God's Got You Covered

Summary

Feeling overwhelmed by life’s chaos? Psalms 91 promises peace and protection. Tomica explores how God’s love keeps us safe, even when the world feels like it’s falling apart.

Transcript

It is such a pleasure to be back at Journey Community Church. I love you guys. Thank you, Pastor Jonathan, for allowing me to come back and speak to you. But I will get right to it. Again, I will try not to hold you too long, but I can't promise you what the Holy Spirit will do. Okay. Okay. So I just want to get right into it.

With Scripture, you are welcome to stand, but I'll be coming from Psalms 91, 1 through 2. And then I'm going to skip down to verses 9, 10,000 at your right hand, but it will not come near you. You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked. Verse 9, I'm sorry. If you say the Lord is my refuge and make the most high your dwelling, no harm will overtake you. No disaster will come near your tent, for he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. They will lift you up in their hands so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.

You will tread on the lion and the cobra. You will trample the great lion and the serpent. Because he loves me, says the Lord, I will rescue him. I will protect him for he acknowledges my name. He will call on me and I will answer him. I will be with him in trouble. I will deliver him and honor him with long life.

I will satisfy him and show him my salvation. Let us go to God in prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, God, we thank you this morning for the word that you're about to bring forward. Heavenly Father, Lord, I ask that you use me, God. Please put me back, Heavenly Father, Lord. Lord, I just pray that you help me to glorify your name through your people, dear Heavenly Father, God, that they may be blessed by the word heard, Heavenly Father, that they may not only be hearers, but doers of your Lord. Lord, now let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing and acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer.

In Jesus' name I pray, amen. You may be seated. Tell someone sitting next to you, it's time to rest. This particular book of Psalms 91 does not have a clear author, but it is believed to be the book that is attributed to Moses at the beginning of his 40 years in the wilderness. Moses gives a beautiful testimony or testament to the attributes or the character of God as our protector during difficult times that are to come. I believe that this passage was written to the Israelites and to the church to forewarn them about the difficult times ahead, but to find comfort and rest in the favor of the Lord. Back in May, and even recently, I felt the Lord speaking to me, and he's been speaking to me with everything we've been going through, and he brought Psalms 91 to my attention, but I took it as maybe, okay, God, he's encouraging me by giving me a word from him, because the word tells us to meditate on his word day and night so that we will be like a tree planted firmly by the streams of the water, Psalms 123.

But ironically, God reminded me again of the scriptures when I went to my nephew's Dylan, his baseball game, and I saw my uncle, he was wearing a shirt that said Psalms 91 printed on the front, and again, those attributes of God listed on his shirt. Now, I don't find this to be a coincidence. It could have been a coincidence, but I know that God works in mysterious ways. So I thought to myself, hmm, there must be really something that God wants me to understand. He must want me to know something, because he keeps bringing back Psalms 91 back to the forefront of my attention. So not long after God showed me Psalms 91 the second time, he later reminded me through a conversation that I had with one of my closest friends, and she was excited to tell me about a dream that she had recently, but she was trying to make sense of the meaning. But she said that in her dream, there was danger all around her.

There were missiles flying everywhere, and it seemed that the world was in chaos, but she was untouched in the midst of the chaos. She saw that others were worried, and they were in need of hope. In the midst of her being protected, she was also at peace. So I was amazed how God instantly spoke to me in that moment again, and he reminded me a third time of Psalms 91. And I began to tell my friend how God revealed this, the passage of Scripture to me, and he confirmed it again through her dream. So God began to show me that whoever is connected to him for what's about to come in this season of their life, they will be untouched by the enemy, and that his favor and protection will rest upon them. So today, I would like to speak to you from the topic of God's got you covered, and from the subtopic, the enemy can't win.

Tell your neighbor, God's got you covered. God's got you covered. Now tell the neighbor on the other side of you that favor is all over you. Favor is all over you. We are living in a time no matter how much faith we have in God, it will surely be tested. If we can all testify and take off our masks for a second. We can all admit that sometimes we felt like we were on an island all by ourselves, and wondered if God was there.

