The LORD, the Psalmist's Shepherd.

This was my Granny Watts favorite scripture in the bible and she ask me to recite it before every bull ride, unfortunately all I could remember was the first verse...she was okay with that.  Honestly, I did it to appease her and ease her worry for me but apparently as I now know there is power in His word.  I'll not say I never got hurt riding bulls because I did and while some or at least one looked sever none were ever life threatening, I do have to say my choices do now affect my quality of life and I wouldn't suggest anyone do it.  

With all that said I never thought about what this meant, but now that I do have the desire and interest and tools to do so I'd like to go through the mean verse by verse and being my blog that's what we're going to do....LOL

A Psalm of David.

1 The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want. 

2 He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. 

3 He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness For His name's sake. 

4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me 

5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows.   6 

Surely goodness and loving kindness will follow me all the days of my life, And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever *.

First let's start with a little history of Psalms, the book of Psalms doesn't have a single author.  King David authored a large number of the 150 Psalms...almost half.  Seventy three of the passages explicitly bear the designation "A Psalm of David." Other authors include Asaph (50; 73-83), the sons of Korah (42-49; 84-85; 87), Solomon (72; 127) Moses (90), Heman the Ezrahite (88) and Ethan the Ezrahite (89).  Many of the other Psalms authors remain anonymous. 

Psalms is actually five books of prayers and praises brought together as one.  Each one was written to be sung in worship to God.  Psalms cover every possible circumstance that life could throw at us, which is why there's 150 of them. They cover the ins-and-outs and ups-and-downs of life -touching on physical, financial, emotional and spiritual needs. The Psalms were written so that the people of God could communicate with him.  They will shape your ability to talk to God and will teach you about his character, attributes and kingdom purpose in history. 

 

Psalm 23:1-6

1) The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

David was familiar with tending sheep, after all he used to do the job. He knew first hand what it was to for a shepherd to protect and provide for sheep, so he described his relationship to God in those terms. What David had been for his sheep God had been for him. If you'll notice David refers to God as "my shepherd" because He wasn't just any old shepherd, He was David's personal shepherd. As a result, David can confess "I shall not want" because God had covered all his needs and he recognized he lacked nothing.

**We must think like David did in referring to the God as "my shepherd", we must view God as our personal shepherd and have the same kind of faith David had in believing we will lack nothing because the Lord has our needs covered.

2) He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads beside quiet waters.

God had met David's spiritual needs just as a shepherd gives sheep green pastures and refreshes them with quiet waters, so God had done so for David. The cares and struggle of the world can leave us exhausted and these are the times we need to take the time to learn our dependence on the Lord.

**Turn things over to the Lord. Pray on important decisions, because what we decide may not meet Gods plans for us.  If you have to make a decision NOW, pray that it turns out for the best...but still consider if it's something God would approve of.  

3) He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His names sake.

 He renews our life with spiritual refreshment and restoration. God met David's directional needs because men like sheep are prone to wander and get lost. They need guidance. Today many vehicles have GPS systems that warn you if you deviate from the best route to your destination. Through His word and His spirit, God leads us along the right paths and reroutes us when we become foolish and get off our path. Why? "For His name sake" that is so others can hear us say "My God brought me here."

**Follow Gods lead, stay in His leading steps...follow your cloud much like the Israelites being led from Egypt. Your prayers to him is your GPS, don't turn it off. 

4) Even though I walk though he valley of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. 

God met David's emotional needs. Regardless the dangers surrounding them, sheep can follow their shepherd without fear. He uses his rod to beat off wild animals that wish to attack the sheep, thus he provides the comfort they need.  His staff is used to guide and pull the sheep back from dangers that will harm them. 

**When life takes you through the darkest valley, receive consolation in knowing that your divine shepherd has power in one hand and grace in the other. Trust in the Lord's rod, knowing He will use it will beat Satan and His demon off of you while he pulls you close to him with His staff.

5) You prepare a table before in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows. 

God met David's physical needs though enemies hovered near. God fed him when he hungered and anointed him with oil when he needed healing. God never runs dry, That's why David's cup overflowed.

**Like David, we must recognize we have one source. There are many resources God may use to provide and care for your physical well being - but there is only ONE source trust and have faith in Him. We must look at our blessings...I don't live in a mansion but have a roof over my head, I'm not rich with money but the bills are paid and we have food on the table, my clothes may not be the name brands but I'm not naked nor am I bare foot. To often we look at what we don't have rather than what we do have, my cup really does overflow.

