Marks Of Those Who Love God

Start here if you’re hungry for a steadier way to face uncertainty. We walk through the closing lines of Psalm 91 and uncover the marks of those who truly love God: setting our love on Him, knowing His name, praying with confidence, and trusting His presence when trouble arrives. This isn’t theory; it’s a map for everyday faith that fits into crowded mornings, traffic jams, and late-night worries.

We begin with the heart-shift of love—turning from lesser loyalties toward the living God. From there, we explore what it means to “know His name,” not as trivia but as tested trust in God’s character. You’ll hear how Abraham’s confidence still instructs us, why some prayers fall flat, and how Scripture frames assurance: “He shall call upon me, and I will answer him.” We get practical too. A notepad, five quiet minutes, and a simple reading plan can reclaim hours you didn’t know you had. Prayer moves from emergency-only to the daily rhythm that keeps your soul awake.

Midway, we read Psalm 91 in the Amplified translation to let its textures land—shelter, shadow, fortress, angels, courage. We talk soberly about hardship: following Christ doesn’t shield you from storms, but it anchors you within them. Trials can grow patience, and presence replaces panic. We also touch on abiding in Christ—the vine and branches—and the difference between the Spirit upon and within, pointing toward a richer grasp of Easter’s meaning beyond the calendar rush.

If you’ve been craving clarity, courage, and a way to pray that fits real life, this conversation meets you where you are. Press play, take a breath, and set your love on the One who keeps His word. If it helps you, share it with a friend, hit follow, and leave a review to tell us what stood out most.

Good morning, good afternoon, wherever you are in the world - Welcome to Grapevine Ministries.