God, have you left me? Have you forsaken me? I know I'm not the only one who's felt this way. No matter how much good you do, no matter what's going on, sometimes we have those moments where you're wondering, God, do you hear me? Are you there? I need to feel your presence. And, and if we are really honest with ourselves, there may have been moments where you felt as if you were in a war zone waiting to be taken out by the enemy.

Or maybe sometimes you just wondered about all the things going on around you and in the world and wondered if you're going to make it. The good news, the good news is that in Psalms 91 gives us assured peace in knowing that God is our protector and a hiding place in times of uncertainty and in a corrupt world full of darkness. Amen. What I find interesting about the beginning of verse one in Psalms 91 is that it starts with whosoever dwells. Even though we can see that Moses was speaking to encourage the people of God, he let it be known that anyone or any individual can receive the gift of God's protection. Whether you're a believer, a sinner, or a backslider, or an unbeliever, God's dwelling place is available for anyone who is willing, waiting, and wanting to receive it. We know that the storms of life will come and the wilderness, it will come and the hardships will creep up on us, but whosoever dwells.

When we dwell in the shelter of God, it signifies hope and the assurance of protection. It means that we can stay and we can live in God's presence. The Hebrew word for dwell is yasab, which means to sit or remain in God. It means that we have a permanent place of residence where we can live under God's covering. We don't have to go looking for it because guess what? It's already there and it's willing and it's available to us. So first, we must acknowledge the miraculous power of his presence.

When we rest in his presence, we will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. To rest means to stop. It means to just relax and to lie down. I don't know if you ever feel like when you rest, God, sometimes you feel like when you rest, you feel lifted, right? That a whole burden is lifted off. You just get to rest, okay, in his peace. See, some of us have a hard time resting in his presence because we are so adamant on doing things our own way.

We want to hold onto everything in our lives with a tight grip. How many of you have ever tried to hold onto something with a tight grip? You're like, okay, Lord, I want to give you control, I want to give you control, but you don't totally let go, right? So we want to hold onto everything in our lives with a tight grip, like our finances, our family, our jobs, our relationships, our bad habits, our sickness, our pain, our pride, our faulty thinking, our cheating, our worries, our desires, and desperations, all because we don't want to surrender to God's will or the plan and give God's complete control over our lives. Say, rest in his shadow. Tell someone close to you to surrender. When we are able to surrender to God, we are then able to dwell and sit in the presence and see a miraculous transformation take place.

It means that I can praise God all by myself. I do not need any help. Amen? So I can praise him in my living room. I can praise him in my closet. I can praise him in my bedroom or anywhere else in my house. I have the power to praise God in his presence. Amen? I don't need anyone's help to help me give God the glory that he deserves.

I can make my home my own personal sanctuary. I know many of you can testify that you can give God the glory and have a praise break in your car driving. You can praise him at work sitting at your desk. It doesn't matter where you are. You can give God the praise and the glory in the presence of the Holy Spirit until a transformation happens. Amen? I can lift up my hands with thanksgiving until I feel the presence of the Lord all around me so I can rest in his shadow.

Psalms 22 3 tells us that God inhabits the praises of his people. So he sits and dwells with those who praise him. Secondly, God gives us a hiding place and a way of protection when we trust him. Verse 2 says in Psalms 91, I will say to the Lord he is my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust. Notice how it begins with these three words, I will say. The psalmist makes a bold statement in his assurance of God's promises as his safety, his hope and his protector. Months ago, many months ago I had the opportunity to attend a woman's conference and one of the women who spoke made a great connection when speaking of God's promises and trusting in him to do what he said he would do.

So she explained every time we speak the word of God it is because we understand what speaking the word of God and declaring the word of God can do. So when we declare the word of God and trust in him we already know that the enemy can't win. So how do we build our trust in God? Well by communing with him and developing a personal and intimate relationship with Christ. It means that it means that Christ understands me and I understand him because I spend time daily in his presence. Remember when you started dating the love of your life or maybe the ones you thought that was the love of your life? Y'all remember that those days?