6) Sure goodness and loving kindness will follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

God met David's eternal needs, only goodness and faithful love will pursue me all the days of my life. Shepherds often have sheepdogs that keep the sheep from wandering. The divine shepherd has 2 sheepdogs named 'goodness' and "faithful love." Sometimes they nip and bark if you wander from the herd with the intent of driving you back to your divine shepherd, so that you may eternally dwell in the house of the Lord.

Submit to "the great Shepherd of the sheep" (Heb. 13:20) our Lord Jesus Christ.  He lays down His life for His sheep (john 10:11) and through His wounds, we are healed (1 Peter 2:25) because He knows His sheep and they know Him (John 10:14). He will welcome you.

**We may get nipped in the rump from time to time, but we must stay the course and stand firm in our faith that the Lord has our backs.  He may let us stray a little before we pulls us back, but that's just to remind us that we can only trust in Him.  

Today's world of false teachings, immorality and other unholy acts can and will affect our humanly minds.  This is why we need to keep our faith steadfast now more than ever, I'm not gloom and doom but if you look around at the world and what's going on...the time of Jesus' return could be very near.

What you see here (maybe with a few changes) is what will be my first official sermon if I ever do step to the pulpit.  At this time I feel as if that's my calling and I would be honored to do the Lord's work in this manor, but will gladly except any other calling he may have for me. 

A study on Fasting

 I been doing some reading on Fasting and while I'm familiar with Fasting for weight loss I never thought about faith based Fasting.  It's rather interesting and the number of things you can use it for the get breakthroughs and deliverance on is astounding.  Seriously, the strongholds and sins that it can help you overcome would amaze you or at least it did me. 

You've commanded, rebuked, prayed prayers, done warfare and shouted but there's more to be done.  It's time to add some fasting to your strategy.  There's no other way around some strongholds...no shortcuts.  Sometimes fasting and humbling yourself is the break the hold.  Some demons are stronger than others or may be higher ranked or just flat out stubborn.  Some demons such as rebellion, pride. witchcraft, Jezebel, poverty may only come out with a high level of faith.  

Sometimes people get discouraged  and frustrated because they can't seem to dislodge the demon.  In Matthew 17 the disciples of Jesus encounter a demon in a young boy and because of their unbelief couldn't cure him.  Unbelief hinders our ability to deal with strongholds...it takes faith to dislodge the enemy and fasting helps you overcome that and build strong faith.  

As hard as it is to imagine some strongholds are generational, these would be things like substance or alcohol abuse, being abusive even being abused...I've read where young girls raised in an abusive house is more likely to enter into an abusive relationship.  It could all end here and now with you.  Standup and tell Satan "This is it, it ends here.  This is not going another generation, my grandfather/grandmother didn't stand against you, my father/mother didn't try to defeat You.  I refuse to be broke, sick, rejected...I AM going to defeat you.  

Isaiah 58 talks about how we can fast to break every yoke to undo the heavy burdens.  Fasting makes room so that the oppressed go free.  Fasting breaks bondages and causes revival when you're dealing with a serious issue or something you don't know how to handle.  Let's see some victories even if it requires you to fast multiple times...DO NOT GIVE UP!!!  Keep at it, keep going until you know you have victory.  You have to get so tired of the Devil that you say "Enough is enough" when your stomach starts to scream out tell it "Back up."

You have to be determined "No demon is going to control my life. I am a child of God and who the Son sets free is free indeed. I don't care how stubborn you are or how you try to hang on.  I'm going to break every finger of the enemy.  I'm going to break his wrists and his grip. Satan, you CANNOT have MY LIFE.

I've only hit the high spots here and my reading goes much more in depth but, it gets complicated as it starts describing how to fast and lists a multitude of prayers you can use with particular strongholds.  If this is something you've not thought of or something you have and didn't try...TRY IT!  You can probably google it and get a ton of information just remember to search for "Spiritual Fasting" and not for weight loss.  I'm making a plan an studying several different prayers and plan on giving it a shot.  The book I'm reading from is "Fasting for Breakthrough and Deliverance" by John Eckhardt.

https://www.cru.org/us/en/train-and-grow/spiritual-growth/fasting/how-to-do-a-biblical-fast.html

https://www.navigators.org/resource/how-to-begin-fasting/?mwm_id=238263484277&APCode=W04&gclid=CjwKCAjw5p_8BRBUEiwAPpJO61Pr5SBUSlE8XA_OFieqo6CiKtunXP01FtUGZjb2hlBj8PbDWDSXYhoC65wQAvD_BwE

https://21days.churchofthehighlands.com/resources/seven-basic-steps-to-successful-fasting-and-prayer

In the coming weeks...

