What if there was someone always fighting for you? Always on your side, always leading you toward a path of righteousness. This episode is part two of our look into Psalm 23 breaks down what and how God does just that.
Even though we face difficulty, even dark times in this life, we truly do not need to fear. Stay focused on developing your relationship with God.
What if there was someone always fighting for you? Always on your side, always leading you toward a path of righteousness. This episode is part two of our look into Psalm 23 breaks down what and how God does just that.
Even though we face difficulty, even dark times in this life, we truly do not need to fear. Stay focused on developing your relationship with God.
Today, we're going to talk about part two of Psalm 23. You all know it. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want, but today we're going to talk about him, restoring our soul and leading us in the path of righteousness. You want to stay tuned for this very special Psalm and the true meaning for you. Life.
Speaker 2:Welcome to episode 60, one of the well-versed woman podcast, I'm Renee teller and I'm Theresa Morgan. See Renee and I are two perfectly imperfect women. We love to come to you week after week, share our faith in hopes that your journey to will be impacted by the Christian lifestyle. What we love to share is a relationship with our creator, our great big God that makes all the difference in our daily living week after week, we come to you with the word of God and what it means for your life. But before we get started, we have to begin every episode by inviting God to be here with us, to actually open our eyes, to see our ears, to hear and our hearts, to know what he would say to us today, we do that by taking 20 seconds of stillness, closing our eyes, taking some slow, deep breaths, and actually asking him to come sit right next to you today. So let's give that a try. Our 22nd start right now.
Speaker 3:[inaudible]
Speaker 2:That's 20 seconds. I'm going to encourage you. Like I do week after week to grow that stillness time, you all know in the world or living
Speaker 1:In how important it is, you know, I'm on vacation this week and actually with family and it's harder to be still because they're on the go all the time and I'm really missing my stillness. Chaisa, I'm really missing that, that extra quiet time that I'm used to having when I'm alone. Absolutely Renee. I can understand that boy life seems to grab us and want to pull us on different paths and different venues, but it's so important to set our mind on the course on the Bible that God has for us. And I think that's a nice introduction, Renee, to the verses in the Bible that we're exploring in Psalm 23, specifically verses three and four. Would you like to read them? Yeah, I'd love to because this is so great. So some 23 verses three and four. Now, if you didn't listen to verses one and two last week's episode is going to take you through that. So go ahead and go back and listen to it. But we're picking up on verses three and four of this very famous, popular Psalm. It says he restores my soul. We're talking about God here. We're talking about that big God restores my soul. He leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, 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. A truer words were never spoken. As they say, Theresa, right? We've lived this, we know this, we feel this. We want the same for you. And so drop everything that's on your mind today. And just tune in here to these beautiful words, because it makes all the difference in your life when you meditate on these right, Theresa, it sure does. And I was thinking the exact same thing that you just said that we have lived these, and it's so very true. You know, there were times in my life through unfortunate events, through a divorce, you know, through sickness and disease through very frightening times that I have seen the Lord's hand in my life. I've seen the Lord's hand in your life. Renee. I've seen him move on our behalf and actually restore the soul. That was afraid. That was unsure. That was unstable. That was sort of, you know, I have to think of the shape, right? Psalm 23 is about a shepherd, his staff, how he leads sheep and you know, human beings, I think back in my life during those stressful times. And I was skiddish. I think that's a word when I think of sheep, right? The least little noise and oh my goodness, they're fret, they're fretting or they're scattering about. And really that's how the human soul can be, uh, can be onshore. It can be in a place of either great joy, which is wonderful, or it can be in a place of strife and indecision. And what I love about Christianity is that the Lord not only has the plan for our life. He not only wants to lead us in that plan, but he's the one that takes, hold essence says, Hey, I have the game plan. I've packed my bag. I'm going with you. And step-by-step, we are going to unpack this journey and you are going to grow and I am going to lead you in paths of righteousness. And you're going to experience the abundant life that I died to provide. And that I promised to you so true. He talks about why he came, why he sent Jesus to earth. And it was that ability to restore through Jesus, restore humanity, back to a right relationship with him, and then to aid us Theresa, like it says here in the path of righteousness, you know, in our humanness, in our humor, my human as I I'm anything but righteous, like righteousness is something that doesn't come naturally, as you, as you would say. And I, you know, I love definition. So I want to just take a look at, well, what does that mean? That righteousness thing you're talking about Theresa, and, you know, it's defined in Webster's, it's the character of being righteous. Okay. While that goes, without saying, it goes on to say, purity of heart, the being and doing right conformity in character and conduct to a right standard. Wow. Like that's, that's only a prayer for me, you know, that my heart stays pure and that I do right all the time. And that's what this Psalm helps us understand Theresa, that he's gonna lead us to that because in our flesh, we can't obtain that, but he's going to lead us in that. And there's so much discussion over what happens when you decide to make God, to make Jesus the center of your life. You no longer have to think about trying to do these things in your own strength. He leads us there. He gives us that, that strength for that path of righteousness right there, that's very true. And a couple of scriptures that come to mind, Renee, our Psalm 37 verse 23, the Bible says the steps of a
Speaker 2:Good man are ordered by the Lord. And
Speaker 1:He delights in his way. So just like a good shepherd, who's constantly clearing the paths to green pasture for food, for his sheep, looking for the, the best waters so that they couldn't graze and drink. Our shepherd is constantly bringing us onto his path of righteousness, his path of perfect moral, ethical standards. Because when we drink from God's waters, our brightest Innes, his good standards, then we will have success. Then we will be prosperous in this life. And I don't know any human being that would say now, I think I'll go a different path. You know, I'm thinking of Joshua. So in the book of Joshua and Joshua woe was a Moses, a successor after Moses had died. Renee, you know, Joshua took up, um, Moses place and was going to lead the people into the promised land.
