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Peggy Joyce Ruth, aka "the Psalm 91 Lady" is author of a variety of Psalm 91 book titles with over six million copies in print. She taught a weekly Adult Bible Study for more than 35 years in her church in Central Texas as she shared how to make God’s Word your final authority. Known for her easy-to-understand style of communicating the Word of God and warm storytelling, Peggy Joyce's heart is that her books and teachings will bring you into the same freedom from fear she experienced and help you put God's Word to work ​in your life.
Hello, this is Peggy Joyce Ruth. Welcome to our podcast and hope you enjoy this teaching. If you would like to listen to more in-depth teachings, please sign up for our Psalm 91 family at peggyjoyceruth.org. Ask you some questions. Do the latest statistics on cancer and heart disease and other dread diseases, do they kind of send a chill of fear down your spine at times?
Peggy Joyce Ruth:Do you think of the possible terrorist attacks and all the talk about chemical warfare and kind of feel like sometime your heart just kind of skips a beat when you hear all that? I don't know how many of you that boarded a plane lately, but when you board a plane, you feel just a little bit nervous when you start getting on a plane. What about all the natural disasters that are happening? All these unusual places. You know, we used to hear about horrible natural disasters where hundreds and thousands of people would be killed but it was always happening some place else.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:It was always happening on the other side of the world but have you noticed that these things are happening in our backdoor now? Have you noticed that? Do you sometimes wonder if there's any place in the world that's safe to be able to hide? Back in the 1950s, things were so predictable. I've noticed that the word predictable is becoming very obsolete.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:Every decade, it becomes more and more obsolete because fear is just running rampant because of the uncertainty of the times. Constant changes are everywhere. Everywhere you look, you really can't depend on anything because the changes are coming all the time and nothing seems to be stable but I want to tell you this morning, did you know that there is an answer? This is what I'm wanting us to hear with all of my heart and that answer is a message that absolutely is just burning in my heart. It's just been burning in my heart for, oh goodness, probably two years now.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:I actually lie awake sometime at night just trying to think how I can get this message out because this is a truth from god. This is a promise. This is a covenant that god has made and just like Jack was saying earlier, I mean, it's something we can sink our teeth in because it's been reserved for these end days. You take a few decades ago, say thirty years ago and no one really had even knew what Psalm 91 was but have you noticed everybody's talking about Psalm 91 and I truly believe it's because god reserved it for these end days. In fact, just this past year, most of you know that god told me to to write this book as another means of getting this message out and I call the book Psalm 91, God's Umbrella of Protection.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:It's a divine umbrella of protection. It's actually a covenant that god's made for his children. Now, you may have heard this teaching several times but that's okay. Every single time that you hear it, it's becoming more and more embedded in your spirit, man. The more often you hear it, the better it's going to be.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:Now, I think that this Psalm is probably special to me because of the way in which god first gave it to me. Some thirty years ago, I was dealing with a lot of fears. You know, I was so afraid of disease. I was afraid something was going to happen to some member of my family and and I was just constantly fearful over something. If I get over one fear, another fear would take its place and one Sunday afternoon, after getting some really distressing news, one of our deacons in the Baptist Church where we were members had been diagnosed with leukemia.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:I remember praying that afternoon. Lord, is there any way to be able to escape all the evil that's coming on this Earth? Is that even possible? Or do we just take our chances like everybody else? And I remember lying back across the bed and falling immediately to sleep and I woke up just five minutes later but in that five minutes, I had the most unusual dream.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:In the dream, I was out in this open field. I could look as far as I could see. There was just a big open field and so I was asking the same question that I'd asked earlier. Is there any way to be protected from all the things that are coming on the earth? And in my dream, I heard these words.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:God said, in your day of trouble, call upon me and I will answer. Now, I had no idea that these words were straight out of the Bible. When I heard those words, this joy just absolutely flooded all over me. I got so excited. I was out in this field in my dream and I was dancing and rejoicing and praising god and suddenly, to my surprise, there were hundreds and hundreds of other people there in the field with me and we were all rejoicing and we were praising god because he had given us the answer.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:Now, when I woke up, I knew I had the answer. I mean, peace like warm oil had just flooded all over me. I wasn't quite sure what the answer was but I knew god had given me the answer and it wasn't until the next day when I heard the ninety first Psalm just referred to on a tape. It was a Shirley Boone testimony type that suddenly, I just knew in my heart that whatever was in that tape was going to be god's answer to the question that I had asked earlier. Now, I didn't know what that Psalm was about but I knew that if it told me to go stand in the corner on my head, I knew that it was going to work.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:I knew that and so, I nearly tore my Bible up, turn into Psalm 91 to see what it had to say and I could hardly believe my eyes because there in Psalm 91 verse 15 were the exact words that I had heard in my dream. In your day of trouble, call upon me and I will answer and you should have seen me. When I saw that, I'm going to tell you what, I had to run away. I was just, I was bouncing and jumping and I mean, it was so supernatural that I knew that god had given me the answer that I had been looking for. Now, I began to study Psalm 91 as though my very life depended on it.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:What I didn't know at the time, my life did depend on it. I spent months and months just dissecting every word of it. Now, my prayer today is this Psalm is going to become as dear and precious to you as it is to me and I think to most of you, it is. In fact, I believe that those of you that are listening and those of you that will get the message from reading the book, I truly believe that you're among the Christians now who were pictured with me in that open field who will through this message now get your answer to that question, Can a person be protected in these turbulent times? Now, this Psalm is not just something to comfort.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:I've heard so many people say, well, I've read Psalm 91 and it's such a comfort. Listen, this is not a Psalm to comfort you. This is a Psalm that god has given to us that will literally save your life. That's what I'm wanting you to hear. It's literally there to save your life.