(The Man God Blesses) Psalm 91

I picked out four psalms, and those of you who have read the psalms, some of them are very familiar psalms, one perhaps not so familiar. We looked at Psalm 1, first of all, where we saw that the man God blesses is one who avoids sin and obeys God's word. And then we looked at Psalm 23, where we saw that the man God blesses is one who allows the Lord to lead him.

And then we looked at Psalm 73, which is not such a familiar psalm, where we saw that the man God blesses is one who is willing to suffer here on this earth. Now we want to look at the fourth one, which is Psalm 91, which is again a familiar psalm. And this teaches us that the man God blesses is protected by God.

And I believe we need to have faith in that, in the times in which we live. There are many people who think that one place is more secure than the other, or one country is more secure than another. But this may have been true in past days, but as we approach the end of time, and we see the fulfilment around us of the words that Jesus said, there shall be wars and rumours of wars.

He said that would happen. And though we pray that every war will be short, we cannot imagine that the word of Jesus will not be fulfilled. We cannot imagine that as we approach the end, there'll be no wars, because Jesus said there will be wars.

And there will be rumours of wars. And Jesus said, you shall be hated of all nations, for my name's sake. We don't see that yet.

In some nations it's a little, there's more freedom. But things are changing. There was a lot more freedom in India a few years ago.

But things have changed suddenly over the last couple of years. There are people being killed who preach the gospel. And a lot of threatening.

And people whose names are on death lists who preach the gospel. We never heard of such things even a couple of years ago. Things are changing quite rapidly.

And in such a time, we must remember that the safest place in all the earth is the centre of the will of God for you. You can say, Lord, I always want to be in the centre of your will for my life. That's different for each of us.

God's called me to India. So I believe that's the safest place for me. There's no place on earth safer than that for me at the moment.

The centre of God's perfect will is the safest place. Every other place is dangerous. Outside of God's will, wherever you may be, you are in danger.

And you will discover that as you approach the end of time more and more. And that's why it should be our prayer, each of us. Prayer which Jesus taught us to pray.

Thy will be done on earth in my life as it is done in heaven. And if that's the longing of your heart, you can be pretty sure that you're secure. And Psalm 91 is really written for such people.

Because it speaks here in verse 1, of he who dwells in the shelter or the secret place or the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. Now when I think of shadow, I think of a verse in the Old Testament in the book of Exodus which says that when the children of Israel came out of Egypt, God, you know, they were in the desert, in the wilderness of Sinai for 40 years. And they would have all died of sunstroke, heatstroke, if it were not for one thing.

God provided them a shadow during the daytime hours from the sun. It was a pillar of cloud that came from heaven. It wasn't a regular cloud.

It was a cloud that gave them a shadow from the heat of the sun. And that pillar led them. And as long as they followed that pillar, they lived in its shadow.

And they were safe. Because they were following the leading of the Lord. They were moving in God's perfect will.

But it's only if some Israelite got a bright idea to move upon his own, then of course he was in danger. But as long as he was following that pillar of cloud and living in its shadow, he was perfectly safe. All types of enemies could come.

The Lord would defeat all of them. So that pillar of cloud symbolized the Holy Spirit. It was a pillar that came from heaven symbolizing the Holy Spirit that would come on the day of Pentecost.

So this verse looks forward to that time when we would have this divine protection, this cloud of the Holy Spirit over us. And we seek to follow his leading in everything he says to us. And primarily, you know, very often when people seek God's will, to seek to follow the leading of God's will, when we think of being the center of God's will, we're thinking of a lot of practical earthly things like, should I buy this house? Should I buy this car? Should I marry this person? Or many, many earthly things like that concerning which we have no clear revelation in God's word.

But we can't start there. We got to start with the things that are already revealed in God's word, which speak to our conscience. For example, if you ever got a grudge against somebody, forgive that person.

You don't need to seek God's will about that. It's already revealed. Or if you have hurt somebody, the Lord said, leave your gift there.

Don't pray. Don't ever pray in your life if you have hurt someone till you go first and ask forgiveness from that person and then come and offer your prayer. Very few Christians who seek to live by these principles faithfully.

We're never supposed to give an offering to God and prayer is an offering. If you've gone, if you've hurt somebody without first going and asking that person's forgiveness, whoever that person is. Now, if you're not sensitive to these little things, which the Holy Spirit has already revealed in his word, we're not following the cloud at all.

We're not in the shelter of the Most High. We're not living in the shadow of the Almighty. We're going to face problems and we'll be like those Israelites I said who got bright ideas to move out on their own in the wilderness.

