my rendition of psalm 23

 

The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not look for any other guide. He makes me rest when my body, mind and soul have been worn down. He leads me to the waters that will not sweep, my tired body away. There He satisfies my thirst and restores what’s been taken by all the cares of the world. He leads me along the paths that are right before His eyes, and that bring glory to His name; where I’m challenged to be more like Him.
Though, I may walk in places of trouble and danger that the devil may be hiding and waiting in, I shall not fear his evil ways. For my God walks in front, behind and beside me. Your discipline, O Lord, Your protection, Your power, they bring me peace.
You place me in front of those may hate and despise me, and then You anoint me. Showing all that I am Yours, sealed, and equipped to fight, with Your Holy Spirit alive in me, and my heart overflows with joy for all the works You have for me.
Surely Your goodness and Your mercy will pursue me for the rest of my life, wherever I go, and I will dwell one day in Your house, O Lord, FOREVER.

Hallelujah

 

sometimes it’s nice poetry to rewrite psalms or certain parts of scripture into your own interpretation. it helps you look deeper into the passage, and make it more relevant.

I used to always overlook Psalm 23, because it was so common, and so quoted. But now that I’m older, and looking back on all these truths and scriptures, I absolutely love this Psalm. I love that the LORD truly is my Shepherd, and how good He is, and how He leads me. I love the idea of a shepherd and his sheep and the relationship there. and I love that that’s the relationship Christ chooses to illustrate our relationship with Him in John. We are His. He is not just going to leave us…He cares for us, and will take care of us. Better care than anyone could ever imagine!

The LORD, God, is my Shepherd.

really?!

 

How legalistic can one become?!

I literally was just reading in John 5, and read this passage…on where Jesus heals a lame man on the sabbath and this is the Pharisee’s response to the man…

”so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, ‘It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed."’” (John 5:10)

As I read that, my thought process was…”really?!?” They were so concerned with keeping the law, that they wouldnt even permit a lame man, who had just been healed, to take up his bed…
Now i realize there is much more to this, for instance, that the Jews hated Jesus…therefore the fact that this lame man was healed on a Sabbath is quite a big deal to them…

But the relevant point I am trying to make…the Jews of Jesus’ time, are modern day legalistics. We all can be legalistic about certain things. I’m not gonna lie, sometimes I wish I could be legalistic about things, and more often than I like, find myself fighting it in my head… but being legalistic about the things I want to be legalistic about would cause much dissension and it wouldn’t allow people to learn from mistakes and it would make people to become just like me…which we really do not want. We want people to become more like Christ.

Jesus is LORD over the Sabbath. Jesus is LORD over the law. May our focus be on JESUS and not on rules, or the law, or how we think something should be happening. Focus your attention on Jesus.

 

“…looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith…”
Hebrews 12:2

Jesus was a modern day celebrity

 

This past weekend I had the privilege to attend The Struggle Tour with 10th Ave North, Audrey Assad, and Rend Collective. And the day after I was reading in Mark 9, and was just struck by how often Jesus attracted crowds…very much like today’s ‘spotlight people'.’

A few things I notice, is that Jesus never turns the crowds away and that He always gives them what they are in need of…truth, encouragment(which also can mean challenges), and HIMSELF!

and that’s exactly what anyone in the spotlight (musicians, speakers, pastors, authors, actors…) are supposed to do. (Especially those who proclaim Jesus as LORD). Is to give the crowds what they need, truth, encouragement and of course, Jesus!

My challenge is to pray for those who are constantly in the spotlight and have people look at them from such a high viewpoint in their minds. Pride can quickly sweep in and take over, and they need to be covered in prayers by anyone who is willing. Because they are attacked, and they always need to be pointing people to The Father, just like Jesus did.

 

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in His love.”
John 15:9-10

Wisdom from James

 

Sometimes, whenever I read the Word of God, and grasp a truth and the depth of what it is saying…I wish the whole body of Christ could grasp it in that moment. I guess this is where Intercession and prayer comes in play. as well as teacher’s and preacher’s.

A group of us girls tonight were reading in James 3, about taming the tongue. and I was just reminded at how much power there is in the tongue. It builds up and it tears down.

“…the tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell…but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poision. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brother’s these things ought not to be so…Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water…”

Our words/tongue carry so much weight…and i cant help but think, how often do we bathe our words in prayers? Do we devote our words to God?! Each morning do we offer our words to God? Do we think before speak, do we pray before we share something with someone? Whether its in deep conversation, surface conversation, confrontation….in everything we say…are we submitting it to God?

Romans 12:1 tells us to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice; our tongue is a part of our body. It is a small part, but like the passage says, ‘sets on the fire the entire course of life.’

Devote your words to God.
I heard a father ask a son today, “did you do anything edifying today?”
and I think that is such a great question to ask ourselves every night before our days end. Did we do anything edifying? Did the words we say edify or tear down someone?

So my challenge to whoever in the world may read this, and my prayer for God’s children, is that we give our tongues over to the power of Christ and not go about our days without thinking or praying about the words we say.

Annabelle

 

Today was a day where i just want to sit in the LORD’s presence all day long. and the great thing is..that I am able to.

Tonight after church, i went and got myself dinner (Mcdonalds) and the sun was starting to set so Ive been in this reflective mode, so I decided to sit outside on the front steps and watch the sky and eat and listen to my favorite musician, and of course watch my spastic kitten run around. and whilst all of these things, I was watching little miss annabelle (the kitten) climb a tree near me, and I just had to be so so grateful for her. and I’ve been telling people this, because its just so true i’m realizing, but I truly believe that she is a gift to me from my Heavenly Father. For someone who has never liked cats…I now have become a decent cat lover because of her.
If i would have not had her this summer to talk to (yes, i talk to her), to take care of her, to cuddle with her, to laugh at her, to get annoyed with her (very often) I would have been extremely lonely. It was a different/weird/rough summer in the first place, but I really believe that without her, it could have been worse. She helped keep me sane and most importantly, make me laugh- which is a necessity in my life.

It’s funny how God works in our lives, and how He provides. I love it. Jehovah Jireh.

Bless The LORD, O my soul.

 

I love that throughout the Bible, often, okay, a lot, you find these themes. Themes that go on through the whole Old and New testaments. One reason why I can believe the Bible to be truth!

So ive been reading the psalms and have noticed that it often talks about remembering of old, and telling from generation to genereation what God has done for the Israelites. and Psalm 119 talks a lot about telling the testimonies of God! and its so reflective in our own lives…

when we have our break downs, our hard times, our trials and even our great times in our lives…we need to REMEMBER who God is, and what He has done and TELL of who He is and all He has done and through that, we BLESS Him and others and our focus gets placed where it should be, on Christ!

This is so key to every believer. to remember, and to tell, and to bless whenever we are struggling and whenever we are thrilled!

thinking about recently

 

Having a kitten, has taught me a few things. and something that i have been finding myself being reminded of and thinking about recently, is our need of being saved, or rescued.

For instance, a kitten who cannot figure out how to climb down a tree,  or who falls into a deep basement window opening,cries out for help, because they need rescued.
We often, cry out for help to, but we also, don’t cry out for help enough soemtimes. We think that we can handle things on our own, that we are strong enough. But reality is, we all need saving. We all need rescued from something. and the good news is, that God is right there to save us.

Jesus has saved us from eternal damnation, and has clothed us with His righteousness by His blood. But each day, we need rescueing as well in our daily fight to live for Him. because we can’t do things in our own strength, we need the strength of the one who raised Christ from the dead!

Jesus is our deliverer. Our rescuer. Our Savior.
and we need to humble ourselves and realize that we need saving.