Walking Through Psalm 91 Part 1

When fear hangs in the air and headlines keep shifting, where do you actually live on the inside? We open Psalm 91 and get practical about dwelling with God so protection is more than a verse—it becomes the place your heart calls home. From daily prayers you can speak over your family to simple rhythms that anchor peace, we map a path from anxiety to assurance without glossing over the grit of real life.

We talk candidly about why life feels harder at every stage and why many still keep their distance from church after the pandemic. Grace is real, but so are consequences; the psalm invites us to stop “visiting” God during emergencies and start dwelling with the Most High day by day. You’ll hear how worship, Scripture, and community shape a God‑consciousness that steadies you before the storm hits. We unpack key lines—refuge, fortress, El Shaddai—and show how trust grows when it’s spoken aloud and lived in small, repeatable decisions.

Along the way, we share personal stories of rough waters and resilient joy, not to dramatise pain but to highlight a pattern: protection often looks like presence, guidance, and unshakeable peace under pressure. If you’ve been craving clarity on divine protection, practical ways to pray, and a gentle nudge back into community where iron sharpens iron, this conversation meets you where you are and points you to a sturdier place to stand.

If this resonates, follow the show, share it with a friend who needs courage today, and leave a quick review so others can find these messages. Your voice helps more people discover hope and step into the shelter that never shifts.

Good morning, good afternoon, wherever you are in the world - Welcome to Grapevine Ministries.

Chapters

• 0:55 Setting The Focus On Psalm 91
• 1:28 The Promise Of Divine Protection
• 3:42 How To Engage With The Psalm
• 6:22 Prayer, Music, And Daily Practice
• 10:07 Life Is Hard; Seek God’s Cover
• 11:07 Post‑Pandemic Fear And Church
• 12:59 What Psalm 91 Assures Believers
• 14:42 Dwelling Versus Visiting God
• 19:25 Knowing God As Refuge And Fortress
• 22:17 Relationship Before The Storms
• 24:41 Hard‑Won Faith And Resilience
• 27:42 Trusting God Out Loud