Transcript

Marks Of Loving The Lord

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Conclusion of Psalm 91. So we go 91, 14 to 16. And I'm calling this for those that are writing down titles, marks of those who love the Lord. This is this is where you really get to understand what it's all about. So let's read this, okay? And we we can actually finish on a really good note. And this is what it says 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 my salvation. It's very obvious that the psalmist mentions some of the distinguishing characteristics of those who truly love God and tell us what God will do for them. Notice them all as we go through them. He has set their love upon the Lord, that's verse fourteen. The Christian's heart has been turned away from the world in the direction of God. Paul described the Thessalonians as those who had turned unto God from idols to serve a living and true God. Thus God child has turned to him and away from sin. See also Romans six seventeen to eighteen and Colossians three, one to two. It is only when we have their understanding and thus this kind of commitment that we can accept it. Many people have a passing interest in Christ. So when you read in uh Luke 8, 11 to 14, and Mark 7 to 6, but this is not enough. For those who love the Lord have set their love on him. John 14 15 and Matthew 22 37 39. And the reason I'm giving you all of these scriptures is because, you know, the idea is for you to write these down and to try and memorize them or put them into practice with your everyday life. See, they know his name. Verse 14. So it's all of us. All of us know people whom are very close or dear friends, and they're people we spent considerable time with. They are ones we have tested and tried, their friendship has been proven. To know God is to trust him, to believe in him. The psalmist says elsewhere, and they that know thy name will put their trust in thee, for thou Jehovah, has not forsaken them that seek thee. That's 9 10. See, Abraham knew God, he trusted him. You see this in Romans 4:3 and 17 to 23. On the other hand, the wicked do not know him, they do not know God, and they are cursed because of it. See, the ox knows its owner, and the ass or ass. I always say that. So let's just call him a donkey. It's easier. I know it's not the correct biblical terminology because a donkey and an and a jackass are two entirely different things. I could say I've got a jackass sitting next to me, but I won't say that. The ox knows its owner, and so does the four-legged donkey, uh, his master's crib. But Israel does not know the people and they do not consider. Isaiah 124. They pray effectively in verse 15, they shall call upon me and I will answer him. Those who love the Lord, you know, they have an assurance that their prayers will be answered. They may confidentially express their dependence on God. Some men, of course, may do, and others hear from God. But others turn their ears away from him. The the thing that I'm trying to say here is you've got to understand that um if you read through the Proverbs, like Proverbs uh 15, 29, and 28, 9, and also you see in 124 to 31, and Job uh 27, 8 to 9. However, God's ears are open and receptive to his faithful followers. See, if you read through the book of Job, and he's got his friends, I won't mention their names because I can't pronounce them. One of these days I'll get them right. But at the start, his friends were very encouraging, they were very supportive, they were there, you know, listening to Job's worries and concerns. But after a while, they started sort of getting a bit over it. And so they weren't very good friends after all, because they started basically saying things like, Hey, look, just why don't you curse God and just die? You know, uh, they weren't very, very good at giving um giving advice at all. So we need to make sure that we let patience have its perfect work within our body, and too many of us are lacking that. We go through trials and tribulations, and while we're going through those trials and tribulations, the mistake that we are making is that um we only go to God when when we're in trouble, we don't go to him, you know, just on a daily basis, you know. And I know I've said it uh I I would say probably a hundred times throughout my podcasts and that, but even if you struggle in this sort of area, if you know that God is there for you, he will never leave you nor forsake you, very clearly states in these scriptures here that he's he's saying that he's with you all the way, you know, and he's he's there for you. But you'll say, Oh, yeah, but it's too hard to pray, oh I don't have time, uh, I've got this to do and that to do, I've got to take the kids to school, then I've got help them with their homework, and I never get any spare time. Okay, well, what happens when you drive into work and uh you're stuck in traffic? Um, are you listening to the radio or are you uh just abusing other you know patrons in front of you in their car when it's probably not their fault in the first place? It's probably somewhere further down the track. But either way, there's lots of times that you can spend time with God. What about when you're having a shower? You know, even when you're having your breakfast, instead of reading the paper and listening to the news. Every opportunity you should actually get there, get a notepad. And I had to do this once for one of the jobs that I had. We basically were getting micromanaged because they were looking at cutting back staff, and so what they did is they decided that they were going to get all of the um all of the the workers, they had to actually log their entire day, you know, like okay, sat at my desk at uh 9 a.m. Uh read emails from 9 until you know um 9.30, uh, 9.30, uh sent reply emails to and every single minute of their day had to be logged. And if you try that just once, just a normal day, doesn't matter whether it's a weekday or a weekend, just try and get a notepad with you and literally write down everything you're doing. Like even if you're driving, you know, you're driving from here to Mandra for an appointment and you see how long it takes you to get there or what the traffic's like and all this sort of stuff. Write down every single part of it and see just how much time you've got spare, or time that you're not actually physically doing something that you could spend with God. God is prepared to spend time with you. It's a two-way street, and you've got plenty of time. I always say that if you don't know where to start, you just start with five minutes in the morning and five minutes before you go to bed. All you have to do is basically that very first five minutes that you have. You know, most people get there and they get up and they go to the bathroom, and then straight after that, they're either having breakfast or having a shower. But just give him five minutes. Stop on the side of the bed, open up your Bible, read a couple of chapters, and just spend five minutes in prayer with him. And then at the end of the day, do exactly the same thing. As time goes on, you will find that you get more and more free time. See, in here they pray effectively. In verse 15, it says, He shall call upon me and I will answer him. Those who love the Lord have the assurance that their prayers will be answered, they may confidently express their dependence on God. Some men, of course, God will not hear. Jehovah is far from the wicked, but he that hears the prayers of the righteous. He that turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination. See, the Lord is with them in trouble. Okay, notice, please notice this part here that they are not immune to trouble. Okay, you know, a lot of people find out, and and it's not meant to be putting people off, but once you start walking with Christ, the devil wants to take you out, and so he'll he'll have a go at you. So you're not immune from trouble, but you must see that there is actually some benefit to us when trouble