{"id":505,"date":"2015-03-08T21:04:15","date_gmt":"2015-03-08T21:04:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/parkwood.dreamhosters.com\/blog\/?p=505"},"modified":"2015-03-09T13:50:17","modified_gmt":"2015-03-09T13:50:17","slug":"the-lord-is-my-shepherd-17","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/parkwood.dreamhosters.com\/blog\/the-lord-is-my-shepherd-17\/","title":{"rendered":"The Lord is my Shepherd (17)"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.”<\/em><\/p>\n

I have the Good Shepherd. He watches over me and takes care of me. He keeps me out of trouble and protects me from danger…I do not have to be afraid. \u00a0Fear tends to be our worst enemy in life’s journey. \u00a0It robs us of the peace that God desires us to enjoy. \u00a0It can blur our vision of the situation around us and we can become “glass half empty” people. \u00a0Fear also effects our relationships because it causes us to be suspicious of people in our lives. \u00a0“What do they want from me?” \u00a0This kind of paranoia can destroy friendships and wreak havoc in families.<\/p>\n

Fear can also paralyze us. \u00a0When we are afraid we tend to freeze in our tracks. \u00a0Decisions become impossible for us to make. \u00a0We are afraid of what is ahead or what “could” happen so we sit still. \u00a0We call it the “deer in the headlights” syndrome. \u00a0We simply stand still and allow life to run over us.<\/p>\n

In this Psalm, David says even when things are bad he does not fear. \u00a0His confidence is in God and, therefore, he is not afraid of evil. \u00a0The world can be a dangerous place and there is an enemy that is out there trying to rob us of the abundant life we were created to experience. \u00a0Jesus said it this way,<\/p>\n

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”<\/em> (John 10:10)<\/p>\n

There is a sobering truth that the world has opposing forces that battle for your soul. \u00a0It can be a scary thought. \u00a0But we can walk in the same confidence as David when we choose Jesus to be our Good Shepherd. \u00a0He gives life…abundant life. \u00a0The beloved disciple, John gave a great perspective when he said,<\/p>\n

“You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them (evil in the world), because the One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” <\/em>(1 John 4:4)<\/p>\n

If God is for us…who can be against us? \u00a0We are carefully guarded and watched by the Good Shepherd. \u00a0Nothing can stand against Him. \u00a0We should “fear no evil”.<\/p>\n

Walk this day knowing that the Shepherd is watching over you. \u00a0He will protect you.<\/p>\n

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

“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.” I have the Good Shepherd. He watches over me and takes care of me. He keeps me out … 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-505","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\/505","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=505"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/parkwood.dreamhosters.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":516,"href":"http:\/\/parkwood.dreamhosters.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505\/revisions\/516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/parkwood.dreamhosters.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/parkwood.dreamhosters.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/parkwood.dreamhosters.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}