There are all types of dangers there. Poisonous snakes, wild animals, and that's what a lot of Christians face. So here's the first thing we must remember.

The psalm is not written for everyone. This psalm is written for those who want to live here in the shadow of the Almighty, who want to follow the Lord, who don't want to go ahead of him, who don't want to lag behind him. When the pillar of cloud moved, they moved.

When it stopped, they stopped. They didn't run ahead. They didn't lag behind.

It's speaking of a sensitivity in our heart and conscience to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit when he speaks to us. And if you want to hear the voice of God more clearly, I would say, listen to it in the areas where God's will is already clearly revealed in Scripture. And then we can move in the shadow of the Almighty.

The very first thing it says about a person who's living like that in verse two is, I will say to the Lord, my refuge and my fortress. In the olden days, the way an army used to protect itself was by building a fortress, solid fortresses, many feet thick, and they would stay inside. They'd be perfectly safe.

And here it says that the Lord is like a fortress protecting us from the attacks of the enemy, a place of perfect defense. And then he mentions two enemies in verse three. Now we're going through Scripture verse by verse.

I was mentioning in the earlier studies that there are two ways you can study Scripture. One is by topics, where you pick up a topic, go to a concordance, that's the easiest way to do it, and go through all the verses that speak on that topic, whether it's grace or forgiveness or mercy or sin or love or peace, whatever it is. And the other is, both are good, is like we're doing right now, verse by verse by verse through a chapter.

You see what God has to say to us there. And here you find the very next thing that God says here is about his being able to deliver us, verse three, from the snare of the trapper. There is a trapper waiting to trap us.

And he's very clever. You know how these trappers trap animals in the forests? They dig a hole and cover the top with what looks like the rest of the surroundings, grass, etc. And an animal that doesn't know any better walks right into it and falls.

And this is how Satan seeks to trap Christians everywhere. The Bible says Satan is like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. And there's only one person who can deliver us.

Our cleverness cannot. Man is cleverer than the animal he traps. Every trapper is cleverer than the cleverest animal.

And Satan is cleverer than every man. There is a verse in scripture in Ezekiel 28 where God himself says to Satan, you are cleverer or wiser than Daniel. God considered Daniel to be the wisest man.

Not Solomon, by the way. Solomon's wisdom was earthly. But among all people that lived in the Old Testament, God considered Daniel to be the wisest.

And he told Satan, you are wiser than Daniel. He's too smart for any of us. And that's what should put a little fear in our hearts, a healthy fear.

So that we cling to God and say, God, if you don't protect us, we'll get deceived into something which we think is right. And we'll be completely wrong. The Bible says Satan is a deceiver.

And he deceived Eve in the Garden of Eden. So he's a trapper. He will deliver you from every snare.

I praise God for that. You know, there are Christians I've heard who say things like, oh, the devil attacked that person. The devil attacked that believer.

I remember once a pastor in India said when he was, you know, bedridden for eight or nine months, he said, oh, the neighbors did black magic on me. And I was knocked out for nine months. And I said, where was Jesus all that time? And who won the victory on the cross, by the way? Was it the devil? Or was it Jesus? Have we got our wires crossed here? I'm amazed at the number of believers I have met in many, many places who are scared of the devil, who haven't yet heard the good news that Satan was defeated on the cross.

You know, there are two parts to that good news. One is that when Jesus died, he took all the sins of everybody in the world. There are millions who haven't heard that yet.

In exactly the same way, there are many other millions who haven't heard that Satan was defeated on the same cross when Jesus died. And just like those people who haven't heard that their sins were all taken by Jesus on the cross still live under the burden of sin. There are many Christians whose sins are forgiven, who haven't heard that Satan was defeated on the cross, who live in the fear of Satan.

It's exactly the same. That's the good news we need to hear. He will deliver us from every snare of the trapper.

If your ambition in life is to do the will of God, you can be absolutely sure that no trap of Satan can trap you. Impossible. We're not to be afraid of the devil.

What is the picture you have in your mind of Satan? It's one of the things that comes up again and again in this psalm. Do you have a picture of yourself running for your life and Satan chasing you and you're trying to avoid him here and there? That's not the picture the Bible gives me of the devil. The Bible says, I resist the devil and he flees from me.

Have you read that in James chapter 4? Resist the devil, he'll flee from you. But the first part of that verse says, submit to God. Then resist the devil and he will flee from you.

I am not supposed to flee from the devil. I'm supposed to flee from temptation. That's true.