Speaker 2:And if you read Joshua one and I'm just paraphrasing,
Speaker 1:You know, God is saying to Joshua meditate in my word day and night. That way you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. And then God says three times Renee, but be of good courage. I am with you, but be of good courage, keep meditating in my, in my word. You know, why would God say, keep meditating in my word? Because really that's, that's the, the, the good book, right? That the rules are in there in, if we just allow our will to bend to those rules and say, yup, that's the way. And allow the holy spirit to lead us in that path, right? Like a sheep will stay in the Shepherd's path and we won't stray off. We won't be eaten by wolves. We'll be safe and secure. Not that we won't make mistakes, but as long as we heed his course, correction in our lives, we'll always stay in the green pastures and our souls will constantly be watered and kept secure. I love what you said about that. That meditating on that word tree side is what fills our mind. So often people look at followers of Christ as how could they do what they do. And the reality is that whether you're a follower of Jesus or not, you're human, we're all human, which means we're all fallible. We all make mistakes. If we didn't, you know, we'd have to be called God. We are all the same humans. So what's the difference. The difference is that the followers of righteousness, the followers of right standing fill their minds in their minds are to do good. Doesn't mean they always do, but their minds are fixed on that, which is why we meditate. Where someone who is not a follower of Jesus is not filling their mind with those words, with those ideas that this is where I have to go. This is where I to go. So even though I make a mistake, I'm immediately corrected because like you've, you've said so often, CISA I bump up against the law. I bump up against what's right versus wrong. And I'm convicted of it because my mind and my heart know the right path. Does that make sense? That that's very true. When we're introduced to scripture, you know, Renee, I don't want to use the word judge, but the truth is when we compare our life to scripture, the scripture will, um, call out or judge the things in our life that will harm us. You know, I was talking to a friend and we were talking about scripture and items that God chooses to put in his word to help humanity, you know, the do's and the don'ts, if you will. And he was saying, yeah, God calls that sin. But I was really quick to point out that, you know, it's not that God is a task master and heaven coming down with a gavel, like a judge saying, sin conviction. What he's saying is like a good father. If you do that in it's outside my will, it's going to harm you. Don't dive in the shallow. Right? So what is what we see in the word of God and why God asks us to meditate in his word, think about his word, our rules and regulations. If you will, to keep us safe. And isn't that what we want for our children, for the end, for the people that we love, we want them safe. We want them safe in their bodies, safe in their souls, their minds, things they're thinking about because that is going to produce a good life in a good long life. And just to take that step further, Teresa, or to clarify maybe again and more where you're saying like, God is not a judge sitting in a stand with a gavel, not, not to be confused with the fact that we will all be judged for our life at some day in the end, but, but just that idea day to day, that so many people have that, you know, God is a, as you said, task master. But when you think about what the word says, you know, it says you shouldn't get divorced. You and I have both gone down that road. And the why is clearly, once we experienced the pain of that whole process, that's why God doesn't want us to do it. He's trying to steer us humans into the path. The gives us the most abundant life, the most beautiful life, the most stress-free life. Right? And so it's not to say that we're going to be thrown into the fire because of it. It's to say, do this children be this way, act this way, do these things. If you want the easiest path, you know, the whole, the whole Psalm we're talking about is him leading us. So this word of God is him leading us. Just like in the sound we're talking about today. That's very true. The word of God is unique. You know, my children learn the acronym, bib Ellie, um, basic instruction before leaving earth. And it's unique in the fact that, um, it's the owner's manual, right? It, the manufacturer himself, the manufacturer of humanity gave us a manual. And just like, if you have an exquisite automobile that has bells and whistles, what do you do? You go to the owner's manual, right? If you want to get the full value of that beautiful exquisite car, well, how much more Rene for human beings? Because number one, we have to acknowledge it's God, number two, we have to acknowledge that he is love and he loves humanity. So of course he is going to give us a full proof. I'm I'm talking about a full-proof method that will work. If we allow our will to look at it and say, I am going to course correct. Lord. I see, for instance, that, you know, I've been involved with some gossip. Let's just say, and now I see you say, don't do that. It's character assassination. It tears down relationships. So father, I am going to heed that word in. So next time you're in a group and gossip starts, you know, you politely say, I'm not going to be involved in that in boy, that can set off a whole new revelation for the group. If people inquire, you can say, you know, it's not right. It's not going to provide a benefit. Let's look at it this way. Let's see what God has to say about it because we know per perfect love, casts out, all fear. You know, if we go back to our texts, Renee, and we look at some of the words