Transcript

SPEAKER_01: 0:28

Now, last week we had our introduction to Psalm 91. Uh, I still haven't worked out how to um put the devotionals on social media, but I will endeavor to finalise that this week so I can put a devotional up each week as we work our way through Psalm 91. Now, this is part one. Last week was the introduction, so there's always a part one after the intro. And this is about the promises of divine protection. Now, God's divine protection, as highlighted in Psalm 91, offers believers a secure refuge from fear, danger, and spiritual attack. By dwelling in the secret place through prayer, worship, and walking in obedience, Christians can trust God 24 7. We know that he's watching us, he's shielding us from the seen and the unseen dangers, and he guaranteeing that no weapon formed against us shall prosper. And that's in Isaiah 54 17. Now, before I go any further, a lot of you might be saying, Hey, what about Psalm 91? Um, I don't know it. Now, rather than me reading through the whole of Psalm 91, which will probably take up almost half a lesson, I will be going through parts of it, and by the time we get to the end of our journey, you'll have actually learnt the whole of Psalm 91. If it wants to no wrong wording. Now, if you want to follow along with me, and so you can see what parts of the psalm are relevant to the parts that I'm talking about, by all means go right ahead. And you know, I'm not a teacher in a classroom, but if you don't know Psalm 91, I strongly recommend that you give it a good read, and then you're gonna go, Wow, how did I not know this before? So, getting back to the lesson. How can you walk in the Lord's protection today? Even though, see, the psalms are done in the Old Testament. I got a little bit more knowledge for those that aren't right up there. Just a little side note. The reason I say these things is because many years ago I did train to train a course, and I um was qualified to teach um not in schools but in Bible colleges and also um TAFE colleges. Occasionally I was invited to do a lecture at a university. But the point being is that in doing that, I learned that sometimes when you're doing a teaching, you have to look at the lowest common denominator. Now, some of you been listening may have been Christians half your life, some of you may have been Christians for 10 minutes, some of you may have even gone to Bible college. But like I said, I need to look at the lowest common denominator, and so I've got to not saying anybody's dumb out there, but I've got to dumb it down. That's the terminology that we use, so that everybody's on the same page, all right? And you can listen to this over and over again and take notes and do your own study, but this is what the Lord's led me to do uh this time around, and so we will kick on, okay? Now, one way to take time to saturate your heart in the protection promises of Psalm 91, knowing that as a child of God, the finished work of our Lord Jesus has secured you in every promise of the protection of this wonderful psalm. So, like I said before, if you want to read it and you haven't read it or digested it in depth, it would be a good time to do that, especially as we are going through difficult, challenging times as we are at the moment. As you let his word take root in you and guard your heart, his peace will anchor your heart and fear will lose its hold over you. This is one way that we can live unafraid and bold in God's love and promise for you and your loved ones. Now I listened to some praise and worship music, as we all should be doing, and I've listened to this new guy that's come out uh called Solomon Gray, and um he actually sings a song on Psalm 91. So if you're into jazz or rhythm and blues, you'll be able to relate to that by listening to this song, and it's quite good. Solomon Ray, all right now. Obviously, another way is to pray and speak the promises of the Psalm 91 over yourself and your loved ones, and when you do this, you're telling the Lord that you trust and your dependence is on him to watch over you and your family and keep them safe. Now, me and Maria, uh, my wife, for those that don't know, we have a we made up a prayer, right, and um we laminated it, and it's under the dash mat on the front of our um the front of our car. And every time we leave the driveway, we pray that prayer over our family and all of our loved ones. It's very, very important thing to be able to do because simply put, life is hard. Being an adult is very hard. I got my granddaughter who's just starting school, and being a primary school student is hard. When we get to high school, it's even harder. College, harder again, and getting old is also hard. So the point that I'm trying to make here is family life is hard, but living alone is harder. Change is hard. There's a lot of people, uh, especially uh Maria, she hates change, she likes to keep the status quo all the time, but some people thrive on change, and you know, like this new generation that's growing up, they would very easily, you know, um pack their bags, leave home and go halfway around the world for a job. Whereas back in my day, when um we were getting a job, it was literally either down the street or at least in our own neighborhood or our own town, and very rarely, if we were quite bold, we'd go into the city. But this generation will go wherever they need to go for the work, and irrespective of their qualifications. So some people like change, but for others, it's very, very hard. Look, I'm just calling a spade a spade. There are trials that are packed with a forceful punch. Life never gets easier. Now, many listeners may not agree with this, but when the pandemic hit back in 2019 and 2020, not everyone will admit we needed help. We need protection, we need power, and we need the Lord. A lot of people after the pandemic, and you gotta remember this was a global pandemic, the first time in the history of the world that every single continent was affected, and hundreds of thousands of people lost their lives. And some people have now entered into fear, and they will listen to podcasts or they will listen online watching uh their church service from home, but not everybody has returned to the sheepfold. I just want to remind you. Now, I'm not trying to lose listeners, but the reality of the fact is that sometimes you can do both, you know, as long as it's the same teaching, the same doctrine, you can go to church and you can still listen to other sermons online by other people. But the point that I'm trying to make here is this also says in the word of God, do not forsake the assembly. We need to be surrounded by like-minded Christians, you know, iron sharpens iron. We need to be able to draw our strength and build our faith by being surrounded by other Christians. We can't just leave it all to charts. See, Psalm 91 gives us so much help. It is a passage I am committed to continue trying to commit to memory. I haven't yet done that. It's a big psalm. In sixteen verses, we are given assurance of God's presence in our lives. In His desire to help us, we are also given direction about what we must do in order to experience the protection that God offers. First of all, this passage tells me that I need to remember that you need to let us all choose to dwell in the Lord. Verses one and eight and nine. Verse one says He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. Where are you dwelling this morning? If we're going to be protected by the Lord, we need to dwell where the protection is found. God often gets a bad rap from many who think they can live the way that they want to, and then expect God to shield them from the consequences of their sin. Now, I'm not being judgmental here, this is just reality. They get mad at God for hardships that they have created for themselves. God can and will forgive sin. But when we are bent on living our lives in a particular way, there will always be earthly consequences. Always. And that comes from that kind of uh self-will and rebellion. The thing is, you may be enticed to live like the world, for example, drinking and taking drugs and sexual experimentation, they may look exciting and they may look fun. But not everything that is fun is safe, and not everything that looks fun will feel fun the next day. You can't say you are dwelling in the Lord if you are always taking field trips into the world. That's the way I look at it. You know, it's like having one foot in the grave and one foot not in the grave, or one foot in the world and the other foot in the kingdom of God. So on Sunday you go and praise the Lord and do all that sort of stuff, but the rest of the week you are literally uh doing your own thing, your own way. And when everything falls off the rails, you go, God help me. Look, I'm not saying he won't help you, but sometimes the time that you've got for him to help you uh may take a little bit longer than necessary. But the other thing is, what if you're like that person who goes, you know, I remember listening to um Richard Roberts. Um no, no, it wasn't him, it was Gary Hemrick, right? Um, you may not know some of these speakers that I talk about, but research lets you know. But but uh he he uh has a church in America and he had a a guy that used to do some work or something around the the premises, I can't remember what it was, but every day he would come in and he would talk to Pastor Gary and have a chat to him, and and he would always be saying, Well, maybe today's the day that you need to give your heart to the Lord, and it was always tomorrow, it was always gonna be tomorrow or the next time I'm in. Yeah, he was always putting off what he thought was no big deal, and then one day Pastor Gary was there and he goes, Look, I just feel that something's not right in your life, okay? And um honestly, you know, you're a really good friend now and you've worked here for a long time. You know, I honestly believe that you need to seriously look at giving your heart to the Lord. And so he gave in and he goes, Okay, I'll do that. And he goes, but you've got to believe it in your heart. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm listening to everything you've said, and I believe you. And so he gave his heart to the Lord that day, and they prayed together and had really, really good time. On the way home, that that guy was involved in an accident, and um uh he luckily went to be with the Lord, but that's flying like um what's that um Greek uh god Cassius or something? I think it's something like that. He flew too close to the sun and he cooked his wings.

