Psalm 91, New King James Bible: "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 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 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."
The 91st Psalm is my favorite chapter from the Bible. It speaks of the loving protection and divine activity for every individual son and daughter who turns to God for deliverance from the woes of this material sense of existence. This psalm names many forms these human threats take in the human experience, and it promises God's deliverance from all of them. So, why don't we avail ourselves of this promised deliverance from 'all the ills that flesh is heir to'? Millions of people have begged and pleaded with God for deliverance from the evils that assail them, only to become one of the thousand who "may fall at your side and ten thousand at your right hand." What, then, are we missing when deliverance doesn't arrive from the multitude of evils that threaten us in this material realm? The answer is as close as the first line of the psalm: Those who experience God's deliverance (from all the evils of this human realm of thought) are those who know their own place "in the secret place of the Most High." The entire psalm is speaking of these individuals, and only these individuals. Those who do NOT realize their own place in 'the secret place of the most high' will not experience the saving, changing, human adjustments that Spirit is capable of delivering to us in the material realm. Before examining what the 'secret place' is and what it's really about, let's ponder, a moment, upon the word 'dwell'. To dwell somewhere is to stay and live somewhere. A dwelling place is a home-base, so to speak, where we continuously reside, or inhabit. Yet, it's not just a place occupied by our bodies, but also a place that our minds and souls occupy. It is where we live in thoughts and beliefs, as well as a place to plant our identities. The second time the 91st Psalm addresses our dwelling place is in the lines that say, "Because you 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;" This again refers to a place which we dwell or inhabit, but in thought. In short, our mental dwelling place, or habitation, is vitally important when it comes to benefiting from God's saving grace and love, breaking through, right here, into the human scene. A dwelling place, (as referred to in this psalm) is the mental place our beliefs and thoughts continuously occupy—whether we believe in the earth-bound sense of reality (where God seems to be absent) or in the spiritual realm, which Christ Jesus referred to as the "…kingdom, not of this world." (See John 18: 16, King James Bible). Jesus preached often of this kingdom as ever-present, and where God is alive and well, caring for all creation. By his healings and deliverances from even the physical death of some, he showed that God's spiritual power could be experienced by all. So, now we can take up the uncovering or re-discovery of the secret place of the Most High: If something is secret, it is usually hidden away or generally unknown to others. Where are secrets hidden? They are hidden in the consciousness of individuals. When we really keep a secret, we hold it in our own thoughts alone, and we don't share it with others, unless we trust them. Those who share a secret, also hide it within thought. A secret hidden within our consciousness is not easily apparent to others; that is, it isn't something that is physically conspicuous, or even seen by our human sense of sight. Rather, secrets hidden in consciousness are unseen because they are mental. So, where is the secret place of the most high that will benefit us considerably to know? It is the knowledge of our spiritual identity, right where a false, material sense of ourselves seem to be. The secret place is our secret identity—the one that is truly the image and likeness of God. It is our spiritual identity, our Christ identity, our Sonship and Daughtership with God, which is still at one with its Source—the divine Intelligence of Spirit, that is God. The universal secret place, (known only to those who already perceive it) is our conscious link to God, which resides within the innate, spiritual consciousness of each and every one of us. That universal, secret place, which is our very link to God, exists right where a physical mind seems to be, but where our greater consciousness, our Christ Consciousness resides instead. Yet, because we believe ourselves to be fleshly, mortal creatures (who also believe ourselves to be separated from Spirit, God) we don't realize that our link to our spiritual Source of all good is still intact. But it is. "For in him we live, and move, and have our being." (Acts 17: 28, King James Bible). We live within the infinite Mind that created us. This Mind never let us go. Thus, God is no farther away than a mental turn within, where we can silently, secretly worship our Creator, and where we can mentally communicate with our loving, Father-Mother whenever and wherever we humanly appear to be. We don't have to communicate with God in an our- mind-to-God's-Mind manner. There is only One Mind in all creation, because the Infinite Intelligence IS the Creator and Its creation. We actually live in the spiritual intelligence of Spirit; thus, there is no separation of God and our true