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377 | A Journey Through Psalms 23: I Will Fear No Evil · The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast

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  Music.
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  Hello, friends, and welcome back to another podcast of Woman at the Well Ministries,
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  where we believe that all of us have to come to Jesus like the woman at the well in John chapter 4.
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  Our highest priority is making God real in your life.
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  Whether you are listening in our app, in your favorite podcasting app,
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  or on our website at watwm.org, we invite you to sit down with us as we look
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  to the scriptures to learn more about God and to strengthen your daily walk with Jesus Christ.
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  Living a life for Christ. She's a happy girl.
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  Music.
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  She's a happy girl.
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  Jesus is the good shepherd, and as such, he gives his sheep all that they need.
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  He provides countless blessings for his children who are the sheep of his pasture.
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  As his children, he ensures we have everything necessary to be holy,
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  satisfied, and productive.
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  Join us in this episode of Woman at the Well Ministries as Kim continues on
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  a journey through the scriptures, revealing the blessings of Psalms 23.
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  Hello, and thank you for joining us in this episode of Psalm 23 and how amazing
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  it has been that the Lord has walked us through.
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  He's told us in that first episode that He was our shepherd and we wouldn't
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  want, and He told us in the second one that He restores our soul.
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  As we begin to look at it now in this particular episode, we're going to investigate
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  how Psalm 23 reveals to us that we will fear no evil.
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  Jesus is light, and light, no matter how dark it is, will always dispel darkness.
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  Light will be seen in the darkest hour.
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  Light will push darkness away every time.
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  You cannot hide the light. It will illuminate the darkness. Let's pray.
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  Our kind and most gracious, your heavenly Father, hide your light in our hearts
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  that we might not sin against you as we hide your word.
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  Lord, let us let your light be a lamp into our feet and a light into our path
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  that we may walk in this dark, sinful, wicked world, but that your light would be seen.
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  Lord, remove us as an obstacle to anyone's view of you, but may we be a conduit
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  through which you flow, and may your light be seen.
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  As we put it on a candlestick for the whole world to see. Lord,
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  we love you, and we praise you, and we thank you.
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  Lord, take my words and make them what you would have them to be,
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  as I'm a conduit for you to flow through.
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  In Jesus' name we pray.
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  Amen. Let's read the 23rd Psalm together.
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  The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures.
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  He leadeth me beside the still waters.
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  He restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
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  Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.
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  For thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.
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  Thou preparest to table before me in the presence of mine enemies.
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  Thou anointest my head with oil, my cup runneth over.
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  Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.
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  And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
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  We're going to pick up in verse 4, which starts and says this.
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  Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
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  I will fear no evil, for thou art with me.
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  By rod and thy staff, they comfort me. I believe that that is probably the reason
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  that the most often you hear the 23rd Psalm is when someone is dying or at a funeral.
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  And that is amazing, comfortable words.
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  They are so comforting in our times of darkness.
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  But they are so motivating and inspiring every day.
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  When we realize what we have as the sheep of Lucas Shepherd,
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  as the people of his pasture, like we're told in Psalms 100 verse 3.
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  But it says, Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death.
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  I will fear no evil. Today, we're going to talk about how having Jesus as the
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  good shepherd allows us to not fear evil.
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  In Psalm chapter 118 and verse 6, we hear a wonderful truth that the psalmist
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  David gives us. It says, the Lord is on my side.
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  I will not fear what can man do unto me?
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  In verse 7, he says, the Lord taketh my part with them that help me.
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  Therefore shall I see my desire upon them that hate me.
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  It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man.
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  It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes.
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  What he's saying is the Lord is on your side.
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  He's going to take your part. He ever
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  liveth to make intercession for us and he prays for us according to john chapter
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  17 and he tells us that we are to put our confidence in him see too often when
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  we have an issue or we have a problem we tend to go to our friends or our family
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  or to the latest self-help book.
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  But the reality is that Jesus says, I am the way, the truth,
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  and the life, and no man cometh unto the Father but by me in John chapter 14 and verse 6.
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  And if he's the way, he's the one we need to be asking.
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  Every answer that you need to every question that you have is found from Genesis
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  to Revelations in the greatest love letter ever written.
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  Never forget that Jesus loves you. The Bible tells you so.
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  Remind yourself daily by singing that little chorus, Jesus loves me,
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  this I know, for the Bible tells me so.
