Dear Father in Heaven: I love You. Thank You for watching over me and thank You for taking care of us. Please, Lord, teach me how to rest. Please help me to keep working for You but to build in rest. Lord, watch over our flock on this line, and yes, keep watch over our flock at The Bridges. Lord, this past week was hard, it really was, so Lord, help me lean more and more on You and draw more comfort from You. In other words, dear Lord, help me to practice what I have been preaching. Lord, be with Patsy and Burt, with Eleanor, Bob and Sharon. Lord, be with Baby Joseph and take care of him. Lord, help my passion to lead people to You never end but to grow as we shift gears. Now, Lord, please help me with the message and then to get it dispatched. In Jesus' wonderful Name, I pray. Amen.
Dear brothers and sisters, it surely was different here at the Southern Location of the North Pole this morning. We did not need to get up and rush and rush to get out of the house to go to The Bridges. But we sure missed going. I did not need to go out and feed our goats, for they are gone. For years they waited each day for me to come out of the house, toss them some hay and feed them some bread. Please pray that I learn how to relax a tad. I have never been good at it. We are excited about the changes that God has planned for us, but change is not easy. I do feel that after we listen to God and do what He has planned for us, He will heal my knees and legs. I have great faith in the healing power of our Lord Jesus. Please keep praying for our son Matthew. Since he will not contact us, we really do not know where he is. We know he was posting on Facebook that he became a Muslim. Thanks for your prayers. Now let me get to the message, The Shepherd.
Monday: September 8, 2014: The Shepherd (Day Two)
Psalm 23:1 - The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not be in 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 will 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 anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows. 6 Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. (NIV)
With all that has been going on in our lives and knowing we needed to have our Lord comfort us and so many others that also need comfort, God guided me to Psalm 23. Today I want to cover verse two.
Psalm 23:2 - He maketh me to lie down in green pastures, He leadeth me beside the still waters. (KJV)
Psalm 23:2 - He lets me rest in the meadow grass and leads me beside the quiet streams. (The Living Bible)
Sometimes when you look up a Bible verse and you see it in more than one version of the Bible it will help you understand it better. As I look at verse two of this great and comforting scripture, I really like the King James Version (KJV). As a shepherd that has a flock of sheep, the shepherd will find a nice quiet place, a place where it is safe, and a place where the sheep can rest, eat and drink and the shepherd can stand watch.
When I look at our Lord as The Great Shepherd, which He is, and I look at myself as one of His sheep, which I am, and look at what I am going through right now, I can say and believe with all my heart that "He maketh me to lie down in green pastures." I believe He was telling me, it is time I take care of Dolores who has some health issues and it is time I take care of myself, so He made me lay down. And I have faith that these new pastures that He will lead us to will be green and we will bounce back after resting and be even stronger in working for Him. I can see in the future and have been praying about it, that Santa's House with just a little work could become a small chapel or a place to hold Bible study and maybe work more on what we have long called Salvation Wednesday.
For now, I feel God wants us both to just lay down and rest some as we work through our plans for Carry The Light Ministries and how this great ministry that God has given us can go forth even more for Him. As I have said before, quitting is not an option when we talk about working for the Lord. I have a growing passion that grows more and more to tell people about Salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. In the near future I want to tell you about some places that God has already sent us, some you might believe and others you will shake your head about. One that I want to tell you about is the time we sang in a bar, with people drinking at the bar, and yes, I even did a call for Salvation. God is good, just have faith and walk with Him, and talk to Him a lot. When He tells you to rest, then rest, and while resting, pray and talk to Him even more.
Now go forth and share your blessings. Love ya. And please pass on my love to others.
Pastor Dan
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment