Good Morning Refreshed and Cared for Friends! The Lord is our Shepherd and we do have all we need to walk with Him in His good ways and to become more fully who we are created to be. PTL! Right? What an awesome God we serve! Where He guides He provides. He is our provision and all we have is a gift from Him to be used to bless Him and others. As we do, He leads us by the still waters where we get to be restored and load up on Living Water that can gush from us to refresh this dry and weary land. Check out Our Daily bread below. Abide in the green pastures of God's refreshing Word and care. Walk with Jesus through whatever valley you are facing. Allow Him to guide and correct along the way. And know this we WILL dwell in the house of the Lord forever! Amen. Be still and know. Stand firm in faith lifted by our Lord who loves you, calls you by name and cares for you as you walk with Him in growing faith and in becoming more like Him and as you go make disciples. Amen! Come Lord! Have your way with me and us. Refresh and lead us and use us well for your glory. Protect, correct, provide and guide. Come with Your Shalom. May Your perfect Love drive out and overcome all fear in us. You are our Shepherd. Shepherd us well and revive us, your people and this nation. Come! Thanks! Amen!
I had no intention of doing a blog for awhile. There is so much going on during this sabbatical time that could have me all bound up...BUT GOD! It seems like daily drama and crisis's have become almost the norm for me and my family right now. I have been beating my body too, trying to get tons of yard work done in preparation for a big family picnic and to be able to shut down and have a full blown spiritual retreat the last week of this break. For some reason, the more I work, the less I sleep. So, I got up early to abide some and listen. And God led me to share with and update you. Be still, abide, listen and prepare to respond as He leads.What's He saying to you? What will you do about it? I am doing a funeral for an old friend. Psalm 23 is often part of funerals and a passage many of us have memorized. But do we live it? Ask God for a fresh and open heart and mind as you contemplate with Him all the facets of this great Psalm. He is our good Shepherd who does restore our souls! And He leads us, well wants to, to His best. Will you cooperate with His Spirit along the way? Try it! Refreshing streams and green pastures are right before you. Choose them. Amen!
Couple of prayer requests: Mom's Terry is in his last weeks and is struggling as cancer eats away his body and mind. My sister Bev, has been caring for him but has returned home . Pray peace over her and for Terry. She was relieved of her duties by clueless family members and friends. As a result, Terry is alone a lot. We are dealing with all kinds of executor duties and issues with closing up mom's affairs and I am preparing to do her funeral up here later this month. We need God's favor, shalom and direction and help to bind up darkness and evil around Terry. Ask God to bring him home soon. Pray for me to be still and prepare to abide and refresh before my return . Thank God for our members and leaders. Ask God to use them well and to bring His Word through Mike and Sarah. Pray for peace for them and no issues to deal with. Pray for Karen as she has to put up with me through the drama. Ask God to allow her and I to actually get away for a few days. Pray for health and protection and that we would steward well all God's blessings. Pray I could actually sleep more than a couple of hours a night. Thanks! I continue to pray for you all daily. God is with us and for us and leading us to the promised land and to be His vessels of Living Water. Amen! Shalom shalom to all of you! Again, unless God leads me to do a blog, there will be very few before my return. Love you all! To God be the glory! Amen!
ODB:
God’s Provision
The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures. Psalm 23:1-2
I was putting my grandson to bed during a sleepover. When his Bible bookmark opened to Psalm 23, he objected, “We already read this one.” After I suggested we might learn something new, he read aloud, “The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastries.” Green pastries?! I explained that the word was pastures, not pastries. Hours earlier, he’d stood before a bakery shelf, selecting treats. His interpretation came into focus: To him, a bakery conveyed a place of rest and enjoyment.
Psalm 23 may be so familiar to us that we miss its deep offering. David, a king well acquainted with shepherding, describes God’s provision over a lifetime of things both idyllic (vv. 5-6) and challenging (v. 4). He points out that our good God leads us to places where we can partake of His presence, be rejuvenated, and prepare for what will come. “Green pastures” and “quiet waters” (v. 2) are such dwellings for sheep, and we are God’s sheep (v. 1).
My grandson’s innocent interpretation opened my eyes to the “green pastures” God provides for me—places of rest and enjoyment in everyday life where He restores me. A gold-hued sunset. A verdant field. A quiet corner. A bakery shelf of green pastries, wafting out delight. I’m so glad we read Psalm 23 again!
By Elisa Morgan
REFLECT & PRAY
What unexpected “green pasture” moment have you experienced? How does Psalm 23 invite you into the provision of God’s presence?
Dear God, please open my eyes to the “green pasture” moments You provide. Help me to enter Your presence each day.
Despite David’s failings, he was a man who loved God and was loved by Him. We see this clearly expressed in the psalmist’s writings. Psalm 23 is a classic example that still speaks to us . With God as our “shepherd,” we truly “lack nothing” (v. 1). He leads, refreshes, guides, and comforts us (vv. 2-4); and our “cup overflows” with His blessings (v. 5). He surrounds us with His love and goodness in this life and for all eternity (v. 6). With such a God, we don’t need to live in fear (v. 4). In Psalm 27:4, David exudes, “One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple.” Like David, may our longing be for God. In His presence, we find rest and restoration.
LISTEN ONLINE
