God’s Promises Protect and Bless Us

God’s promised blessings protect the follower of Christ.

“Your faithful promises are our armor and protection” (Psalm 91:4)

I discovered after reading Psalm 91 as well as other verses, that the blessings God promises, guide us to the safe and protected path.

God is generous and gracious, and throughout Scripture He teaches us again and again how to remain protected and enjoy the abundant life Jesus secured for us by defeating Satan. Within each promised blessing, He guides us towards the safe and protected path. We can choose to agree with His path or not. Our salvation is still secure. The only question is, whether we have faith enough to believe that God is leading us to a safe life full of blessing.

Let me start with the first four lines of Psalm 91:

“Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust. Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge. His faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.” (Ps 91:1-4 NIV)

In order to receive the blessings in Psalm 91 we must have faith that:

#1 dwelling with God protects us. To better understand what dwelling is, we can look to other passages of Scripture such as 1 John 2:24 which states:

“And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him.”

Therefore, dwelling with the Lord means we believe God’s moral law. We follow it, not to be saved, but to walk in the ways of Jesus.

Psalm 91 also describes the person who dwells with the Lord will be vocal about their faith. They won’t hesitate to give God the recognition He deserves. They will “say” or let others know God can be relied upon. This act, not only spreads the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but it also brings future blessings to our lives. God promises to protect us from the snares of evil people as well as the deadly pestilence. Following the guidance within the blessing leads us more revelation of His Word.

“For whoever has[a willing heart to heed instruction]to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have[resists truth],even what he has will be taken away from him.”(Matt 13:12) *brackets my words

A person who hears God’s wisdom but does nothing with it, will be cut off from receiving more wisdom until they embrace and act on what was already revealed to them. “He cuts off every branch in Me that bears no fruit, and every branch that does bear fruit, He prunes to make it even more fruitful.”(John 15:2)

It seems that those who bear fruit are tested, revealing whether the wisdom God has given them is weighty enough to be lived out through faithful action.

Through these difficult situations, God deepens our trust in His Word and draws us into a closer relationship with HIm. As we walk through trials after receiving His wisdom, the outcome can be a faith that reflects His own character- a faith of God.

“Have the faith of God,” Jesus answered.” (Mark 11:22)

“Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” (Mark 11:23-24)

“Instruct a wise man, and he will be wiser still; teach a righteous man, and he will increase his learning”(Prov 9:9)

God’s Promises Teach Us How To Receive Blessings

In the book of Job, we find a chapter that delineates how we can be sure God hears our prayers. And if we know that He hears them, we know we have what we request. “And since we know he hears us when we make our requests, we also know that he will give us what we ask for.” ( 1 John 5:15)

How to receive answered prayer: Job 22:21-27

“Submit to God and be at peace with him;
    in this way good will come to you.
²² Accept instruction from his mouth
    and lay up his words in your heart.
²³ If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored:
    If you remove wickedness far from your tent
²⁴ and assign your nuggets to the dust,
    your gold of Ophir to the rocks in the ravines,
²⁵ then the Almighty will be your gold,
    the choicest silver for you.
²⁶ Surely then you will find delight in the Almighty
    and will lift up your face to God.
²⁷ You will pray to him, and he will hear you ( Job 22: 21-27)

The guidance in this verse:

-Submit to the Lord’s way

-Be at peace with Him

-Accept instruction from God

-Memorize and meditate on Scripture and walk according to His Word

-Return to God- confess and repent of sin daily

-Remove wickedess from our home; secular t.v., music, conversations, lusts of the eyes, lust of the flesh and pride

-Assign your nuggests to the dust, in other words chase after spiritual riches rather than earthly riches.

If we follow the teachings of our heavenly Father we are showing we have faith in them. If we agree with God’s Word enough to follow it, then we will have more faith that He will act on His Word.

The verse goes on to say: then the Almighty will be our gold and choicest silver for us; in other words, He will provide all we need and more while refining our behavior to trust in Him and not in ourselves. When we come to this point, answered prayer is the norm and not the exception.

Any time the Lord calls us to adopt specific behaviors into our life, He never leaves us without the help we need to carry them out. The Holy Spirit lives within believers to empower us to live like Jesus.

God’s Promises Protect Our Heart

Our heart, in other words, what we love, guides how we live life. But it is important that we know what to love and quite frankly, who to love, by learning from the Lord. Everything we allow our heart to love will guide our life. Therefore as Job 22:22 says, we must lay up God’s Word in our heart so that it guides our affections.

Protecting our heart is a common theme in the Bible:

“Above all else, guard your heart,
for everything you do flows from it.”(Prov 4:23 NIV)

In another version of the same verse says it like this:

“Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.”(Prov 4:23 KJV)

The second version of this verse emphasized that what we love determines our life. This means we can greatly diminish our struggles by filling our heart with God’s Word and willingly submitting to Him.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.”(Prov 3:5-6 NIV)

Answered prayer is clearly attainable for those who love the Lord and desire to do His will:

“Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. (1 John 3:21-22 KJV)

Our hearts can condemn us when we are reminded of teachings we have heard but did not follow. In those times, it becomes difficult to approach God with confidence or believe we can claim His blessings. Our conscience knows we have not fully walked in obedience to His Word.

Therefore, when we study the Word of God, we should look at the If/Then statements. If we choose to obey, then He will provide a blessing. If we choose not to obey due to lack of faith, then we miss out.

Let’s encourage our children to be obedient to us, as a precedent to obedience to the Lord. Then we will have families living above their circumstances, overcoming all problems and thriving as bright lights guiding others to God’s Word.

Food For Thought,

Lisa