In order to know their ways, their personality, how they think and if you could trust them you had to spend time in their presence. It is just like with God right? In order for us to know God, to really know God and to build our trust in him we have to spend time by being in his presence and praying and speaking with him. So for us to build our trust in him we have to spend time by praying, studying, meditating on his word day and night to find the fullness of joy in his presence. Tell someone get closer to God. Amen. Also when God's got you covered know that the enemy can't win because he is already defeated.

So verses 5 through 8 says you will not fear the terror of night nor the arrow that flies by day nor the pestilence which is the plague, the epidemic, any diseases, what I call COVID that stalks in the darkness nor the plague that destroys at midnight. Listen to verse 7 because here is where we all should be shouting. A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand but it will not come near you. You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked. All this says is that we should not fear. Amen. Whatever is going on in the world around us or whatever is occurring in our lives because we have Jesus Christ.

God has not given us the spirit of fear but of power, love and a sound mind, 2 Timothy 1.7 says. Even though I walk through the darkest valley I will fear no evil because your rod and your step they comfort me. Amen. Psalms 23.4. By faith evil cannot come near you. When you are at school, at work or any place and around other people who may talk about you, who may bring you down remember that you are covered. Everyone repeat after me.

The devil can't win because I am covered. Amen. Remember to speak the word of God when you see everything that is corrupt around you because power is released from your words. So when others try to say that you don't have the ability to do something you just say no. I don't know what you are talking about because I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me and I am more than a conqueror through Jesus Christ. Amen. When they call you out your name and turn to you say I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

I am chosen. I am a royal priesthood and God's special possession. No weapon formed against me shall prosper. So speak the word over the enemy. Verses 9-10 says if you say the Lord is my refuge and you make the most high your dwelling place no harm will overtake you. No disaster will come near your tent. So when you dwell and stay in the presence of God he protects us from the enemy's tricks.

For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all of your ways. They will lift you up in their hands so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. You will tread on the lion and the cobra and you will trample the great lion and the serpent. So God will cover and protect you when the enemy tries to seat you with his deception and lies into thinking that he has won. So Luke 10-19 declares that Christ has given us power over the enemy and nothing absolutely nothing will harm us. However we must understand that God does provide protection in his own way. There are some things that God does we will never understand but we have to trust his will.

We won't understand the flood victims that were lost in Central Texas but God's will was done. And so through these tough times God still carries us. God still protects. We know they have a way in eternal life. We know that some are with God or most are with God. You may get into an accident but God allowed you to walk away unharmed. Or you may have even gotten into an accident and got badly injured but God allowed you to live and not die.

So harm will come your way but God will cover and carry you through it. Christ never promised us that life would be easy he never did. But our hope still lies in him. John 16-33 says that in this world you will have trouble but I keep saying but I like the word but because it cancels out everything that comes before it right? Take heart I have overcome the world. Just imagine Jesus saying in any situation you go through today in this world you will face COVID.

Jobless, be jobless. You have relationship problems, heartbreak, death, haters, heart health issues and betrayal but take heart I have overcome the world. We have the victory because Jesus died on the cross for our sins amen? You remember Daniel right? He was a faithful servant of God who was thrown into the lion's den because of his haters who were jealous of his high rank position. So they plotted to kill him by tricking the king into signing a decree and convince the king that Daniel was breaking the law which stated that anyone who prays to a God other than or man other than the king will be put to death. But Daniel prayed daily to God.

He was thrown into the lion's den but God sent his angel to shut the mouths of the lion of the lions. The enemy was defeated but that's not all. In verses 14 through 16 it says in Psalms it says because he loves me says the Lord I will rescue him I will protect him for he acknowledges my name. He will call on me and I will answer him. I will be with him in trouble. I will deliver him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.

Last when God covers us we must stay connected to him to receive his salvation. Last summer last summer it was a blessed summer because I was ordained. But I had a lot of hardships okay. It was a trying summer for me last summer. Last summer my air condition decided to go out and you know that's not fun when your air condition goes out in a hundred and some degree heat right in Texas right. Because it was because if it was up to me it would not have gone out because again I'm still paying for that now. So I had an air condition company come out to try to fix my air condition unit.

