Rabbi Schneider - Overcome Fear With Psalm 91

TOPICS: Be Strong and Courageous, Fear, Psalm 91

Did you know that in the Book of Revelation, chapter 21, verse 8, Yeshua actually said that hell was for the fearful? Let me read that to you. The grass withers and the flowers fade but the Word of the Lord, hallelujah, bless his name, abides forever. I'm reading out from the Word of God, Revelation, chapter 21, verse number 8, Yeshua says, I'm actually going to start in verse 7, Yeshua says in verse 7: "He who overcomes shall inherit these things and I will be his God and he will be my son," and Yeshua's talking about all the different things that await those that enter into heaven, that they're going to sit down with them, and experience his presence and be in the Lord's heaven, and exist in the peace of God, and the bliss of God forever, so Jesus says, "He that overcomes will inherit these things".

So first he's speaking of the one that overcomes and the blessing they'll receive but notice what he says in the next verse, verse number 8: "But for the cowardly and unbelieving". Now remember we got done in our last broadcast the Lord said to Joshua in chapter 1, verse 9, the Lord said, "Be courageous," right, "do not be afraid but be strong and courageous". This is God's words to us, don't be afraid, be strong and courageous, Joshua 1:9, but listen what Jesus says here about those that go to hell. Revelation, chapter 21, verse 8: "But for the cowardly and the unbelieving," and then he goes onto say, "their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone which is the second death".

Now this is really powerful because we oftentimes don't really think of being afraid as sinning. We look at someone that is committing gross sin and we identify that person as really trapped in sin and yet here we are living in fear and we don't recognize what a great sin it is against God to live in fear and yet Jesus says that hell is for the fearful and unbelieving. Now some of you, you got even more afraid because you think, oh man, I'm fearing all the time; I'm going to hell. Listen, I'm not trying to make you more afraid, I'm not trying to add fear to your fear, I'm not talking about perfection, what I'm trying to do, beloved one of the Lord, is to help you understand that you and I must declare war on fear, that if you and I are going to walk with God, if you and I are going to please God, we must overcome fear and bless the Lord. We can do this in him. Let's pray right now. We need the Lord's help; we need the Lord's grace.

So Father God, we bless you, and Father, we need your help to overcome fear. Father, your Word says that we can overcome fear with faith. You said that he that's born of God overcomes the world and this is the victory that overcomes the world, our faith. You also told us Father that faith is a gift from God. So we ask you, Father, to strengthen us with your Holy Spirit.

Father, strengthen us with the Holy Spirit and with fire that we might arise, God, and break the shackles of fear off our life, exercising faith and the truth in you, in your love for us, and in your divine activity and protection that surrounds our life. So, Father, we look to you today for help. We need help. Father, we know, as you look down upon us right now, as you're looking upon your people, you see us, Father God, struggling in fear.

You see us, Lord, being tormented by the devil, dogged by fears but, Father, we know that it's your desire for us to stand up and trample the power of the enemy under our feet so we ask you for power for the Holy Spirit, strengthen us, Father God, in the love of the truth and in the love of God that we would rise up and cast off the devil cause your love says that perfect love casteth of fear. So, Father, we bless you today, strengthen us, we ask, even as you said to Joshua, be strong and courageous, we ask you to strengthen us, Father God, in Yeshua's name, amen, and amen, and amen, and amen.

A hundred times, no fewer than a hundred times, the Lord tells us throughout the Word of God, do not be afraid and yet when we look around there's real danger outside of the Lord. We look around, beloved, and we see car accidents on the road, we fear for our children's and grandchildren's life, we see nuclear reactors leaking, we hear of the threat of financial collapse, we hear of diseases in our foods, and strokes, and heart attacks, and all manners of sickness. We look around, beloved, and it seems that danger lurks on every side. Some of you are afraid of growing old and ending up in a nursing home and you ask yourself, well why shouldn't I be afraid? Aren't these things happening to other people? Why won't they happen to me? I'm going to tell you, beloved, even though a thousand may fall at your side and ten thousand at your right hand, the Lord says, "I don't want you to be afraid because I am with you".

I remember deeply struggling with fear and I still struggle with fear, I still am overcoming but, praise the Lord, I'm a lot more free now than I used to be but I remember several years ago I was really struggling with fear and then I read Psalm 91, I'm going to read it in a second, and Psalm 91 speaks of God's divine protection, a thousand may fall at your side and ten thousand at your right hand but no evil will come near you or near your dwelling place. Don't be afraid of the terror at night or the destruction that lays waste at noon, and the Lord goes on and on through Psalm number 91 encouraging us that no matter what is happening around us, cannot be afraid but I looked around, I said, "But Lord, all these things are happening to other people".

