Dwelling in the Secret Place of the Most High Psalm 91

and then well I'm gonna I'm going to speak out of Psalm 91 this morning and Holy Spirit's just been highlighting this Psalm to me in a very special way the last three weeks I slipped into it and I just can't get out of it and it's a very familiar chapter to many of us but I find that you know the things that I thought I knew the most when you begin to get back into it you just feel the spirit of Revelation on it it touches you in a fresh way I want to read it this morning I want us all to read it together if you have your Bibles you can open up to your Bibles or your iPhones or whatever you have and I'm going to I want to pay specific attention to verses 1 9 and 14 verses 1 9 and 14 because Psalm 91 is conditional blessings it's conditional blessings and we're going to see three different times in Psalm 91 that there's conditions set forth they're pretty much the same condition but here iam ffice eise's it over and over again so let's go ahead and read it verse 1 it says he who dwells in the secret place of the Most High he shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty I will say of the Lord he is my refuge and he's my fortress he's my god in him I will trust surely he shall deliver you from the snare of the Fowler and from the perilous pestilence he shall cover you with his feathers and under his wings you shall take refuge his truth shall be your shield and your buckler and then he says you shall not be afraid of the terror by night nor of the arrow that flies by day nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday a thousand may fall at your side and ten thousand at your right hand but it shall not come near you only with your eyes show you look and see the reward of the wicked verse 9 look at this because you have made the Lord who is my refuge even the most high your dwelling place no evil shall befall you nor shall any plague come near your dwelling for he shall give his angels charge over you and in their hands they shall bear you up lest you is your foot against a stone so he gives his angels charge over us to keep our feet from dashing it against the stone and the very feet that have been delivered look at verse 13 now that feet you shall tread upon the lion and the Cobra the young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot verse 14 here's another condition because he has set his love upon me therefore look at his seven blessings God gives to the person the man the woman the young person that sets their love upon God number one it says that he will deliver us number two he will set us on high because we have known his name number three we shall call upon him and he will answer us number four he will be with us in trouble number five he will deliver us and honor us and number six with long life he will satisfy us and number seven he will show us his salvation who loves this chapter - this is the awesome chapter Ivo I mean I've known it generally but over these last three weeks I have just fallen in love with this chapter in so many ways the Holy Spirit's made it clear to me that I was to memorize this chapter and to speak it all day long and that this was to be our prayer language over the next three weeks was that I was supposed to just walk in that prayer room a walk in my room or be in my car or be at home or be at the grocery store and just speak Psalm 91 to him for myself my family our city our nation the earth while reading this you can't help but see God's commitment to deliver to protect to cover his people who go after him the ones who make him their dwelling place God makes amazing commitments to us and we can have full faith and confidence that God is committed to us number two when reading Psalm 91 you can't help but fill the pool of the Holy Spirit saying because as I've been reading this I'm just hearing the Lord say Corey I'm calling you just out of the fringes I want you to make me your dwelling place like no other time I don't want to be a casual or convenient person that you come to when you need me but I want to become your permanent dwelling place that you live in and that you abide in and that you draw on that I would be your number one source of entertainment that I would be your number one source of strength and security and stability and comfort and that you would draw on me before you would draw on anything else and number three as you're reading this even as you take a step back because we know the sums so well as you actually take a step back and look at the backdrop and the context of Psalm 91 it's a very intense song it's a very intense summon we're talking about things like pestilence being delivered from pestilence being delivered from evil he says a phrase like a thousand will fall it to your side and 10,000 will fall to your right hand but it shall not come near you death breaking out all around you and yet God giving an immunity to the people who follow him in the midst of the storm and you can't help while reading Psalm 91 have a sense of sobriety and a sense of urgency began to touch you as we begin to think about because it was around right at the time of the ruling of the Supreme Court ruling three weeks ago that I begin to slip into this not even thinking about the implications or the timing of it and as I've been reading this Psalm over the last few weeks I have been getting growing more and more in sobriety over the state of our nation over the storm that is here and the storm that is coming upon our nation I believe that and you know I've just been thinking about that phrase of the storm that is coming and a storm that is here we've recently had two tornadoes come through