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  Allow that to just play on repeat in your mind.
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  Allow it to take root in your heart to know that the Lord is on your side.
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  What can anybody do unto you? He's taking your part. He is your advocate.
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  He's giving you the Holy Spirit to live inside of you. If you're feeling down
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  today, take a walk through John chapter 14.
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  There is great, great truth in there that will give you hope because Jesus is hope.
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  I have hope and his name is Jesus.
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  And in John chapter 1 and verse 14, it said that the word was made flesh and dwelt among us.
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  And I can read his word and his hope will swell within me. The Holy Spirit will teach me.
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  It will guide me. It will lead me. And so when I'm in the valley of the shadow
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  of death, if I just turn my eyes upon Jesus and look in his wonderful face,
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  then the things of this world will grow strangely dim in the light of his beauty and grace.
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  Jesus loves me, this I know. The Bible says in matthew chapter 5 let's turn
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  to matthew chapter 5 in matthew chapter 5,
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  beginning in verse 14 this you're the light of the world.
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  A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and
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  put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick.
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  And it giveth light unto all that are in the house.
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  Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify
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  your Father, which is in heaven.
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  Do you know why I believe he's telling us to let our light shine?
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  That we could glorify our Father because the light in us is Jesus Christ.
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  And when you see this verse in psalm
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  23 4 where he says though i walk through the valley of
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  the shadow of death death is dark death is destruction for the wages of sin
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  is death but the gift of god is eternal life through jesus christ our lord and
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  when we shine our light it dispels darkness So when you're in your valley,
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  when you're in your moment of despair, when you are in trouble,
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  cling to Jesus and let your light shine.
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  Let this little light of mine shine because the darkness will flee at the name of Jesus.
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  The devil has to go. When you invoke Jesus into your situation,
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  into your storm, into your problem, into your issues, you're going to find that
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  there is hell not on the way, but it's already there.
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  And jesus is working out all things for your good
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  we read that in romans 8 28 when he
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  says that all things work together for the good to them that love
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  the lord to them that are called according to his purpose we
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  are further told in romans 8 38 and 39 that
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  nothing can separate us from our from the love of jesus christ it's important
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  that you begin to feel your heart and your mind with these truths because david
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  said thy word have i hid in my heart that i would not sin against thee and we
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  didn't see David always carry it out perfectly,
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  but he always found his way to the truth because the truth was in him.
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  And when we focus on the truth, which is Jesus Christ, then the things of this
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  world will become defeated because greater is he that is in you,
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  than he that is in the world. We have a light that is powerful.
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  And Ephesians 3 20 says that according to the power that works in us,
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  that we can do exceeding and abundantly above all things that we ever we ask or think.
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  There is a power that we are leaving untouched, untapped in our lives because
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  we're unwilling to call Jesus the shepherd.
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  We're unwilling to turn our lives over to him.
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  We're unwilling to submit to the authority of God so that when we walk him through
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  the valley of the shadow death, instead of clinging to Jesus.
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  Instead of loving him with everything we have, instead of allowing him to be Lord.
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  You know what we're doing? We're talking about the storm. We're talking about
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  the problem. We're talking about how woe is me.
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  We are not dwelling on the fact that we have the light of Jesus in us and the
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  light of Jesus will dispel all gloom and all doom.
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  You see the devil tricks us and
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  he gets in our mind whatever you're laying your mind to friend that's
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  what's going to lead you because out of the abundance of the heart the mouth
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  speaketh and what we put in through our eyes and what we put in through our
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  ears and where we put our feet and what we are doing that's all feeling our
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  heart and my friend if you're filling it with evil then evil is going to come
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  out and you're going to fear evil because you don't have the light in you to fight it.
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  But when you have the light in you of Jesus Christ, you can be sure,
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  very sure that you've got nothing to fear because his rod and his staff,
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  they're going to lead you and they're going to guide you.
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  I want to tell you what it's like to have the shepherd. I want you to understand
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  what it means in Psalms 23 in verse four, when he says this,
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  let's get back to Psalms 23.
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  He says i will fear no evil for thou art with me in hebrews 13 5 he reiterates
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  he'll never leave us nor forsake us he says the rod and thy staff they comfort
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  me you know the staff has a hook on it,
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  and he reaches and he pulls us in when we're left or right or center that's.