 

In the coming weeks I'll be trying to do something different here with my blog, something I'm going to call my "Sermons Series" addressing issues in todays times that are destroying lives, careers and families.  You of course realize that the read won't be as long as a true sermon, but I hope to hit all the points I would if I were actually speaking to you.  This will be something totally new to me so be patient, but don't be afraid to give feedback...even if you feel it may be negative because I can only grow and get better with the truth.  Why do I feel the need to do this?  At this point it feels as if my calling may be the pulpit even though it seems it's wanting me to be more of a fire and brimstone evangelistic type like my Grandpa Watts.  It's a feeling I can't shake, it's always crossing my mind.  I'll drive by and empty building and look at it was the "I wonder if that would make a good building for a church?  

This will be a seven week series while I prepare a calendar that I'll be following for next few weeks or so unless the Lord sends me a topic other than planned.  The purpose of this plan is to hopeful help someone (please feel compelled to share) as well as help me study, prepare and grow into the kingdom man God wants me to be.  

The first of these new blogs for me will drop sometime in the PM on November 1st.  This date will allow me more time to study and prepare as I continue to grow.

   Psalm 23

A psalm of David.

1 The Lord is my shepherd;

    I have all that I need.

2 He lets me rest in green meadows;

    he leads me beside peaceful streams.

3     He renews my strength.

He guides me along right paths,

    bringing honor to his name.

4 Even when I walk

    through the darkest valley,[a]

I will not be afraid,

    for you are close beside me.

Your rod and your staff

    protect and comfort me.

5 You prepare a feast for me

    in the presence of my enemies.

You honor me by anointing my head with oil.

    My cup overflows with blessings.

6 Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me

    all the days of my life,

and I will live in the house of the Lord

    forever.

A great weekend turned into a rough week

 I had intended on setting down and typing up a post on how good my weekend was and how it turn extremely great Sunday evening when my wife came to me and said she decided to be baptized and wanted to know if I want to perform the ceremony....WHAT!!!, you even had to ask that?  Then Monday morning the week started turning south on me.  My knee (I know y'all are probably tired of hearing about it) starting bothering me and by Tuesday night it was to the point I just laid on my mind and tried to focus on anything else through my yoga class, this on top of people coming to me and flooding with their problems...problems that all I could was telling you need to take that to the Lord and see what he tells ya, that's to big for and way above my pay grade.  I'll save ya some boring details and skip to Wednesday around noon...we were replacing some tiles (pipe, culvert) across a couple of drives and I had went to get a load of gravel to cover one, well after loading I stepped out of the backhoe and laying there in tracks I had just made was a feather...undamaged from the traffic the I had created in the yard.  I blew a little dust of of it and stuck it in the backhoe. I have to explain the feather and a few other things later, but my knee started feeling a bit better by the time I got back in the dump truck and by Wednesday evening I even felt like going to the gym and got a little leg workout in.  My leg felt great Thursday and a friend come to me news that not life threatening but breaks my heart for him...yet another question requiring the expertise of God.  So here we are late Thursday night/early Friday morning and I can't sleep which is odd because I normally sleep like a baby after having as good a yoga practice as I had tonight, because my brain is working over time and then it hits me or at least I think so.  The Lord eased my knee pain to allow me to think and about 1:00am it was like "Glenn, you're the tile." Much like the old rusted out tile that was filled with dirt so that water had to run around and over it rather through it, I was filled with anger, discontent,  pride, ego...I could go on but I sure you get the point by now that I wasn't in a very good place...I was filled with dirt and the good news had to run around or over me because I was blocked.  The Lord replaced that old rusted out tile with a new one so He can use me to let His word flow down stream to where it needs to go.  It seems that this is the time of day He wants to talk to me or maybe it's the only time of day my brain though swirling with active picks up on what He's say...maybe He's the swirling activity waiting on me to shut up and listen!  

Well, my week has ended much better than the middle part of it and I'll get up in the morning enjoy a church service and then just a small project (I normally don't do anything work wise on Sunday) and then I'll sit on the cation-patio and read.

I may never fully understand, but I don't have to.  I've only got to shut up and listen to him and trust that what I hear is correct and follow Him, much like the Israelite's followed their cloud in their exodus from Egypt.  If God can lead a nation through the wilderness He can lead me through this world.