 Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge,
Even the Most High, your dwelling place,

10 No evil shall befall you,
Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling;

11 For He shall give His angels charge over you,
To keep you in all your ways.

12 In their hands they shall bear you up,
Lest you dash your foot against a stone.

13 You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra,
The young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot.

14 “Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him;
I will set him on high, because he has 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 honor him.

16 With long life I will satisfy him,
And show him My salvation.”

This is such an interesting psalm - It goes from statements that the psalmist says about the Lord, to direct things that each of us should do...right on into a prophetic passage of 7 things that the Lord speaks in the 1st person through the psalmist:

He directly promises that:

- V14 He will deliver or rescue you

- V14 He will set you on high - this is a place of His protection

- V15 He will answer you when you call on Him

- V15 He will be with you in times of trouble

- V15 He will give you honor when He delivers you 

- V16 He will give you a long life that is fully satisfying

The Lord promises all of these 7 things if we do these 6 things (note...the number 6 is the number for man, and the number 7 is the number for God)

I will:

- V1 I will make His presence my place of abiding

- V2 I will say that the Lord is my refuge and fortress – I will speak this with my mouth

- V2 I will put all my trust in him no matter what I see with my eyes

- V5-6 I will not be afraid no matter what comes against me in the day or the night

- V8 I will look at what God does to the wicked - there are lessons to learn here 
- V13 I will tread on every kind of evil thing no matter how strong it appears to be

As I mediate on this Psalm tonight, I am praying for two men who have recently been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer - this is for Richard W and Terry F - please join me in prayer for all who have serious illnesses, and particularly Richard and Terry - thank you. If you would like prayer for someone who is battling serious illness or personal issues, just leave their name in the comments section below.

Nine Fruit of the Holy Spirit

Nine Fruit of the Holy Spirit—Gal. 5:22; John 15:5–8

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

Notice that the fruit of the Spirit are mentioned as a single fruit. All of these fruits must flow in us as if they were one fruit - we don't pick and choose out of the 9 - we need them all.

D.L. Moody believed that all the fruit are an expression of the first fruit in the list - LOVE. He described the fruit of the Spirit this way:

Love
Joy is love exulting;

Peace is love reposing;

Patience is love untiring;

kindness is love enduring;

Goodness is love displaying (in action);

faith is love advancing  (on the battlefield;)

Gentleness is love abiding (under discipline;)

self-control is love in training.

This is the Holy Spirit’s fruit – He is the One who produces this fruit in us. 7 Principles of fruit:

- Fruit grows – it cannot be made, and takes time to work in our lives

- Fruit reproduces itself

- Fruit nourishes others outside itself

- Fruit must be connected to a life-source (the Vine), it cannot grow alone

- Fruit is dependant on the tree. Good fruit can only come from a good tree

- Fruit can only grow as a result death (Jn. 12:24)

- Fruit multiplies enormously from the original seed (Matt. 17:20) Anyone can count the seeds in an apple - only God can count the apples in a seed. (Robert Schuller)

Notice the “works of the flesh in Gal. 5:19-21 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

These works of the flesh (18?) are contrasted by the 9 fruit of the Spirit in the next verse. The 9 fruit of the Spirit are able to overcome the 18 works of the flesh – that is because the fruit comes directly from the Holy Spirit – they are an expression of God in us – God touching us at the core of our humanity.

The fruit of the Spirit are not placed in us by the Holy Spirit (as the gifts of the Spirit are) – they are a result of our walk with the Holy Spirit into a Christ-like life. This is the character of Christ in the Christian, it is the fruit if the tree of life. We are His garden – this is the fruit that grows in us (Jn. 15:1). We cannot bear fruit on our own – we must abide in Him. We cannot develop Godly character without the Holy Spirit working in our lives.

The gifts of the Spirit equip one with abilities for service in the Kingdom of God; the fruit of the Spirit reveals who one is in the Kingdom of God. Fuchsia Pickett, "Presenting the Holy Spirit" p. 147.

