As Divine Protector, God can take any form and shape to help us win our battles. In today’s episode, Dr. Siohvaughn Funches teaches us how God can protect us in any way possible. She shows us how truly perfect His will is to provide us with his blanket of protection and He works inside out. God wants to be, desires to be, and longs to be both our shelter and our shield. Listen further as Dr. Funches shares some scriptures about God’s divine protection.
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41: God Is Our Divine Protector (Part 1)
In this episode, we’re going to be talking about, which is most appropriate every day but especially during this time, how God is our Divine Protector. We’re going to look at how it’s absolutely the perfect will of God to provide divine protection for us. God wants, desires, and longs to be both our shelter and our shield, a very present help in time of trouble. We’re also going to take some time to pray for our nation, for the body of Christ to be covered. Not just for us to be protected physically from the outbreak that took place with the virus but also to be protected in our mind, will, and emotions during this time.
We know, as born again believers, the battle is in the mind. That’s where the enemy launches attacks against us. A lot of times, the physical attacks that he launches against us are, as important as it is for him, it’s nothing more than collateral damage. What he’s after is getting a stronghold and foothold in our mind. Once you can control the thoughts, you can control the emotions, actions, and life. You’re controlling even the words of a person. We’re going to pray against and talk about that. We’re going to get at the feet of Jesus and hear His word because He said that that’s the one thing that’s needful. He didn’t say that it depends on what’s happening around you. Storms do come around us but we don’t want it in us. We’re going to look at some scriptures and get built up in faith in that specific regard.
First of all, we’re going to take a moment to pray that God will not only be with us during this time as we overcome this challenge of this virus but during this episode. Let’s not take for granted that He’s given us a Holy Spirit to enlighten us and give us a revelation of who He is. Thank you, Heavenly Father, for the opportunity again to get at the feet of Jesus and hear His word. I pray, Daddy, that you would give to each and every one of us Your spirit of wisdom and revelation and the knowledge of Jesus.
Let the eyes of our understanding be enlightened that we may know what the whole book is calling, the riches of the glory of His inheritance and the saints, and the exceeding greatness of His power and divine protection towards us who believe according to the working of his mighty power. We ask you, Lord, to expound on the scriptures to us about the things concerning Yourself. Open up our understanding that we might comprehend the scriptures more and let every blessing, every benefit, all the divine protection, all the promises of God, the Christ in You. Yes and amen, be our portion as we get at your feet Jesus, do the one thing that you say that’s needful.
I thank You that faith to believe comes by hearing and hearing the word of Christ. As we do that, I thank You that You are building up our most holy faith. God, we are receiving effortlessly from You. I thank You, Lord, for fasting. I thank You for Your divine purpose in it. Thank you, God, that You’re building our faith up to a point that we can even think a thing. Before we open our mouth to speak and before we even pray, the answer is yes. The promise is coming to pass and the miracle is manifesting. The desires of our hearts are being granted. I thank You for giving each and every one of us the ability to focus. You say that you will keep in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you. I thank You, God, that the body of Christ’s mind has stayed on you. I thank You that Your word declares that the same mind that is in Christ Jesus is also in us. I simply say, Daddy, be it unto us according to Your word.
[bctt tweet=”God doesn’t promise that nothing bad will happen or that the enemy won’t launch an attack against you.” via=”no”]
I thank You that Your word declares that as Jesus is, so are we in this world. I thank You, God, that Jesus is not infected by any virus. I thank You, God, that His emotions, mind, and will is not affected by any virus. I believe, declare, and decree in Jesus’ name that the body of Christ is like the head of the church of Jesus. God, we’re not infected and we’re not affected by the virus and those perilous pestilences that the enemy has set out. We pray for the hearts, Daddy, the mind of every family member who’s lost a loved one. We pray for Your divine healing. We pray and thank you, Daddy, that even for those who are not born again, You’re still a comfort. You rain on the just as well as the unjust. I thank You, God, that You are a lover and You desire and choose not to lose one. We pray that as this works together for their good, it will do so in a way that they will come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Those who are heading in the wrong direction will turn around and be saved, them and their whole household. In Jesus’ name.