here in the last couple of weeks and I remember a couple of weeks ago we you know the those storm clouds were gathering and I don't know if you saw them but they were some of the coolest clouds you've ever seen it is absolutely the most beautiful thing to see those storm clouds gathering in to see even a tornado moving in and you're seeing 10 miles down the road and funnel clouds dropping now it's tough over there but from a distance you're watching it going my goodness this is the most beautiful thing in the world it's so fascinating to see that thing kind of happen and we're all enjoying it the whole family was outside we were enjoying seeing the clouds and everything and then all of a sudden the most horrendous sound began to break out in our neighborhood sirens begin to break out in our neighborhood as well as in all of our neighborhoods and it was this just god-awful sound and it completely ruined our nice little time of watching that and then we were enjoying it it was nice but until we heard the sirens we probably stayed out a little bit too long that we should but we knew that once we heard those sirens that it was more than just a drill it was more than just a nice rainstorm or a nice little thunderstorm that was coming through town but that now it's something more serious that there's a tornado that's close and we need to take shelter as soon as possible and we need to respond as soon as possible it changes it from a nice etna school into a sense of urgency and responsiveness that we've got to move into and even as thinking about those sirens I believe that God has been sounding clear sirens in our nation over the last two decades God is declaring sirens in this nation in the Olivet discourse and Jesus talking about the signs of his coming he says that there will be sirens that God will give to our generation to let us know that there is a storm that is coming around the corner storms like earthquakes storms like famines and pestilences and wars and rumors of wars and great betrayal and great offense and lawlessness and cold love and many signs will begin to break out and these will be clear indicators first to the body of Christ - to fully lean in to discern the weather patterns to discern what's going on and to fully lock in with Jesus so that we can be one a sense of a shade tree too many and bring clarity to the masses he is sounding forth alarms and God at the same time is raising up prophetic messengers preachers teachers we were seeing messengers that are being released that are called to be holy alarms holy alarms that will not stop I mean the very nature of a siren or an alarm I mean think about it what is the nature of an alarm it's rude it doesn't care how good your sleep is it doesn't care how nice that Posturepedic bed is how nice that downy comforter is and how nice your dream is or how little sleep you got last night it doesn't care it doesn't care how tough your lifespan it has one agenda and that's to get your lazy behind out of bed God has alarms they're not mean and they're not rude in that sense but they've been so wrecked and I'm talking about parents that will be alarms or messengers that will be alarms that have been so wrecked that this is not a drill and it's not a game but that there's a real storm that's already breaking in and how do we respond to it many of us are trying to find our way how do we respond God we want to connect with your heart sometimes it's hard to connect with fully what's going on until sometimes we get two three decades outside of it to properly discern but the spirit of prophecy is being able to discern what's going on when you're in the middle of it that's the spirit of prophecy is that it brings you into the heart of God when you're in the middle of it instead of waiting two and three decades so we can look back on it God is raising up alarms I believe that we're in a storm in this nation it doesn't take a rocket scientist I know I'm speaking in some sense to the choir but I believe that God wants to release a fresh sobriety upon our community concerning the storm that's coming and the storm that's here the walls of protection are breaking down around our nation the walls of protection are breaking down around our nation a tsunami of lawlessness of wickedness of immorality of perversion is heating like a tidal wave on this generation we're waking up five and ten years later and what's happening is we're actually I believe we're going to look back on these decades as some of the most significant decades in America's history I believe we'll look back on these decades as the season to win the church got pushed into the closet when the church her mouth was shut the mute button was pushed on her mouth and she was shut into the closet but I actually believe God's going to use this to get us to reconnect with our Father who is in the secret place I believe what the enemy is meaning for harm to push the church into the closet the church is going to reconnect with him who is in the closet who is our Father and we're going to reconnect with him we're going to come off the fringes of social media TV conversations and we're going to come into a holy conversation with our father he's actually going to use this storm to get us to the eye of the storm but we need to feel the sobriety we need to ask God to fill us with his heart and with the sense of sobriety we are seeing a sexual storm sweep across this nation the Porta fication of a whole generation we are seeing the Porta fication of a whole generation the Internet explosion that has released such vomit from Hell and that has defiled warp degenerations Minds has shifted our paradigms on how we relate to one