“Their protection has been removed from them, and the LORD is with us; do not fear them.” Numbers 14:9.
Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time. Revelation 12:12.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God says:
Today is the Day I have made but it up to you how you choose to live it. It can be a day of love, a day of light, a day filled with good thing and precious treasures. All good things return from love.
Protection. Where is it? “You who dwell in the secret place of the Most High, who abide in the shadow of the Almighty.” Read Psalm 91 and you will get a glimpse into what it means to be under My shadow. David sang, “For my soul takes refuge in You; and in the shadow of Your wings I will take refuge until destruction passes by.” Psalm 57:1.
I put a hedge of protection around you. This world is a perilous place. It was not My Will that it be like that and I did not create it that way, but that is what man has done with the dominion I gave him, which I could not take away. You gave it away to a creature lower than yourselves. He deceived Eve and enticed Adam into giving away their identity to him. But I provided a way to find protection from the curse unleashed in the earth by Adam’s abdication. It is called the BLESSING and it is all about My Covenant with you. In Me, you can find shalom. Perfect protection in all areas of your life. But to have it, you must stay within the jurisdiction of the Kingdom, which you access by receiving My Son as your Lord. Then you opt out of the earth cursed system and find yourself walking in the BLESSING with the BLESSING wall around you.
But it is up to you to keep the hedge from being breached by the enemy. And he cannot get past it unless you open the gate to him. When I promised My people the fruitful land of Canaan and all the good things it contained (including splendid cities, fine houses filled with good things, wells, and vineyards), there was a reason, though it was filled with giants and fortified cities, that I told them they would conquer it. Joshua put it this way, “Their protection has been removed from them, and the LORD is with us, do not fear them.” Numbers 14:9. And the word you see translated as “protection” there is actually the word “shadow” in Hebrew. They were no longer under the shadow of My wings. Why? I explained it to Moses before they came to the border of the Promised Land, “Do not defile yourselves with any of these things (which included killing their children by sacrificing them to idols, adultery, and the perverted sexual practices of homosexuality and other immoral sexual sins), for by all these the nations are defiled, which I am casting out before you. For the land is defiled; therefore I brought its iniquity upon it, and the land vomits out its inhabitants. You shall therefore keep My statutes and My judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations, either any of your own nation or any stranger who dwells among you (for all these abominations the men of the land have done, who were before you, and thus the land is defiled), lest the land vomit you out also when you defile it, as it vomited out the nations that were before you. For whoever commits any of these abominations, the persons who commit them shall be cut off from among their people.” Leviticus 18:24-29. And remember Moses also told the people, “Do not say in your heart when the LORD your God has driven them out before you, ‘Because of my righteousness the LORD has brought me in to possess this land,’ but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is dispossessing them before you. It is not for your righteousness or for the uprightness of your heart that you are going to possess their land, but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD your God is driving them out before you, in order to confirm the Word which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” Deuteronomy 9:4-5. And I told Abraham more than four hundred years before, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years. But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve, and afterward they will come out with many possessions. As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good old age. Then in the fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete.” Genesis 15:13-16. The iniquity of the inhabitants of Canaan was not yet complete. It was not yet enough for the land to vomit them out. But the cup was slowly filling up. And it was full by the time Moses let the Israelites out of Egypt to take the land of Canaan as their own. A holy nation to receive the land.
I do not remove protection unless there is a just and full cause for it. Revelation 6:9-11.
Jesus wept over the city of Jerusalem, over the people who had rejected the Kingdom and had gone out from under the shadow of My wings to another jurisdiction where there was no protection (“We have no king but Caesar”). He said, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling.” Matthew 23:37; Luke 19:41-44.
What removes your protection? Takes you out from under the shadow of My wings? Look back to what Joshua said to the crying and grumbling Israelites, “The land which we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land. If the Lord is pleased with us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us—a land which flows with milk and honey. Only do not rebel against the Lord; and do not fear the people of the land, for they will be our bread. Their protection (shadow) has been removed from them, and the Lord is with us; do not fear them.” Numbers 14:7-9.
If I was pleased with them, I would bring them in and give them the good land. Do you remember what pleases Me? I will tell you this, without faith it is impossible to please Me.
The Israelites I redeemed out of the slavery of Egypt had seen awesome and mighty works that no one has ever seen again. I took one nation out of another with a strong outstretched hand and My people did not even need to fight. I fought for them. I wrote the law for them with My own finger. And yet they never had any faith in My promises. Every time they ran into a difficulty, or what they perceived as a difficulty, they were doubting, fearful, grumbling, complaining, and they kept threatening they would return to the slavery of Egypt because they said they were better off there! They continually tested Me though they had seen My works on their behalf. And this is not unusual behavior even today for believers. But it grieves Me. It does not please Me, I am looking for evidence of your faith. Jesus asked if when He returns the second time He will find any faith on the earth. I look for faith because that is where I can connect with you and do far more than you even think or imagine.
I want you to know this: I keep My Word. What I promise you, you already have. You just have to receive it by faith. And the spirit of faith is you believe in your heart and speak with your mouth.