in Psalm 23, verses three and four, you know, it says that when we're letting God's paths of righteousness, right, we will fear no evil. It says, God is with us. It says his rod and his staff comforts us. You know, if we apply some scriptures to these words, first of all, I will fear no evil. First John four 18 says perfect love, casts out all fear. So when we have a very sturdy relationship with the Lord as you and I do Rene, because we've walked with him for a long time, we know that as long as we are looking to him to bring about course correction, to work out all things together for goodness, his word says in Romans 8 28, if we know, and we've experienced the lover of our souls, the fear that tries to take us down will subside in. We'll come into a place of peace, come into a place where we can follow the good imperfect direction of the Lord. You know, John 14, 26 as the holy spirit is our comforter. I love Renee. I love that whole verse. It says Jesus is teaching in John 1426, and he's about ready to go through his death, burial and resurrection. Of course his disciples are somewhat upset and he says to them, Hey, boys calmed down a little bit. I've got some great news for you. He says, but the helper to help her here. Renee means comforter advocate, intercessor, counselor, strengthener, standby. The word is paraklete in the Greek, the holy spirit, whom the father will send in my name in my place to represent me and act on my behalf. He will teach you all things. He will help you remember everything I have told you. So, oh my goodness, what a beautiful interaction Renee. We can meditate on the word and then we have no excuse. We can say, oh, I have a bad memory because our helper, the holy spirit, if the right moment is going to bring us back, he's going to bring us back to the word that we know he's going to say, remember I said, not to gossip. So, and then we can be like, oh yeah, that's right. Because he lives in us, Renee, all that is so true, Theresa. And I want to encourage everyone. This takes time and you need to put forth the effort. You need to have that stillness, which is why we start with that. And why encourage you over and over to develop a morning ritual an evening ritual. Whenever you can carve out that time to actually give God the ability to do what Theresa is talked about in the world we're living in today, that is so fast and so chaotic and so crazy. It's more important than ever to carve out that time where you can be still where you can listen to a podcast, really devote time to the word of God and to prayer and to asking God to be there with you. That's how this thing that Teresa's talking about, oh, it comes to mind. Well, in order for it to come to mind, we have to fill the mind, right? Theresa, we have to fill the mind with these, these things, these things be in the word of God, and then it will come to mind and then we can be lad, but you have to carve out that time. You have to dedicate time to this relationship, just like you do to every other relationship in your life. That's right, Renee. You know, we have said before that again, the Bible is a book of patterns and principles. And if we just follow the patterns and the principles in the leading of the holy spirit, in our lives, we are going to have a joyful, successful life. You know, when we think about life longterm, really all life is made up of maturation and growth. So it's not that God is saying you can't make a mistake because we know through the mistakes of life we grow the most I know through my mistakes, boy, it's, it's really, as God, his course corrected me, it's really brought great revelation and a source of great strength and understanding, you know, I sorta wish I didn't make that right turn, but on the last here I am, and God wants us to continue to allow him to course correct our lives. And I have seen, and I know Renee, you have to, when we allow him to do that, our life gets more joyful, more prosperous, and it's a better life. And then we're able to pass it on to others in help them bring the problems to really great points of resolution. That's right, Tracy. And I think just a great reminder that he's going to lead us in the path of righteousness. Just like the Psalm indicates we don't have to do it alone. He will correct us as we go along. He will lead us with the help of the holy spirit, all those same lessons. And that need to zoom in to actually zero in on the word of God to give us Renee. That's very true. You know, Romans 8 31 says he is with us. He is for us. Hebrews 13, five says he will never leave us nor forsake us. First Corinthians three 16 says he is in us. I know that's a whole lot of scriptures, but boy, those three alone show you the heart of God and show you his determination to never ever forsake you. He is the lover of our souls. He is God. He wants to guide us in, wants to lead us in good paths. So that like sheep, we can graze in the freshest pastures drink and the clearest Brooks in have a really successful life. Uh, that's fantastic. Teresa. And that reminds me that those scriptures will be in the show notes.
Speaker 2:At the end of every episode, we list the show notes. You can pray those and be reminded of all those scriptures that talk about, he's not leaving us. He's in us, he's with us, he's for us. And just reciting those scriptures over and over will help us be and become all he's looking for us to be. The other thing is we hope that you enjoy this podcast and that you subscribe, rate and review it. And we'll send you a well-versed woman journal right in the mail. And last but not least, we have a Facebook community group. You can join. You can be in that group. You can ask additional questions of trees and I we're here to help. Thank you so much for listening until next week. Remember Romans 10, 17 faith comes by hearing and hearing, hearing by the word of God. We love you.