…and this from Croft M. Pentz: The fruit of the Holy Spirit can be expressed as three groups of three. The first fruit in each of these groups is the key to the other two:

v Inward Fruit that are experienced in our own hearts: 

Love

Joy—Love delighting

Peace—Love resting

v Outward Fruit that are revealed to others: 

Patience

Kindness—calm and compassionate expression of patience

Goodness—active expression of patience

v Upward fruit that are an expression of our relationship with God

Faith

Gentleness/meekness - gentle faith towards God

Self Control - Faith from God to live in holiness

Discouragement 5 - Habakkuk The Singing Prophet

If anyone had good reason to be discouraged it was the prophet Habakkuk. Habakkuk lived during a time of national upheaval (shortly before 600 B.C.) There was great social injustice (Hab. 1:2-4); unrighteousness among God's people - Judah; the Babylonians were threatening to attack (Hab. 1:5-11); God did not seem to be answering His people and they felt that the Lord was sending the evil Babylonians as punishment for their sins (Hab. 1:5-11).

This little prophetic book differs from other Old Testament prophecies in that instead of the prophet bringing God's word to the people, Habakkuk takes the cry of the people to the Lord. This is a very different kind of prophecy, and a vert different kind of prophet.

There is no biographical information on the prophet Habakkuk; in fact less is known about him than any other writer of the Bible.

Although his name does not appear in any other part of the Jewish Bible, Rabbinic tradition holds Habakkuk to be the Shunammite woman's son - the one who was restored to life by Elisha in 2Kings 4:16, since Elisha told her, "At this season next year you shall embrace (habaq) a son."

Habaq means “embrace” or, an "ardent embrace." At the end of his book this name becomes appropriate because Habakkuk chooses to cling firmly to (embrace) God regardless of what happened to his nation — 3:16-19 (Expanded Open Bible). Jerome suggested that the name indicated embracing so as to wrestle, "because he wrestled with God." Martin Luther said, "in this little book we see a man, in deadly earnest, wrestling with the mighty problem of theodicy (the divine justice) in a topsy-turvy world."

In the midst of this difficult world, Habakkuk, wrestled with God and pushed into Him for answers. Even though he was full of doubt he took his distress and doubts about God to God Himself.

Here is Habakkuk's strategy:

1. Wait and listen to what God has to say Hab. 2:1-3

I will climb up into my watchtower now and wait to see what the Lord will say to me and how he will answer my complaint.
Then the Lord said to me, "Write my answer in large, clear letters on a tablet, so that a runner can read it and tell everyone else

But these things I plan won't happen right away. Slowly, steadily, surely, the time approaches when the vision will be fulfilled. If it seems slow, wait patiently, for it will surely take place. It will not be delayed. (NLT)

Ps. 37:7 Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him; Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, Because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass.

(Rom. 8:25; 15:4)

It is important to wait patiently, to wait in hope. Hope gives you endurance in the waiting

2. Write a praise song

I will talk about Habakkuk's song tomorrow.

Yesterday, we saw the importance of the big words "BUT GOD" as the Lord intervened in the suffering of David and his men.

Today we see the courage of the prophet Habakkuk as he confronted a seemingly hopeless situation with the words YET WILL I REJOICE IN THE LORD...

What an example Habakkuk has shown us! In the midst of extreme circumstances, Habakkuk chose to worship.

3. Abide in the Lord's strength, for His sovereign and perfect will is coming to pass (3:16-19)

Here are the life-giving truths Habakkuk's story teaches us about faith:

a) Such a great God can be trusted to accomplish His purposes with all nations and peoples, and in all circumstances no matter how difficult.

b) We must allow God to be God, and allow Him to do things His way and in His own good time.
Our job is to trust Him and live by faith! "The righteous will live by his faith" (Habakkuk 2:4) - the key verse of this entire book. Some versions use the word "faithfulness".: Although things do not always turn out as we would like, yet we will rejoice in the Lord anyway!

Habakkuk has been called the prophet of faith. He possessed a strong, living faith in the Lord - even though he was troubled and perplexed by the apparent inequalities of life. Nevertheless, he did not sulk. He boldly presented his questions to God, who then pointed the way to a solution. The prophet came through his trouble with a faith stronger and more intense than ever.

"The growth of faith from perplexity and doubt to the height of absolute trust is one of the beautiful aspects of the book. Its lesson is for all time!"

(Homer Hailey).

c) Stay faithful - or filled with faith - integrity, fidelity, steadfastness under all provocations. 

We find this faith echoed in Gal. 3:11 – a living faith that determines how we live and believe; a living faith that sustains us in trouble and causes us to have moral fiber when we are tested. As an expression of living faith, Hab. 3:17-19 is not surpassed in the OT.

It is in this place of faith that you are sustained and strengthened.

Having faith in God also means we have to trust His timing and the instruments He uses to see us through.

God is the hero of this book, and the champion in Habakkuk's song of faith.

Discouragement 1: HERE
Discouragement 6: HERE