SPEAKER_00: 17:45

I'm not really good on my Greek history, but look it up if you're interested. You can't say that you're dwelling in this secret place if half the time you're not there.

SPEAKER_01: 18:10

I would like to say that we need to live with a God consciousness. We need to live with a daily recognition of who he is and what he can do. Verse one of Psalm ninety-one, he is and what he can do is right there. Verse one calls him the most high and the almighty El Shaddai. There is good and there is evil, but they are not equally matched. Nothing and no one is higher and more supreme than God. The name El Shaddai refers to the sufficiency of God. He will nurture us and nourish us and promise all we need, no matter what our circumstances. He meets us where we're at. Now in verse two, we read that God is a refuge and a fortress. We need to live with this in mind and make this our mindset all the time. When we are in trouble, when life is hard, we are not without help. There is a refuge and a fortress to keep us safe. And if we have been dwelling in the Lord, we don't have to be running for safety, we are already there. We don't have to make a sprint for the shelter, we are already there. Look, it's tough to build a relationship with anyone when life is stormy, but if we have cultivated our relationship with God, we are already there, we need to be when the storm hits. We are where we need to be when the storm hits, because they will hit. That's a reality. We are already with the one who is high above all, and the one who will provide what we need. In order to dwell with the Lord, we need to walk in a relationship with him. At verse 2, the person who wrote Psalm 91 knew God personally. He wasn't just name dropping because he was looking for a way out of his trouble. He said in verse 2, I will say of the Lord, he is my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust. Did you hear the personal pronouns? My refuge, my fortress, my God. That's the relationship that we all need to have.

SPEAKER_00: 21:44

And that is how we find ourselves in that right place. Listen, I am glad each and every one just listening today.

