When Thoughts Attack, God is there, Mama

Tonight we will talk about Psalm 91 and being under the shelter of the Lord’s wing when thoughts attack us, Mamas.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Good evening, mamas, and welcome back to Midlight, Your Light in the Middle of the Night. Recently I was reading a story about a Chinese woman who went up to the foothills to cut grass and she had a baby tied on her back and a little child beside her, and when she got to the top of the hill, she saw a mother tigress, and it was going to spring on her and it had two cubs with it. And the Chinese woman never had read the Bible or gone to church or had gone to Sunday school, but a missionary once told her about Jesus, and she told this woman that he is able to help you when you are in trouble. So as a tiger's claws tore into her arm, the woman cried out, Help me, Jesus. And the tiger, instead of attacking again, suddenly turned and ran away. So the question is, what beasts are attacking you? Chances are you will never be attacked by a wild tiger, but you will be attacked by doubts, fears, worry, loneliness, or despair. So the theme of that story was to cry out to Jesus, and he will answer you, just like he answered the Chinese woman's prayer with the tiger. I have a psalm to share with you tonight, and it is a beautiful psalm of God's presence and the safety that we have by abiding in the presence of God. And this is Psalm ninety one. The title of Psalm ninety one in my Bible is Safety of Abiding in the Presence of God. Verse one He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in him I will trust. Surely he shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the perilous pestilence. He shall cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you shall take refuge. His truth shall be your shield and buckler. You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor of the arrow that flies by day, nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday. A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand, but it shall not come near you. Only with your eyes shall you look and see the reward of the wicked. Because you who have made the Lord who is my refuge, even the most high, your dwelling place, no evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling, for he shall give his angels charge over you to keep you in all your ways. In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone. You shall tread on upon the lion and the cobra, the young lion and the serpent, you shall trample underfoot. Because he has set his love upon me, therefore I will deliver him, I will set him on high, because he has known my name, he shall call upon 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. I share this psalm with you tonight, mamma, to remind you that our safety is in the presence of God. I particularly love when he says that he shall cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you shall take refuge. Do you know that you are the same with the Lord, that he shall cover you with his feathers and under his wings that you can take refuge? And therefore, when you do that, your children are also covered and taken care of too, because you are their mama. And I thought about it tonight. Why would I share with you a psalm about the safety of God? Because as mamas, we are the frontline defense for our children, spiritually, physically, mentally, emotionally, we do all that we can to keep our little babies safe. And God does the same with us. In our presence, our babies are safe because we care and love them so much that we would give our lives to protect them. This is a design by God, Mamas. It's the same design that God has for his ones that he loves, which is us. We are loved by God and we are protected by him, and in his presence we are kept safe. So tonight I want to encourage you, mamas, to be the warriors that you are called to be as mothers. Our world needs it. I was thinking over the weekend just about the powerful presence of a mother. And I was thinking about how we think that what we are doing is so minute, so small, but it is not. It is ginormous in our world and in our societies, and the effects that we have by being the mothers we are called to be is profound. It rocks nations, it builds societies. I was thinking about why I have such a heart for the family. The reason I have such a heart for family is because everything springs from it. You know, Mother Teresa said, if you want to change the world, go home and love your family well. That is our job, Mama, and I would not take it lightly, because it is a true calling from the Lord to raise up your children and love them well. Family is so vital, so important to our society. It is the cornerstone of all things, the way a mother loves. Your job is mighty and important. So tonight I want to encourage you that you are safe under the shelter of the Lord's wings, that in his presence you are loved and you are kept safe as a mama, and God is keeping both you and your baby safe in his care. And I wanted to say again the question, what beasts are attacking you, mama? I know it's not a wild tiger, but are you being attacked by doubts, fears, worry, loneliness, or despair? If any of those things fit the bill for you, I'm gonna remind you that God is with you and that he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler. And the Lord says that he is your refuge and your fortress, and in him you can trust him. I encourage you tonight to bring those thoughts that have a tendency to attack you right now and tell the Lord what they are, because he is the one who keeps you safe. He is the one who it says, you shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor of the arrow that flies by the day, because the Lord is the one who is your shield. So, mamas, tonight I encourage you to know that you are loved, that you are safe, that your babies are safe and held by you and the Lord, and you are handpicked for this job, and it's a mighty one, and you can do all of these things that you are called to do as a mama through Christ, because he is the one who will give you the strength. And tonight we learned that he will also give you his protection. Thank you for joining me tonight, mamas, on midlight. Before we go, I'm going to leave you with a prayer. May the Lord bless you and keep you, make his face to shine upon you, be gracious unto you and give you peace. Amen. That's number six, twenty four through twenty six. Until next time. Take care, mama.