Peggy Joyce Ruth has seen amazing miracles happen through determined confession of the 91st Psalm. She calls it, ‘God’s Covenant of Protection.’ Here is the story of how she came to this understanding and some examples of its power.
Peggy Joyce, a pastor’s wife, is a warm and optimistic person with excellent health, but she was not always so happy. When she was a young woman of twenty-two, Peggy Joyce developed a severe emotional illness. For eight long years, she experienced deep depression and paralyzing fear. Her doctor prescribed several months of electric shock treatments and she expected to spend the rest of her life on medication in order to control her symptoms.
Peggy said, “Thirty-five years ago I was in a desperate condition. Fearfulness had created so much torment that many nights I could not even sleep. I worried constantly that something would happen to my husband, that a tornado might hit our house, or that a member of my family might be taken in a car wreck or a dread disease. If it was bad, I was afraid of it. Fear controlled my life, and there seemed to be no way out of the suffering it caused me. Even though I had undergone medical treatment, still I suffered.
“It reached a peak when a friend developed leukemia. I felt sad for him, but I was also scared that it could happen to me or to one of my family. So fearful that I felt physically ill, I went into my room to lie down on my bed. While I lay there trembling, trying to pull myself together, I asked God, ‘Is there any way to be protected from all this danger, or do we just have to take what comes?’ Although my heart posed this question, I didn’t actually expect an answer. I was so emotionally exhausted, that I fell asleep and then I had a dream.
A PROPHETIC DREAM CHANGES PEGGY’S LIFE
“In my dream, I was standing alone in a huge open field. I again asked God, ‘Is there any way to be protected from the evil coming on this earth, or do we just have to take what comes?’ After a few moments, I heard a powerful, authoritative voice say,
‘In your day of trouble call on Me, and I will answer.’
“In my dream, I felt so excited that I started leaping for joy. The next thing I knew, many, many other people had appeared and they were all celebrating and laughing and rejoicing with me over this answer to the question that I had asked.
“The voice in the dream had said, ‘In your day of trouble call on Me and I will answer.’ I had felt so overjoyed by those words that long after I awoke, I continued to ponder what all it meant. The next day I happened to overhear someone mention the 91st Psalm. I felt compelled to look it up. My heart leaped when I read the same words that I had heard in my dream. There it was, in verse 15, ‘In your day of trouble call on Me, and I will answer.’ I knew in my heart that my dream had been sent by God and that the 91st Psalm was exactly the answer for which I had been looking.”
“IT SEEMS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE!”
Peggy Joyce spent the next six months intensively studying the 91st Psalm. “I researched every word and found that this psalm makes astonishing promises. It offers a covenant of protection from every kind of harm that can befall a person – sickness, accidents, war, natural disasters – there is nothing that is not covered. If I could believe the words of the Psalm, there was nothing on earth that could harm my family or me.
“It seemed almost too good to be true. My rational mind rejected it. I thought, ‘This was written more than 2600 years ago. It does not apply to me. I can’t believe this.’ However, something inside kept telling me that this was the answer. Then, one day God led me to the scripture in Romans 3:3-4 that says, ‘If some do not believe, will their unbelief nullify the faithfulness of God? May it never be! Rather, let God be found true, though every man be found a liar’ That settled it. Either the word of God was trustworthy or it was not, I had to choose. I chose to believe it, but it was a belief I had to work for. It did not come easily.
“The Bible is full of supernatural happenings. Almost everything about our faith touches on the supernatural, and I began to realize that God operates through the supernatural and the miraculous. So I said to myself, ‘I do believe this; I choose to believe this.’ Then I started talking about it with my friends and family members. The more I talked about it, the more I understood and believed it. It is true that faith comes by hearing, even if you are hearing your own voice speak God’s Word.
As I told others about it, I found many who began to put it into practice in their lives. One of these was my brother, Dr. James Crow, who later relied on the 91st Psalm to save his daughter’s life.”
JULIE CROW – HEALED OF BRAIN DAMAGE
“One morning, my brother’s eleven-year-old daughter, Julie, was thrown from a horse. As she fell, the horse kicked her in the back of the head, cracking her skull like an eggshell. It was bad. They sent her immediately from our local hospital to a larger hospital, and when we got there the swelling of her face was so severe that we could not even recognize her. All of her vital signs had stopped, and the doctors could not revive her at first. They told us that her injuries were so serious that she might die at any minute, and that she could not possibly live through the night.
“My brother put his full trust in the 91st Psalm. He told the doctors, ‘I will not accept your prognosis. We have a covenant of protection with God. I believe God will heal her.’ I think the medical staff thought we were religious nuts. However, as a family we were all in agreement, praying the 91st Psalm for Julie, and miraculously, her vital signs came back, but she was still unconscious.
“Her doctor did not seem impressed. He said, ‘Even if she does live through the night, she will be brain damaged and suffer severe hearing and sight loss due to the location of the injuries.’ He tried to present the facts to us and explained that her optic nerve had been damaged, that the bones in her ears were shattered, and that her brain had severe trauma. It was true that she had been injured beyond recognition.