I don't put myself in places where I can be tempted because I'm a weak human being and I say, Lord, I don't want to expose myself unnecessarily to temptation. But the devil, I don't have to run from him. I don't see a single scripture anywhere in the New Testament, which says run away from the devil.

No, it says run away from immorality, run away from idolatry, run away from the love of money, run away from temptation. And those are the things a lot of people are not running away from. They're not running away from the love of money.

They're not running away from immorality. They're not running away from temptation, but they're running away from the devil. You see how we got it all upside down.

We're not supposed to run away from the devil. We're supposed to resist him and he will flee from us. Yeah.

So the Lord will deliver us from the snare of the trapper. And that speaks of Satan. And the second thing he'll deliver us from is the deadly pestilence.

That's sin. Sin is a deadly pestilence, a deadly disease. Think of the deadliest disease in the world.

And the smallest sin. Yeah, I want to repeat that. The smallest sin is worse than that.

If only we could see that. If only we could see that that thing which you think is just a slight loss of a temper or a little lusting with the eyes is worse than the worst disease. No disease can ever send you to hell.

Do you know that? No disease can send you to hell. People can have the worst diseases and still go to heaven. But it's not the same when it comes to sin.

The smallest sin can send you to hell. Think of a small sin like not forgiving somebody. Somebody who hurt you many years ago.

You still haven't forgiven him. Isn't that a very small thing? That's not a terrible thing like adultery or murder or something. It's just a reasonable grudge you've got against somebody.

For his having hurt you. You've got every reason to not forgive him. But Jesus said, if you don't forgive others their sins your heavenly father will not forgive you.

That's clear. Heaven and earth will pass away. That word will not pass away.

I want to tell everyone sitting here If there is one person anywhere on the face of this earth I don't care what harm he did to you. It may be difficult to forgive. That's okay.

You ask God for grace then. And you say Lord I'm willing to forgive. I want to forgive that person.

You can be honest with God and say Lord he's done such a terrible evil to me. I find it almost impossible to forgive him. But because your word says that I want to forgive him.

Because you've forgiven me so much. I want to forgive. Now if a person doesn't do that.

He doesn't take that seriously. According to the word of God God will not forgive that person. And I don't believe there is a single person who can enter the portals of heaven who's got even one unforgiven sin.

So what happens to that man? Who thinks he's a Christian. Who went along to meetings regularly every Sunday. But had this small little sin of not having forgiven someone.

That took him to hell. Where the worst disease would not take him to hell. I believe one of the unfortunate things I see in Christendom everywhere today is that people do not take sin seriously.

It's a deadly pestilence. It's a plague. And until I see sin for the horrible wretched thing it is.

I will not seek to fight it. I will not hate it. You know why God wants to get rid of all sin from our life? It's exactly the same reason like I've always said.

Why you want to get rid of all diseases from your children. If your child got five diseases you want to get rid of all five. That's how God wants to deal with sin in our life.

He will deliver us from the devil. And he will deliver us from sin. Only God.

Verse 4. He will cover you with his pinions. Under his wings you will seek refuge. You know God has deliberately made the devil cleverer and stronger than man.

Remember ultimately that before the devil became the devil and he was the highest of the angels. It was God who made him. It was God who gave him the supernatural gifts that the devil has today.

God never took it away. He took away the anointing. He took away grace.

But he didn't take away the gifts. Just like you know if you gave somebody a birthday gift and a year later he turned against you. You wouldn't go back to him and ask him to give back the gift you gave a year ago.

God didn't take back the gifts. But he took away the anointing. He took away grace.

You need to note that. A man, that can happen to a human being too. A Christian can seek God in sincerity at a particular time and receive supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit from God.

And then backslide. And he doesn't lose his gifts. But he loses the anointing.

And he loses grace. And we see many examples of that around us today. The anointing is gone.

The Christ-likeness of their ministry is gone. The grace is gone. But they still seem to be able to preach well.

They still seem to be able to exercise those gifts. Because God hasn't taken it away. And the clearest proof of that is the devil himself.

He's got gifts. He's got abilities. And God's allowed him to have abilities far more than man.

He's cleverer than man. It's like I was saying in the morning. God allows his people to be weak compared to the enemy.

So that they will not depend on their own strength. It's always David versus Goliath. Goliath is the enemy.

Much more powerful than this weak little boy David. And David, you and I are like David. We're not like Goliath.

We're like David. But Goliath is going to be slain. His head is going to be cut off.

It was by faith in God. So when God allows you to be weak in any situation. And the problems you face to be much bigger far beyond what you're able to handle.

