"Protection In Jesus"

"Thou shalt hide them in the secret of Thy presence from the pride of man: Thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues." (Psalms 31:20) I know this might seem a little odd, but can you remember a time in your life when you had a secret hiding place somewhere which was only for you, and where nothing could get to you, but almost anything could happen? I can remember mine, and it primarily became the place where I would dream of great explorations into worlds beyond my imagination; however, it became overshadowed by the reality of life, and became something of a place where I dare not venture into anymore, because it has become perverted and unsafe over the years. That is what the world has done over the years, but it does not need to remain that way, nor does it, if that place too is surrendered over Jesus Christ! Of course, what I am talking about is the fantasies that we have in our minds; some involve dreaming, while some, they are just forced projections of whatever seems to excite our forbidden journeys. Now I really don't want to alarm anyone that might not know this, but those fantasy lives, they do count as areas of our life, even though they are made up in our minds. Yes, it is undoubtedly true; and the really sad thing is, for some of us, those forbidden journeys are more protected than our own true lives! Regardless of what you might think of the impact of our dreams, they are quite influential to the way we conduct portions of our lives; it just hard to see how that really plays out, because those secret places are so protected. When it comes to surrendering our lives completely to Jesus, we really can not have complete surrender, if we are still holding onto our imaginary worlds also! The really unfortunate thing is, many people do not realize how strong those unreal places are upon their real life, and how they impact the way you might view others that are in your real life, by the characters that are in your imaginary life. The word for "pride", as in "the pride of man", is a word that speaks of snares, plots, or even conspiracy; and taken at face value, it would seem that it involves an attack from outside sources, such as plots upon our person by those that are out to get us; which it very well could be, but if it were not for "man", a word that denotes something unusual, and that is only used as a way to show something to be acquired, which comes from habit or inheritance. As I said upon opening this conversation up, this might seem a little odd; however, as odd as it might seem, I believe that it is the topic of the day, and is what God would have me talk about... "Stay yourselves, and wonder: cry ye out, and cry: they are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink. For the LORD hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath He covered: and the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned. Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour Me, but have removed their heart far from Me, and their fear toward Me is taught by the precept of men: therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid. Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the LORD, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us?" (Isaiah 29:9-15)