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:Now, I hope you have your Bible because we're going to go straight through the Psalm. In verse one, it says, he who dwells in the shelter of the most high will abide in the shadow of the almighty. You know, have you ever been in a house with a big fire going in the fireplace and you were watching this huge electrical storm that was going on outside and you just felt so warm and cozy on the inside because you knew that even though there was a horrible storm going on outside, it couldn't touch you. You were safe. We're Okay, that's exactly what this Psalm is all about.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:Did you know that there is a place in god? There's a secret place for his children who want to be protected and it's an actual place where you can have physical safety and security and god's telling us about it in this Psalm and the secret place is literal but it's also conditional. So, we see here in verse one that god lists our part of the condition before he even mentions the promises that he's going to make in his part and that's because our part has to come first. Our part is what absolutely releases the power of god. Now, in order to abide in the shadow of the almighty, we're going to have to choose to dwell there.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:Now, when you dwell some place, that means you live there. That's where you stay. Now, the question is, how on earth do we dwell in the shelter of the most high? Well, we dwell in his shelter. First of all, by believing that he is a literal place of protection.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:You know, we have to come to a place where we believe that where we believe that when we dwell in him, there's going to be that protection that he's promised where we can physically be protected when we run to him in faith. Now, you might call this place of refuge. You might call it a love walk because that's exactly what it is. It's where you have developed a relationship with the father and you've cultivated and developed this intimate time with him because you've invested time and you've invested your love to him. Now, we've got to choose to make him our shelter not just once in a while but we've gotta choose to make him our shelter continuously every day.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:Now, I've said this before but it's a sign that I use all the time. We have to put all of our eggs in one basket and the basket is god and that's what we have to make up our mind that that's what we've decided to do. Lord, you're going to be my answer and so in verse two, it says, I will say to the lord, my refuge and my fortress, my god in whom I trust. Now, I want you to notice that verse two says, I will say, some of you already have it circled but if you don't circle that word say because the scripture says, we have to say it. I don't know what it is but there's something about saying it that releases the power of god in the spiritual realm and I want you just to start noticing the next time you start saying this out loud.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:I want you to notice what happens on the inside when you start saying, lord, you're my god, you're my source, You're my lord. You're the one in whom I trust. You're my protection. I have put all my eggs in one basket and lord, you're the basket. The more you say that out loud, the more confident you're going to become in his protection.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:Now, so often we get in mental you know, and we'll say, oh yeah, I believe that but it takes more than that. That's not good enough by voicing now his lordship and his protection. We open the door to the secret place. That's actually the door to the secret place. God has to be our source.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:Now, a lot of times it seems like women are more apt to start confessing this and believing for it but I'm going tell you what, this is more for the men than it is for the women because men, you're the heads of your households. As you say this out loud, you're literally putting a protection. You're putting a covenant protection over your wife, over your children. You cannot believe what it can start doing for your family. You know, have you ever tried to touch enough bases to protect yourself from all the bad things that could happen?
Peggy Joyce Ruth:You ever tried to do that? It's You like trying to keep the whole law and God knew we couldn't do it. You know, we could go and get a check up at the doctor once a month. And we could double check our car every day to see that the brakes are okay and to see that the tires are alright and to see that the motor's running right. We could try to fireproof our house and we could store up food for times of need.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:And we still couldn't touch enough bases fast enough to be able to protect ourselves from all the potential dangers. It's impossible. You can't do it. Now, it's not that any one of these precautions is necessarily wrong. It's just none of these things in and of themselves has the power to protect.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:And we can't know what's happening. See, God's the only one that knows what's going to happen and he's the one that we have to run to first. He's the only one that has an answer for whatever might come because you don't have any idea. You may be planning against one thing and something else hits on the other side. God's the only one that knows and he's made provision for whatever might come.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:Now, when I think of how utterly impossible it is for us to be able to plan and protect ourselves against all the evils that's coming on the earth. I always think of a sheep Because see, a sheep has no real protection in and of itself. In fact, it's the only animal that I can think of that doesn't have any built in protection. If you'll think about it, it doesn't have any sharp teeth. You know, it doesn't have this offensive odor that it can spray out to drive away its enemies.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:I like the skunk and then have a loud bark and it certainly can't run very fast and I think that's probably why the Bible calls us sheep. That's why we're called god's sheep because god is wanting us to see him as our protection. He wants us to see him as our shepherd and that's all the protection that the sheep has. It's just the shepherd and so that's what god's wanting us to do. God may use doctors and he may use storm sellers and he may use bank accounts now to meet our needs from time to time but we have to realize that our heart has to run to him first.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:He has to be the shepherd and then he will choose the method that he desires to bring about the protection that we need. Now, I've had a lot of people say to me, well, I can't dwell in the shelter of the most high because I mess up too often. And when I mess up, then I feel guilty and I feel unworthy. Well, God knows about our weaknesses. He knows that.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:That's exactly why he gave us his son. See, we can no more earn this protection or deserve it than we can earn or deserve our salvation and he knew that. So, don't point to what you've done, maybe all these bad things that you've done, don't point to what you haven't done, that you should have done. Point to what Jesus has done for you. Get into the word and find out what Christ has done for you.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:We dwell in the shelter of the most high by faith in god's grace, by faith in the blood of Jesus. We dwell in his shelter not in our own righteousness but we dwell in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Now, there is a difference. However, between making an occasional mistake and staying in willful sin. See, anytime we've got self will and we're staying in self will or rebellion or willful sin, we're going to find that that puts us out of the secret place of protection because self will is a wall that we build between god and us.