That's exactly how God planned it. That's not surprising. That's the way God planned it.

So that you will never trust in yourself. If you look at your problems and the devil like Goliath. That's absolutely right.

But then you got to see God as bigger than Goliath. See that's what happened in the borders of the promised land too. You see the same story repeated.

The Israelites went to the borders of the promised land. And you look at the giants. And all those giants.

This is before Goliath's time. Were you know the forefathers of Goliath. Huge people.

And all those Israelites felt they were like grasshoppers in front of these giants. And they got scared. Except Joshua and Caleb.

They said well these are. We look like grasshoppers compared to them. But they look like grasshoppers compared to God.

And that's what made them enter and possess the land. So God remember this. Throughout the Old Testament and in the New Testament.

God seeks to make his people weak. This is a lesson that I believe many Christians need to have firmly established in their mind. God seeks to make us weak so that we will depend on him.

God didn't want to make the Apostle Paul strong. He wanted to make him weak. If you have a doubt about that.

Read 2nd Corinthians chapter 12 sometime. It's the second last chapter. 2nd Corinthians 12.

Where it says God gave me a thorn in my flesh to make me weak. So that I would not depend on myself. Before that he says I was strong.

I depended on myself. The result was I was proud. But God humbled me.

Deflated me. And so this is so that we learn to depend upon him. And it says here in the last part of verse 4. His faithfulness is like a shield.

And a bulwark. God is faithful. And in the New Testament there is a wonderful promise.

It's one of the most wonderful promises for those who are seeking to live a life of victory over sin. And it's related to God's faithfulness. It's in 1 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 13.

It's been a tremendous comfort to me through the years as I proclaim the message of victory over all conscious sin. There it says God is faithful. 1 Corinthians 10 verse 13.

Who will never allow you to be tested beyond your ability. That's a wonderful promise. It's based on the faithfulness of God.

You know that's like saying to a student. Supposing your son is going to do a third grade examination. In India we have finally.

I don't know how you have it here in the US. But in India we have final examinations at the end of the year before a person can be promoted to the next grade. And supposing that boy in the third grade says.

Mom I'm scared whether this teacher will give me a sixth grade question paper. You got to comfort him. No don't worry.

You don't have such stupid teachers in the school. If you're in the third grade they'll only give you a third grade question paper. And he's worried.

Oh supposing I get a sixth grade question paper. How will I ever answer it. I'll fail.

Have you ever heard of any student like that. I see a lot of believers like that. Who wonder.

Oh will that temptation be too much for me. God is faithful. Who will never allow you to be tested beyond your ability.

So when a believer says. Oh this is getting too much for me. He's saying God's a liar.

How can it be too much for you. God stop being faithful. I have not used the resources of his grace.

That may be true. But when a massive temptation comes to you. It speaks of the massive confidence God has in you.

That you can overcome that. God is faithful. He will never allow you to be tempted.

In a sense his faithfulness is my shield. Whatever the devil says. Yeah that's too much for you.

The devil says. I say no. God's faithfulness is my shield.

He's promised never never. To allow me to be tested by a trial or a temptation that's too much for me. I can overcome it.

If I ask God for grace. Am I weaker than that. Right.

I'm like David compared to Goliath. But I can overcome it. God doesn't want me to depend on my own ability.

He wants me to trust him. So we go to verse 5. Here it says. You will not be.

Verse 5 and 6. We'll read it together. You will not be afraid of the terror by night. Or of the arrow that flies by day.

Here it speaks about dangers in the night. And dangers in the day. Now I'm also in this process.

Trying to teach you how to meditate on God's word. Because a lot of Christians only read God's word. Now you may have read Psalm 91.

But you see how much you have missed now. By not meditating on it. If you had read slowly.

And thought about each verse. I think you would have thought about the things which I've shared with you this evening. This is how all of scripture is meant to be read.

Slowly. Deliberately. There are days when I read only one verse.

One verse. That's it. And I'm stuck on that verse.

Because I've got to think about it. And the next day, I'm on the same verse. Again.

Because God's got something to say to me. The important thing. Now it's good to read through the scriptures too.

And sometimes I encourage people to have one plan to read through the whole Bible in a year. But along with that. To have another time.

Where you meditate on something God's trying to say to you. And have both running simultaneously. So we get the overall broad picture of what God's word is saying.

Which we need. At the same time we see what God is specifically saying to our hearts at this particular time. So here it speaks about dangers at night and dangers during the day.

Verse 6. The same thing. Of the pestilence that stalks. Stalks.

You understand the meaning of stalks? You know. Following you secretly. Trying to capture you.

