The LORD is my Shepherd I do not want. Psalm 23:1
Today your LORD (יהוה) God says:
Inspired by the Holy Spirit upon him, David sang, “The LORD is my Shepherd, I do not want.” Psalm 23:1. People tend to say this without really pondering what all it means, but it is far reaching, there is no limit to what it covers. My love for you is higher than the sky and deeper than the sea. It has no limits because I have no limits in My reach, wisdom, knowledge, understanding, existence and creativity and I am love. So love is as infinite as I am. My goodness, My light, My ability, My love, My mercy, My grace, have no limits. And you should not put limits on what I can do and desire to do for you.
“I do not want.” This includes not just financial provision, although it does include that unto abundant prosperity for every good work, but it also includes ALL your wants: physical, financial, spiritual, emotional, and relational. It includes friends, family, job, ministry, homelife, work life, school life, social life, and inner life. It includes your daily activity and your dreams and your victory.
I will send you good friends. Not sharks, not wolves, not manipulators, not crude people without faith and without Me in their lives, but faith friends who would lay down their lives for you because of their love for Me and the love they will have for you. I surround you with love and compassion. I send people to comfort you and edify you, to provide for you and to benefit from your gifts and generosity. The more you hunger for My Word the more opportunities I provide for you to hear good preaching and teaching. I give you apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers to equip you and build you up to the fullness of Christ.
And, best of all, this Psalm includes your relationship with Me. It begins with your relationship with Me (the Shepherd leading and providing for you) and ends with your relationship with Me (living in My house now and forever) and is filled with the good things that come to you in a relationship with Me. Take a look.
It begins with the relationship of LORD (יהוה), My Covenant Name, indicating that we are bound together in a spiritual bond that makes all I have yours and all you have Mine in a constant flow of abundance grace and an exchange of love and faithfulness to one another. And it tells you one of the aspects of our Covenant relationship, I am your Shepherd. Do not live in fear, little flock, it has pleased Me to give you the Kingdom. The care of the sheep is the Shepherd’s responsibility. I am consistent in this area of our relationship, Jesus told you that He is the good Shepherd that laid down His life for you, His sheep. The Shepherd feeds, guides, protects, and cares for the sheep. Have you never read, “Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord, equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.” Hebrews 13:20-21. And even in Heaven, “They will hunger no longer, nor thirst anymore; nor will the sun beat down on them, nor any heat; for the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and will guide them to springs of the water of life; and God will wipe every tear from their eyes.” Revelation 7:16-17.
And what comes after that beautiful relationship with Me as the one who cares for you so that you never want is established? “He makes me lie (stretch out in total care-free relaxed peace) down in green pastures; He leads me beside restful waters of healing. He restores my soul.” Psalm 23:2-3. With Me as your Shepherd you can live in peace and wholeness. If you trust Me as your Shepherd, you have no fear of danger or lack. I take care of you from the riches of My Kingdom and the infinite supply that is in Me. And with Christ you have the double portion of the first-born. I take you to healing, health, wholeness, and victory. I restore what you have lost or had broken by giving in to the devil and not obeying My Word, even when it was unintentional on your part, by not knowing My Word and acting thereon you have lost much but it is not really lost for I restore. Even if your brain and/or your emotional health has been damaged by stress, anxiety, depression, drugs, alcohol, injury or trauma, I restore your soul, which is your mind, will and emotions, and what I restore is five times better than before. Exodus 22:1.
And the Psalm continues about how we walk together: “He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.” Psalm 23:3-4. Lean not on your own understanding but lean on My wisdom and understanding. I know the right place and the right time for you to prosper and be the most fruitful and effective with the gifts with which I have graced your life. And I lavish My grace on you now and for the ages to come so that you will be on right paths where the devil cannot stop you. Isaiah 35:8-11. And when it seems all the powers of darkness are drawing in array against you, remember My Son has won the victory over death and taken back the keys from Satan to death and the nether world, so that death is merely a shadow and not a substance in your life. You will never taste the death that is death forever, you will just become absent from the body and present with Me. Fall asleep in this world and wake up with joy in My presence forever. I am with you with all the heavenly host at your disposal and you have nothing to fear. The shadow of a dog never bit anyone. And I have given you My armor to wear so that in battle you look just like Me. Clothed in Christ, deep in Me. And there is no one that can snatch you out of My hand.
“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.” Psalm 23:5. Yes, I have called you into the banquet hall and My banner over you is love. Christ, though He is rich, became poor for you by taking all your sins, sickness, pain, lack, and infirmity, so that you could become rich by His poverty. He has given all He has to you in the presence of Satan and all the demonic powers and they cannot take it from you unless you hand it over to them by speaking the devil’s words of fear, doubt and lack and declaring evil times instead of good. If you will not partake of the banquet I set for you, then it is your own fault. Like the invited guests that refused to come to the great wedding feast for the Master’s Son. But you can laugh at the devil and his antics as you feast on the children’s bread, which is healing, at My table. Not eating the scraps that fall from the table but feasting as My beloved child, as My precious little flock.
“You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.” In Christ I have anointed you with His own anointing- the anointing of the oil of joy and the fullness of the Spirit, which is power that destroys the yoke and lifts every burden. You are anointed with power from on High. You are a temple of My Spirit, the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is resident in you! And the good Shepherd came so that you would have life and have it more abundantly, till it overflows. Let Me pour My love in your heart by My gift of the Holy Spirit so you can live in My love and have a heart like My heart—filled with joy and expectation of good.
“Surely goodness and lovingkindness will pursue me all the days of my life.” Psalm 23:6. When you walk with Me, being obedient to My Word by remaining in My Word and letting it remain in you, THE BLESSING will chase you down and overwhelm you will goodness and lovingkindness in every area of your life. It will turn your waste places into a Garden of Eden, for that is what THE BLESSING, once you release it by faith in your life, does. Seek first the Kingdom and all good things are added to you without sorrowful toil. I will give you skill, creativity, and amazing projects to do for the Kingdom if you are willing and obedient to My promptings, to My leading.
“And I will dwell in the house of the LORD for endless days.” Psalm 23:6. You can abide in My house, filled with abundance and delight, now and forever. Isn’t it time you came home? Like the prodigal son and so many others who have found that My house is the best place to be to find everything you desire.
I love you. Read Psalm 23 and think about your relationship with Me. Read Psalm 23 and think about all that you are looking for in your life and know that if you will only follow your shepherd you will have the best of the land. I am there for you. Be there for Me. In all you do, whether it is serving others who are difficult and selfish or preaching, teaching and healing, or going to work each day, don’t get too judgmental or frustrated with those you are ministering to or working and living with so that they take over your thought life with negative thoughts about them, do what you can to give them the Gospel, but then let Me take care of them (not your responsibility to “make” them behave right once you have told and shown them and led them to Me) and you take care of Me. Do you understand what I am saying? Do what I tell you to do to minister to them and then I will take care of them as you do your part and you take care of Me. Our relationship is what should fill your thoughts and heart, don’t let those around you take over your life with resentful thoughts about them. Train yourself to leave their hearts with Me and turn your heart only to Me, fill it with thoughts of My Word and who I am and declare them the person I want them to be and think of them as such until it comes to pass. I will never try you beyond your strength but will provide for you a way out, so do not despair. Keep your eyes on Jesus, your good Shepherd and all will be all right. Shadows never bit anyone.