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:Now, our part of the covenant is expressed in verses one and two. As we read that and determine, okay, lord, you're going to be my source. You're my shepherd. Then, what it does, it allows his power then to be released that brings about the promises in verses three through 16. Now, our part is small but it's necessary to release his part of the covenant.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:Now, I want you to look at god's part. This is the good part. Okay, look at the first part of verse three. It says, for it is he who delivers you from the snare of the trapper. Now, as hard as we may try, we're never going to be able to deliver ourselves from the snare of the trapper.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:The Bible says, it is god who delivers us. The Bible tells us that deliverance by man is in vain. Okay. Now, what does it mean when it says snare of the trapper? Because it uses a lot of descriptive phrases in this chapter.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:Well, the snare of the trapper is just a graphic way of explaining the adversary. You know, the enemy, Satan. Jesus called him the thief in John ten ten. Have you ever seen a movie where the fur trapper would go deep into the mountains up in the cold climate and he would bait these big steel traps and he would cover em over with leaves and then he would wait for some unsuspecting to step into those traps. Well, those traps are not there by happen chance.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:That trapper had taken very much care to put those traps in exactly the location, the strategic locations where they could best catch the animal. Well, that's exactly a picture of what the enemy does to us and that's why he's called the trapper because those traps that he set for us, they're not there by happen chance. They're custom made. They're baited specifically for each one of us because see, the enemy knows exactly what thought to put in your mind that will best lure you into his trap. He knows the fear to hit you with.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:What I might be afraid of might not even bother you and vice versa but he knows the fear that's going to most likely suck you into that trap. He knows exactly which temptation is going to most likely hook us and draw us into the trap and that's exactly why Paul tells us in second Corinthians two verse 11 that we're not to be ignorant of the schemes of the enemy. Okay, I want you to look at the last part of verse three. Not only does he deliver us from the snare of the trapper but it says that he will deliver us from the deadly pestilence. Now, I've always thought that pestilence was something that attack crops.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:Always thought it was something like bugs or you know, locusts or grasshoppers or mildew or spider mite or you know, root rot but after I did a word study on this word pestilence, I found out to my surprise that pestilence has to do with people. It doesn't have to do with crops and this word pestilence now means a fatal epidemic that hits the masses of people. See, a pestilence is a deadly disease that attaches itself to a person's body with the intent to destroy that body. Now can you think of any deadly diseases today that attach themselves to a person's body to destroy it? Of course we can.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:You know, I mean, you can name on and on. Cancer and heart disease and diabetes and on and on, you can name but god says here, I will deliver you from the deadly disease that comes with the intent to destroy. Okay, do we as Christians even stop to consider what this is saying to us? Have you ever stopped just to meditate on that one thing where he says, I will deliver you from the deadly pestilence. Do we have the courage to trust god's word enough to believe that he means this literally?
Peggy Joyce Ruth:You know, he's not going to put this in here if he doesn't mean it literally but he's wanting us to develop faith and the more we hear it, faith comes by hearing. The more we hear it, the more we're going to believe and he put it here on purpose. Okay, let me ask you this. Is it possible for this covenant to be true and still for a Christian to miss out on it? Yes, it is.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:It's possible to miss out on it. This covenant is true but it's just like Jesus was talking about in Luke four verse 27. He said, in the days of Elijah, there were many lepers in Israel but he said, none of them was healed but he said, Elijah went to a foreigner, Naaman, the Syrian, was able to get the healing because he obeyed in faith. Now, not everyone is going to receive the benefits of Psalm 91. It's only going to be the ones now who will take hold of these promises and hold fast to those promises.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:Those are the ones that are going to benefit but nonetheless, it's there and it is available. Okay, the first part of verse four says that he talking about god will cover you with his opinions and under his wings, you may seek refuge. Did you notice that it says under his wings, you may seek refuge? It doesn't say you will. It says, you may.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:Now, again, it's up to us to make that decision. We can seek refuge under his wings if we choose to. Now, I've used this illustration before but god gave me such a vivid illustration of this and I'm going to share it again. Jack and I live out in the country and one spring, our own mother hen had this brood of baby chickens and one afternoon, the chickens were spread all over the yard and they were just having the time of their life. They were scratching and all of a sudden, we saw the shadow of a hawk overhead and then, I noticed something very unique that taught me a lesson that I don't think I will ever forget.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:That old mother hen did not run to all of those baby chickens and covered them with her wings. She didn't do that. Instead, she squatted down, she spread out her wings, and she began to cluck. And then all of those little chickens from every direction came running to her and got under those outstretched wings and when they were all under there, she pulled those wings down tight over those baby chickens and she touched them safely under her. Now to get to those baby chickens, the hawk would have had to have gone through the mother.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:Now, when I think of those baby chickens running to their mother, I realized that it's under his wings now that we may seek refuge but we have to run to him. He's not going to run here, there, and yonder trying to gather us all up. He's made these promises available and he says, you run to me and when we do run to him in faith, then, the enemy literally would have to go through god to get to us. When you think about that, you just think, oh lord, what a comforting thought. What a blessing.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:Okay, look at the last part of verse four. It says, and his faithfulness is a shield and a bulwark. Okay, I love to realize that it's god's faithfulness to his promises that's going to be my shield. See, it's not just my faithfulness. My faithfulness gets weak a lot of times but it's god's faithfulness to his promises.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:A few weeks ago, all the little boy cousins were chasing our little granddaughter, Mary. She's five and suddenly, boy, she just came running to me and she just ran into me headlong and full force and she threw her little arms around me and she was hollering, don't let them get me, you know. Well, that brought back memories because I could remember so many times doing exactly the same thing when I was a child. And I would run to one of my parents and then wrap their arms around me until I felt completely shielded from whoever was facing me or whatever was happening. Okay, do you realize that that's exactly what god wants us to do?
