9/25/2011

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. Psalm 23:1-2

How true it is that in the Lord’s presence I feel the safety of His shepherd’s heart and am so filled with His love that I desire nothing but Him. The next phrase….”He makes me lie down” caught my attention because to lie down refers to rest. He desires rest not only for my soul but also my physical body. I also noticed where He led David to a place with green pastures and still waters, His creation. I thought of how many times I stop to enjoy the beauty of His creation. Often when I am outdoors, I am doing activities or busy thinking of other things. I am completely surrounded with beautiful mountains, trees, and lakes here at PFR, yet I have not recently just enjoyed the stillness of His creation. I want to spend some time quieting myself before the Lord outside. I will get up tomorrow morning to watch the sunrise while I read His word.

 …This morning when I went outside to read His word, I was amazed by the magnitude of His glory. Something about reading His word while looking at the tangible beauty that He has made around me made me more aware of His awesomeness.

9/27/2011

“He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake,” Psalm 23:3

Restores: give back

How many times do I fail in something God has commanded of me and I feel defeated? I don’t want to remember what I had done because I am frustrated with myself and sinful nature. I am so thankful that I have this promise that God will restore my soul. He will give me back restoration which was once ours tracing all the way back before Adam and Eve sinned. I am so thankful that God did not think it beneath Himself to restore a relationship with me when I have absolutely nothing in and of myself to offer. Everything good I can give Him is because what He has already given me.

The second part of the verse, “He leads me in the paths of righteousness” makes me think of all the times that I have had alone time with God. During these times, I am given renewed strength to follow Him in all that He has placed before me. Here at the ranch, I have had several specific situations in where I did not know what to do. The Lord then completely met me and gave me a clear answer of what to do as if He had said it Himself.

To apply these truths to my life, I want to first continually remind myself when I know I have messed up again that God has and will restore me to a state of righteousness because of Jesus Christ. Secondly, I want to obey when God speaks to me. Yes, the Lord can speak to me and direct me on where I am to go but I need to constantly be surrendering and doing what He is speaking for me to do. It is a choice.