Well, back to the day I brought them to the edge of the land I had promised to give them. Were they thrilled with expectancy when the spies brought back the report of how good and beautiful the land was? No, because the spies also told them there were giants there (which I had told them) and walled cities and numerous other things I had told them about already. They forgot however that I had told them I would send My angel before them to battle in front of them and clear the place for them as they went with him. But Joshua and Caleb, as well as Moses, remembered and they spoke out in faith to go forward and take the land. But the people would have no Word of faith, instead they reacted this way: “Then all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept all that night. All the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron; and the whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness! Why is the Lord bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become plunder; would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?” So they said to one another, “Let us appoint a leader and return to Egypt.” Numbers 14:1-4.
The righteous shall live by faith and if they draw back I take no pleasure in them. I was grieved by the response of the Israelites because I had looked forward with joy, I led them out with joy, to giving them a beautiful life of days of heaven on earth in the beautiful land I had promised and prepared for them. And I was not pleased with their refusal to take My gift. I spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, “How long shall I bear with this evil congregation who are grumbling against Me? I have heard the complaints of the sons of Israel, which they are making against Me. Say to them, ‘As I live,’ says the Lord, ‘just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will surely do to you.” Numbers 14:27-28. By your words you are acquitted and by your words you are condemned. They had sealed their destiny by their own prophetic words of preferring death in the wilderness.
I called their lack of faith evil but most people would have said they were only telling it like it was, or shall I say as they perceived it with their five senses by a report of men who saw it. But faith sees things in a higher perspective. Like seeing the Red Sea part and make a way of deliverance where there appeared to be no way. Faith knows that nothing is impossible for Me and that all things are possible to those who believe that.
But I spoke differently of Joshua and Caleb who proclaimed My Words to the people, who responded by trying to stone them. But they had a different spirit, the spirit of faith, and I declared they had followed Me fully, though as yet they had not even stepped into the Promised Land. But speaking My Word with confidence and refusing to give in to what looks like contrary circumstances I call following Me fully. Moses 14:24. So I said they would go into the Promised Land, they would not die in the desert with the others, and they would take it along with the children of the disobedient Israelites. Numbers 14:29-33. The next generation went in and they learned from Joshua and Caleb how to fight the good fight of faith, but everyone suffered the delay caused by those who did not mix faith with My promises. They were not able to enter My rest. They were too stressed.
Joshua and Caleb, however, pleased Me. I could give them the good things I had promised. At the end of his life, Joshua told those he had led into the Promised Land, that not one of My good promises had failed, they had all come to pass. Why? He had faith. It pleases Me.
Paul described “fear of the Lord” as desiring to please Me no matter whether you are in this life or in Heaven. My Son was always telling those who came to Him that they would receive what they asked for according to their faith. Faith pleases Me and what I mean by faith is being fully persuaded that what I say I will perform. It is trusting Me not matter how contrary the circumstances appear. You can have what I say if you will say it in agreement and walk it out in your life.
What is evidence of your faith? Faith without works is dead. And to Me evidence of your faith is if you do not fear. Even if for a moment when you see what appears to be a tremendous problem or set back, you cast that care on Me with confidence, rebuke the weapon formed against you and cast out the demon spirit behind it, and then ask for what you need in Jesus’ Name and He will do it and I will give it to you. Do you believe that? That is exactly what My Son told you and He, like Me, cannot lie.
I know you have faith when in the face of everything to the contrary you rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and give constant thanks! And when you do not put yourself in park mode and draw back but forge ahead standing on My promise.
If you got a report you have an incurable illness, do what I do when My enemies think they can overcome Me. I sit on My throne and laugh. You should join Me. And then rebuke the spirit of infirmity, cancer, or whatever it is and know that Jesus already bore it for you so you do not have to receive it again and return to slavery a second time. He set you free and by His stripes you are, were, and will stay healed. And then ask in His Name for your body to be fully restored to perfect health and wholeness, taking away all the damage done by the illness to your body or organs. And go forward.
Jesus told you that I was always with Him and never left Him because He always did what pleased Me. So you know He operated in faith. He did. Remember at Lazarus’ tomb? He thanked Me for having heard Him (and when I hear you, you know that you have what you have asked) and then He called Lazarus out. Jesus went about doing good and healing all those who were oppressed of the devil. It pleases Me when you love and follow Jesus. I gave Him to you so you could live your life through Him and use His faith as your own. You love and please Me when you take Jesus as your Lord. Jesus told you, “In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I will request of the Father on your behalf; for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me and have believed that I came forth from the Father.” John 16:26-27. I formed your inward parts and wove you in your mother’s womb, I knew your bones, and skillfully wrought your body, while as yet you were hidden in your mother’s womb, and I brought you forth. I am the God of new beginnings. I make all things new. Do you think I cannot form your inward parts anew and knit you back into perfect health and wholeness? That I cannot frame your body with strong bones anew? Of course I can, but you can only receive according to your faith. And faith comes only one way, by hearing My Word and letting it plant in your heart. But your faith can only be constant and strong if you know and believe in the love I have for you, if you are grateful for the life I have given you, if you get your self-image from the mirror of My Word and see yourself as beloved and more than a conqueror, equipped for every good work, and if you have fellowship with Me so that we partner together in your Kingdom assignment. Are you ready for amazing exploits? But like Joshua and Caleb, you only enter My rest by faith that what I have said, I will perform in your life.
I love you. Never get out of My shadow for that is the safe place to be no matter when you go.