We pray, Heavenly Father, for first responders. We pray for leaders, Heavenly Father, those in our government. Those in the government and leadership positions in other nations and those who are leading in the body of Christ. We pray, Heavenly Father, not only that Your kingdom come and Your will be done but for Your divine wisdom and discernment. I pray, God, that You will bless them by leading, guiding, and causing them to follow You. Thank You for giving them Your core and blessing them to be at the right place at the right time, in Jesus name. We plead Your blood, Jesus, over the entire body of Christ and our whole household. We thank You for Your word, God. It’s your will. I thank You for Your divine protection in our life. It is Your perfect will to divinely protect us.
As for every born again believer, especially those that are with me on this journey and their families, we believe and declare Psalm 91 over our life. This is Your promise, God. This is Your word. Your word doesn’t come back void and empty but it must accomplish what You sent it to do. It must prosper in the thing for which You’ve sent it. I thank You, God, that as You cover us with the blood of your Son, Jesus, You’re not only doing that but you’re dressing us in Your entire armor. We put on the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness, and the belt of truth. We shroud our feet with the readiness of the gospel of peace. We take up the sword of Your Spirit, which is Your word. Above all else, the shield of faith. We quench every firing dart and flaming arrow of the enemy, in Jesus’ mighty name. We prophesy, decree, and declare not by our mind or power but by Your Holy Spirit.
I thank You that You promise whatsoever we decree, it is established. We decree, in the name of Jesus, Your word over our life. In Psalm 91, 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 the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor the destruction that lays waste at noonday. A thousand may fall at your side and a myriad 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 play 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 the 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. In Jesus’ name, we decree it. We praise You for Your Word and we say be it unto us according to your word. We thank You that your word is Your will. I thank You, God, that Your kingdom has come and Your perfect will is being done in our life.
Divinely Protected
Psalm 91 is more than enough spiritual proof that God wants His people divinely protected. It’s the perfect will of God. You see God, from the beginning of your Bible until its conclusion, divinely protecting his people, taking what was meant for harm and turning it for good. In fact, the promise of God for our life in Romans 8:28 is that God works all things together for the good of those who love the Lord and those who are called according to His purpose. That is certainly us.
To his thoughts, we will know God doesn’t promise that nothing bad will happen or that the enemy won’t launch an attack against you. In fact, Jesus said, “In the world, you’ll have trouble. Be of good cheer. I have overcome the world.” There’s no successful way to defeat the believer. God says it also in His Word if you look over at Psalm 46. I’m doing like I usually do. I’m reading from the New King James Version. It says, “God is our refuge and strength, our very present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear.” This is huge.
If you didn’t think Psalm 91 was enough to know, God wants you divinely protected from the enemy and from people who mean you harm. God is the God. Jesus is such a savior. He saves us from ourselves. The devil didn’t give us all these ideas. I’m talking about the things we’ve done wrong. Not for condemnation, just to reflect on the goodness of God. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Jesus is our Savior, not only because He saved us from the enemy and the snares and traps that mankind has set against us, but He even saves us from ourselves. He does that. He is a wonderful Savior.
It reminds me of Max Lucado. It’s no wonder why they call Him a wonderful savior. When we’re talking about divine protection, we can go from the beginning of the Bible to the end. There’s pretty much no book we can get into that doesn’t illustrate and demonstrate very clearly the divine protection of God proving that it is God’s will for you to be divinely protected. God announces himself as your shield, refuge, fortress, and present help in trouble. Jesus said, “In the world, you’ll have trouble. God is telling us that we’re in a fallen world. There’s a devil on the loose but we can bind him. We bind Satan in Jesus’ name.
God said, “No weapon formed against you shall prosper.” This virus has formed. That’s just another weapon. Satan is still a defeated foe. He was before he launched that attack, he is during the attack, and he will be after the attack. His public defeat right is laid out in front of the entire world to see. We must remember that the weapons do form but God promises for the believer that it will not prosper. I wanted to take the time I felt from God to explain to you because I had a question some time ago with God. I questioned that word. I questioned God, not in a disrespectful way but in a way where I needed to know.
[bctt tweet=”You can’t get in the water without getting wet.” via=”no”]
When the angel Gabriel came and announced to Mary she would be pregnant with a son of God and she was engaged to be married. The Bible says she was betrothed to Joseph but she wasn’t with him. The will of God is that we wait for ourselves to be married before we become one with each other because God calls having sex becoming one. It’s his will that we do that in the God-ordained union of marriage that He instituted for man and woman. She wasn’t with Joseph. She hadn’t slept with Joseph. She was betrothed, not married yet, and she wasn’t going to sleep with Joseph. Mary was someone who believed in God and followed God. At that time, she was under the law. She was definitely not wanting to commit any fornication. She asked the angel, “How can it be that I have a child and I don’t even know a man? I’m not married yet. You’re an angel come forth from God, you’re not telling me to shack up with Joseph.”
