The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want. Psalm 23:1.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלהים) says:
Your inheritance includes the promise of provision—spiritual, emotional, physical, financial, and more besides for now and eternity. In Christ you are complete.
For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, and in Him you have been made complete. Colossians 2:9-10.
In Him, I have given you EVERYTHING you need for life and godliness.
To those who have received a like precious faith as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ: Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. 2 Peter 1:1-3.
When I raised Jesus from the dead, I raised Him as your great good Shepherd by the blood of the eternal Covenant and equipped you in Him with every good thing for every good work. Hebrews 13:20-21. My magnificent promises of healing, restoration, prosperity, provision, deliverance, protection, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, redemption, and all My promises as many as they be, are “yes” to you in Him. It has pleased Me to give you, His little flock, the Kingdom.
And it is all there in one short psalm written by the inspiration of My Spirit by the one I called to shepherd My people Israel. Yes, David, the man after My own heart. He called Me his Shepherd. And so can you. For My Son revealed to you that He is that Shepherd that walks among you to call you by name, lead you out to lead you in, guide you, protect you, bless you, and dine with with you as He brings you into My house forever.
Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me. He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. Revelation 3:19-21.
But now consider the promises I give personally to you in Psalm 23 and claim them as your own possession at all times let them not depart from your heart and your mouth and you will have peace beyond understanding in the face of any need for you will know the provision is already there. You just have to come to the table.
The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside restful waters of peace. He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. Even though I walk through the dark valley of the shadow of death, I 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 overflows. Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever. Psalm 23:1-6.
Yes, 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.
Psalm 23 also guarantees you good friends for I know it is not good for you to be alone, so I fill that need too. I will send you good friends, 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.
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 every want is filled? “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 and you can partake and sing even 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.
Open wide your mouth and I will fill it with My Word of power! 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. Man does not live on bread alone but on every Word that proceeds from My mouth. My Word feeds your spirit and prospers your soul and gives life and health to all your flesh. The banquet I set before you of rich fare and choice wine is My Word and My love, and the pure living water of the Spirit. With Me is the fountain of life and in My light you see light. I give you to drink of the abundance of My house.
“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.
He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. 2 Peter 1:4.
I am with you always and you are with Me always. When you come to the end of your journey in this life you will wake in the sweetness of My presence. And we will be together forever in a much fuller way than you know Me now. Life is a journey with Me, your Shepherd, and I will be there with you forever. Gaze on Me as I do on you with love and know the delights at My right hand forever.
As for me, I will see Your face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake in Your likeness. Psalm 17:15. In Your presence is fullness of joy, the delights at Your right hand forever. Psalm 16:11.
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 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, feed My sheep and be a shepherd to those I send you as I am to you. And 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). It is your business to follow Me. Cast all your care on Me because I care for you.
Do you understand what I am saying? Love people for who they are—made and willed by Me, and gently lead them to Me like a good shepherd who carries the lambs in his bosom and gently leads the nursing ewes. Feed My sheep, don’t beat My sheep. 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 My interests. Our relationship is what should fill your thoughts and heart, don’t let others 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 others to be 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.
I love you. Keep your eyes on Jesus, your good Shepherd and all will turn out for your good and the good of those who respond to the good Shepherd that you bring to them with you. Death is only a shadow and shadows never bit anyone.
But we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone. Hebrews 2:9.