being, or identity. Each of us is really a God-created identity, right where the false, physical sense of our identities appear to be, but are not. Christ Jesus tried to show the world this secret place of our oneness with God; but when divine Spirit did not appear in a physical form, so many refused to open their spiritual eyes and see with their hearts and souls, instead of two balls of matter. The false sense of fleshly, material being and identity blinds us to our true body, soul, and mind—until at some time, and in some Eureka moment, we begin to perceive that this material sense of good and evil, life and death, is a fraudulent perception of our very being. We are not physical beings; we are spiritual beings who believe ourselves to be physical beings. That is the secret that is hidden from the material sense and appearance of things. Material existence is a deceptive state of mind, which does not perceive reality enough to realize how God (through the one, omnipresent Mind that we dwell within and which dwells within us) can deliver us from any and all evil in the human experience. God's link to all establishes God's ultimate power and loving control over all. We are not separated from it…we just think we are. Throughout the Bible, in whatever version one reads, there are personal accounts of individuals that lived with the sense of God's ever-presence with them. These people were often delivered from evil situations again and again. For example, in the book of Genesis, Chapter 39, the story of Joseph, who was sold into slavery by his jealous brothers, repeats, throughout the account of Joseph that God was with him, even when thrown into prison. In verse 21 it is written, "But the LORD was with Joseph and showed him mercy, and He gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison." This shows that God works through the consciousness of whomever he needs to influence, in order to accomplish whatever saving change must occur in the material realm for someone. We are all connected to the God Mind. Recently, my 91 year old mother was in an assisted living facility when it became apparent that she needed more practical physical care, on a daily basis. The larger facilities of our city seemed so impersonal and even frightening to her. I felt myself becoming slightly depressed at the thought that we might not find a place that was right for her, and my husband and I were inadequate to tend to her needs 'round the clock, so to speak. Finally, I turned to the Christ Consciousness within and just asked God what to do. Almost immediately, it came to my thought to visit one more facility; but this one was about twenty miles away, in a small town. So at first, I dismissed the notion. Still, the thought returned to me throughout the day, so I felt that this was a communication from the divine Intelligence within. We visited that facility the next day. It was exactly what she needed. It turned out to be a homey place, with lots of personal attention. (It is rated one of the best in the country, by the way.) People with different kinds of needs are there: some are recouping from auto accidents, some younger individuals are struggling with handicaps, but many residents are older, like my mom. There are lots of daily activities and the local community supports it with entertaining events. Minutes after visiting it, I knew it was her right place. It wasn't an easy task to move her. She wasn't happy to move at first, and it took a few months for her to adjust and feel at home; but two weeks ago her picture was in the local paper, showing her smiling and making butter, of all things. She gets her hair washed and set, by a beautician, once a week. My brother and I spend every Saturday morning with her, and yesterday her dear friend visited her. For 91, the safety and quality of her daily life is good, and she's in no physical pain. Had I not turned within to ask God's direction, I'm not sure I would have even thought of this place. That's what I mean when I often say, "God can see around corners, when we can't." But God's omnipresence isn't all that Spirit provides to us in this human dimension. Whatever changes we need to make in order to find something, or change something, is communicated to us through the Christ Consciousness within us. When turned to, God reaches us, and others, when we need to know and correct things that are not right. But if we don't mentally turn to Emmanuel (God with us) we won't be listening for the quiet thoughts of direction which come forward into our human sense of consciousness. And even if we hear them, we easily dismiss them, because we weren't expecting any thoughts to be from God. By dwelling, daily, in the secret place of the Most High—that is, when keeping our human consciousness alert to God's internal presence and loving power over creation, we are remembering our eternal connection to Spirit's invisible presence. We realize that our deliverance is only a mental turn away from world belief. By remembering to inhabit our place within Spirit's creation, we will experience these angel-thoughts from God coming to deliver us, even before we seek God's protecting care. Then, dwelling in the Kingdom of God's heavenly harmony becomes a habit, and the secret place isn't hidden from us anymore.
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