Divine Grace & ProtectionSample

THE AUDACIOUS CONFIDENCE OF AN UNTOUCHABLE LIFE

The devil is only ever recorded once as quoting scripture directly, and you guessed it, it was Psalm 91.

Matt 4:5-6 Then the devil took Him (Jesus) up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: ‘He shall give His angels charge over you,’ and, ‘In their hands, they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’ 

With this action, the devil betrayed for all time his greatest and highest fear: that anyone in this world might permanently take their rightful place in Christ and ‘dwell (perpetually) in the secret place of the Most High’. 

Those who assume this position become UNTOUCHABLE in Christ. There is no plan, no scheme, no weaponry, no snare, no evil that can assail the Secret Place of the Most High. Audacious confidence accompanies this place of living. Fearlessness is its hallmark and great boldness the default conviction of its inhabitants. ‘I will say of the Lord He is my refuge my God in whom will I trust.’

The only potential opportunity to assault or harm those resting within this place lays in the seemingly foolish notion of coaxing UNTOUCHABLE souls to leave their fortress voluntarily. And how to do this? How did the devil try to use this Psalm 91 itself to entice Jesus out from within the Secret Place? With these seven little words: ‘If you are the Son of God…’. 

There is no sin in defying gravity. Jesus walked on water, and it was no sin. The temptation here was the invitation for Jesus to PROVE HIMSELF. To get up and out of the absolute external security of the Father’s love and begin to perform from the internal insecurity and neediness that seeks the approval and validation of others.

Jesus could have easily floated off that rooftop without sin, and yet for what motive? To PROVE that He actually was the Son of God? To seek validation via His performance? To define His identity in His doing? To do this would require a departure from the place of security of unconditional love that is not based on performance. Thank God Jesus was secure in the Father’s love and approval. He did not need validation. He could not be tempted to leave His place of security. However, you can be certain that this same invitation to insecurity will be directed at you. How many young men have entered folly for the sake of acceptance and validation of peers? How many young women have fallen for the line, ‘If you love me, you would do this’? We relinquish our safety when we seek love and acceptance through our performance.

This Hebrew word ‘dwells’ is translated 172 times elsewhere in the Old Testament as ‘SITS’, which is incredibly powerful when we consider these two verses:

Ephesians 2:6 God raised us up with Christ the exalted One, and we ascended with him into the glorious perfection and authority of the heavenly realm, for we are now CO-SEATED as one with Christ!

Colossians 3:3 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died to this life, and your real life is HIDDEN with Christ in God.

Psalm 91 is clearly speaking prophetically about all those SEATED and HIDDEN IN CHRIST. Those who SIT HIDDEN in Christ shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

Beloved, you don’t need to work for God’s love or approval. You have it completely already. Jesus made His sacrifice for you on the cross, once and for all time and then HE SAT DOWN (Heb 10:12). You are now meant to SIT DOWN HIDDEN IN HIM – absolutely confident and secure in His love and in the completeness of His mighty salvation.

Beloved set your mind there, ABOVE. See yourself as seated in Christ in heavenly realms. See yourself as completely loved and accepted and made righteous by the finished work of the cross. The work has been done, completed by Him. 

And should a voice come to demand that you prove that you are loved by God, calling on you to be insecure about His love, DO NOT GET UP from your chair or leave your place of safety in Him to seek validation or approval or to prove anything. Simply point to the cross. 

Colossians 2:14-15 The Passion Translation (TPT)

He cancelled out every legal violation we had on our record and the old arrest warrant that stood to indict us. He erased it all—our sins, our stained soul—he deleted it all, and they cannot be retrieved! Everything we once were in Adam has been placed onto his cross and nailed permanently there as a public display of cancellation. Then Jesus made a public spectacle of all the powers and principalities of darkness, stripping away from them every weapon and all their spiritual authority and power to accuse us. And by the power of the cross, Jesus led them around as prisoners in a procession of triumph. He was not their prisoner; they were his!

Beloved, as you read Psalm 91 aloud today again, set your mind ABOVE. See yourself seated in Christ, completely secure and hidden in Him. Rest in the completed and finished work of the cross. Do not look to your own shortcomings, failures and weaknesses, look to His finished work. Rest secure that you have been made righteous apart from works, and sanctified and made holy by His precious blood. You are safe in Him because of His work on the cross. He is seated! You are UNTOUCHABLE as you remain seated also.

PSALM 91 PERSONALISED
TO READ AND DECLARE ALOUD

1. I dwell in the secret place of the Most High; therefore, I abide under the shadow of God Almighty.

2. The Lord God is my refuge and my fortress; He is my God, and in Him, I do trust with all my heart.

3. He surely delivers me from the snare of the fowler and from the perilous pestilence.

4. He covers me with His feathers, and under His wings, I take refuge. His truth is my shield and buckler.

5. I am not afraid of the terror by night nor of the arrow that flies by day,

6. Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.

7. A thousand may fall at my side and ten thousand at my right hand, but it shall not come near me.

8. Only with my eyes shall I look and see the reward of the wicked.

9. Because I have made the Lord God my refuge, even the Most High my dwelling place,

10. No evil shall befall me, nor shall any plague come near my dwelling;

11. He gives His angels charge over me; they keep me in all my ways.

12. In their hands, they lift me up, lest I strike my foot against a stone.

13. I tread upon the lion and the cobra; the young lion and the serpent I trample underfoot.

14. The Lord says to me, “Because you have set your love upon Me, therefore I will deliver you; I will set you on high because you have known My name.

15. You shall call upon Me, and I will answer you; I will be with you in trouble; I will deliver you and honour you.

16. With long life, I will satisfy and show you My salvation.”