another Minds being tormented the average first aged use of pornography is 11 years old we have a teenage generation that is under assault we're under assault it's coming through our movies or television shows it's coming through our TV screens or computer screens or iPhones or watches it's coming in through every avenue seeking to destroy it's given birth to such immorality hetero sexual immorality homosexual immorality pedophilia transgender such sexual confusion and torment we're in a storm we're in a family storm the dragon is seeking to destroy our children seeking to destroy our marriages the spirit of Elijah that turned hearts to one another the enemy is seeking to divide and conquer dividing marriages dividing families turning families away from one another and there's a great war been that's been my number-one assignment over the last two years is laboring we're laboring for our families laboring for our families I feel like it's an hour like never before strengthening those bonds strengthening those connections and finding one another in God we're in a theological crisis at the time where the churches need is needed the most the church is the most silent in an hour to where we need the greatest clarity we need the greatest leadership and the greatest plumb lines the church is found in confusion we're found in confusion as we're highlighting certain truths of the grace and the mercy of God while completely abandoning the call to repentance the call to holiness the call to taking up our crosses and following the Lamb of God the call to coming out of our islands and our isolations and coming into community I love the mercy and the grace of God the free forgiveness of God and we will never exhaust that in a billion years you will be crying on the sea of glass undone with the kindness of God but it is wrong and it's a wrong doctrine and it is a strew destroying many to only highlight his mercy and grace without a radical call to repentance holiness disciplines of prayer and fasting amen we know this but you're feeling you're feeling that becoming more and more of a byword even in the church we say anything like of giving anything to Jesus it's legalism Olivia this is an hour that we swim against that current and our even our own families extended families that are saying don't why are you being so legalistic we've got to push the mute button on those voices and saying I am going to follow the lamb wherever he goes so much confusion so many parts of Jesus we just want to wide out in our Bibles kind of like we're embarrassed of him I don't want to be embarrassed of Jesus I don't want to be ashamed of him he says that he would be ashamed of me if I'm ashamed of him I don't to be ashamed of Jesus nor only know 30 percent of my bridegroom how many spouses in here would only like to know 30 percent of your spouse and you're content with that I don't think so and say you know what I don't understand that part of you you could do what you do but I can't even deal with those verses it's not okay he wants to awaken his his people like no other time we are in a great crisis and I believe that God is raising up a new generation of messengers there have been the faithful that have plowing that are holding the line thank God for them but we need a hole we need a hole you know we need a whole wave of new preachers and songwriters and worship leaders that are going to take us into giving ourselves fully to Jesus I want to say that I believe that we're in the storm and we need to feel that storm and that we're in the middle of it it's not just coming it's here it's here but I want to say to you that with utmost confidence I have never been filled with more faith and hope for a third Great Awakening in this nation than I am right now as I said earlier I believe the church is getting pushed into the closet so we can reconnect with him who is in the secret place I believe it's these seasons like this that actually removes gray lines it removes the lines of obscurity it removes casual Chris where God is an 8 a crisis ATM and it shifts us into making him our permanent dwelling place I'm actually grateful for these seasons because it removes all the language all the nice little peace time and it begins to move us into a different mindset I'm grateful for seasons like this because I believe that out of this furnace is going to come a holy spotless on fire church filled with the glory of God hallelujah I believe that in these days we will see a church come forth dwelling in the secret place of the Most High abiding under the shadow of the Almighty God who is not given way to fear or to hopelessness or despair but it's thriving in the grace and the anointing of the holy spirit we've got to understand that Luke 21 verse 26 says in light of these days that the hearts of many will faint that there will be a fainting I tell you heart attacks will increase in light of the expectation of what is coming upon the earth but at the same time God is going to call a church into that secret place and she's going to soar with God what's our response to the storm what is our personal our family our corporate response to the storm our response is dwelling in the secret place of the Most High a couple of weeks ago I was in California I was preaching to a young adult group on Psalm 2 you know we've been preaching Psalm 2 I've been preaching I think 70 weekends in a row last year and a half can't get out of it you can't think of a psalm that more encapsulates where we're at as a nation than that Psalm and something was striking me afresh as I was preaching on it you know you preach about the nation's at a raging lawlessness a generation wanting deliverance