Peggy Joyce Ruth:It's exactly what he wants us to do. He wants us to run full force into his arms because when we do, then he becomes a literal shield around us that protects us from the harm that's in the world. Then, when we've run to him and he's put his arms around us and we're shielded in him, then when the enemy comes and starts whispering all these little fearful thoughts in your mind and you all of a sudden have your emotions upset, all of a sudden, all that's going to be able to calm down because you're going to be able to ward off that attack by saying, my faith is strong because I know that my god is faithful and it's his faithfulness that's my shield against the enemy. Now, the next two verses, you really need to mark this verses five and six verse five and six contains an extraordinary promise. One of the most powerful promises in the Bible.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:These two verses cover every evil known to man. You need to write that out in the margin of your Bible because every evil known to man is included in these two verses. Now, it's divided in four categories. We're going to take these four categories and look at them one at a time but in the first part of verse five, he says, you will not be afraid of the terror by night. Okay, this first category, terror by night now.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:This includes all of the evils that come through man. Everything that you might be afraid of that man could do to you. That includes the kidnapping and the robbery and murder and rape and terrorism and wars. All of the evils that come through man. When you realize that god is saying you're not going to have to be afraid of anything, any of these things because they're not going to approach you.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:Do you realize how many times Jesus told us not to be afraid? Why do you think that he continually told us not to be afraid? Because see, it's through faith in his word that we're protected and since fear and faith are opposites then, the lord knows that fear is going to keep us from operating now in the faith that's necessary to receive the promise. Now, no wonder god does not want us to be afraid. No wonder he's telling us, don't be afraid of the terror by night because he knows that fear is going to keep us out of faith.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:Now, in the Old Testament, they didn't have nearly as good a covenant as we have and yet, when the Israelites put blood, the blood of animals on their door facings, the enemy couldn't come through, couldn't pass through the bloodline. Okay, that's just a type and shadow of our covenant. Our covenant is so much better than that and so when we confess now out loud that we're covered by the blood of Jesus and when we believe that, the devil literally can't come in. Now, verse two tells us, I will say, the lord is my refuge. I will say, the lord is my fortress.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:It's always gonna be heart and mouth. You need to write heart and mouth out in the margin because it's when we believe with our heart and we confess with our mouth. You know, when you have a physical weapon, the way you use and operate your physical weapons is with your hand. You don't operate a physical weapon with your foot or with your ear. You know, you operate it with your hand.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:The way you always operate your spiritual weapon is with your mouth. What we say it, the blood is applied by saying it in faith. Remember, it's always heart and mouth. Now, never before in our history has there been so much talk about terrorism and germ warfare. I mean, we're hearing it every time you turn on the TV.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:But do you realize that god is not shocked and he's not caught off guard by all these things that are happening in the world? God is bigger than chemical warfare and we need to stop and realize that. Long before man had even discovered biological weapons, god had made provision for the protection of his children if they would just believe his word. Now, make a notation in the margin of Mark sixteen seventeen and eighteen because he said, if you drink any deadly poison, it's not going to hurt you and that word drink is from the Greek simply means to imbibe and it means to to drink, to absorb, to inhale. Well, chemical warfare when it comes.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:You know, you inhale it, you absorb it. Okay, he said, you know, you don't have to be afraid of these because if you drink any deadly poison, it's not going to hurt you. No evil has been conceived by man against which god has not provided a promise of protection. I mean, that should make us jump up and shout when we hear that. He has a protection for his children who will choose to believe it and to act on it And I think, you know, how good God is.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:He is so good. He knew what we had need of and he made provision for it before we ever even ask. Now, if we find ourselves being afraid of the terror by night, then that needs to just be a barometer that lets us know that we're not dwelling in the shelter of the most high as closely as we need to. See, fear comes from two things here. Number one, it comes when we start confessing things that don't line up with what god said.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:Anytime you're confessing something other than this word, fear is going to come in and number two, anytime we get our eyes off of god and get our eyes onto the circumstances, fear is going to come in but let that fear just be a reminder to stop and repent and get back into that place of saying out loud in faith. All these promises of god because you're going to find yourself over there in fear every once in a while but pull yourself back. Let it be a reminder. Now, it's not that we deny the existence of the attack. I mean, these attacks are real.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:Not for one minute. Am I saying that we're denying these attacks from the enemy? They they're very very real But God is just wanting our faith in his word to become more of a reality than what we're seeing out there in the natural. You know, gravity is a fact. No one denies the existence of gravity.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:But just as the law of aerodynamics now can overcome or supersede the law of gravity, we need to realize that Satan's attacks can also be superseded by higher law. The law of faith and obedience in God's word. Okay, the last part of verse five says, you will not be afraid of the error that flies by day. So, the second category of evil is the era. Now, an era is something that pierces or or wounds physically, spiritually, mentally, emotionally.