SPEAKER_01: 22:09

But if your listening is all that you do to cultivate a relationship with the Lord, you are missing out on so much that could be provided to you ahead of the difficulties. Ahead of the disappointments, ahead of the discouragement. Please, I pray that you don't just listen to me. You need to walk in relationship daily with God in order to gain the spiritual strength, the emotional stability, the confidence in God's promise so that you aren't easily overcome when bad things go down.

SPEAKER_00: 22:59

I found out the hard way, but the relationship with Jesus now. Let me put this another way.

SPEAKER_01: 23:15

My relationship with Jesus is designed for God to gain that spiritual strength within me. The emotional stability, the confidence in God that I want, He's already got, and I need to have it with me. Promises so that you aren't easily overcome when bad things go down. Look, I found out the hard way about the relationship with Jesus. Now, instead of well, okay, well, later on we'll talk about this, okay. I want to be able to prepare you for the storms that are going to hit before they hit. I've been through a few storms. My book, Walking on Sunshine, will help put this in context. But I have navigated some rough waters. I know how after weathering these storms, the next decade of my life will be and is going to be the best decade from a spiritual standpoint. But up until now, it has been the toughest and the stormiest in terms of personal struggles, stress, and strain. Now, in saying that, if you're listening to this podcast, I want you to be aware that, right, along with me publishing my book, now I will be promoting this over the next few weeks or whatever. Um, but if you like ebooks or you know, like you download books to Kindle or to your iPad, um, I've got 50 to give away. All you have to do is comment on this podcast or send me an email because my email is attached to this, which is, and I'll say it again, Grapevine Ministries one five five at gmail.com. Now, if you send me um a like or a request or anything, I will send you the information you need to download an ebook of walking on sunshine for free. All right, that's um I got 50 to give away. That's five zero. So um if you're interested and if you're listening, please, even if it's not for you, if it's for someone else, my purpose is to just get the book out there and to let more and more people know that Jesus is there for them. He will make a way where there is no way.

SPEAKER_00: 26:32

See, I want to know why I can say this, right? I'm talking about the best spiritual decade coming.

SPEAKER_01: 26:48

I can say it because I have had no other choice but to have Jesus as the captain of my boat, and his presence on board every day has assured me that I'm okay, and I'm more than okay. It is well with my soul. I have a positive outlook, I have true joy, and I have deep peace, and I have unshakable faith, and I have an overcoming spirit. I have been undaunted in the face of great challenges and personal pain because of that relationship with God. Both myself and Maria are now happier than we have ever been, but we'll both have to admit if it was not for our faith, we would have both be with the Lord long ago. We don't want anybody else to go through what we had to endure, and this is why we now do what we do. We are closer and more confident in Christ in our calling than we've ever been.

SPEAKER_00: 28:14

Things that used to take life from me don't stick to me anymore.

SPEAKER_01: 28:24

The fiery darts of Satan are being extinguished by the victory God daily gives me. My feet are on the rock and I will not be moved. What I am testifying to is real because I have a growing relationship with Jesus.

SPEAKER_00: 28:49

Look, I can't be casual.

SPEAKER_01: 28:54

Jesus can't just be a hobby for you, he can't just be something to insert into your weekly schedule. In order to experience his maximum protection, he has to be at the center of your life. I would also say that to dwell in the Lord, you need to rest in the Lord's ability to deliver you in whom I trust. Trust the Lord. Say it out loud on a regular basis. God, I trust you. When you pray for healing, say, God, I trust you to heal me. When you pray for your children's sake, God, I trust you to be at work in their lives. When you pray for your spouse to be saved, God, I trust that in your timing you will bring about the salvation of my spouse. When you pray for the finances, say, God, I trust you to provide for my needs. And then demonstrate that you trust God. Look for ways to show God you have put the weight of your circumstances and the weight of your needs on His shoulders. And I'll finish this off next week when we go to part two. All right. Take care and I'll talk to you soon. Bye for now.