from God and His Word and its leadership and we see the father laughing and engaging the nation saying I have given my son he is going to rule from Mount Zion but what we find in Psalm 2 in the eye of that storm in the eye of that storm is a wholly intimate conversation between the father and the son in the middle of it all in the middle of all the chaos and the confusion is a one-on-one conversation where the father is washing his people with the revelation of our beloved nough stew him and he's washing us in the truth of our inheritance in him and saying church come off the fringes and get into the prayer room come off the chat rooms and get into the prayer rooms and begin to declare back to me what I said is yours and I believe it's going to be the pressure that's going to call us off the back row and call us into that holy place I've been reading Psalms like Psalm 27 we know it's a it's a chapter we know well around here David's saying the Lord is my light and my salvation whom shall I fear when the wicked came up against me to eat up my flesh my enemies so David is being surrounded what's David's response one thing I have desire the Lord this one thing I seek that I would dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life and that I would behold his beauty and I would enquire in his temple for in the time of trouble he shall hide me in the secret place of his tabernacle he shall hide me and he shall set me high upon a rock and now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me Psalm 27 I like to call it the holy elevator you come into the secret place on the first floor and he takes you up and he sets you up and now you begin to see the storm from a different vantage point beloved I'm here to tell you right now he's not going to take us out of it he is going to take us through it but we're coming through in a certain vantage point and that's called seeing through his lens in the place of safety protection and revelation it's not an hour of fear it's not an hour of hopelessness and despair it's an hour to find ourselves dwelling in the secret place of the Most High Psalm 31 says that God will hide us in the secret place of his presence from the plots of men and the strivings of tongues psalm 46 in the midst of great warfare and rage and craziness what's the last phrase of psalm 46 be still and know that I am God for I will be exalted among the nation's Psalm 91 you know it I just read it I love Matthew five and six Jesus says when you pray go into your room and shut the door herb I say shut the door say shut the door he said shut the door cuz he knew you'd try to open it he says locked that door break off all distractions run out of that social media frenzy run out of that CNN frenzy run away from that FoxNews frenzy run away from all those conversations that go nowhere get out of that room go into your room shut it lock it bar it and then I want you to look at your father who dwells in the secret place and he who sees in secret will reward you openly hallelujah hallelujah I want to connect with my father who sees in secret I want to get connected to the secret place of the Most High John 15 Jesus preparing his disciples for the worst storm of their lives Jesus will be taken away from them they're going to be left to an angry Roman government an angry Jewish religious system they're going to be hated they're going to be tried to be killed everyone's going to be taken in Jesus is taken away from them and Jesus makes it clear that last night with them he says guys I'm giving you one piece advice in the middle of all this I want you to abide in me I want you to live in me I want you to draw on my life I want you to look to me for unless you abide in me you will not make it unless you learn to draw on my life you will not survive the coming storm he says if you do not abide you will wither up and you will be burned up jesus said that and I believe that he's calling us into abiding like no other time I believe he's calling us in Luke 21 Mike's going to be speaking on Luke 21 over the next week into a next couple of weeks in Luke 21 Jesus gives many of the events connected with the the generation of his coming all the things that I've been talking about and it blows me away that Jesus looks all of us in the face and with utter simplicity the great pastor himself is going to be pastoral to the church in the midst of great crisis and warfare in the tsunami in the storm Jesus pastor our hearts great Shepherd what do we do he tells us to take heed to ourselves and then he says watch and pray watch and pray he in essence he's saying get your eyes open get his sprit of Revelation upon you discern the hour that you're living in and then he says pray cultivate communion with me and talk to me and get a spirit of faith upon your life he is calling for the generation that's going to make God their perpetual dwelling place versus their crisis atm and we will discover it in a very powerful way who can dwell in the secret place of the Most High who can stand in the Holy Place who can dwell in the holy hill the statement of the Old Testament is when God poses that question the answer comes back no one there's not one man not one woman not one person in the whole earth that can fulfill God's righteous standards there's no person that can live in that so when God could not find a man God became a man and in the person of Christ where we could never stand he came and he stood in our stead he gathered us up into himself and the perfect life you and I could never live Jesus for thirty three and a half years tempted with every temptation prodded with every assignment and vehement scheme of the devil he walked