“However, my brother knew the 91st Psalm, and he refused to let go of his covenant of protection. We all kept confessing that psalm over Julie, and repeatedly told the medical staff, ‘We have a covenant, and she will be OK.’ To make a long story short, nine days later she walked out of that hospital with no hearing loss, no loss of eyesight and no brain damage—totally healed.
Throughout her recovery, nurses and doctors kept coming to her room saying, ‘Here is the miracle girl.’ I know my niece would not be normal today, and probably not alive, if my brother had not stood firm on his covenant with God. Today she is a dental assistant for one of the leading dentists in San Antonio, Texas.”
UNDERSTANDING THE 91ST PSALM
“There are promises of protection all through the Bible, but the 91st Psalm is unique in that it is the only place where all of the protection promises are gathered together in one place, creating a covenant or a contract for divine protection. God revealed it to me because I asked Him to show me how to be safe in this world. I believe that He gave me this answer because I needed to tell others how to be protected from all the things coming on the earth.”
Peggy Joyce explains the covenant nature of this psalm: “As we read the first two verses, we see verbs that refer to things that we must do. We must dwell in the secret place of God, that place of confidence and restful trust. In addition, we must continually say of the Lord, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress—My God in whom I will trust.’ We must do these things to have all the covenant protections.”
Psalm 91
1 He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.2 I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.3 Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.4 He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.5 Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day;6 Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.7 A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.8 Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.9 ¶Because thou hast made the LORD, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation;10 There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.11 For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.12 They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.13 Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.14 Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name.15 He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him.16 With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation.
“We are told in Psalm 91:4 that we may seek refuge under His (God’s) Wings. The Lord gave me a very vivid picture of what it means to seek refuge under His Wings.
We live in the country and one spring our old mother hen hatched a brood of baby chicks. One afternoon when the little chicks were scattered all over the yard, I suddenly saw the shadow of a hawk overhead. Then I noticed something very unique that taught me a lesson I will never forget. That mother hen did not run to those little chicks and jump on top of them to try to cover them with her wings.
“Instead, she squatted down, spread out her wings, and began to cluck. And those little chicks, from every direction, came running to her to get under those outstretched wings. Then she pulled her wings down tight, tucking every little chick safely under her. To get to those babies, the hawk would have to go through the mother.”
“In the same way it is under His wings that we may seek refuge—but we have to run to Him. He does not run here and there, trying to cover us. He has made protection available. And when we run to Him in faith, the enemy will have to go through God to get to us. It is important to understand this.”
“In the next verses, God lists all the things from which we are protected, and we can easily see that all of the evils of humankind fall into one of these four categories: The terror by night (verse five) covers all the evils that come through another person, such as robbery, murder, or rape. The arrows refer to the spiritual warfare and the wounds sent by the enemy to pull us down. Pestilence covers all the epidemics and deadly diseases. Then the fourth category, called destruction, covers all natural disasters such as tornadoes, floods, hurricanes and other things that man has no control over.”
“I have been teaching classes on this psalm for years, and I have seen many miracles and dramatic healings and deliverances from people who have learned to believe and confess their covenant rights. If you put your trust in God’s promises, He will keep you safe.”
A MOTHER SAVES THE LIFE OF HER CHILD
Peggy Joyce has taught many about our covenant of protection. One young mother was particularly glad she had learned it. “Her four-year-old son, Skylar Chasteen, went over the side of a cliff after his bicycle got out of control. When his mother found him he was tangled in the wheel of the bicycle and lying on his stomach with his chin turned around over his shoulder. The situation was so urgent, that they could not wait for the ambulance, so the mother and her sister drove him to the nearest hospital. As they drove, they prayed aloud the promises of Psalm 91.
“The local hospital found an obvious break in the C-1 vertebra, so he was immediately airlifted to Cook’s Children’s Hospital in Fort Worth, Texas. The situation seemed grim. However, the two sisters never stopped claiming their protection covenant of Psalm 91 as doctors attended the little boy. Finally, the doctor at Cook’s Hospital came out of the room with a strange look on his face. He had the X-rays from the first hospital in one hand and the new X-rays that had just been taken in the other hand, and his words were, ‘We don’t know how to explain this, but we find no head trauma and no C-1 fracture.’
“These two sisters had trusted God completely and believed what He said in Psalm 91: ‘No evil will befall you, nor will plague or calamity come near your household.’ Since the day they left the hospital, Skylar has been a perfectly normal, healthy little boy with no side effects, whatsoever, from the accident.”
RENE HOOD IS HEALED FROM TERMINAL ILLNESS
“Rene Hood was diagnosed with advanced Lupus in 1998, and was given only three months to live. By the time she had learned about her covenant of protection, her right lung had collapsed, her kidneys and liver had begun to shut down and she was in terrible pain. Once learning of God’s promises, she absolutely refused to give up on Psalm 91. She kept quoting verse six and seven—‘I will not be afraid of the …pestilence (deadly disease)…a thousand may fall at my side and 10,000 at my right hand, but it will not approach me.’ Renee was persistent in quoting these scriptures, even though her condition seemed to be growing worse.
