He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His Name’s sake. Psalm 23:3.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God says:
Re-evaluate is the word for today. We are continuing with your good Shepherd on the road to freedom with Psalm 23. We are still on line 3. “He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His Name’s sake.” Psalm 23:3.
Let Me figure it out for you, I mean the right path. You cannot on your own. You do not see the end from the beginning, but I do, and I am willing to share that with you, My Holy Spirit discloses to you what is to come. John 16:13.
Re-evaluate where you are heading and let your good Shepherd lead and guide you. Those who are led by My Spirit are My mature children. Your job is to follow the Shepherd, not lead Him. There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death. Proverbs 14:12; Proverbs 16:25. In the way of righteousness is life, and in its pathway there is no death. Proverbs 12:28. Your good Shepherd is guiding you in the pathway where there is no death. He is the Way and He is the LORD your righteousness.
Do not look so hard at others, it is your business to follow Me. No two lives are the same. Godly characteristics are the same but assignments and how you live out life and godliness is a different path of righteousness for each. Your Shepherd calls you each by name.
So today, I say it is time to re-evaluate each situation that you are now facing. Before you turn to the right or the left, see what My Word says.
You may be thinking, there is not always a Word exactly about what you are facing, but I tell you there is, and if you listen, I will speak it to your heart. But you have to pursue it. And by that, I mean in prayer, but not just any kind of prayer. I mean going deeper with Me until you hear. And you can. I know My sheep and they know Me. I know those who are Mine and they know Me. I know My children who serve Me and I know those who do not. And if you are feeling concerned that you may not be one who is serving Me, then you are one who serves Me, because there are few in number, it is a little flock, who are not seeking after their own interests but those of Christ Jesus. But I know if you are faithful to reading this Daily Manna blog, you do care about Me and want to please Me. Let Me guide you.
Sometimes you may think My Word is telling you two different things on the same subject, but it is not, My Word is truth and is established forever. You have to be able to rightly divide Scripture and My Word will do that for you. It is a two edged sword. The heavens (first and second, not Third) and earth as you know them now will pass away, but My Word will NEVER pass away.
For example, I tell you not to turn your back on your own, but to serve them in their needs. And yet in another place I tell you to leave your father, mother, siblings, and close relatives for the sake of the Gospel. And I tell you not to yoke up and join as partners with unbelievers when you are a believer, for light and darkness have nothing in common. The key is simple and you find it in the letters of My servant Paul. He wrote about family situations. When he addressed what was a common question in the early Christian community, that is, where two are already married and one partner becomes a believer and the other does not, and this would apply in situations that are not spouses as well, whether to leave the unbeliever or not. He writes “if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he must not divorce her. And a woman who has an unbelieving husband, and he consents to live with her, she must not send her husband away. For the unbelieving husband is sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified through her believing husband; for otherwise your children are unclean, but now they are holy. Yet if the unbelieving one leaves, let him leave; the brother or the sister is not under bondage in such cases, but God has called us to peace. For how do you know, O wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, O husband, whether you will save your wife? Only, as the Lord has assigned to each one, as God has called each, in this manner let him walk.” 1 Corinthians 7:12-17. What I am telling you is that even if you have unbelievers in your family, if they let you practice your faith in Me and not hinder you or persecute you, then you can serve them and try to lead them to Me. But if those in your family stop you from practicing your faith and walking with Me, leave them or let them leave, in such case you are not obligated. But Paul even wrote to Timothy, “if any widow has children or grandchildren, they must first learn to practice piety in regard to their own family and to make some return to their parents; for this is acceptable in the sight of God.” 1 Timothy 5:8.
Do not love your family more than Me so that you would stop practicing your faith for them, but do not love them less than Me either. Love one another as I love you. What I mean is do not use your devotion to Me as an excuse to be harsh or cruel to others or to withhold service to them in their needs. I tell you to even be good to your enemies. Just approach this with common sense and the guidance of your good Shepherd. I am good to all but not everyone will live with Me forever. Selah. That is a choice each one must make.
It is time to re-evaluate, not vegetate and throw it all in My corner. I tell you to walk with Me and this implies movement forward. Remember, your good Shepherd is guiding you in paths of righteousness for His Name’s sake, but that requires you to be moving and not just sitting still or going backwards. Stop looking at what is behind and reach forward to what is ahead. If you put your hand to the plow but keep looking back, you will not be able to plow well. Many of you are so guilt ridden by your past that you are really in reverse. I cannot budge you into the life you really want to live and I prepared for you in advance (and it does not matter how long you have wandered in dark valleys for My gifts and My call are irrevocable, and that will be addressed in the next verse of Psalm 23) if you keep wallowing in your former sins. My disciple Peter found this out firsthand when he denied Jesus three times, but his faith did not fail and he knew he was forgiven. He never mentioned it again and neither did I. But he understood that harboring that sin against yourself blocks you from advancing in virtues, in fact he wrote, “For if these qualities (the moral virtues) are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins.” 1 Peter 1:8-9. Do not forget so great a salvation.