Stalks in darkness. And the destruction that lays waste at noon. So that teaches us there are.

Daytime temptations are like those open temptations. You know. Obvious.

I mean. They are obvious. Pornography.

Or the temptation to yell back at someone. These are obvious temptations. But then there are the night.

The night refers to the more subtle temptations. The wrong attitudes. Which we don't think of as serious.

Wrong motives. In the good things we do. Doing your work for the Lord in order to get the honor of men.

Things like that which Jesus pointed out. So there are both types of temptations here. And you know it's like bacteria.

Bacteria is more dangerous than a lion. You know that? I don't think any of us is in danger of being slain by a lion. We steer well clear of lions.

But it's bacteria that's killing people. There's a new disease that I've just read off recently that's spreading across Southeast Asia. It's already knocked out a number of people and they don't seem to have any cure for it.

It's just a little thing that flies in the air. You can hardly see it under a microscope. Those little things kill.

There are these open temptations and the subtle ones. Who's going to protect us from them? Only our Heavenly Father. We're weak.

Imagine. I often think of these little bacteria that can kill a human being. I believe this new type of pneumonia has already killed about more than 50 people in different parts.

It's so small. I mean if a lion killed 50 people I can understand that. But this thing is just so small.

It can kill a human being. Aren't we weak? We really are weak. Sin is like that.

Our only protection is in God. It's not a terrorist bomb. It's a small teeny weeny little bacteria.

Teaching us that sin can be like that. And it says in verse 7 this wonderful promise. Here's how God protects us.

A thousand may fall at your side and ten thousand at your right hand. But it shall not approach you. You will only look with your eyes and see the reward of the wicked or the recompense of the wicked.

So that means that here are 11,000 people around me who don't believe that Jesus can keep us from falling. Now there's a promise in scripture in the book of Jude verse 24 which says He is able to keep you from falling. Very clear promise.

But I have 11,000 unbelieving believers around me who say no it's not possible. As long as we are human we've got to fall. We've got to fall.

We've got to fall. We've got to keep on sinning. I'll keep on losing my temper till the end of my life.

My father was like that. My grandfather was like that. And I'm going to be like that.

Okay. According to your faith be it unto you. You'll keep falling.

But out of all the 11,000 people who are like that here's one person who stands against the opinions of 11,000 Christians and says But the Bible says He is able to keep me from falling. And the Bible says Romans 6.14 Sin shall not rule over you. That's Romans 6.14. The first one is Jude 24.

And the Bible says Romans 16 and verse 20 The God of peace will crush Satan under your feet. So I say the place for Satan God has reserved a place for Satan that's under my feet. It's not on top of my head.

No. That's where he's supposed to be. That's what the Bible says.

Now if you allow him to sit on your head that's your choice. But that's not the place God has reserved for him. It's under your feet.

But 11,000 people say no. It's not possible. It's all theory.

Okay. They don't experience it. 10,000 fall on one side and 1,000 fall on one side but it doesn't come near you.

You stand there. It doesn't touch you. Because you believe that God is more powerful than these little sins and the big sins and the devil.

And He's able to keep you. He can give you that power through His Holy Spirit within. That's the whole purpose with which He gave the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost.

That we can stand. The law of the Spirit it says in Romans chapter 8 verse 2 has set me free from the law of sin and death. There are some wonderful promises like that in scripture which the devil doesn't want you to know about.

It's a wonderful psalm. You will only look with your eyes. What can you do? I've seen around me multitudes of people who find some comfort in seeing that other people are also falling.

Well, this person is falling, that person is falling. So what? What does the Bible say? Are you willing to be one among 11,000? Like it says in verse 7, let them fall. They don't have faith.

Can you believe that God's word is still true? I believe that God wants witnesses like that in Christendom today. Who will proclaim by their lives that God's promises are true even today. I remember hearing an incident where there was a man who had a tremendous problem with anger.

And he was always getting defeated but he longed for victory. And I remember him testifying in a meeting once and saying these words. He said, I always see God when I finish my work in the office.

I say, God please help me not to lose my temper when I go home today. And every day I fail. And then he said, today before I left office for home, I again prayed and said, God please help me today not to lose my temper when I go home.

Then he started weeping. And he said, but I failed today again. And he was going to sit down.

And the elder brother said, stop. He said, no, don't sit down yet. You've got to say one more sentence before you sit down.

You've got to say, but Satan, it won't always be like this. One of these days I'm going to overcome. You say that and then sit down.