arises, because we've got to count it all joy. And he says, My brethren, when you fall into manifold trials, knowing that the proving of your faith works patience, and let patience that has that perfect work, that you may be perfect and entire, lacking in nothing. That's James 1, 2 to 4. Trials serve to make our faith stronger. So we will have testing times in our life. However, we have the assurance that God will be with us in those times of trouble. God is your refuge and your strength, a very present help in trouble. Psalm 46 1. So that with good courage we say, The Lord is my helper, I will not fear that shall man do unto me, Hebrews 13 6, and also Romans 8 31 to 39, and Philippians 4 13. You see, it constantly rises up over and over again in the scriptures telling you what is going on. It's what a wonderful description the psalmist gives us here of those who love the Lord. If you will set your love on the Lord and know him, all these things and more will be given unto you. Now, for those that haven't actually done it, um what I want to do now is I'm actually going to read right through uh the uh the Bible. Um, no, not right through it, okay. We're not gonna go from Genesis through to Revelation. No, what I'm going to do is I'm going to read Psalm 91 in the amplified and listen to how the words are actually put in there by the psalmist, okay, and then all that the uh you know the historians have done is expanded upon that passage because you know there's more than one word for God, the same way as there's more than one word for peace. So what we do here is we try and express more openly to give you a better understanding of what this is all about. So I want to close with this passage of scripture, and if you can follow along with me, and if you haven't got the amplified, that's fine, just listen. But most people have at least one or two different versions on their phone, and trust me, you can be listening to my podcast at the same time that you're in another part of your phone, all right? But if please, if you're in traffic, pull over, all right? Don't try reading while you're driving, okay? Here we go. Psalm 91 from the Amplified, and it's talking about security of the one who trusts in the Lord. Now that's the heading, but that's not the heading given in the Bible, but that's what they do to highlight that this is showing you that the security of all those that trust in the Lord. All right. No, verse one He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will remain secure and rest in the shadow of the Almighty. Now, whose power no enemy can withstand. That's the amplified section, right? Just read it again. He who dwells in the shelter of the most high will remain secure and rest in the shadow of the Almighty, whose power no enemy can withstand. I will say to the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust with great confidence and on whom I rely. So I'm emphasizing the amplified bits if you don't get the gist of my tone, but just try and stay with me. You know, verse three. Now, I know I I um I expanded on this in one of the earlier messages, so if you don't know what pestilence and pinions are, then go back to um the earlier uh recordings and you can do it again. Psalm ninety one five. I will not be afraid of the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor of the pestilence that stalks in gardeners darkness, nor of the destruction suddenly, sudden death that lays waste at noon. A thousand may fall at your side and ten thousand at your right hand, but danger will not come near you. You will only be a spectator as you look on the with your eyes and witness the divine repayment of the wicked, as you watch safely from the shelter of the most high, because you have made the Lord who is my refuge, even the most high your dwelling place. No evil will befall you, nor will any play come near your tent, for he will command his angels in regard to you to protect and defend and guard you in all the ways of obedience and service. They will lift you up in their hands so that you do not even strike your foot against the stone. You also find that in Luke 4 10 and Hebrews 1 14. You will tread upon the lion and the cobra, the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot, because he set his love on me, therefore I will save him, I will set him securely on high, because he knows my name. He confidently trusts and relies on me, knowing I will never abandon him nor never. He will call upon me and I will answer him, I will be with him in trouble, I will rescue him and honour him. With a long life I will satisfy him, and I will let him see my salvation. Now that's it in its entirety. Now, if you go through the lessons, uh lessons one through to five, and you can highlight all of the prevalent points in Psalm 91, and you can see that if you are in him, he is in you. Now, a lot of you won't notice this, or well, you should actually, because there's a big change. I've changed my logo on um on my podcast, and it's gonna be the same on Instagram and all that, and I'm posting some devotionals at the moment, so please watch out for them on Instagram and also uh follow me on Facebook. But I've actually got the artwork around the scripture that I have, which is basically great vine ministries, because the vine is in the branch and the branch is in the vine. See, so one cannot one cannot survive without the other, they are both interconnected, and so if God is in you, then you are in him. And like Jesus said, if you he said, if you've seen the Father, you've seen the Son. And if you've seen the Son, you've seen the Father. And when you become born again, the Holy Spirit comes upon not upon you, he comes into you. So if you if you read through the scriptures, you'll see that even with Jesus, right, um, he didn't do anything until he got water baptized, right? Because he was, and a lot of people don't realize this either. They they just assume that Jesus is a born again Christian. Well, he's not. He's born a Jew and he died a Jew, and he's sitting at the right hand of the Father now as a Jew because he didn't need. Be born again because he is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. So the thing is, when we get born again, we have the Spirit of God come in us. The Holy Spirit comes in us. And if you see in other passages throughout the scriptures, they talk about the Holy Spirit being upon people. So there's a difference between it being on you and in you. It's the same way that in the Old Testament they used to use goats and bulls and the blood of them, and they used the goat. That's where the terminology escapegoat comes from, because everybody laid hands on the goat, and uh so all of their sins were forgiven because they put them onto the goat, okay, and the goat was released into the wild, and so therefore came the terminology escapegoat. But they had to do that repeatedly over and over and over again because they were only being partially forgiven for their misdeeds because they had not the purity of the one who was yet to come, which was Jesus Christ. So in saying that, there's a difference between the Spirit of God being upon you and the Spirit of God being within you. So that's probably for another day we can talk about that. But at the moment, please focus on this. Um, as we are moving into our Easter period, um, then I'm going to change my my tact a little bit, and we'll be starting to speak about some other aspects in relation to um Jesus and the some clarification because a lot of people do this, they they celebrate Easter, they celebrate Christmas, and they do all of these celebrations, but they do not truly understand them and the meaning and the purpose behind them. So I'm gonna cut this one a little bit short today, but please go through that, have a look at it, highlight those different points, and understand that your relationship with God, okay, is vitally important. You are in him and he is in you. Amen. All right, we'll talk to you next time. God bless. See you for now.