David wrote, “If I should say my foot has slipped, Your lovingkindness, O LORD, will hold me up. When my anxious thoughts multiply within me, Your consolation delights my soul.” Psalm 93:18-20.
Re-evaluate means educate not vegetate. It is time to diligently pay attention to and delve into My Word. Proverbs 4:20-27; Mark 4, 2 Timothy 2. Ask, seek, and knock and you receive, find, and enter.
I am about to show you wonders if you will only believe and trust in My mercy and grace. I have tried over and over to rescue you but you would not take the opportunity and stayed. Do not blame Me now for choices you have made, instead KNOW that My gifts and calling are irrevocable and I can still work with you and shepherd you.
How? Have you never read, “work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” Philippians 2:13. I am working in you; you only need to work it out. And how do you begin? “Do all things without grumbling or disputing,” Philippians 2:14, “holding fast to the Word of life.” Philippians 2:16.
Test yourself if you are in the faith. Examine yourself. Or do you not recognize this about yourself, that Jesus Christ is in you, unless indeed you fail the test. 2 Corinthians 13:5. Would you know that? Do not you know that you are My house and a temple of My Holy Spirit? If not, you will fail the test of faith. For if you do not know what I have done for you in Christ you are not confident of My help and guidance.
How do you test yourself to see if you are in the faith? How do you test that about others that you meet? You listen to what they say and watch their actions, and by these you see what is in their heart. Like Jesus did with the Pharisees.
Look at yourself now. What do you see? Do you see a bitter, crying, blaming, shaming, fearful, and unhappy person? If that is you, even though you are a believer and you come to pray to Me in a fearful and depressed, grumbling and crying way, you have no faith and you are immature. I am sorry, even if you have been a believer many years, if you are acting like that you never developed your faith. If those around you hear you complain more than thank and praise, you have no faith and are not an overcomer. This is serious because only overcomers sit with Me on My throne in Heaven. Revelation 3:21.
The problem is you do not see yourself with Christ in you and you in Him. But Christ is in you, your hope of glory. It is time to have your soul restored by your good Shepherd beside the living waters of peace. So what do you do?
First you recognize that Christ is in you by faith. My apostle Paul prayed you would become aware of this more than any other prayer for you. You will find it in his prayers for you in his letters to the Corinthians, the Ephesians, and the Colossians. This is an awesome wonder if you will recognize the power, the presence, and the goodness that is in you. Your good Shepherd is right there in your spirit with you where you access the Kingdom within. And as your great High Priest He will take you right into My throne of grace. You have no business being scared and depressed. Come up higher. Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. I did not leave you orphans. You have My Spirit in you. And if I am for you, who can be against you? No one and nothing.
Next, let Jesus be your Shepherd, your teacher, your Lord, and your great High Priest. Let Him be the head of His Body the church, of which you are a member, and your spouse, brother, and friend.
Finally, stop looking back and go forward. Forget what lies behind. And I mean it. You are a new creation in Christ, old things have passed away and all is new. Newness of life is yours if you will just go forward.
You cannot go back, so you must go forward or drop out. The past is over, finished and gone, it’s time to step up and sing a new song, I am your God, I am calling to you, come live in the Light of My Love.
And to make things simple, your new life should have one purpose, to follow Me. There where I am, there My servant will also be. Do you love Me? Feed My sheep.
Trust in Me. I am your help and your shield. Psalm 115:11. I will bless those who fear Me, the small together with the great. Psalm 115:13. I will give you increase, you and your children. Psalm 115:14. And as for you, go forward, and bless Me from this time forth and forever. Psalm 115:18.
Re-evaluate. “Do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised.” Hebrews 10:35-36. When you have done My Will, you receive what was promised. Ponder that a moment. Every promise of Mine has a Will with it and Jesus died so now you who as heirs can receive your inheritance of the promise, so now they are all are “yes” to you.
But the receiving of the promise is based upon doing My Will. Did you see that? So how do you know you have done My Will? Some of you may be thinking back into the past again, or even to the present, and you feel you have not done or are not doing My Will. The problem is you are not even sure what My Will for you is! Let Me comfort you in this.
My Son VERY CLEARLY tells you My Will for you. “For this is the WILL OF MY FATHER, that EVERYONE who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have ETERNAL LIFE and I MYSELF will raise him up on the Last Day.” John 6:40. Do you believe in My Son? THEN YOU HAVE DONE MY WILL and I will keep My promise. You have eternal life. 1 John 5:11-13 (“These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.”) And what is eternal life? Let Jesus define it for you in His prayer to Me the night before He died for you, “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” John 17:3. To know Me and Jesus in a close and intimate relationship is the joy of your life and the joy of My life. My delight is to be with the children of men and have you all with Me. And the good Shepherd knows His sheep and they know Him. They will not follow a stranger. And if you are depressed and fearful, you have followed the stranger and listened to his voice.
Time to reevaluate.
If you do not have the promise it is because you have not done the Will.
I love you. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give constant thanks, this is My Will for you in Christ Jesus. The LORD is your Shepherd . . . He guides you in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. Be confident and start walking with Me. You walk with Me when you hear My Word and keep it and declare it. My Word is a light to your path and a lamp to your feet.