Working On The Inside Out
No condemnation. If that’s what someone is doing, may God just bring His divine and perfect will to your life and show you what a blessing that He is. How much more divinely protected you are to be in the center of this perfect will. I understand that sometimes that doesn’t happen overnight. For my own life, it’s been a process and it’s still happening. God works on a few things. Next thing you know, you’re on the Potter’s wheel. He’s molding, shaping, and blessing you to be better inside and out. When you’re blessed on the inside, it definitely pours over into your outside life.
People who are praying for outer things in their life to be blessed and fixed, that’s great because that’s also the perfect will of God. Don’t feel discouraged if you feel like God is more seemingly interested and taking the time or you’re able to discern and see that He’s working on you inside. God always works on the inside out. That’s not picking on you. That’s God’s divine order and He does it for a reason because what’s on the inside affects the outside. Like Jesus said, “Guard your heart for out of it flows the issues of life.” Whatever is in your heart, it will flow out into your life. You may feel like asking God to help these outer things in your life, whether it’s your marriage, a wayward child, finances, emotions at work, or an idea that you didn’t believe is a God idea and you’re trying to get it off the ground.
If you notice that God is working on you inwardly, like your emotions. God is maybe dealing with a temper issue or something like that. Maybe God is dealing with the fact that someone feels lonely even when they are not alone because God is with them all the time. Maybe in a way that’s not pleasing to God, they’re depending on people more. They’re leaning on people too hard and God wants them to take that trust out of different people and put it where it rightfully belongs. That’s in Him. Give the right amount of trust and lean on people that they’re supposed to have. Once he does that, it automatically affects and blesses your outer life.
This is an example. You may be saying, “God, I need you to open the door.” You feel like, “God is not hearing me. He’s not listening to me. He’s over there on that little machine creating some little metal piece. I don’t know what that is.” What God is actually doing is creating the key. Keys have to be done just right. Have you ever been to one of these key making places? You drive there and you get that key made. It could be a smidgen off. You go all the way home and you can’t unlock your own door. You look like you’re breaking and entering because you’ve been standing at that thing for ten minutes and saying, “I know this has to work.” What you’re thinking is, “I know I didn’t drive all this way and pay that money to come here.” You watch them when you go back and they fix it. It’s a smidgen off. It’s barely anything, almost like if you had to blow on the key and remove a couple of metal dust pieces. Now, it’s a perfect fit. It has to be precise and exact.
If you’re someone wanting the door open, that represents your outer life being fixed. You feel like God is over there, working on that key. Designing, cutting, and shaping that key. That’s your inner self. The truth is, in order to open the door, you need the key to the door. He is actually working on the door being open. You guys have the same vision. He heard you. He understands you. He is not only the God of all wisdom. The Bible says Christ is first of all wisdom. He is wisdom. Certainly, if you are wisdom, you can do things like understanding what it is that someone is asking you even better than they understand what they need or desire. God has got you.
I don’t know why but the Holy Spirit is so beautiful and wonderful. That even ministered to me and I felt to release it. When I try to go on, I felt God said, “No,” and brought me back to releasing that word to you. I know for sure that it was on time for me. It’s not only on time, but it’s also timeless because God is transforming us into the image of Christ throughout our lives. There’s no such thing as arriving, not on this side of heaven. You work on something and just when you think, “I spent the last seven seasons on the pottery wheel. I have to have been there by now and done that,” God is working on something else. He’s improving you and making you better. We do that with things that don’t matter at all as much as we matter to God.
If you’re a homeowner or you’re somebody who has a condo or you’ve got your own apartment, you love this place. Even you like your car. Ladies, our hair. We’re constantly improving that thing. Also, our bodies. These are things that are here and it will be eventually gone one of these days. God loves us. Our soul and our spirit is going to live on forever. God is taking the time to continuously improve, upgrade, shape, mold, and make better us because he knows that that part of us is going to be in it for the long haul. We have eternal life and it’s going to live on forever. If you’re in a home and you don’t plan on moving, you make improvements confidently because you don’t plan on moving out. You don’t plan on leaving your house anytime soon. It’s good for you to pull up that carpet and put down that hardwood floor. You feel good about that improvement. You feel like that’s well-invested money, time, and sweat, for those doing it yourself. You know that it’s worth it. God loves us as much. We go, “Thank God for this house. It is a blessing.”
