a glimpse of heaven's love

 Psalm 23:6b "...and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever." It is because of all the wondrous things that God does in our lives, and because of all His precious promises, I promise I will dwell in His house forever.   If you were to go back and review all my posts regarding the 23rd Psalm, you would stand in awe of our wondrous and gracious God!  You cannot help but say, "Yes, dear Lord, I will follow You; I will do whatever it is You desire of me... because you deserve all glory, and You deserve all praise!  I will freely give You all that I am, all that I have."  As it says in Romans 12:1-2, that is our "reasonable service."  

  Following and Obeying God Psalm 23:6a "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life..." The Psalmist is able to say this because of the confidence he holds in his Savior!  The whole psalm, for that matter speaks loudly and boldly of his confidence.  Why do you suppose this is true?  ...because the Lord is his Shepherd!  What a precious, precious truth that is! "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life" ...that is to say, I know God's goodness and mercy shall follow me because I follow and obey God.  We can have that same confidence simply because we follow and obey God. This reminds me of a number of my posts, but one in particular is called, "The Abundant Life."  If you'll pardon me, I'd like to quote most of that post. J ohn 10:10   "The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." Sa

Psalm 23:5c “…my cup runneth over.” My, what a long time it’s been since I’ve written!   I am so sorry.   We all tend to get busy with the things of this life, and some things just get put on hold.   I will try to do better! Last time, I ended with the thought that our cup should be running over…rather a lead in to this next section!   Our cup should be running over; the blessings of God truly abound! I think for this section, I am just going to recount each promise phrase that is spoken of in this psalm: (1)       Promise of Shepherding: tending, feeding, and guarding His precious sheep (2)       Promise of Providing: providing for all our needs     If we will cast all our cares on Him, He will meet those needs     A God-centered life brings peace and contentment (3)        Promise of Rest   God knows just when we are in need of rest---and He provides it (4)       Promise of Leading   God leads—we are to follow!  We must remember His way

Let me first apologize for not checking into my blog in a long while.  Not that I’ve ever been very consistent or constant, but I’d like to be.  I know I don’t have thousands of readers; but I do have some…and God seems to be using this blog to some degree, so for that I am thankful. Let’s see if I can get back to the subject at hand…the 23 rd Psalm!   We had left off at the middle of verse five.   I don’t believe I touched on this last time, so let me first say, at verse five there is a change in relationship:   It changes from a scene of traveling with our Shepherd out in the wilderness and fields, to a scene of hospitality and friendship inside his tent or home.   The change goes from shepherd-and-sheep imagery to one of intimate friendship.   Get this, dear Christian: God desires a close, intimate friendship with us!   That is the greatest scene changer and thought we should capture when reading this psalm!   God desires to walk with us hand in hand, much lik

Psalm 23:5a “Thou prepares a table before me in the presence of mine enemies…”       Let’s think of that phrase for just a little bit.   What kind of picture does that conjure up for you?   First of all, to me, the word table makes me think of a banquet or feast… and oh, what a feast that would be!   You did notice God is preparing that table.   When God is in the midst of it, what a grand thing it is!   God doesn’t do things just half-heartedly…no way!   God does things BIG!!   So when blessings are in store, He gets out His BIG shovel!!   Blessings ABOUND!!   You see, dear Christian, God desires the very best for us.   It’s we, ourselves, that limit God’s richest blessings.   But when we’re walking with God, obeying His Word, wow! what blessings are in store for us!!   Let’s notice, too, God says He’s preparing that table right before us.   He wants us to see everything He has in store for us.   He doesn’t want us to miss out on anything.   His richest blessings are

Psalm 23:4c “…Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me.”                     In studying the Bible, you will find many analogies; but one very popular one is the analogy of the sheep and their Shepherd.   If you have had the chance to read some of my previous postings, you have found how comforting this truly is.   And this phrase—Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me—is equally as comforting. Think for a minute of a shepherd.   There are many jobs a shepherd must do, but primarily their job is to protect and to guide their sheep.   Sheep, unfortunately, can be very dumb and willful…not a very complimentary thing to say about us, as sheep!   The shepherd must be very protective, as well as being very caring, compassionate and longsuffering.   First of all, let’s define the rod and the staff .   The rod can be likened to a club.   It is the shepherd’s primary tool for protecting, as well as disciplining his sheep.   Jesus makes use of many different devices to protect us