{"id":436,"date":"2015-02-28T14:52:24","date_gmt":"2015-02-28T14:52:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/parkwood.dreamhosters.com\/blog\/?p=436"},"modified":"2015-03-03T18:40:42","modified_gmt":"2015-03-03T18:40:42","slug":"the-lord-is-my-shepherd-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/parkwood.dreamhosters.com\/blog\/the-lord-is-my-shepherd-10\/","title":{"rendered":"The Lord is my Shepherd (10)"},"content":{"rendered":"

“The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters, He restores my soul.”<\/em><\/p>\n

This marks 10 days of our Lenten journey and we have been focusing on the beginning verses of this beloved Psalm. \u00a0One of the comforting aspects of this Psalm is that it begins by settling our soul with a intimate view of our heavenly Father. \u00a0He is our Shepherd. \u00a0The Good Shepherd. \u00a0He provides our needs so that we are not wanting. \u00a0He puts us in good places where we can be nourished. \u00a0He then leads us by the still waters and refreshes us. \u00a0All of this brings peace beyond understanding into our hearts and minds. \u00a0It gets us in the right frame of mind for the rest of the Psalm…for the rest of our lives for that matter.<\/p>\n

But it all begins with a relationship to the Shepherd. \u00a0This peace that is available, this comfort that the Psalm brings, is only available if the Lord is your Shepherd. \u00a0If we trust Him to meet our needs… If we are willing to lay down in the pastures where He puts us… \u00a0If we follow His lead to the quiet waters… If we can trust Him to restore our soul.<\/p>\n

To receive the care of the Good Shepherd and before we dive deeper into this wonderful Psalm, we must ask ourselves…Are we willingly placing our lives into the care of this Shepherd? \u00a0A stubborn and resistant sheep does not experience the peace afforded by this Good Shepherd if they continually rebel against His leading. \u00a0If the sheep does not trust the Shepherd than every provision is questioned and all direction is second guessed. \u00a0Not only does this sheep miss the peace that is available but it experiences anxiety, anger and frustration.<\/p>\n

So, how do we let it go and place our lives in the Shepherd’s hands? \u00a0Paul said:<\/p>\n

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. \u00a0And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”<\/em> (Phil. 4:6,7)<\/p>\n

Jesus, the Good Shepherd, said:<\/p>\n

“But seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. \u00a0Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.”<\/em> (Matt. 6:33,34)<\/p>\n

Today, take a moment to re-commit yourself to trusting the Shepherd that will bring you peace. \u00a0Stop resisting. \u00a0You can trust Him. \u00a0He will take care of you. \u00a0That’s a promise.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters, He restores my soul.” This marks 10 days of our Lenten journey and we have … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lenten_blog_2015","category-all_posts"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/parkwood.dreamhosters.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/parkwood.dreamhosters.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/parkwood.dreamhosters.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/parkwood.dreamhosters.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/parkwood.dreamhosters.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=436"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/parkwood.dreamhosters.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":446,"href":"http:\/\/parkwood.dreamhosters.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436\/revisions\/446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/parkwood.dreamhosters.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/parkwood.dreamhosters.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/parkwood.dreamhosters.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}