"I AM the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. If you really knew Me, you would know My Father as well. From now on, you know Him and have seen Him." John 14: 6-7 |
| The Way Of The Lord Ministries |
| Reverend Noreen T. Kevern Mr. Henry A. Kevern 520-237-0329 |
| Please take a moment and go to our Prayer Requests and pray for those listed. If you would like to post a prayer request for yourself or another please do so. God Bless |
| The Way of The Lord Ministries - Tucson Arizona - Funerals, Baptisms, Christening, Prayer Services, Spiritual Needs, & Wedding Services. |
| IF you are ready to take the first step in believing in God, or to come back to God, or if you have decided to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, please click here. |
The Lord Is My Shepherd The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me besides the still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His Name 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. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil. My cup runs over. Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Psalm 23 God has been having me go over and over this psalm this week. I’ve been praying it and reading it and living it. I was out at the store and I found some border that says, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want,” and I have put them in 2 of my windows in my van. And so I am writing about what God has brought to me about this. So often when we read the Scriptures we don’t go beyond the words allowing them to sink in deeply and fill our souls with the message that God is trying to get us to understand. My time reading the Bible takes me to many books each day and God brings out new insights each day. At times I cannot get enough reading of the Bible, and my day is not right when I don’t read enough. My soul wants to be filled with all the good things that God has in store for me and I don’t want to miss a thing. His Word fills me with what I need each day to live, and He has promised me that my faith and trust in Him is bringing about in my life all that He wants for me. I trust that all things will be accomplished according to God’s timing and He has proven that to me throughout my life. His timing is the best and has brought about in my life His mercy and His grace. I have accepted that Jesus Christ is my Lord and my Savior. He has brought me into a relationship with the Father that is beyond anything that I can imagine. He speaks to me through His Word, through the events in my life and my family and in the times that we spend in prayer. Our time together has always brought forth such richness, such peace in my life. God doesn’t always speak or make His presence known, but I always know that He is there. Sometimes I don’t feel His presence and in earlier times, that made me fearful. I had to learn to come to God daily, not when things in my life were in need of Him because I could no longer control what was going on. It took years for me to learn that I had to give control of my life to God. It took years for me to learn to let it all go to God and surrender my life to Him. They were years wrought with pain, sorrow, depression, worry, strife, and an unhealthy hatred of myself. Through it all, God never left me, even though I couldn’t feel His presence. I would write letters to God, to pour out my heart to Him. Over and over I would ask Him “Why Lord” until I realized that I had to let it all go. I use to worry myself sick and never felt a moments’ peace. I was in the works mode, not understanding that it is faith that brings me to salvation. I thought that I had to do things to prove my faith. I didn’t spend a whole lot of time with His Word and I only came to Him when I couldn’t do it myself. When I finally understood that I had to let it all go to the Lord, when I finally understood complete surrender to the Lord, the scales that were covering my eyes fell away and I felt a peace that is beyond anything that I had ever experienced in my life. I learned that I had to live my faith, trusting that God would always take care of me. Trusting that He knew what was best for my life. I don’t always understand the circumstances that I am in at the moment, but I now know that there is a reason for every season in my life and that God has promised He is there with me through it all. He has brought me to accept that each thing that happens brings into my life a learning experience, for me and for others who see how I live my life when all seems lost. That’s why this psalm brings about the peace and comfort that it does. I know that God’s promises are true. We have to come out of our comfort zone and come into the Lord’s comfort zone. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. When we realize that God is the source of all things, when we realize that as Shepherd He watches over us and protects us, we shall never be in want for anything. Let’s look at what a shepherd does. A shepherd guides the flock to where there is good food and water, shade and comfort. A shepherd watches for danger around his flock and will protect his flock. It doesn’t mean that there will not be times when the flock will wander away or get hurt or even killed. The sheep know their shepherd and know his voice, but it doesn’t stop them for wandering over to the wolf’s area and it doesn’t mean that the shepherd didn’t do his job; it means that the flock had left the safety zone of being around the shepherd. God does the same thing. He watches over us and protects us and He gives us all that we need for food and water and what we need for our lives. But we are like the flock that goes astray. “Oh what is that over there? That looks like it is fun” and we walk into the dangers of sin. God doesn’t stop us when we wander because it us up to us to choose to follow Him. He will though put in our paths a way out of our sin if only we would come to Him. We know God is there, but the devil has put into our paths some pretty yummy looking things. The devil puts carrots in front of us and leads us into paths of destruction. We cannot blame the devil solely about going astray. We have to take responsibility and choose to surrender our lives to God. When we do, we will stay in His zone and allow Him to protect our lives. Some people wonder why God doesn’t just take control of things and do it all so that we don’t get into trouble. A shepherd brings the flock into the pasture, but does not force them to eat or drink. The flock knows that if the shepherd is in their sight, all will be fine. But when they wander, that’s when the problems happen. A lamb may see a butterfly and follow it, an older sheep may see some flowers that look good to eat and go off but the mature sheep stay by the shepherd because they know that’s where safety is. How many times to we wander away because something looks good? Those sheep have learned that there is safety with the shepherd and they don’t wander. That’s how we must be with God. There is safety with God. Jesus tells us that we are to “Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will have worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own” (Matthew 6:33-34). By placing ourselves in God’s zone, we will be led into green pastures that will nourish our souls. We will find His peace in the stillness of His arms when we follow the path of righteousness. “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and may enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it” (Matthew 7:13-14). The shepherd leads his flock on paths that will bring them to the best pasture. God will lead us into the best things for us, IF we choose to follow. Jesus says: “I AM the gate; whoever enters through Me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:9-10). Satan wants to steal your salvation from you. He wants to kill your hope and destroy your life. He lies and tells you that it is okay to do this or that, all the time knowing that it is not what God wants. The devil has already chosen his path and it leads straight to hell. The things that are revealed in the Scriptures speak of God’s truth and desires for our lives. We have to get in line with what the Word says and live it out in our lives. We have to trust our Shepherd, Jesus Christ and learn to surrender our lives to God and allow Him to have control over our lives. Let me share some of my life with you. Henry and I have chosen to follow the path that God has laid out for us. We have been Journeying and learning from the Lord. We are now back home trying to sell our house so we can continue the Journey. We have an overwhelming desire to be back out on the road as we know that this is no longer our home, but we have some commitments for ministry here until July and a new blessing coming in late June or early July, another granddaughter. Then we will be going wherever the Lord leads us. We have no money and only a van. But we are trusting in the Lord that since He brought us to do this He will provide. He provided already for the first part of the Journey and we know that He will continue to do so for as long as He wants us to. God knows we have a need for a trailer or motor home, and gas and food and Bibles and whatever He knows we need for this Journey. He will bring about what we need, either by placing a desire for someone to share the blessings that the Lord has brought to them or in whatever way God wants. We know that He is leading us in the paths of righteousness for His Name sake, so that we can share His message and His love with those we meet. No matter where we are, we don’t have any fear, because we know that God is with us and surrounds us with His blood that He shed for us. We know that He has given His angels a command to guard us in all of our ways (Psalm 91:11). He has prepared this table before us and has anointed our heads with oil and our cups are and will overflow with what we need for this Journey. We know that His goodness and mercy, that His love surrounds us and lives in us and that we will eventually Journey forth to heaven to live with Him. That is our destination. |
 | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  |