The Lord Is Our Shepherd

Psalms 23:1-6  “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

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.

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

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.”

We have had many different cats over the years, but one cat in particular was different than the others. All of our cats were friendly, but none of them were as mellow, or as trusting as this one special cat. While some of our cats would jump and get spooked at a sudden movement or sound, this cat wouldn’t even flinch. You could pick him up and hold him upside-down over your head if you wanted and his demeanor would continue to remain the same. He was an incredibly mellow, trusting cat. He knew that we wouldn’t ever hurt him.

Over our lifetime as a Christian, we will encounter times of peace, as well as harder times of trials and persecution, but our faith and trust in our Lord should keep us filled with the peace of the Holy Spirit. 

We do not need to be afraid, because God is with us. We do not need to be filled with worry and fear, because He is our Shepherd. He is our Deliverer and Protector.

2 Timothy 1:7  “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”

When we put our complete faith and trust in Christ, we have nothing to fear. There is no one who can separate us from His love. Is has been written in the Bible that those who will live Godly will suffer persecution, but that is ok! They persecuted Christ Himself, and they will persecute His followers as well. So don’t be afraid, or dismayed if and when this happens to you. Be filled with peace in your heart.

John 16:33  “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”

The Lord is our Champion who fights on our side. He has already defeated death, something that no one else has ever done. So when Jesus taught in Luke 21:16 that “some of you shall they cause to be put to death,” we do not need to be afraid. We will all die eventually, as our earthly bodies cannot live forever, so those who die for their faith in Jesus can be at peace, knowing that a life of eternity will await them soon afterwards.

Luke 12:4  “And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.”

Whatever trials that we go through we will always have God on our side. The Lord is our Shepherd, what can man do unto us?

In Christ,

Andrew

We can be found on your web browser by searching, tlkjbc  where you can find our diaries distributed through various platforms. We are not associated, nor affiliated with any other religious groups. You can get our entire podcast feeds directly, along with transcripts at tlkjbc.com or I suppose that you could find us somewhere up here, in the Great Northern Minnesota woods.