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:That era is sent to destroy you. When somebody shoots an arrow, they're shooting an arrow to try to destroy you and these arrows are deliberately sent by the enemy and they're aimed meticulously at the spot that will cause the most damage and they're not shot off at random either. These arrows are targeted at the area in which you've not yet had your mind totally renewed to the word of god. Now, that target could be circumstances aimed at an area where maybe we're still losing our temper or maybe an area where we're still easily offended or maybe it's an area where we're still in rebellion or we're in fear. Very seldom is the enemy going to attack you in an area where you're strong, where you've built yourself up in the faith.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:He's going to attack us where we're still struggling and that's why we have to run to god. Okay, the first part of verse six, you'll not be afraid of the pestilence that stops in darkness. Now, the third category of evil that god names is pestilence. Okay, this is the only one that god names twice. Well, god knew the pestilence and the fear that was going to be running rampant in the end days.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:He knew that and so, he got our attention by repeating that promise. It's as though god were saying, well, I said it in verse three but just in case you didn't hear me, I'm going to repeat it again in verse six. You do not have to be afraid of the deadly pestilence. He's wanting us to hear this. Now, this is so contrary to the world's thinking.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:We have to renew our mind. We have to renew our thinking to be able to comprehend this fact that we don't have to be afraid of the sicknesses and the diseases that are epidemic in our world today. I mean they're constantly coming out with new sicknesses and new diseases. Now our inheritance is not limited to what's been handed down to us genetically from our ancestors. That is not our inheritance.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:Our inheritance can be what Christ Jesus bought for us on the cross. If we'll reach out and receive that, if we'll believe it. Now, in Deuteronomy 28 verse 67, it tells us that every sickness and disease and even the ones not listed in the book are part of the curse but praise god, we've got Galatians three thirteen that tells us Christ redeemed us from the curse. He's redeemed us from every pestilence. If we'll just believe and start appropriating this promise.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:Now, Renee, she gave her testimony and I get excited every time I hear that testimony because she was diagnosed right before Christmas several years ago with lupus. I've never seen anyone grab hold of Psalm 91 and I mean, you talk about sinking her teeth in it. She wasn't about to turn it loose and she declared that lupus was absolutely not going to remain in her body and her kidneys and her liver began to shut down and for a while, she was just getting one bad report after another. Every time she called, I would brace myself because she'd gotten another bad report. And you know what?
Peggy Joyce Ruth:Most of us would have given in at that point. Most of us would have said, well, I don't know why it didn't work. That's just the way it is. And too many times, we're ready to give in too fast. When they told her that she wouldn't live to see another Christmas, well, that's when call me and she said, I will live to see another Christmas and Psalm 91 is what I'm hanging on to and gradually, things began to change.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:She's seen three Christmases since then and her kidneys as they started to function, the kidney specialist called it a miracle and the blood specialist, I think it was three different times said, this is miraculous and then the third doctor after studying the test results, she came in and said, I see no lupus working in your body. That is the power of Psalm 91 but we've gotta realize there's a point between point A and point B where it's very easy to give up and give in to the world and when it's the hardest to stand is when we have to determine our heart. Lord, I am not turning this loose. This is a promise that you've made to me and Psalm 91 is truth and I'm going to walk in it and that's what she did and she saw the results of it. Okay, the last part of verse six says, you you'll not be afraid of the destruction that lays waste at noon.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:This is the fourth category of evil. It's destruction. Now, destruction takes in all of the evil over which man has no control. The things that the world ignorantly call acts of god, the the tornadoes and the floods and the fire and car wrecks and this type thing. Now, these things are not coming from god.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:We do not have to fear them. We are protected from them when we stay in the shelter of the most high. Now, some people say, well, how do you know god doesn't send these natural disasters? Well, in Mark four verse 39, Jesus rebuked the storm and it became perfectly calm. He was demonstrating right there that god is not the author of such things.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:Otherwise, Jesus would never have contradicted something that his father had sent. So we don't have to be afraid of the destruction. Now did you know that every extreme evil known to man is going to fall under one of these four categories? All the things that can take our life. It falls in one of these four categories.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:The terror by night, things that come through man, the eras, the assignments of the enemy, the pestilence, the sicknesses and diseases and the destruction of things over which man has no control. Every extreme evil is going to fall in one of those four categories and the amazing thing is that god has offered us deliverance from them all. This is the time you need to be shouting. That's a good place to shout, you know, for for what god's done. Now it's hard to even imagine, but God knew about these dangers and He provided safety from the...
Peggy Joyce Ruth:Before we even knew we had a need. He had already made a provision before we knew about it. Well, what about the fact that the majority of people out there don't believe it? By far, the majority of people will not believe these promises in Psalm 91. Well, he addresses that in Romans three three when Paul says, if some do not believe, will their unbelief nullify the faithfulness of god?