But when the guy came out to look at my outside unit he said that the fan or what they called the condenser was not working. So he recommended that I replace the compressor or the outside unit because it was old. So my house I think is like 20 something 20 years old over 20 years old. So when the company replaced it with the new outside unit my air condition it was still it was still not working. I was like well we put a whole new unit outside a lot of money still not working. And they went into my attic and they told me there was a leak in my newly replaced coal system that I replaced the previous summer. And it was changed out and so that had to be replaced for the entire AC unit to function properly.

So again when they told me this I was amazed because I'm like well I just bought a new coal system. So I didn't understand. So when the unit outside went out they did notice that they did not detect that there was a problem in the coal system until it was working right. So because there was a connection between the two. The outside unit and there was also a connection with the coal system. They had to work together in order for my air-conditioned system to work properly, to work functionally, right? So it's just like with God when I think about it and we are not connected to God and we cannot fully operate in the fullness of his provision he has for our lives and as our hiding place and Savior, we will not function apart from Christ.

So when you acknowledge and trust in God when you call he will answer. You remember the three Hebrew boys, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego. They were thrown into a fiery furnace by King Nebuchadnezzar because they refused to bow down to a golden idol or what I say a false God. But since they were connected to God, God and God loved them and they loved God and trusted in the miraculous power of God's presence. They were unharmed and the fourth man. We all know who that is, right? He went into the furnace with them, right?

And again, it looks as if the enemy was about to win, but he was already defeated because Jesus saved them and they were unharmed. Tell your neighbor by God. He was there. He was their refuge in a time of trouble. And so I want you to remember that God has you covered and the enemy can't win because Christ already has the victory. The Bible says that God's word is sharper than a two-inch sword. That's why the enemy hates it when we speak the promises of God because he knows we are protected by the Most High God.

Repeat after me. If God don't play with me.

Satan, why would I let you? Satan, why would I let you?

Remember, you are covered. And Satan can't win. God bless you this morning. Before I end, I want to share with you something that God put on my heart. I'm not trying to go. I know we're on schedule. I'll try to go quickly as I can.

But God spoke to me while driving in the car one day and he put this song on my heart. And again, I would say again, this is another confirmation, I would say, that God was speaking to me about Psalms 91 and he just began just to pour in lyrics in my mind and I guess gave me a tune. So I just want to share it with you today. And again, I don't have music. I will sing it acapella, but it's called There's No One Greater. There's no one greater than the name of Jesus. No one greater in all the earth.

There's none like you. There's none like you. There's nothing greater than the name of Jesus. No one greater in all the earth. There's none like you. There's no one else. And every knee shall bow.

And every tongue must confess that you are Lord. That you are Lord. And every knee shall bow. And every tongue must confess that you are Lord. That you are Lord. I can rest in your shadow.

I find peace in your presence. There's none like you. No, there's no one else. I can rest in your shadow. I find peace in your presence. There's no one else. No, there's no one else.

And every knee shall bow. And every tongue must confess that you are Lord. That you are Lord. There's no one greater. There's no one greater. There's no one greater. There's no one greater. And every knee shall bow. And every tongue must confess that you are Lord.

That you are Lord. Jesus, you are Lord. Thank you, Jeremy, for having me.

If we can just go into prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, God, we thank you, Lord. We thank you for your presence today, God. We thank you, Lord, for pouring into your people, dear Heavenly Father, Lord. Lord, we know that we are protected by you. There is none like you in all the earth or the heavens, God. Lord, we just ask, Lord, that you just continue to help us and draw us closer and nearer to you, dear Heavenly Father, Lord.

Lord, I pray, Lord, that you would just help us never to depart from your presence, God, and always put our minds on you, dear Heavenly Father, for we know we are not defeated, God, but we walk in victory, Lord, knowing that you are with us, Lord. We can dwell and rest in your shadow, God. Lord, we praise you and forever give you the glory. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.