Getting Deeper And Better
As much as we feel that way, God feels like billions of times more about us to the point that He died for us. He sent His Son to lay down His life in our guilty place. We have a relationship and a covenant with God. His heart is happy. I’m sure He desires even more intimacy with us and for our relationship to get deeper and better. Obviously, for those who are married, they can understand that. There’s probably no marriage, no matter how good it is that wouldn’t say, “God, thank you. Yes and Amen.” God wants the relationship to keep getting better and better and that’s good. That’s love. We should want the same thing. He’s into improving us. When He does it on the inside, it’s not a waste of time. It’s not an unanswered prayer. It’s not God stalling or delaying. It is the way to get the outside blessed. He’s simply doing it the way that a wise God does it. That’s in divine order and in a way that lasts.
I’ll use money as an example. If you give someone money, but they don’t have the wisdom or this inner work done, which is the wisdom to be a good steward over the money. You can give them a ton of it. It’s only for a ton of it to be wasted and lost because they don’t have that inner wisdom, knowledge, discipline and habits. Those are things formed on the inside and then they come about on the outside. God not only wants to bless your life but how many people have actually prayed that the blessing God lasts and keeps it. You pray that God will give it and pray that He keeps it. It’s going to take both. No one wants to get something just to lose it. God wants to not only bless your outer life but those things like a home or a marriage.
[bctt tweet=”Wear your mask and clean your hands, but guard your mind and your heart above all else; keep that panic and that fear out.” via=”no”]
People are not given away a marriage in heaven. All of those things will be passing away, but your spirit, your soul will live on forever. God is investing in that. That tells you how wise He is. What God is investing in is like a homeowner who owns their house and has a mortgage. They plan on passing it down. They already have it in their will or estate plan trust to pass it on to their children, for example. Some of the outward things that we want are like an apartment with a six-month lease. Maybe even a one year lease. You’re blessed with a long life. The point is that you’re not going to be there forever in that place. You’re just renting that. We’re not going to be here on this side of heaven and earth forever. We’re going to be in heaven, thankfully. We’re going to be there forever. God is the one who’s investing and laying the hardwood floors in the house that you own outright.
It’s good to clean your apartment, take care of it, and put these beautiful decorations on the wall. Those are things that are temporal and eventually, you’d be moving out. I love the fact that while God is interested in that, He’s even more interested in this home in this long-term, eternal part of us. He’s investing all the more in that. Every time He does that, every time He makes a deposit, blesses, corrects, and teaches there, that part that God lives in us. Every time he does that, it automatically is blessing our outer life. You can’t get in the water without getting wet. You can’t have God do good work in your heart, mind, emotions, will, habits, thinking, spirit and your soul without automatically blessing your outer life. Your relationship with God, relationship with mankind, money, favor with mankind, and favor with God, all of that is His doing. That’s why God was saying that the one thing that’s needful is getting at the feet of Jesus and hearing His words. When you do that, it opens up the door for every other blessing. It positions you to receive it. That’s all that’s left to do because Christ has done everything for us.
That’s why I love that I can be free to let these things out no matter what plan we have. We tell God, “Help us to get this together. What do You want me to speak about? What do You want me to say to your people? What do You want to say to me?” You still leave room for the Holy Spirit to do this. The Bible says that those who are sons and daughters of God are led by the Spirit of God. They’re not necessarily led by their notes, agenda, or what was on their to-do list even when the to-do list is given by God. God says, “I need to say this to them.” You know how God is. I believe He blessed and ministered to us all, even if it’s just the one. That’s who He is. Jesus is saying, “I left the 99 to go and get the one lost sheep.” If there was just one who’s reading that needs it, that’s how important you are to God. I think there has to be more than one because it ministered to me, even. That’s how He is and so we thank Him for that.
When it comes to divine protection, we can be all over this Bible because that’s who God is. God reveals Himself as a divine protector, demonstrating and proving that it’s His perfect wheel to protect His people. He doesn’t plague. The one place I felt from God for us to go deeper into in the next episodes was in Exodus. We’re going to be specifically looking at Moses and the children of Israel and how the enemy used Pharaoh to plague them. God plagued the enemy back. Pharaoh is representing Satan himself. He represented evil and darkness that can be done against mankind. We see how God, even though the weapon formed, ultimately did not let him succeed and prosper against His people. God heard the cry of His people and delivered them. That was under the old covenant. How much greater will God do now that we’re under the new covenant? I believe God got out what he wanted and gave us what it is that we needed. We’re going to pick up and continue with that.