Peggy Joyce Ruth:And then he says, may it never be. He said, god's going to be found true even though every other man is found to be a liar and then god goes on to say in verse seven, a thousand may fall at your side and 10,000 at your right hand. Listen, this is literal. When we hear all the negative reports and we see all the needs around us, boy, sometimes it can feel so overwhelming. And that's why he's saying, hey, I'm telling you, a thousand's going to fall at your side.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:10,000 at your right hand. You might as well expect that it's going to happen but he says, now, I'm giving you a choice. He said, now, you can run to my shelter in faith and it will not approach you. A thousand may fall at your side, 10,000 at your right hand but it will not approach you. We do not have to be one of the 10,000 that falls if our mind is renewed to the word of god.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:See, we can receive anything that god has already provided. Anything god's provided, you can receive. Now, the secret is knowing that everything for which god has made provision is clearly spelled out and defined in the word of god. Listen, if you can find where god offered it, then you can have it. You need to remember that.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:If you can find in the word where god offered it, then you can have it. He's provided it. Now, faith is not a tool to manipulate god into giving you something you want. Faith is simply the means by which we accept what god has already made provision for. Now, Psalm 91 is a preventive measure that god's given to his children against every evil known to mankind.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:Now, as you know, our church and and the school and both radio stations, everything is located right on the banks of the bow and all of the water from Lake Brownwood comes right by our church in the bow. And when we built the church a number of years ago, Brownwood had not had a flood in over a hundred years. And we were told the government lakes that had been built would keep us from ever having a flood again. Well, several years ago, we had our second flash flood. And they evacuated the whole area.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:And we couldn't get to the church property but houses and buildings much further away from the bow than the church were all flooded and we found out that the old Walmart building about two blocks away was flooded Everybody said, well, the Walmart building is a lot higher than your church. So, you've got a lot of water in church and in the natural, it looked pretty bad, you know, and it was really hard to quote Psalm 91 when you were looking at circumstances that it was kind of frightening. The members of this church, I mean, they were quoting Psalm 91. They were believing and they were standing. They were determined that we were going to be protected and sure enough, three days later, when they let us through the roadblock, we came and there was not an ounce of water in the building.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:A thousand going to fall at your side, 10,000 at your right hand but it will not approach you. Verses eight and nine says, you will only look on with your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked for you have made the lord my refuge even the most high your dwelling place. So, this verse eight nine is saying, you know, you don't have to fear this because you've made the lord your refuge. It's reiterating your part and then verse 10 says, no evil will befall you nor will any plague come near your tent. In other words, no evil.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:None of the categories of evil that we've just named nor will it come near your household. Now, god's just added a new dimension to the covenant. I love this part. In verse 10, he's giving us the opportunity to exercise faith not only just for ourselves but also for the protection of our entire household. At the end of every one of these, we should be shouting.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:You know, when our hearts are trained to believe this covenant, then, we're going to stop being constantly afraid that something bad is going to happen to one of our family members. That used to be my biggest fear that something was going to happen to one of my family members. Negative expectations will begin to to pass away and we'll start expecting good reports. This promise has been in the word forever, but every year that passes, God's bringing it more and more to the foreground because I believe that it has been reserved for these end times. You know, one weekend, we were expecting Angela and David to come in from Irving and they called and they said, well, we're going be at least a day late.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:Well, when they did get here, Angela's head and face was so swollen that we couldn't even recognize her. I mean, it was just it was unbelievable. David said, oh, she looks so much better than she did yesterday. Well, it had really concerned David because he had thought at first that it was lupus and she looked bad. It was scary but we had a covenant that said, none of these things are going to come near your household and I remember having to get out of the room and go into the bedroom and I start saying, lord, I cannot look at her and and confess your word.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:I've gotta get away where I can't even look at her but lord, you have promised me in verse 10 that no evil will befall me nor a plague or calamity come near my household And so we just kept confessing that and gradually, little by little, that swelling started going down. At least it came to the place where we could see that she had eyes, you know. Well, we found out later that she had eaten a mango and it had been shipped in and it must have had some insecticide on it. You know, I mean, she had a horrible reaction but you know, praise god for Psalm 91. So many people have died from a lot less than that.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:No evil will befall you. No a plague or calamity come near your dwelling and I'm going to tell you what, that's more than just a comforting thought here. This can literally bring life and hope. Okay, verses eleven and twelve, for he will give his angels charge concerning you to guard you in all your ways. They will bear you up in their hands, lest you strike your foot against a stone.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:This is one of the most precious promises of god and he's put it right here in Psalm 91 to tell us about the angels. Hebrews one verse 14, you can look it up later but he says, the angels are spirit being and they're sent by god to render aid to those who are going to inherit salvation. You know, my sister and I were going up Interstate 44 and we were headed to a lady seminar where I was going to be the speaker and suddenly, she just turned off the turnpike and she said II just knew that I saw an exit for Highway 44 and minutes after we turned off the turnpike, they had a horrible car pile up in the very lane in which we've been traveling and we would have been right in the middle of that tragedy. See, he gives his angels charge concerning us and angels do play a vital part now in god's plan of protection and I truly believe those angels just pointed her right off the highway. Okay, verse 13 says, you'll tread upon the lion and the cobra, the young lion, and the serpent, you'll trample down.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:Okay. Now, Psalm 91 suddenly is going to take us from the subject of our being protected by god and he begins to put emphasis on the authority that's been given to us as believers in the name of Jesus and so you need to make a note of a corresponding New Testament scripture that deals with our authority because Luke 10 verse 19 says, behold, I've given you authority over all the powers of the enemy and he'll not injure you. Okay. We've been given authority over the enemy. He doesn't have authority over us.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:Most people don't believe that. They think the enemy has authority over us but that's not true. You know, Peter and John, they told the man that got beautiful silver and gold have I none but such as I have give I you in the name of Jesus. Rise and walk. Okay.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:That authority has not been taken away. Our daughter had a friend living in Fort Worth and she was getting ready for church several years ago and someone knocked on the door and when she opened the door, well, this armed guy pushed his way in and he was coming in to molest her and she started taking authority in Jesus name. Well, in the natural, there was no way for a young girl to be able to stand against a strong man and especially a man that was armed but she was so confident in her authority that he finally just became immobile and she was able to escape unharmed. This word works. Our authority works.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:Wow. But we need to ask ourselves now, am I confident enough in my authority that I can boldly declare in the face of an attack? I am in covenant with the living god. I have a blood covering protection that protects me from all harm. So, in the name of Jesus, put down that gun or in the name of Jesus, leave me alone or whatever.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:You know, are we that confident? See, if we don't have that kind of courage, then we need to meditate on these authority scriptures until we become confident in who we are in Christ Jesus. Many many times, I'll lie awake at night and I will let these authority scriptures go over in my mind saying them, you know, just above my breath because I want to keep this flowing in me to let me remember the authority that I have in Jesus. See, it's not good enough after we face the attack. We have to have prepared ourselves before any attacks to be able to use and you know what?