through it unscathed completely depending on the Father through every season through every arrow through every assignment to every attack he walked right through it depended on the father filled with the Holy Spirit he then climbed up on that cross and he said father what's belonging to Cory pour it out on me and the father unleashed the wrath upon his son and in crushing his own son he killed the power of the sin nature in us he took us into that grave and three days later he rose us up with him the Bible said he ascended to the right hand of the Father where he sat down at father's right hand and the Bible says that he's raised this up and seated us together with him in the heavenly places in Christ and he's poured out his spirit into our spirit and he has now made us the dwelling place of God hallelujah hallelujah he has made you who here has given your life to Jesus you're a child of God three of you come on I want you to know something right now you are the dwelling place of God and that right now legally through his death and resurrection you are dwelling in the secret place of the Most High you have it has been given to you but I'm here to tell you right now he has secured that for us through his death and resurrection but now in light of that he calls us to now abide dwell live in and declare war on everything that separates you dwelling in that place with him there is a part that we must play I've said it for years that God doesn't dance with mannequins we want Jesus to just lead the dance and we won't do anything I'm here to tell you that's not the way this thing works it's going to be us that makes the hard decisions in our personal life it's going to be us that turns off that television series that turns off that movie series that turns off that addiction to face book that shuts off those relationships that are taking us away from God instead of to God it's going to be us that draws those lines that declares war and that swims upstream against the current that's our responsibility is to abide in him and to dwell in him and to make him our dwelling place I just want to say in light of the storm I'm calling all of us to cling to Christ and I want to call you these last few moments he has made you his dwelling place and he is calling you to make make him yours I want you to put your hand on your belly they say good morning Holy Spirit say it again say good morning Holy Spirit say come and be my best friend I want to say to you right now that I believe that one of the most practical ways that we can make God our dwelling place it's through fellowshipping with the Holy Spirit one of the greatest ways that we can do this is by filling our minds and our lives with the Word of God and communing with the Holy Spirit I'll be honest with you in this whole season of reading Psalm 91 God has been pushing me to begin to memorize this chapter as well as other chapters in the Bible I feel like he's been telling me he says Corey do you have enough Bible memorized that if you were in a prison without a Bible that we would never skip a beat and that we could continue in our prayer lives because you have so much Bible in you I believe we're moving into a day that it's time to begin to get this thing living on the inside of us and abiding in us we need to begin to memorize Scripture like no other time I'm feeling a preciousness over the time that we have with this book because ultimately it's going to be trying to seek to remove this book and I want to hide this book in my heart and God says Cory I want you to memorize Psalm 91 and say it to me so I've just been walking in the prayer room and in my car and doing clothes or driving somewhere and I'm just like saying he who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty I will say of the Lord that he is my refuge in my fortress my god in him I will trust surely he shall deliver you from the snare of the Fowler and from the perilous pestilence he shall cover you with his feathers and under his wings you shall take refuge you shall not be afraid of the terror by night nor of the arrow that flies by day nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday a thousand will fall to your side ten thousand at your right hand but it won't come near you only with your eyes show you look and see the reward of the wicked because you have made the Lord who is my refuge even the most high your dwelling place no evil shall befall you nor shall any plague come near your dwelling for he shall give his angels charge over you to keep you in all your ways and in their hands they're gonna bear you up they're gonna uphold you he goes to keep your feet from from stumbling and dashing your foot against the stone he says the very feet that have been delivered he says you shall tread upon the lion and the Cobra the young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot 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 he shall call upon me and I will answer him I will be with him in trouble I will deliver him and honor him with long life satisfy him and I will show him my salvation but I'm telling you I'm like God it's time to get chapters Mac Candler sent me a thing from John Piper earlier this week what John Piper spent like 20 minutes he opens up and he just begins to talk Bible verse after verse after verse diverse and I'm like God oh that we could talk for hours that we wouldn't skip a beat if I didn't have a Bible in my hand hallelujah it's time to fellowship with the Holy Spirit I'm here to tell you it's time to get his word abiding in us talking to him through the Bible number two it's time to begin to talk to the Holy Spirit even as I said that prayer earlier I said