May 12, 2011 Psalm 23 (Day 4)

He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake.

"Oh, how I love Jesus: Oh, how I love Jesus: O, how I love Jesus, because He first loved me!!"

Good Morning, my dear brothers and sisters, and yes I love Jesus very much and I love all of you also. And this being Thursday is the day we pray for schools and families. And please take time to pray for the Church of our Lord Jesus. Also please add 92 year old Billy Graham to your prayer list. Reverend Graham is in the hospital with some lung issues. Will you please take a minute and just sing this with me...

"Oh, how I love Jesus: Oh, how I love Jesus: O, how I love Jesus, because He first loved me!!"

Yesterday I had asked you to put "Holy Spirit, Thou art welcome in this place" on your lips and in your mind and heart. I found myself singing it at the food store as I walked and shopped. I am sure others heard those words, and yes, I am happy that the Holy Spirit is welcome at the store I shop, and I am really happy that He came into my heart.

The 23rd Psalm (Day 4) Psalm 23:3 - He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake. (KJV)

He, our Lord Jesus, restoreth my soul and also yours if you let Him. Have you ever been so tired at the end of the day that you just wanted to lay across your bed and fall asleep? Has your body hurt so bad you just had to stop what you were doing and rest those tired legs and your tired back? God in His wisdom has built into our systems a need for that rest and also spelled it out. He built into our system a way to refresh our bodies each day, it is called sleep, and yes, to refresh our bodies we also need to fuel, you know food and fluid. And brothers and sisters, He supplies all of our needs. He even built in a day of rest for all of us and He set the example as He rested from His work, His work on creation took six days, and on the seventh day God Rested... The older I get, it seems the more I need to rest this tired old worn body... (I will soon and very soon get a new body, and folks I have been praying about one with a six pack abs, instead of the keg I have now.)

So now we rested the body, what about our mind, our brain, our soul? Don't they get tired also? I am sure that you, as I have, found over the years that when your body gets really tired, your mind seems to shut down also. I know that I have been at the computer after a hard day and my head would be bouncing off the keyboard, or I wind up with a few rows of Z's and that is because my left little finger seems to hit that keyboard first. So then how does our Lord God restore our soul? First with rest and sleep, and yes, the proper things to eat, but then we also get to restore our souls by going to church and hearing a really good pastor who takes care of his/her flock. You take on fuel. Myself, I like to settle in and hear some good gospel music. I love to hear that great baritone voice of my dear brother in Christ, Tim Beitzel. And I love to hear Dave, Duane and Neal cut loose for all four of these men don't just sing from their voice box, they sing from their hearts for God. I also like to fall asleep with some good gospel music in the background. So God sees my soul gets restored by listening to others who love God. But the best way, the very best way to have your soul restored is to just talk to God about it. Yes, let's call it prayer and listening, talking to God and then giving Him a chance to answer you.

He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake. Now our God wants to lead us in a good way, in the paths of righteousness, and why does He, our Lord, want to do it, well for His name's sake. My dear mamma and dad named me Daniel Webster Lehman, Jr., and my daddy had the same name except he was senior instead of junior... I was never called junior, and my daddy told me once, "Son, I will try and help you in life all I can, I have given you a name that I took care of. I was not always the best dad, but I did not blemish our name. Please take care of it and do what is right in life." While my daddy gave me the name, God gave me life and for Him I need to take care of that life. My dad wanted me to take care of myself and of course our name and he wanted that for his sake and mine... And I think this tells you, this Psalm, He, Jesus leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake. God knows that if we live for Him, then we are living as good as we can get. Think about it, really think about it, if we follow Jesus and walk in His light, we will mess up, but if we do our very best God will be pleased with us... and he will not just restore our soul, he will lead us and if we follow, and we do have free will, and if we follow He will protect us. If we drift He will take us back, and if we follow Him and come to Him to be saved He will give us EVERLASTING LIFE AND LIVE WITH HIM, AND IT DON'T GET ANY BETTER THEN THAT...

Dear Father in Heaven, please restore my soul and lead me as You want me to go, and Lord, may I be sound enough to follow You each day. Please be in our schools and in our families and please watch over Billy Graham. I am sure He is ready to see you face to face... In Jesus' Name, I pray. Amen.

Now go forth and get restored, and share those blessings and sing our little song, here it is again today...
"Oh, how I love Jesus: Oh, how I love Jesus: O, how I love Jesus, because He first loved me!!"

And I love all of you also... love ya, Pastor Dan.