Monday 2/15/16 The Big Trip (39)

Dear Father in Heaven: I love You and I give thanks to You for all things that are good. Thanks for a good roof over  our heads and good heat on these cold winter days and nights. Please help us through the daily storms of life that come upon us each day. Please protect us from evil. Please help Jimmy Swaggart Ministries reach their goals so to keep Your Word flowing into more and more areas of the world and please help each of us spread that Good News throughout our own neighborhoods to those living right near us who might not be saved. Please help me now with the daily message and please help me to get it dispatched to those who will use it and also spread that Good News. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen.

Dear brothers and sisters, today is Presidents' Day. Over the years we have had good presidents and we have had some really bad ones. Please pray that God will have a good one in the White House the next time around. Oh, and the biggest joke out there is Donald Trump trying to sell himself off as a Christian. I am not judging his soul, that is up to Jesus, but one who tells me he is a follower of Christ, and that is what a Christian is to be, and curses like he does, makes one wonder. We need to be in constant prayer for a good Christian leader to step forward. Anyway, brothers and sisters, God is telling me to take another look at one very good scripture that most everyone knows, Psalm 23. Maybe we can take a few days to look at this and not try and jam it in one day.

Monday: February 15, 2016: The Big Trip (Day Thirty-nine)

Psalm 23 (Day One)

Psalm 23 King James Version (KJV)

1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: He leadeth me beside the still waters.
3 He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake.
4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me.
5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

Brothers and sisters, today I just want to look at verses one and two of this wonderful scripture. But first, a quick look back to my days growing up in Harrisburg, PA, where I attended Melrose and then D. A. Marshall Elementary Schools. As  I have told many of you, I struggled to read, I just did not understand it, and back in those days we took turns reading the Bible. When it was my turn, I would just open my Bible and recite the 23rd Psalm or the 100th Psalm. So this Psalm has special meaning to me, and I pray it does to you. We often see it used at funerals, but to me, this Psalm is great for the living for it is really full of promises.

Let us start out by looking at verse one. And for our scripture today I am using the King James Version (KJV).

Psalm 23:1 - The LORD is my Shepherd; I shall not want.

The very first thing this scripture tells us  is, "Our Lord God will take care of us." If we truly let our Lord Jesus Christ be our Shepherd and we indeed live for Him, we will never be in want of anything that is needed to sustain our lives. Let us take a look in the book of John and there we find that indeed Jesus is our Shepherd.

John 10:11 - "I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. 12 The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. 13 The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. 14 I am the Good Shepherd; I know My sheep and My sheep know me." (NIV)

Here we can see Jesus being quoted and He is telling all of us, He, Jesus, is indeed our Shepherd and He also tells us in verse 14 that he knows His sheep and indeed His sheep know Him. So I must ask you this today. Do you know The Good Shepherd and love Him so that indeed He will know and remember you when you finish out your term here on earth? If you cannot answer that with a big YES, right now, we need to go back to the Cross and start over with you.

Now looking at that same verse, verse one, I want to take you to the back of our Bible where in Revelation 7:17 it tells us this.

Revelation 7:17 - For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their Shepherd; He will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. (NIV)

Brothers and sisters, I wanted to go to the back of the Bible for it is there we find out that if we truly believe in God The Father, God The Son, and God The Holy Ghost, and that Jesus (God The Son) died for us on the Cross, then we will be saved. Amen.

Psalm 23:2 - He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: He leadeth me beside the still waters.

As we take a look at this verse, I ask you, where are your green pastures? When you are tired, when you are troubled, do you go seek out the Lord in prayer? To me, our Lord Jesus is indeed our Green Pasture. Oh, yes, some days I might think it is my bed or a nice easy chair, but indeed to be really revived and to have your troubles lifted you need to just place yourself in the Loving Arms of our Good Shepherd, our Lord Jesus for this rest.

As for the still waters, please just hand over to Jesus what is troubling you and get refreshed by those still waters. Back when I was growing  up once in awhile my daddy would take me fishing. Oh, we never caught much, but pop would help me bait my hook and he would lay back beside that old stream and take a good nap. And yes, we were in a green pasture and the water was still. Lots of times those green pastures were made so green because Jesus would send the water over the banks to water the pasture.

I want you to look back over your life and tell me if there was ever a time, even when you were not walking with Jesus, that He did not supply your basic needs. A roof over your head, food in your belly, and clothes on your body. Maybe it was not done like you might want, but our God said He will supply our needs, not all of our crazy wants in life. However, if you think about it, God does supply a lot of our wants.

That is enough for this day. Please think about it, maybe re-read it and think about how good God has been to you and what all in your life He really has supplied.

Dear Father in Heaven: We love You and give You all honor and glory for supplying our needs and then also resting our body and soul. Please, dear Lord, keep watch over Your children and keep watch over those who use this line. In Jesus' Name, I pray. Amen.

Now go forth and love Jesus and share His love with others and also rest in His Loving Arms. Love ya.

Pastor Dan

Fill My Cup, Lord

Fill my cup, Lord; I lift it up, Lord!
Come and quench this thirsting of my soul.
Bread of heaven, feed me 'til I want no more.
Fill my cup, fill it up and make it whole!

Fill my cup, Lord; I lift it up, Lord!
Come and quench this thirsting of my soul.
Bread of heaven, feed me 'til I want no more.
Fill my cup, fill it up and make it whole!

Fill my cup, Lord; I lift it up, Lord!
Come and quench this thirsting of my soul.
Bread of heaven, feed me 'til I want no more.
Fill my cup, fill it up and make it whole!