Supernatural Immunity: Exploring God's Keeping Power from Psalm 91 & More

By Eric Bapetel

Psalm 91 is probably the most popular passage of scripture that relates to protection from the attacks of the enemy. The promise appears to be an absolute get out of jail free card nothing shall by any means harm you, yet many Christians find themselves in varying degrees of dilemmas. This causes them to question Gods protection and His promise of immunity from the influence and devices of the devil.
In Supernatural Immunity, Eric Bapetel delivers an in-depth study of Psalm 91 and other scriptures that deal with Gods promise of protection for His own.
Through the wisdom of God, and with the clarity of a pastor who understands the questions in the hearts of the average Christian, he shares the biblical keys to unlocking this great promise. This book will open your eyes to the principles previously left unnoticed, and will set you on your way to living a life that is fearless and totally free from oppression. In Supernatural Immunity, you will discover:
How to activate Gods protection
The master key to receiving Gods promises persistent asking
Secrets to breaking the power of fear
The Love Key, and how it sets you up for great things
The importance of having a clear conscience
Your knockout blow to the enemy
Conditions for long life

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris UK
• Release date: Oct 23, 2012
• ISBN: 9781456854966

Book preview

Contents

Introduction

Part One

Chapter One The Secret Place Of Safety

Chapter Two Conditions For Supernatural Protection

Chapter Three Types Of Fear

Chapter Four Breaking The Power Of Fear

Chapter Five Supernatural Immunity

Chapter Six The Role Of Angels

Chapter Seven Application Of Revealed Truth Preceeds Protection

Chapter Eight The Need For A Clear Conscience

Part Two

Chapter Nine The Love Key

Chapter Ten Conditions For Long Life

Part Three

Chapter Eleven Stay Within God’s Perfect Will

Chapter Twelve Your Knockout Blow To The Enemy

Prayer of Dedication

Also by Eric Bapetel

Acknowledgements

Books are always written in community. I am indebted to several people whose influence, efforts, devotion and time have made this project a reality: Wendy Williams, Osien Sibanda, Jackson Khosa, Lionel Roode, Nicholas Challis, Chinny Ugoji, Andrew and Lesley Cartwright, my wife Uba and children Rahila, Paul-Daniel and Shammah. Without your support, this undertaking would still be a dream.

I am also thankful to the Every Nation Midrand family for their trust and support, without which I would not have been able to develop this message. You guys are the best. God bless you.

Dedication

To the Holy Spirit, my teacher and closest companion.

To my mentors Abraham Sam & Grace Aiyedogbon; thank you for demonstrating a sterling commitment to pursue and stand for truth, even to the peril of your life.

Introduction

As we begin our journey through this familiar chapter, we need to clarify certain points. Firstly, the writer of Psalm 91 was speaking of a physical experience. That is, physical protection and well-being. In the Old Testament, most writers did not just spiritualise things, but applied their spiritual experiences to their immediate day-to-day living. Spiritual application of this passage has its place; however, our purpose in this book is to establish God’s desire to be involved in our physical well-being. It will do us good to apply the word of God to every sphere of our existence.

Secondly, although written thousands of years ago, there is a contemporary application. We can apply it to our present day life. We can trust God for the truth therein to be relevant to us today. If we take it as God speaking to us today and act appropriately, we can enjoy every benefit promised.

Thirdly, the fact that God promised to protect and keep His people does not mean that it will happen automatically. A careful look at the scriptures shows that there are always conditions that go with every scriptural promise. So it is good practice for the child of God not only to locate promises, but also to take time to identify the conditions that accompany them.

Fourthly, human experience is far below the standard of the word of God. As such, we must not even attempt to use our experiences to validate the word of God. An attempt to look at the word of God through our experiences is not only ridiculous, but it is insulting to God. Instead, we are to look at our experiences through the word of God. In other words, we interpret our experiences through the word of God and not the other way around; many have interpreted the bible through their experiences. This has led to many errors. As simple as these truths may sound, it is amazing how many people continue to stumble over them.

Fifthly, this is not a scholarly or a theological exegesis of Psalm 91, but a simple study of the chapter presented in a manner that all who read with an open mind can benefit from. My prayer is that this publication will provoke God’s people into further study.

Part One

Image557.JPGImage566.JPG

Chapter One

THE SECRET PLACE OF SAFETY

He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty . —Psalm 91:1

In his book, *The Secret Place, WF Kumuyi shares a true story which is a testimony of the keeping power of God. The story goes thus: "There was a magazine published in the 1940s that reported the incidence of a Christian soldier and the mystery of Psalm 91. During the Second World War, the Christian soldier was at the battlefront at a time when the fighting was fierce. He had a small complete bible in his pocket. He was shot and the bullet struck him at the point where the bible was. The impact of the blow was such that he fell over. People thought he had died. The soldiers around him examined him and found that the bullet had gone through his pocket near his chest. It pierced through Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. It went through the other books till it got to Psalm 91:7-8 which says, A thousand shall fall at thy side and ten thousand thy right; but it shall not come nigh thee. Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked. And there it stopped!

When this magazine carried the news, a magazine that was read worldwide, the story perplexed people. They confessed that it was spectacular and that they had not seen or heard anything like it before.

The power of God is real and it can be made real in your life if you dare to believe Him.

Let us examine the words Dwell, Secret Place and Abide. The words dwell and abide can be used interchangeably a lot of times because they are synonyms. Webster’s Dictionary defines dwell as: to remain for a time, to live as a resident, to keep the attention directed. So to dwell in the secret place of the Most High has to do with remaining there for a time rather than hastily going in and out; it also has a sense of permanence. To abide means to remain stable or stable in a state. It also means to continue in a place. Dwell implies a residence of some continuance. We never say, he dwelt in a place for a day or a night. Dwell may signify a residence for life or for a much shorter period, but not for a day. In scripture, it denotes a residence of seven days during the feast of tabernacles. Ye shall dwell in booths seven days. The Lord required them to remain in His presence during the feast for seven days in booths to remind them of the time of their sojourn in the wilderness for forty years. During their journey from Egypt to Canaan, they dwelt in booths and tents.

As a Branch can’t bear fruit of itself without being vitally united to the vine, so we can’t bear fruit unless we abide in Christ.

I would like us to look at some scriptures for an understanding of how to not only enter this secret place, but how to remain there. Let us start by looking at how God practised what it means to dwell before we see how it applies to us in practical terms today. Speaking of Jesus, the bible says in John 1:14, The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth (NIV). We can see from the example of Jesus that to dwell has to do with remaining at a place for a protracted period of time. Jesus was on earth for thirty-three-and-a-half years. Through Jesus, God dwelt within the human race. It was not just a momentary experience, both to Jesus and the disciples who spent time with Him. Through His example, we can also learn what it means to dwell.

I like what He said in John 15:4: Dwell in Me, and I will dwell in you. [Live in Me, and I will live in you.] Just as no branch can bear fruit of itself without abiding in (being vitally united to) the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless you abide in Me. Momentary spells of seeking God will not produce the kind of blessing and protection that God has promised us. Abiding in Him requires consistence on our part. God has already taken the first step by initiating a relationship with the human race. He took time to spend years with us and went as far as laying down His life for us to show us how much He loves and cares for us. The least we can do is to make a move towards cultivating a continuous relationship with Him - that is the key to experiencing all the benefits of what Jesus paid for. It is the key to us enjoying the kind of protection that the scriptures promise us.

As disciples, when we abide in Him, our desires get affected by reason of our interaction with Him and whatever we ask will be given to us. John 15:7 says, If you live in Me [abide vitally united to Me] and My words remain in you and continue to live in your hearts, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you. When you allow the word of God to remain in you, and you stay vitally connected to Him in fellowship, your life will begin to conform to His will and purpose. His word will guide your prayer life and you will see more results in your prayers. Some people think that the above scripture is a licence to any kind of prayers. You cannot pray carnal prayers like God kill all my enemies if you are really abiding in His word. That is not the kind of heart that Jesus had. People who pray such prayers are just revealing who they fellowship with; they are not true disciples of Christ.

Dwell also means to keep attention on something for a while. God expects us to set our minds on Him continually. Isaiah 26:3 tells us the benefit of our minds dwelling on the Lord. It reads, You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You. When you dwell in the Lord, your mind will be fixed on Him and His word continually. The result will be perfect peace. Peace here is Shalom in the Hebrew. It speaks of safety and well-being. James Strong renders it as: To make amends, to make good, to be (or to make) peace, to restore, peace, prosperity, wellness, wholeness.

That is what we miss when we fill our minds with all sorts of garbage rather than the word of God. It is not possible for you to dwell in Him and allow your heart to be filled with thoughts of murder, covetousness, jealousy, malice, envy and so on.

Firstly, we need to establish that the secret place is not a physical hiding place. It is spiritual rather than physical. Although we live in a physical world, life is governed from the spiritual world. Everything we see in the natural was orchestrated from the realm of the spirit. I like to say that the physical realm is mothered by the spiritual. This physical world that we see was born by the spirit world, which is controlled by God Himself. The best way to make the most of life here on earth is to connect with the God of heaven, the Creator Himself. For instance, before most accidents occur in the physical, they have already been planned and executed in the realm of the spirit. Many of God’s children do not take their walk with God seriously, because they do not understand how it impacts their entire lives. Christianity is not just a Sunday to Sunday matter. It is a walk with God on a daily basis. Witch doctors do not need to go and kill people physically. They can do it from their shrines. They do it spiritually and the demons that work with them arrange the physical fulfilment through yielded human vessels.

As a Pastor, there have been times when the Lord revealed to me by the Holy Spirit what Satan was planning against some of our members. We pray and cancel it. After some time, certain events in the physical might occur which are close to what Satan had planned as revealed by the Spirit. But the outcome will not be as intended by the enemy. I remember a time when in a night vision I saw a lady in our church dead in a coffin. I immediately called on the church to pray and cancel the plan of the enemy without revealing the identity of the lady to the church so as not to instil fear in the people. After some weeks, the lady mysteriously became ill. The doctors could not identify what was wrong with her. They actually said that, medically speaking, everything was fine with her. Yet she deteriorated rapidly. But I believed that we had already gotten victory in the spiritual realm concerning it. We continued to pray and ask God’s promises to be fulfilled on her behalf. The illness left just as it came…mysteriously! There have also been cases when the Lord revealed to us that the enemy was planning to take life prematurely. After intensive and insistent prayer, we have seen our people narrowly escape serious accidents. Sometimes there were no evidences after prayer that the enemy actually intended such a thing.

However, we do not need narrow escape experiences to believe God’s work in our lives. The just shall live by faith, not by experience. That faith makes us trust and believe that He will fulfil what He promised if we abide in Him. So if God prompts you to pray for someone whom the devil has designed a disaster against, you do not necessarily need to expect a narrow escape experience for that person before you believe that what God told you was true. The realm of the spirit is very real, and its influence on the physical world should never be underestimated. Although God and Satan are spirits, their control on the affairs of yielded human lives is more than many have. God is greater than Satan in every way - that is why we do not need to fear the enemy’s plans. Some people panic when God reveals to them what