Before we end, I want to pray again and ask and thank You, Daddy, first of all for feeding us. Thank You for every word You spoke to us. I thank You for the work You’ve done in us. I thank You for the manifested blessing that’s taking place in the outer parts of our life. If it concerns us, it concerns You inside and out. You are equally concerned. If it matters to us, it definitely matters to You. I love the way You love us. I praise You for the way You love us. I praise You for how good and wonderful You are. I thank You for covering us with the blood of Your son, Jesus. Not only protecting us from that virus, but I pray, God, for your divine protection over our minds. I pray that we will fix our minds on Jesus. You said that a mind that is fixed on Jesus stays in perfect peace.
There are a couple of places in the scriptures where you’ve shown a lack of peace leading to outer turmoil in someone’s life, like the lady with the issue of blood. I want to pray, God, that Your peace that surpasses all understanding will guard our hearts and minds. We will know that no matter what strain or no matter what the news said, You are the same. Your word has not changed. The enemy has formed a new weapon. It has a different name but he’s still the same old devil. He’s still a liar and a trier, that hasn’t changed. Whether they’re calling it a Coronavirus, Y2K, a deficit in the government and their budget, no matter what the enemy titles, it is foolishness. Thank you, God, that You remain the same and what You’ve done in us is the same. You call us victorious. You say we’re seated in heavenly places with Christ Jesus, far above principalities and powers, far above the rulers of this world, and far above the Coronavirus.
We just believe and declare that as for us in our house, we will serve the Lord and we will do so and dwell in divine safety. Where there’s darkness, God, we have divine light. Christ is the light in us, for us, and around us. He is our covering. He is our ark, like the ark for Noah and his family. He is our shelter, shield, and refuge. We acknowledge Him. We thank You for Him and we thank You that you have put us in Christ. I know that the enemy launches the Coronavirus against Jesus. There will be no penetration there. There will be no getting by and getting away with that. He’s going to pay for that, but it’s also not going to prosper and succeed in that. I thank You that we are in Christ, God. All the blessings that that means, God, be it unto us even before we have the full understanding or if we ever understand You. Be it unto us according to Your word. You put us in Christ and Your word declares what You do cannot be undone.
Guarding Our Hearts And Minds
I want to encourage you all on what God told me about the disease. Coronavirus is a disease. Where there’s dis-ease, there’s an opportunity for disease and sickness to come in. I know people are putting masks on their faces and gloves on their hands. They’re continuously washing and sanitizing them. I’m telling you amen to that great idea. That’s wisdom. You also must, equally critical, probably more critical, guard your hearts and minds. Jesus was saying, “Guard your heart above all else.” That word, even though He spoke it then, is the same truth and instruction now. That’s the part of guarding our heart, mind, and emotions from the panic and the fear that the enemy has tried to release through this virus.
The real weapon, perhaps, is not the Coronavirus. Perhaps the real assignment or goal of the enemy is to invoke fear. When that’s done, you don’t need a Coronavirus. He knows for sure that that thing was dismantled before it came about. Maybe what he wants to do is do something more permanent like getting somebody’s mind and emotions in an array. They’re making permanent decisions based out of fear, like selling this and spending money they can’t get back unnecessarily. Maybe that’s the real assignment and reason behind the virus.
We want to walk in wisdom and discernment and ask God to also use us as vessels to pray through and declare. You’re not begging God for anything. It’s God’s perfect will that we be protected. God says that whenever you pray His perfect will, he hears you and you know you have what you’re asking for. Beloved, pray boldly. Come to the throne of God. He’s your Daddy and he’s the most powerful being in all of existence. He’s for you and on your side. You’ll be fine. It’s God’s will that we pray and decree. We’re kings and queens. That’s what kings and queens do. They rule and issue decrees. It’s not good enough to be titled a ruler. A ruler must rule. That’s our part of ruling.
Don’t forget how wonderful of a weapon worship is and what it does for our minds. Guard your heart and your mind above all else. Wear your mask, clean your hands. Keep that panic and fear out. Ask God for wisdom when you should watch the news or what you should be listening to. If something is not sitting right and you feel it invoking fears, shut it off. Keep on hearing the word of Christ. Beloved, you are blessed and divinely favored. I love you. I’ll talk to you soon.
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