Holy Spirit be my best friend I know that felt awkward for many of you I know it felt awkward I want to invite you to begin to talk to him like you've never talked to him I want you to begin to look at him talk to him because I believe that our only place of safety is learning how to with for lack of better terms descend into our spirits and connect with him who dwells in the secret place learn how to see him with the eyes of faith talk to him commune with him whisper phrases to him say you love him my favorite one is this help help I need you Holy Spirit I don't need you tomorrow I need you now some of you at work dealing with angry bitter co-workers where you go to the bathroom you lock the door and you say Holy Spirit help me you talk to him you engage him Holy Spirit really strength in my life touch my mind my emotions touch my desires touch my body I need you Holy Spirit do you understand who lives on the inside of you you have a billion suns dwelling on the inside of you the God of heaven the god of glory is dwelling within your spirit and you did not explode in your sleep last night I'm serious that's always been God's dilemma I am God but I love humanity but every time I get close to humanity things start blowing up and people start dying that's God's dilemma he says Moses we're going to set up a priestly system lots of blood lots of sacrifice just so I can live close and then I want you to put a hold of it achill tribe around me so my wrath doesn't break out on everybody and then we're going to push the kind of glory in the Holy of Holies and if the high priest does one thing wrong I'm going to smoke him and God now through the death and resurrection of Jesus has cleansed your body as a holy temple and God infuses his own glory on the inside of your spirit and you don't explode we don't die even when we sin we don't eat meat he doesn't leave us and kill us he has mercy on us when we turn to Him and repent you have all power and love and light and glory and wisdom and yet we're running around and I feel like more and more these storms are going to expose where is your dwelling place the storms are actually exposing where we look to and what we're finding and I understand it what we're finding is now we're starting to pay more attention to the stock market pay more attention to see it in or pay more attention to this if I weren't into that and it's actually producing and looking out and God's saying no I want you to look within that's your only place of safety I want you to begin to connect and make me your dwelling place want you to live in me I want you to draw on me I want you to talk to me it's very simple and number three I want to tell you the power of praying in the Holy Spirit I mix Bible talking to the Holy Spirit and praying in the Holy Spirit praying in that personal language that personal devotional language praying in tongues guys I just want to say to you right now I have said in my heart god I want to give 20 to 30 minutes every day until I die to look at you and to begin to pray in the Holy Spirit it's not a personality type it's not set apart for a few people off to the side this is a glorious gift that will radically transform your life in God the spirit of Revelation will begin to increase more words will start jumping off these pages an atmosphere of Revelation will begin to touch you power will begin to strengthen you a communion throughout your day will begin to rest upon you it's part of your armor of God he conforms you into the image of his son want to call you into radically setting your life to that I want to rip the badge off of whether I doctrinally agree I care less if you have a badge on your chest of what happened 10 years ago or what you agree with a question is are you filled with the Holy Spirit is there a fresh river coming out of you because what used to be a river has turned into a dam by the cares of this life and the pressures of this age we need to be filled with the Holy Spirit I'm not ashamed of the Holy Spirit I love him I love the Holy Spirit and he wants us to become a people that are filled with the Holy Spirit new songs coming out of us I love this Psalm 27 and now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies and what's he going to do there what's he going to do and I will sing I will sing I believe he wants to touch us this morning and have freshly fill us under and that we would begin to say God I just want to say to you right now what are the areas in your life what are the areas that are keeping you from making God fully your dwelling place what are the bisetta ng sins the areas that you've tolerated and flirted with that won't go away what are some of those things that SAP your strength I know what they are for me and I've got to declare war on them where what are those conversations what are those media outlets that actually SAP your strength and keep you from communion and hearing his perspective you know what they are Holy Spirit will speak them to you what are those areas in your life because there is a storm that is here and this is not an hour to be flirting with anything that would be sapping our strength or disconnecting us from what's going on I want to be found dwelling in the secret place of the Most High I want his shadow resting over me father I just asked you to do that I just didn't invite you to stay in right now

Channel: Ben Shank

Views: 373,108

Rating: 4.8094063 out of 5

Keywords: Psalms (Book), Psalm 91 (Written Work), Dwelling in the Secret Place of the Most High Psalm 91, Dwelling in the Secret Place, Psalm 91

Id: ATD-OQ2xSAI

Length: 40min 16sec (2416 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 20 2015