"Father, I even see some of these things that I'm afraid of happening to people that say they know you and love you so if I'm seeing all these things that I'm afraid of happening all around me in the world, even to some of those that say they love you, how can I, how can I have confidence in you, Lord"? "How can I trust you because it seems like people aren't being protected by you"? And then I read Psalm 91 and I said to myself, I was in, I was in the study one day where I was shepherding the Messianic congregation where I am, and I was in the study one day and I said, "Lord, if I can really... if Psalm 91 is really for me," I said, "if I really trust you that you will do for me what Psalm number 91 says you'll do for me, I'm going to go out to where my Bible is," my Bible was in another room under my chair where I was sitting, I was getting ready for a prayer meeting, I said, "Lord, if I can really claim 91 for myself, then I'm going to go out to my chair where my Bible is, and I'm just going to open up my Bible, and when if I open up my Bible," get this Yedeed, beloved ones, "I open up to Psalm 91 then I'm going to know, Father, that you're giving me Psalm 91 and you want me to take a hold of it, and believe that it's for me".

And so, beloved, you know the story, I went out to where my Bible was under my chair, I picked up my Bible, it's this Bible right here that I'm holding in front of you right now, and I just open it up randomly and guess what I opened it up to, beloved, Psalm number 91, and I want to encourage you now, even as the Lord gave Psalm number 91 to me, I want to encourage you now to claim Psalm number 91 for yourself as you love the Lord and cling to him. We're talking about overcoming fear. How do we overcome fear? How do we overcome fear? We overcome fear, beloved, by exercising faith in the Word of God. The thing that sets us free is truth. Jesus said, "You shall know the truth," in John 8, "and the truth shall set you free".

You see, fear comes when Satan puts false pictures of reality into our minds, showing ourself in life with something happening to us, and in the pictures that he presents to our mind, that he enters into our thoughts with and showing us all these terrible things, all these dreadful things, nowhere in those pictures is God. He's showing, beloved, what your life would be if God wasn't with you but, hallelujah, God is with you that's why Jesus said, "I'm not going to leave you as an orphan, I'm going to come to you, I'm going to be with you even to the end". So these pictures that Satan shows us, that makes us afraid, they're lies, they're devoid of God's presence, they're devoid of God's help, they're devoid of God's love. It's Satan lying to us and the way to overcome these false pictures of reality that Satan injects into our heart and mind is through the Word of God and exercising faith in it but it takes effort on our part.

This is why the Lord said to Joshua, "Be strong and courageous". In other words, we can't be passive. Satan is going to come, he is going to tempt us, he is going to try to make us feel afraid, he is going to present pictures of doom, he is going to present pictures of gloom, he is going to present pictures of getting in a car wreck, he is going to present pictures of your loved ones getting in a car wreck, he is going to present pictures of you growing old and getting sick, he is going to present pictures of you losing your mind and ending up in a nursing home, he is going to present pictures of you losing your house and losing your job, he is going to present pictures of you getting a horrible disease. They're lies, beloved. We need to stand on the Word of God. Now listen to what Psalm number 91 says. I encourage you to memorize this and begin to claim it for yourself.

Listen, beloved, we have to take ahold of the Lord. If we love God, we must overcome fear because, listen, when we are living in fear we're actually bowing down to Satan. You know, when the king said to Daniel, "If you don't worship this golden image, I'm going to cast you into the fiery furnace," Daniel said, "My God is able to deliver me but even if he doesn't, oh king, I am not going to bow down to your image". Daniel made up his mind to resist fear and you and I, beloved, must make up our minds to resist fear as well. Now here's Psalm 91; it's for your life. Let's take ahold of it.

Father God, we pray, I pray for every child of yours that's listening right now. I pray, Father, for the one that's listening right now that doesn't yet know you but will become your child. I pray that you will, Father, strengthen us with faith in the truth in Yeshua's name for your glory, Lord, amen and amen.

Hear the Word of God, Psalm number 91: He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High, and by the way, one of the things I really love about this Psalm, we don't know who wrote it and I believe that the Lord, himself, wrote this Psalm. Listen to the way, as we progress through it, the language changes. It's God, himself that's talking, Psalm number 91, verse 1: He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. In other words, if we dwell, if we cling to the Lord, if we're depending on the Lord, if we're not walking proudly, if we're not walking in self will but if we're walking humbly, depending upon the Lord, realizing that if we're not depending on the Lord, we are vulnerable. The Lord is saying here, if you're living under my shadow, you're going to be protected.

