Psalm 23
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
3 He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness
for his name's sake.
4 Even 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.
5 You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.
I'm not sure that I'm good about this, better as a adult,
however with these assurances,
we can put down our worries, cares and irritants and Let God have our lives.
We are so used to the pictures of young lambs scampering. With God, even the late seasons provide green pastures. I have a personal part to my life, right now, - God has seen a situation develop for thirty years, and God has helped me to rest - just as a I need to rest. Allowing goodness to happen and allowing me to see Father God is shaping the path. He has coaxed light to come from shadows and made a better and more clear path establishing facts. Honest conversation flows at home, with opportunities for forgiveness for decades of hurt. Conversations put off for nearly twenty years occur and are released to be spoken of.
What did God do with the times of unspokenness? Taking each day to make a path. Bloom where you are planted. My Great-aunt Eloise and Great-uncle Cary loved to make paths up the hills of their home. Making a path actually takes a lot of work. Hands and backs hurt. And eighty years later, the paths are still there. To be enjoyed today and spoken of.
Psalm 119:105
Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.
Still the next paragraph in Matthew 12 has to do with an attitude of deliberate living and intentionality instead of carelessness.
Matthew 12
33 “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit. 34 You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. 35 The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. 36 I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, 37 for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”
38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” 39 But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 41 The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. 42 The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.
43 “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none. 44 Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order. 45 Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So also will it be with this evil generation.”
46 While he was still speaking to the people, behold, his mother and his brothers stood outside, asking to speak to him. 48 But he replied to the man who told him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” 49 And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! 50 For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”
My grandmother lived seeing her very small family grow up, in, around, and away. Sometimes she watched people make very unfortunate choices. I asked her what she thought about her son in his fifties. It was after a very vivid argument. He had moved home to be the one choosing to be taken care of. And impose an adult male way on the household. His belongings cluttered all rooms and hallways. My grandmother no longer had order in her own home. When confronted, the argument was loud, strident and made memories for a life time. He was not pulling his weight in painting, cleaning, laundry or attitude. I told her that perhaps she should give up praying for her son.
And she raised her eighty year old fist and held it high. She said, "I will never forget to Pray For My Son."
He had chosen the wrong works, attitude, conversations, and wanted to be an adult child without bothering to assist her. And my grandmother - decided to get assistance - and then when the areas were clean. After one amazing fight. She proceeded to do the best she could with what she had to work with. And Pray.
In her son's 70s, Joel Olsteen giving copies of "The Purpose Driven Life" by Rick Warren changed a soul to believe in Jesus Christ.
You can always pray. And choose to be like my grandmother - she would say her life was BLESSED. When she didn't mutter about being oppressed. However to be blessed, you have to be honest about your honest emotions. Or it's just old boot straps and not Hebrews 11.
Hebrews 11
32 And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets—
who through faith
conquered kingdoms,
enforced justice,
obtained promises,
stopped the mouths of lions,
quenched the power of fire,
escaped the edge of the sword,
were made strong out of weakness,
became mighty in war,
put foreign armies to flight.
Women received back their dead by resurrection.
Praying for her son?
Got him to faith in Jesus Christ
conquered a kingdom sized severe dislike of Christians
Justice? He was adopted as a severely abused child and handicapped. I'm glad for his salvation - he was A LOT OF WORK.
Obtained promises? Oh yes, HE did.
Stopped the tremendous mountainous lion of a mouth? Yes, actually Salvation did that.
Escaped the edge of the sword - believe he did.
Strong out of weakness - My Dear Good God, my Grandmother Is Strong
Became a mighty prayer warrior
I've seen a fully grown man or two run from my eighty pound Grandmother.
Thank You, Jesus, Yes Grandmother did - receive her dead back by resurrection.
Father God, Give us the Day. We give You great thanks for Your Name and Glories. Help our words and life to have good fruit. Pleasing and acceptable in Your sight. Forgive us our sins and we ask assistance to forgive those who sin against us. Help us to have wisdom in our choices as well. We ask blessings for opportunities. Protect us and the ones we love when we allow what is unwise and unholy to dwell around us. We pray Jesus the Lord as a Protection, Joy, Love and Light. Surround us with those Doing Your Will and help us to bring the ones given to us back to You nourished and loved. In Jesus the Lord, we pray His Will and His blessings. Amen.
♔ Lord Jesus Saves †
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