Peggy Joyce Ruth:I'm going tell you something. If you're prepared, usually the enemy won't come against you. When you're prepared, usually you won't even have to use it. Now, at new birth, we immediately have enough power at our disposal to tread on the enemy without being harmed but most Christians, they either don't know they have the authority or they just are not confident enough to use it but you need to ask yourselves now, how often do I believe the word enough to act on it? Do I believe it enough to act on it?
Peggy Joyce Ruth:How many times do I act on it in a week? Now, in verses 14 now through 16, we're going to find that the Psalm moves now from talking in third person about god's promises to god speaking to us personally now to declare promises to us in first person. Now, this is the voice of god verses 14 through 16 speaking prophetically to each one of us. Now, in verse 14, you need to put your own name there. God says, because he, because Letha, because Luann, you know, put your own name there because he has loved me.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:Therefore, I will deliver him or deliver her. Okay. Now, in these three verses, fourteen, fifteen, and 16, he gives us seven promises and we need to take special note of the fact that these seven promises are reserved for those who love him. He said, because he has loved me, therefore, I will do thus and so. Okay, first of all, we need to ask ourselves, do I really love him?
Peggy Joyce Ruth:Be honest with yourself. You remember when Jesus asked Peter, do you love me, Peter? And can you imagine how Peter must have felt when he asked him the third time? Peter, do you love me? Even so, we need to question ourselves because these promises are made only to those who have genuinely set their love on god and of course, the Bible says, if we love him, we'll obey.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:So, our obedience now shows us if we love him or if it's just lip service. Okay. So, do you love him? If you do, then these seven promises are for you. Now, promise of deliverance is the first of the seven promises made to the one who loves god because he's loved me.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:Therefore, I will deliver him. Okay. Now, from what is god going to deliver us? Okay, he's going to deliver us from every evil that we've listed so far, every evil known to mankind. That's a tremendous promise.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:Now, there may be a little weight at times but don't give up on the promises. You know for over two years I had something wrong with my left eye and every night I would walk the floor with this excruciating pain. I'd gone to two optometrists and three ophthalmologists and none of them could give me a real answer of what was going on. Now they all suggested that it might be dry eye but I couldn't imagine dry eye hurting that badly and only hurting at night. Now, I had come to the place where my eyes were blurred in the daytime but every time that that pain would come as I'd walk the floor, I'd quote Psalm 91 I kept quoting Psalm 91.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:And this went on for two years. But you know, one day a friend of mine was listening to the TV and she turned it on just in time to hear a doctor say, Use flax oil and it'll give you the omega oils that you need for your eye. Well, I was obedient to do that and all of a sudden, I started seeing a turnaround and gradually, my eye started turning around and I don't have any problems with it. It's totally healed and there's no damage. God delivered me.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:So, god promises to deliver. So, don't give up and don't limit him because there may be a little waiting period and there may be something that he tells you to do but that promise is true. Verse 14 says, because he's loved me, I will set him securely on high because he's known my name. Okay, to be set securely on high is the second promise made to those who love god and who know him by his covenant names. So, we need to ask ourselves, do I know him as my Jehovah Jireh, my provider?