So this is very important, to walk in God's protection, we need to be depending on him and clinging to him, recognizing that without his protection, beloved, we are a bulls eye for the enemy. Hear the Word of God again: He who dwells in the shelter, so we need to be looking to the Lord to dwell in his shelter, not proud, realizing we need his protection, he who dwells in the shelter of the Most High, we ask you for your protection now, Lord, will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. And so we're going to be coming under his protection and covering. Verse number 2, I will say to the Lord, my refuge and my fortress. We're saying, God, you are my protector. You are the one that protects me and gives me a refuge from the enemy and you put a fortress around me so the enemy can't around me so the enemy can't touch me. I will say to the Lord, my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust.

Notice this is not is not a passive faith; this is an aggressive faith. The Lord said to Joshua, "Be strong and courageous". This is not passivity, he's making a declaration, "I will trust in the Lord". You and I need to come out of passivity, beloved, and we need to make a declaration by the Holy Spirit in faith. Lord, I'm going to trust you. I make up my mind, Father God, to stop betraying you. I make up mind my mind to love you. I make up my mind to take my stand with you. I'm going to trust you and so he says here, "I will say of the Lord my God in whom I trust". Verse number 3: For it is he who delivers you from the snare of the trapper. Yes, there are things to be afraid of but the Lord, here, is the one that is showing himself as our deliverer. For it is he who delivers you from the snare of the trapper and from the deadly pestilence. Yes, there are dangers all around us. They're real dangers, they're real threats but we have a God that's our fortress and our refuge and he's going to deliver us.

Continuing verse number 4: He will cover you with his pinions. He's going to protect you, he's going to cover you, and under his wings you may seek refuge, you can be safe. Just like Yeshua, remember, they were on the boat. They were terrified at the waves. We're going to look at this a little bit later but Jesus was on the boat so they were okay and that's what we're seeing right here. Under his wings you may seek refuge. His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark of God's faithfulness. Listen to that again: His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark, I love that, the faithfulness of God. Oh God, my Father, there is no shadow of turning with thee, the faithfulness of God. Father, we love you, we worship you, Father God, thank you for your faithfulness to us. There's no shadow or turning with it, every day is the same. He's always faithful, always faithful. He'll never leave us or forsake us. Thank you, Lord, for your faithfulness. That's our anchor, not our faithfulness, his faithfulness. His faithfulness, verse number 4, is a shield and bulwark.

Listen to verse number 5, the Lord is speaking now, listen, this is a command. You may be looking around, you're thinking that you don't do the things that the people in the world do, that you're living in fear. That's a sin too, living in fear, beloved, is a sin for all of us. So look what the Lord says in verse number 5: You will not be afraid of the terror by night. We shouldn't have to sleep, beloved, with the light on in our room. Too many people are sleeping; they can't fall asleep except they leave the TV on. Something's wrong with that. If you can't sleep except you leave the TV on and all that nonsense and all that noise, something must be very wrong, right? But God can deliver us, beloved. God can deliver us from anxiety. God can deliver us from fear. Better yet, he wants to and he will. He'll help you. You will not be afraid of the terror by night. I used to be so afraid before the Lord saved me. I was afraid when I was a kid of things under my bed.

When I saw the movie, The Exorcist, before I knew the Lord when I was 16 years old, I was terrified. I would go into my room every night. I was terrified, terrified, terrified. I was never taught about a devil growing up in the synagogue or in Judaism but when I saw that movie, The Exorcist, I knew that there had to be devil or they couldn't have ever made that movie and it scared the living daylights out of me. I thought to myself, if the devil took possession of that girl, how do I know it's not going to happen to me. I was terrified. I used to go to sleep every night, laying in my bed, petrified. I'd wait for my parents to go to sleep, a few hours later, and then when my parents would go to sleep, I would crawl into their room and sleep on the floor next to their bed. I was so afraid of being possessed by the devil but, hallelujah, beloved, no more cause Jesus has set me free. Bless his holy name and he'll do the same for all of God's children. "If the Son shall set you free," he said, "you will be free indeed".

And so, continuing on, Psalm 91, verse 5: You will not be afraid, this is a command, you will not be afraid of the terror by night or of the arrow that flies by day. What are you afraid of and what am I afraid of in the daytime? Car accidents, for our children's lives, poison, whatever it is, God says, "I want you to combat the fear with faith". I was outside the other day and across from my home there is a farmer's field and the farmer wasn't... I come from the city so I wasn't... this is a house, so I wasn't really too familiar with the farmer's... what he was doing in his field. So I went outside and I saw the tractor out there, he was spraying the... he was spraying his field and I thought, wow that smells kind of good but I wonder what that stuff is.

