Justin J. Petrick

How do we know we are living under God’s protection?  In a world that is filled with sickness and disease, death, pestilences or plagues, where is this strong, high tower of refuge that the Bible speaks about?  How can we have confidence that we are in God’s shelter, under His wing, in His bosom?

What do you think most people would say if you were to ask these questions?  Do you think they would even know?  You can know.  There is a specific place.  It is real and you can be sure you are in it.  Before we find out, let us take a look at what we need protection from.

Most people believe that we need protection from Satan.  Well, this is true to a very small degree.  Satan has already been defeated, stripped of all his principalities and authority (Colossians 2:15).  This means that the only thing Satan has to use against you are lies, deceit and deception.  In other words, the battlefield is your mind and the war is over your thoughts.

Hosea 4:6 (KJV): My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou has rejected knowledge...

2 Corinthians 10:5 (KJV): Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against theknowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.

In Hosea 4:6 the Hebrew word for “knowledge” is “da`ath” (דַּעַת), and means: perception. You could translate Hosea 4:6 into: “My people are destroyed for inaccurate perceptions”. In 2 Corinthians 10:5 the Greek word for “imaginations” is “logismos” (λογισμός), and means: reasoning, reckoning, computation, and judgment. This passage is referring to thoughts. In the same verse when it speaks of “every high thing”, it comes from the Greek word “hypsōma” (ὕψωμα), and means: barrier. These two verses tell us that if your thoughts and perceptions are not accurate and aligned with the Word of God, they will become a barrier between you and experiencing the love that God has intended for you to experience, leading to destruction.  This is why Satan comes to steal the Word (John 10:10), because he knows if he can fill your mind with inaccurate perceptions so your thoughts are not rooted in the Word if God, it will cause a barrier between you and God.  This barrier is literal and actual fear.  Satan’s desire is to distract you from God’s Word because distractions are an intrusion of the mind to cause confusion, therefore fear.

We will now look to Psalm 91:

Psalm 91:9-10 (KJV): 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.

Where shall no evil befall thee?  In thy habitation.  Whose habitation?  The most High, your refuge.

Your place of protection is in God’s presence.

This is also spoken of in Job:

Job 5:19 (KJV): He shall deliver thee in six troubles: yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee.

When evil befalls you as in Psalm 91:10, or touches thee in Job 5:19, it is evil in the form of fear.  Anytime you are living in fear, anytime you are making decisions out of fear, of lacking in any component in life, you are letting evil touch you.  This is not saying that you will not experience troubles, because you will in a evil and fallen world.  When you do experience troubles, they will not produce fear in you because you have the protection of God almighty behind you who has already been victorious over evil.

In God’s presence you have confidence that overcomes any trouble that you can ever experience.

Psalm 84:4 (KJV): Blessed are they that dwell in thy house: they will be still praising thee. Selah.

When you are blessed, it means that you are empowered by God to prosper and to be favored.  When you are blessed, you are favored by God and are given every spiritual blessing (Ephesians 1:3), which means that you are given God’s supernatural ability added to your natural ability!  This is how we are able to do the very works Jesus did (John 14:12).  Selah, btw, means to pause….such as to think on this, to contemplate it, to meditate on it.

This is why:

Psalm 84:11 (KJV):  For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.

God will not withhold any good thing to those who walk uprightly.  When you walk upright, your eyes are upward focusing on Jesus, not down worrying about your next step or what is gonna happen in life.  This happens when you cast your cares on God.

1 Peter 5:7-8 (KJV): Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.(8)Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

As we have discussed, Satan tries to get you to worry about life and to take your cares of life on yourself, producing stress, that is related to 90% of sickness and disease in the world.  Most likely more as science progresses and further understands the relationship between stress and sickness and disease.  God tells us to cast our cares on Him because he knows that when we take on cares of this world, it will kill us through fear and stress.

So what is the link between God’s presence and protection from fear, thus sickness and disease?

Exodus 33:14 (KJV): And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.

When you are in God’s presence, you are at rest.  This means you have peace.  Through peace, you have fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore:

Psalm 16:11 (KJV): Thou wilt show me the path of life: in thy presence is fullness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore.

When you are in God’s presence, there is a peace and confidence in you that can only come from God.  In this confidence and peace, is protection from fear and stress becasue you are confidence in God’s ability to care for you and give you the desires of your heart.  NO GOOD THING will God withold from you when you seek Him.

Mathew 6:33 (KJV): But seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.

God’s presence is not allways an emotional high, or a feeling that we experience.  It often leads to feelings like warm fuzzies, but His presence is characterized by peace in your life because you are confident in His love.  You are casting your cares on Him.  When you do not cast your cares on God, you are essentially doubting Him and His ability because you are trusting yourself more than Him. In His presence is peace.  Peace is security amongst turmoil.  This is why evil will not touch thee when you are in His presence.  You will see the turmoil, but your peace in Christ will overcome any fear because of your confidence in God not witholding any good thing from you, and adding all these things to you when you are seeking Him.  Man I could go on, but I will stop here. This pumps me up.  🙂