That's faith. Never mind if you've fallen 10,000 times. Say to the devil, one of these days I'll know the secret of victory.

Sin will not rule over me. I'll learn the secret of Jesus keeping me from falling. My brothers and sisters, hold on to that faith.

I don't know which is your besetting sin today. Whether it's the lust of the eyes or an uncontrolled tongue or whatever it is. But whatever it is, hold on to God's promise and say, God your word is true and the devil's a liar.

Get up every morning and tell the devil he's a liar. He is a liar. And that God's word is true.

If you haven't experienced it, it's because you haven't believed till now. But things are going to change from now on. You will only look and see.

Because you have made the Lord my refuge, even the most high, your dwelling place. In other words, you've decided that God is your permanent dwelling place. This is not a God whom you visit once in a while.

Now, I don't believe that we can live a life of victory if God is a person whom you visit once in a while. On a Sunday or for half an hour in the morning. No.

Where God is your permanent dwelling place. God, I want to live with you morning till night every day. Everything I do, I want to do with you.

I don't want to go to any place where I can't go with Jesus. I don't want to sit and watch a television program which I can't watch along with Jesus sitting next to me. If he is not happy to see it, I'm not happy to see it.

I don't want to go and visit somebody whom Jesus doesn't want me to go and visit. And I want to have Jesus with me when I go to work, when I come back from work. God is my permanent dwelling place.

That's true discipleship. And that's the best life you can ever live. It's the most secure life you can ever live.

But you got to make a decision to choose that. And even if you have half-hearted compromising believers around you, even in your church perhaps, whose standards are lower than yours, don't judge them. That's not our business.

God is their judge. But you say, Lord, I want to follow you. I don't want to judge anyone.

But I want to follow you. I don't want to participate in anything which I cannot do in fellowship with Jesus Christ. He is my permanent dwelling place.

That's true Christianity. And when we live like that, listen to this. No evil will befall you.

Afflictions, yes. Problems, plenty. Evil, none.

Isn't that wonderful? No evil will befall me. That's God's promise. That means that even when someone tries to do something evil to you, because of that wonderful promise in Romans 8, 28, for all those who love God, God will make that evil work for my good.

In some wonderful way, He'll turn it around. And there are many examples of that in Scripture. Of the evil that Joseph's brothers did to him that worked for good.

And there's a wonderful story in the book of Esther. That's even more exciting. Where there was this man called Haman, who sat all night with his wife, to make a 70 foot high gallows, to hang a Jewish man called Mordecai, the next day.

And the Bible says, you've got to read that story. How Haman hung on that same gallows the next day. To me, that's a picture of the devil.

He's got a lot of gallows that he's constructing for me, but I know who's going to hang on them. It's not me. It's him.

He's constructing it for himself. He was defeated on the cross. He's got no power over me.

You've got to take that position. One of the things I always tell new believers, to say, whenever I ask a person to accept Jesus Christ as a savior, you know, the sinner's prayer. Lord, I'm a sinner.

Forgive my sins. I believe Jesus died for me. I want to turn from all my sins.

I believe Jesus rose up from the dead. We are living today. Lord Jesus, come into my heart.

Forgive my sin and make me a child of God. The simple sinner's prayer. And then I always tell them, okay, now you speak to the devil just like you spoke to Jesus.

Speak to the devil and say, Satan, you were defeated on the cross. I don't belong to you anymore. You can't touch me.

I find that very, very important, to be able to get people to say that directly to the devil. Do you know that you can speak to the devil just like you can speak to Jesus? Resist the devil and he'll flee from you. No evil will befall you.

No plague can come near your tent. As I said, many are the afflictions of the righteous. The Bible says in Psalm 34 verse 19, but evil none.

No evil will befall you unless you choose it yourself. But God can't stop it if you choose it yourself. And then it tells us about this wonderful provision that God has made for our earthly life of angels.

Verse 11 to 13. He will give his angels charge concerning you to guard you in all your ways. This, by the way, is the verse that Satan quoted to Jesus in the wilderness.

But he didn't quote the full verse. The devil is a master at quoting half verses. But Jesus caught him there.

And where many believers get deceived by half verses. Satan only said, he will give his angels charge concerning you. But didn't left out the rest of the verse.

Yeah, the angels are given charge to guard us if we are in God's ways. Not if we wander off on our own. He will give his angels.

And it's a wonderful thing what the Bible says in the last verse of Hebrews chapter 1 says that God's angels are servants sent to serve us. That's amazing. How many of you knew that? It's the last verse of Hebrews chapter 1. God's angels are his servants sent to serve us.