“Most people would probably have given up because of all the pain and the discouraging reports, but Rene refused to back down. Several months passed before the miracle started to manifest, but gradually her strength returned. Eventually new tests were administered that showed her to be completely healed. Her doctors, a liver specialist and a kidney specialist, both used the word miraculous. One doctor said, ‘Rene, you are a wonder. I find no lupus working in your body.’ Rene is still in good health, and she continues to work full time in her prison ministry called Root of Jesse Prison Ministry.”
A YOUNG WOMAN ESCAPES FROM SEXUAL ASSAULT
“A young friend of ours, Julee, was getting ready for church when someone knocked on her door. As she opened the door a strange man shoved his way in and attacked her. Remembering that God said in Psalm 91:5-7, ‘You will not be afraid of the terror (what another person can do to harm you)…it will not approach you,’ Julee started quoting the Word of God to him as her defense.
“It took forty-five minutes of spiritual battle as the man came at her time after time, but her persistence in quoting these words brought confusion and immobility on him—thwarting every attempted attack. During one of those times when he had temporarily lost his focus, she was able to get out the door and escape unharmed.”
“Later, after he was apprehended, she found that he had sexually assaulted numerous young women, and she was the only one of his victims who had been able to escape without harm.”
GOD’S PROTECTION COVERS EVEN TORNADOES AND FIRES
“Once a tornado was headed for our house. A teen club was meeting at our house, and their vehicles were parked below the house while the members watched the tornado which had touched down and was headed in our direction. The sky was dark and had a peculiar, greenish glow. We could see a large funnel cloud headed straight for our house, way off in the distance.
“I’m sure a lot of people were rushing for their storm cellars at that moment, but my husband got us outside, speaking the promises of Psalm 91 directly to the storm as we marched around our house. When we went back inside the radio announcer was just making the statement, ‘It is a miracle! The tornado which was headed south of the country club has suddenly disappeared.’ God gave us our miracle. Psalm 91 is our covenant we speak in the face of destruction (the category of evil over which man has no control).”
“On another occasion the Lord saved our property from fire after relying on the promise in this 91st Psalm. My husband and our son, Bill, were burning brush in the back pasture of our ranch when an old underground gas well exploded. Fire raced across the field toward other houses. They fought the fire, but it was hopelessly out of control. There was little expectation that a fire truck could get there in time to do any good, but my husband raced off to the house to call them anyway. When he returned from calling the fire truck, to his surprise, the fire was out. One minute it was out of control; the next minute it was out! Jack said, ‘Bill, how did you do it?’ Remembering our covenant, Bill had called on God, and God had miraculously put the fire out.”
WHAT YOU CAN DO
“Here is what I teach people to do. Verses one and two are our part of the covenant. “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, My God, in whom I trust!” Psalm 91: 1-2
We must teach ourselves to believe it. In our hearts we must learn to dwell in the protection of the Almighty. In addition, we must continually confess this promise of protection as it says in verse 2, I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress. This is our part of the covenant. Since this is our part of the covenant, we must examine our deepest thoughts and come to the place where we choose to believe. These are not just words for comfort, but a promise to turn things around.
God’s part of the covenant is to protect us. Verse seven plainly says, ‘A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand…’ The good news is that you do not have to be one of the ten thousand. I have found that as people meditate on this covenant, it brings them into a love walk as they realize on what all He has given us.”
“In addition to meditating on Psalm 91—read it out loud. Thank God for it; thank Him that He loved you enough to make this protection possible. Ask God to help you accept this as the Truth. Depend on Him to lead you through. If there is any point of obedience that He expects out of you, ask Him to show you. The psalm promises that if we meet the conditions, God will satisfy us with long life. It is awesome to think that we can be intimate with the Creator and that He will give us a purpose and a destiny. He provides angelic protection and gives us authority over the enemy. There is no need at all to be fearful.”
“Meditate on each verse and think about what it means. For example, as you meditate on verse two, begin to say from your heart, ‘I will say He is the Lord, the one to whom I will run first. Lord, You are my God in whom I trust. I know you want to be the Source of all my protection, therefore, I will refuse to look at all forms of Plan B.’ ”
“When you pray this psalm, tell God that you want to know Him intimately, and that you recognize Jesus as the only provision for your life that matters. I promise that if you read it over and over, and if you believe it and say it out loud, then fear will run away from you and you will begin to see protection. Greater is the Word of God than any fear or circumstance or situation in your life. Go for the Gold! It’s your time!”
Peggy Joyce’s husband is the senior pastor at the Living Word Church in Brownwood, Texas. She has written wonderful books for adults and for youth that go into more depth about the 91st Psalm. You can order a copy of this book or contact her at 877-97-books (877-972-6657). Their web site is www.livingwordchurchbrownwood.com
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