A few days later I looked at his field and everything was dead and realized that he was spraying on his field was some type of... something that killed the plants, and killed the growth, and killed the weeds, and I was smelling that stuff when he was spraying it, and I thought, wow, that stuff was poison, that stuff was toxic. I was breathing that into my body and I started getting really afraid. I thought, wow, what did that do to my body when I was smelling that stuff. Well, there's only one way to overcome that fear, faith in the Word of God. Yeshua said, "You will drink deadly poison and it will not harm you". "You will be bit by deadly snakes and will not be hurt".

So how do I overcome the fear of the fact that I was breathing in that toxic substance that, that farmer was spraying in the field? There's only way, beloved, faith in the Word of God. And so the Lord says, "Whatever you're afraid of". Some of you have inordinate fears of getting sick, inordinate fears of diseases. You're hypochondriacs, every time you hear of a sickness you think you've got it. You go on the computer, you start researching the sickness, pretty soon you got it. You got this, you got this, you got this, yeah, you made yourself sick. The Lord says, "Don't be afraid of the terror by night". "Don't be afraid of the terror... of the arrow that flies by day". Verse number 6: Or the pestilence that stalks in darkness or of the destruction that lays waste at noon. This covers every imaginable fear. God's Word is the same, do not be afraid.

I love verse 7 cause we look around and we say, "But Lord, it's happening to everybody else so if it's happening to everybody else, how can I not be afraid"? "I mean, how do I know it won't happen to me"? Look what verse number 7 says, Psalm 91: A thousand may fall at your side and ten thousand at your right hand but it shall not approach you. Now we're going to take ahold of the Lord. The Lord said, "Yeah, it is happening all over". "In fact, it's going to happen to a thousand at your side," he said, "and ten thousand at your right hand". It's happening all over but it's not going to touch you. Let me read it again. A thousand may fall at your side and ten thousand of your right hand but it shall not approach you. You will only look on with your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked. For why is this? Listen, for you have made the Lord my refuge. In other words, because you made me your God, because you took shelter under my wings, because you clung to me, because you exercise faith in me, you're going to be protected for all of it.

You will only look on, in verse number 8, with your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked for you have made the Lord my refuge, even the Most High your dwelling place. Beloved, if we learn to fear God and no other, we're going to be safe. Remember, Jesus said, "Don't fear man that can kill body". Don't fear anything on earth. Hell's for the fearful and unbelieving. You exercise faith in God. No evil will befall you, verse number 10, nor will any plague come near your tent. Are you afraid for your family? Let's believe God for our families. Let's believe the Lord to protect our children.

Let's believe the Lord to lead our children to marry the right person. Let's believe the Lord to protect our finances. Let's believe the Lord to protect us on the road. Let's believe the Lord to be with us in our old age. Let's believe the Lord to sustain us in every realm, in every area, and at every time in our life, and this will bring him praise and delight his heart because it shows that we have faith that he's a loving God, that he is who he says he is, that he will be with us, that he won't forsake us, that he's going to bless us and show his grace to us, hallelujah, and loving kindness all the days of our life. Verse number 10: Because you've made the Lord your refuge, even the Most High, your dwelling, listen, verse number 10, no evil will befall you nor will any plague come near your tent.

Verse number 11, Satan quoted this in the wilderness, well actually Satan quoted it in trying to... try to misuse it to try to get Yeshua to sin but Satan quoted this to try to deceive Jesus. Satan can take Scriptures too and misuse them. Satan said to Jesus, "For he will give his angels charge concerning you to guard you in all your ways," trying to get Yeshua to cast himself off the cliff but, beloved, the point of the matter is the Lord does give his angels charge over us and you and I don't realize how many times we've been on the road and the Lord has protected us through an angel. We don't realize how many times Satan has tried to enter our lives and the Lord has protected us through an angel.

So, Father God, we just want to bless you today. Lord Jesus, we just want to bless you today. We want to thank you and give you honor for your protection on our life. We want to thank you, Father God, for your protection and the fact that you're with us, going before us, acting in the circumstances of our life, and, Father, we ask you to forgive us for sin. We ask you to forgive us for not believing in your love for us. We believe... we ask you to deliver us from not giving you credit, Father, where credit is due. Father, we believe your Word, that you protect us, that you go before us, that you will never fail us, that you will never leave us or forsake us. Father, we want to exercise faith in your love for us, faith in your divine activity over our lives and in our lives. Father, we want to crush Satan and all his fears under our feet, living in confidence and in courage and in so doing, Father, exercising faith in your love and giving you glory, amen.