Jesus said even little children have got angels to look after them. It's wonderful that God protects us. I can think of... I've been driving on the roads of India for 40 years.

And the roads in India are not anything like the roads here. You know, we are free from the law. There are no rules.

Everybody goes wherever they like. There is no right side of the road. The right side of the road is wherever you find a place to move from one place to another.

And well, that's how it is in most poor countries. We have cows and human beings all on the road. And it's a free for all in a sense.

And in the midst of all this, I praise the Lord that he has protected me through all these years. And I've got a lot of angels to thank. I'm waiting to meet all of them in heaven.

And to thank them for the tremendous work they did. God's angels. You don't realize in how many ways his angels have protected you.

You don't even know that. Some of those things you say, I really escaped. That was an angel that saved your life there.

From an accident. From a certain accident. That was an angel.

He gives his angels charge concerning you. To guard you in all your ways. Now I find today, among many Christians, in certain groups particularly, I don't know how it is in the United States, but I find it in India.

A tremendous preoccupation with demons. They always seem to find demons everywhere. Demons here and demons there.

And even demons in believers. Now I believe we need to think more of angels than demons. Don't you think that's a good thing? It's healthier anyway for our mind to think more about angels than about demons.

And I don't find many believers thinking of the ministry of angels. They hear about demons doing this and demons doing that. Look at the number of books there are in Christian book shops on demons.

How many do you find on angels? Maybe one or two. This preoccupation, that's exactly what the devil wants. He will give his angels charge concerning you.

The Bible says that even when Jesus was praying in Gethsemane, and he was so exhausted, the angels came and strengthened him. I believe in the ministry of angels. We don't have to see them.

We don't usually see them. I don't believe the stories of people who say they're seeing angels here and there. I don't believe they're telling lies.

They've got a wild imagination, that's all. But they're there. But I believe they're there.

I don't need to see them. I believe they're there because God's word says they're there. And I've experienced their protection like you've experienced their protection.

Some of those things were not because of your cleverness that you escaped an accident. That was an angel. He will give his angels charge concerning you to guard you in all your ways.

And that, I believe, means when we're walking in the will of God. Not when we decide to do something on our own. The devil told Jesus, jump off the temple now.

Without the leading of God. Then the angels won't protect you. Jesus knew that.

He said, don't tempt God. And then he says, as you go along God's ways, these angels will bear you up in their hands, lest you strike your foot against a stone. So that means there are stones.

Even when we go along God's ways. Stones on which we can stumble. But the angels will protect us.

Not only stones. As we go along God's ways, there are lions, verse 13, cobras, young lions, and serpents. These are all along God's ways.

But they're not going to overpower us. And just because we meet a lion, doesn't mean we're out of God's will. The more we are in God's will, the more likely we are to encounter Satan.

The more likely we are. If you're completely out of God's will, that the devil leaves you alone and says, don't bother him. He's useless.

He's not going to trouble me. Now I don't want the devil to write me off like that. The more I encounter Satan, the more I'm convinced that I'm in the will of God.

The more other people trouble me, the more I'm sure, this must be, I must be in the center of God's will. You know, it says here, lions, cobras, young lions, serpents. Okay, we're going in God's ways.

What I've got is angels with me. And I will trample them down under my feet. That's wonderful.

It's really wonderful. Verse 14. Because we have all authority.

We believe that Satan's been defeated. Now I want to say something about that here concerning what it says in verse 14, the last part. Because he has known my name.

Now the other day, I heard a so-called well-known Christian preacher from California speak in a very well-known Christian, from a very well-known Christian TV station that, well, he said, God's known by different names. He can be called Allah or Jesus. I was surprised.

There's supposed to be a Christian preacher preaching on Sunday morning in a Christian church. Well, I'll tell you something. It's easy to test it.

Confront a demon and try any of these other names. And see if they will listen to you. Say, in so-and-so's name, get out.

Ah, he'll say, who is he? But you use the name of Jesus. It's the only name that demons respond to. The only name.

You know, the other thing I, well, some of you have heard of this. Somebody sent me an email the other day saying that, you know, his name is not actually Jesus. His name is Yeshua.

We must stop using the name Jesus. We must start using Yeshua. What do you think, Brother Zach? I said, well, I've cast out many demons in the name of Jesus.

And they all seem to recognize that name. So it must be right. And I'll tell you another thing.

I mean, demons are a fairly common thing we encounter in the villages in India where people are superstitious. They go to temples and they open up their beings to demons, etc. But let me give you my testimony.