Peggy Joyce Ruth:Do I know him as my Jehovah Rapha? Do I know him as my healer, the one that heals me? You know, no matter how serious the condition may be, do I know him as my Jehovah Shalom, my peace, as my nicey, my protection, as my Jehovah Maz, my strength? See, when we know him intimately in these different covenants represented in his different names, then we're not going to be pulled down by the problems. We're going to be seated with Christ Jesus and all of these things will be under our feet.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:Okay, verse 15, he says, he will call upon me and I will answer him. Now, some people pray and they never expect god to hear them much less answer them but god makes a third promise here that he will answer those who truly love him and who call upon his name. Do you believe that? Ask yourself. Be honest.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:Do you believe that? One year, Bill and Jack had gone to burn this brush off in the back of a pasture. When the fire got over this old gas well, they didn't know the gas well was there. Well, I'm... It just flew up.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:The flames went in every direction and they were in really tall grass. And so the fire was instantly out of control. Now they were fighting it with everything that they had, but, we hadn't run water to the back of the pasture. And so Jack realized that the fire was so out of control that it could very easily either get to our house or to somebody else's house. So he flew up to the house to call the fire department and he told me to go to the crossroad and get them back there as soon as they got there and and he dashed back to where Bill was.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:He said, he knew that they were in bad trouble. When he got back there, the fire was out. Bill was covered from head to foot in black soot and he was sitting on a tree stump just completely exhausted and Jack couldn't believe it and so he asked Bill, he said, how on earth did you put that fire at? And Bill said, I called on god. So, that that's what we have to do.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:As simple as that. God says, I'll answer those who love me and call on my name. Okay, verse 15, I will be with him in trouble and I will rescue him. Have you ever been in trouble and needed to be rescued? Now, during that flood that I was telling you about that second flood, Bill had a flock of goats on some land by the bow and some men had realized that those goats were going to be drowned.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:And so he had hoisted all those goats up into the loft of a barn that was nearby. Well, a couple of days later, the water was still so swift and so high that they wouldn't let anybody in. But Bill had been told about his goats. He knew where his goats were. And so he got this little tin bottom boat and he went across these swift floodwaters and he went to that old barn that was way out there.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:They even had the TV cameras that came and took a picture of the little goat boy in his boat rescuing his goats. But he got those goats out of the loft boatload by boatload, a few at the time, and took them back to safety. Well, another few hours and they would have died from thirst and suffocation. But you know, every time I think of Bill rescuing those goats that were in trouble, I think of how god sees us in our troubles and he finds a way to rescue us. Now, god's creative and he's not limited by our seemingly impossible situations and sometime we get ourselves in pretty impossible situations but he's just wanting us to run to him and ask in faith.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:Now, the number five promise in the last part of verse 15 is because he loves me, I will honor him. Now, it's something to be honored by god. Think about that. We love to be honored by man. Think about what it's like to be honored by god.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:He honors us by calling us his children. He honors us when we take his promises and we take them seriously. So, start noticing the different ways that god honors you. In the first part of verse 16, he says, because he loves me with a long life, I will satisfy him. Okay.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:So, this is the sixth promise. Now, god doesn't just say, I'm going to prolong your life and give you a lot of birthdays. He said, I'm going to satisfy you with a long life. Now, there are people who could testify that just having a lot of birthdays is not necessarily a blessing but god saying that he's going to give us many birthdays and as those birthdays roll around, we're going to experience satisfaction and then the last part of verse 16, he said, and I'll I'll allow him to behold my salvation. Okay.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:To allow those who love him to behold his salvation is the seventh promise and you need to write out in the margin because behold means to take hold of. In other words, a lot of people are surprised when they look up the word salvation and they find out that it has a lot deeper meaning than just a ticket to heaven. Salvation in the Hebrew and in the Greek means it takes in health, healing, deliverance, protection, and provision and so when it says that he'll let us behold, take hold of his health, healing, deliverance, protection, and provision and he's wanting us to reach out and take hold of him in all of these areas. Jeanette Renfrode was awakened from a deep sleep one night and she saw in a vision, she saw her son drowning and she took hold of those promises there in Psalm 91 and she started taking authority and finally then in the vision, she saw him miraculously picked up out of the water and she said he looked like a little drowned mouse in the vision when she saw him. But she knew at that point that the danger had passed.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:And so she said she made an entry in her journal and she just went back to bed. Well, it was months later when the son came home, they started talking and she told him about the night when she had interceded for him and she found out that he had indeed had a drowning experience that had almost claimed his life and when they looked it up in the journal, they found it that it was the exact day that she prayed. It works intercession and using your authority. You need to write those two things down because intercession and using your authority, that's another way of taking hold of the salvation that covenant provides. Now, it just seems like a dream to me now when I think way back there about that day when I asked god that pertinent question, is there any way to escape all the dangers that are coming on the earth?
Peggy Joyce Ruth:I think when I asked that question, I probably didn't really expect an answer. You know, I just was voicing my frustration but when I ask that question, that seems like so long ago but little did I know that he was going to give me a dream that not only was going to change my life but was also going to change the lives of hundreds of other people who heard and believed. Now, my mind can't even comprehend of a god who loves us this much. I can't even comprehend of a god who would love us enough now to make this kind of covenant to protect his children from every evil known to man but that's the kind of god we serve. That's the kind of god we serve.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:Father, we just want to say thank you that there's no other way. There's nothing else that we can say except just thank you lord. Thank you for doing this for us. Father, I thank you for this promise. I thank you that you gave me the privilege of writing a book to put this covenant in in book form.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:I thank you father. We bless this book and father, I'm believing you that it's going to go out and it's going to bear much fruit and we just ask by the power of your holy spirit that you'll take this book and that you'll send it in the places where it needs to be and that you will cause it lord to accomplish everything that you want to accomplish. Thank you for listening. Please share this teaching with anyone you think it would minister to. If you would like to listen to more in-depth teachings, please sign up for our Psalm 91 family at peggyjoyceruth.org.
Peggy Joyce Ruth:Hi.