The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still water. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil, my cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Question # 1:
Is this Psalms 23 written for us as well as for David who was a king?
Answer:
Yes, the Bible was written for everyone who reads and believes. No, we don’t do the animal sacrifices anymore because when Jesus went to the cross, He became the ultimate sacrifice once and for all: His death, burial and resurrection took care of that.
No longer do we need to sacrifice an animal to cover our sins. Now we come clean, simply by receiving Jesus as our savior: The blood He shed washed away all of our sins of the past as well as any in the future:
1 Corinthians 15: 3 (The Passion Translation) For I have shared with you what I have received and what is of utmost importance. The Messiah died for our sins, fulfilling the prophecies of the scripture:
1 John 2:2 (The Passion Translation) He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but for the sins of the whole world:
Galatians 1:3 (The Passion Translation) I pray over you a release of blessings of God’s undeserved kindness and total well-being that flows from our Father God and from the Lord Jesus. He’s the anointed Messiah who offered himself as the sacrifice for our sins! He has taken us out of this evil world system and set us free through our salvation, just as God desires:
These are just a few of the scriptures showing that Jesus bought redemption through His death, burial and resurrection:
Here is another:
2 Corinthians 9:10
(The Passion Translation)
This generous God who supplies abundant seed for the farmer, which becomes bread for our meals, even more extravagant toward you: First he supplies every need, plus more. Then he multiplies the seed as you sow it, so that the harvest of your generosity will grow:
Just understand, (read the old testament, then the new). When Jesus died on the cross, He did it for all of man-kind and not just one or a few, but all. Even though Jesus work is finished, we must receive him as our Lord and Savior and all by faith.
Question # 2:
Is it now up to every Human being to accept His ultimate sacrifice by making Jesus Lord of your life? Yes!
(If you have not already have made Jesus Lord and savior say this)
Dear God in heaven, I receive Jesus as my Lord and Savior and all that he purchased through his death, burial and resurrection is mine. I have confessed Jesus as my Lord and savior and I choose to walk accordingly:
Once you have done this, at this time, you are now born again, and you are what Jesus died for. Now you can say as David said, “Lord you are the (my) good shepherd, you are my shepherd and I do not want.
Every time you feel unworthy speak this again until you have settled it within you:
Question # 3
Is this something I can walk in? Yes, go back over the scriptures listed above. His word never changes and if it is for one, it is for all that will come to him.
God has given you (us) the best, His only begotten Son (Jesus). He put him through whipping, the scarring, the pain, made him sick and carry every pain and disease. He, Jesus did this all for us. All of us need to and should be walking in these promises, but sometimes we let circumstances, feelings, and what people say or what we see in the natural tell us that these things are not for us today. We must know and understand that everything given to us in the word of God was given to us by Jesus through His death, burial and resurrection. If this is not true, then Jesus died and was buried and resurrected for nothing. We must get to the place that we believe the whole word of God, and accept it and speak it into our hearts (spirits) till we are transformed to His word and we believe it in our hearts (spirits).
Sometimes we get discouraged because we pray and do not see results, but understand, we must feed on the word of God until it gets more real to us than the things around us. I have been in this place before in my life and had to come to the realization, that His word works, even though I don’t see it yet. I still to this day have to remind myself of who I am in Christ.
This is where the power of confession comes in.
The power of confession - What it does
It puts you into the place of trusting God and his word:
It plants seeds of God’s word in our hearts (spirits). And what does a seed do? It will eventually produce a harvest. You plant, and water the word by speaking it out of your mouth over and over and over until it grows. Much like Planting a garden or a row of fruit trees, you don’t see anything happen at first, but you keep watering and cultivating until the plant starts to grow. Then you water and cultivate until you see the fruit on the vine, then you water and cultivate until the fruit grows and ripens. After the fruit is mature and ripe, then it is time to harvest and eat. The word of God is the same, but you plant his word by reading it over and over, then you water the word by speaking it out loud over and over, then you start seeing the fruit of you labors. At this time, you are ready to harvest the word that you planted.
Question # 4
Is this the place I want to live in?
Ask yourself if you want or can live without natural food or water? Your answer should be no:
You are fed naturally water, milk and food to grow up. You do the above with help from your parents until you are able to feed yourself. After that you must continue feeding and drinking to continue to grow and survive.
The word of God is the same. You must continue to feed, water and cultivate until you grow up spiritually, then you will see the fruit of your spiritual labor. Growing in the word is much like growing in the natural. You feed and water on the word until you grow and become strong. Nothing is automatic, you don’t grow automatically physically, and you won’t grow automatically spiritually without food or drink. Keep feeding yourself food and drink as well as prayer and speaking of the word, and growth will come.
Cultivating your spirit by keeping the weeds (negative words) out of your mouth which is how your spiritual gardens is fed.
Watering your spirit by speaking God’s word over yourself even though you haven’t seen any fruit.
Cultivate again --- Pulls the weeds (negative) out and loosens the soil of your spirit until the fruit is ready.
Pick the fruit --- At this time, you will believe God’s word in your heart and you will be able to enjoy the fruit that has grown or has been produced.
Now you can say as David said: “The Lord is my shepherd” He is but now you have no questions rather he is or not, because you have fed on the word and you have done the word. Bill Lear
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