I have never, till today, seen a demon-possessed person not delivered when the demon is rebuked in the name of Jesus. Every single case, 100%, in the name of Jesus, the demons go. Now, I don't have the gift of healing, so I haven't seen that in the case of healing.

I suppose somebody who has the gift of healing can talk about that. But when it comes to demons, every single time you rebuke a demon, I want to say you can do that. You don't need to be some great type of saint.

You've got to have a clear conscience. Of course. Otherwise the devil will laugh at you and say, Jesus, I know, and Paul, I know, but who are you? But if your conscience is clear, if your conscience is clear, you, I want to say to you, you, weak believer that you are, can cast out that demon in Jesus' name.

I heard a story of one of the villages, I think it was in some other country, where there was a pastor who had this tremendous ministry of delivering people from demons. And people would go to his house regularly, and one day when they went, somebody, a demon-possessed person came to that house. The pastor wasn't there.

And this 12-year-old boy was there. Now, he'd seen his father cast out demons many times. So, he'd never done it before in his life, but he believed that the name of Jesus was powerful, if not his father was powerful.

So, he cast out that demon in the name of Jesus, whom my father preaches. Get out of here. And the demon left.

Now, I want to say to all of you, I hope from this day, you'll be completely delivered from all fear of Satan. Remember, Satan fears no other name. You can try the name of any other heathen God, he will not respond.

It's only in the name of Jesus. That's the name above every other name. That's the name of the one, Jesus of Nazareth, who defeated him on the cross.

Because he has known my name, it says in verse 14. Because he has loved me, therefore I'll deliver him. I will set him securely on high, because he has known my name.

That's why, like it says in verse 13, he's able to trample the serpent and the young lion under his feet. He will call upon me, and I will answer him. You know, we have to call before we get an answer.

You have to pray in order to get an answer. There are many scriptures like that. Now, our logic can't explain that.

I've never tried to explain it. What will happen if we don't pray? I'll tell you. Something that was supposed to happen for you, won't happen.

I'll tell you that. Prayer does change things. And there are things in your life that could have been changed if you had prayed in faith and trusted and held on to God.

Think of that story of the widow who went to the judge. You know, that's one of the stories that Jesus said about prayer. He said, men are always to pray.

It's in Luke chapter 18. And she went and knocked at the judge's door and said, give me justice against my enemy. That's against Satan.

That's the picture of Satan. The enemy. And he said, no, I don't have any time for you.

She went again. She went again. I don't know, maybe she went 20 times.

30 times. The judge said, get out. Haven't I told you? I don't want to see you.

And supposing she stopped going because, oh well, he's not going to help me. You think she ever got deliverance from the adversary? Never. But she persisted.

She said, I'm not going to give up. And she got it. And Jesus said, look at that unrighteous judge.

If you think an unrighteous judge will do that for a widow whom he doesn't care for. You think a loving father in heaven won't do it for you? If you go to him like that in persistence. So, is it possible that there are some things which you asked for, which you know is God's will for you, but it never got fulfilled because you gave up too soon.

He will call upon me and I will answer him. I will be with him in trouble. I will rescue him.

And I will honor him. God honors those who honor him by faith like this. And the last verse.

Verse 16. With a long life I will satisfy him. In the Old Testament, that was the promise.

Long life. Honor your father and mother so that you may live long on the earth. And God fulfilled that promise.

And when a man seeks to live according to God's laws, he is healthier. He lives longer. Even his physical life becomes better.

Because his habits become temperate. He stops eating and drinking things that are bad for him. And he becomes more frugal in the expenditure of money.

The blessing of God upon his life. He learns to work hard. He is healthier.

And he lives longer, but much more than that. In the New Testament, it's not a long life. Jesus didn't live a long life.

He lived only 33 years. The apostle Paul, perhaps, 67. Most of the apostles except John died in their 60s.

But they fulfilled the will of God. That's the point. Paul said, I finished my course.

It's a fulfilled life. A life where we fulfill the will of God before we leave this earth. That's God's will for every single one of us.

And at the end of that, eternal life in heaven for all eternity. I pray that will be true of all of us. That we live the life described here in Psalm 91.

You are invited to visit our website on the internet at www.cfcindia.com That is www.cfcindia.com and at www.punan.org forward slash zac that is www.punan.org forward slash zac for video messages, audio messages and books by Zac Punan that can all be downloaded freely. Our mailing address is If you would like to receive a weekly message by Zac Punan by email please send us your email address to cfclit at touchtellindia.net that is cfclit at t-o-u-c-h t-e-l-i-n-d-i-a .net The Lord bless you Richly