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  How important you are he's watching your every move he never sleeps and he never
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  slumbers the rod it prods us along the way,
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  because sometimes in our own self, we would be sluggish or slothful,
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  maybe even,
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  disobedient.
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  But the Holy Spirit within us is teaching us and leading us and guiding us.
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  But I don't want you to lose sight of the first verse of Psalm 23,
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  where he says, the Lord is my shepherd.
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  So let's look at what it means in Isaiah 43, 2.
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  He says this, when thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee.
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  And through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee.
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  When thou walkest through the fire, thou shall not be burned,
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  neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.
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  I want you to know that he is giving you a verse to tell you,
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  hey, you're going to make it through.
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  He doesn't say if you pass through the water. He doesn't say you might pass through the water.
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  He says when thou passest through the water, that he'll be with us.
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  He says they won't overflow you because he's
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  the good shepherd i want you
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  to remember he did not spare the three
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  hebrew children from the fire but he was the fourth man in the fire and there
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  was no harm that came to the hebrew children sometimes we walk through a storm
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  sometimes we go through a problem sometimes we have a a mission or assignment
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  in life that we would rather not have but we are never alone.
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  He's making a way. He's equipping you to do it, and it's for his glory and your good.
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  So you got to buckle up, embrace the Holy Spirit, and follow with everything
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  you have, and know that he's the good shepherd, and you will not want.
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  You don't have to fear man. You don't have to fear anything.
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  You don't have to fear evil, because the omnipotent,
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  omniscient, all loving all knowing all caring all power for god is right there
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  with you and he is the way and he's making a way for you but you got to get
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  your eyes off of the storm you got to get your eyes off of the problem you got
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  to get your eyes off of the trouble and you must realize.
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  That you have to follow the sheep follow their shepherd and in doing so they have all that they want.
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  This world is rough. The Bible says that a man born of a woman and a few days
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  full of trouble, he said, in this world you'd have tribulation,
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  but be of good cheer. I've overcome the world.
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  He made sure we knew the greater that was in us than he that was in the world.
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  Because I don't care who you are. You either are in a problem,
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  just got out of a problem, or heading into a problem. Because this world's not our home.
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  We are just pilgrims on our way through. We don't belong here.
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  We're not of the world. We're just in the world.
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  And we are sheep who follow blindly when we do it right, what the Lord has to say.
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  And he gives us Isaiah 41.10, which reads like this.
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  Fear thou not, for I am with thee.
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  Be not dismayed, for I am thy God. I will strengthen thee.
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  Yea, I will help thee.
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  Yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.
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  13, he says, for I, the Lord thy God, will hold thy right hand,
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  saying unto thee, fear not, I will help thee.
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  You're not alone. The Lord's going to help you.
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  It's not like if I tell you I'm going to help you. I have a limited capacity.
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  He absolutely doesn't. And so he gives us this picture in Psalm 23,
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  5, which says, thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies.
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  Thou anointest my head with oil, my cup runneth over.
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  I have this picture in my head. when people come at me, and I have my fair share of that.
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  I think the more you do for the Lord, the matter the enemy is,
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  and he'll throw everything he has at you, but there's nothing that he can do to get you.
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  You have to throw the white flag up yourself.
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  Because greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world.
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  And to get to me, he's got to get through my shepherd.
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  And my shepherd gave his life for me. And he certainly isn't going to stop protecting me now.
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  So I am safe in the arms of Jesus. And no one can pluck me out of his hands,
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  according to John 10, 28.
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  So I just need to tuck myself under the mighty hand of God.
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  And I need to humble myself and allow him to exalt me in due time.
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  But in this picture we have, in Psalm 23, verse 5, here's what we see.
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  The enemy is on the other side of the table, and we're just feasting.
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  All those times they've made fun of you, all those times that they've put obstacles
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  in your way, all those times that they've caused you trouble,
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  all those times that you were not understood.
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  Your words were mistaken, people were laying in wait to get you,
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  now they're on the outside and Jesus
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  has thrown you a party and you
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  are feasting and every one of those people wish they had
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  what you had they want the peace of God they
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  want the joy of the Lord they may not know what it is and they
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  may be coming at you with fiery darts but let
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  me know let me let you know we don't wrestle against these men and people because
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  we wrestle against principalities and he's given us the entire armor of God
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  that we are not able to be penetrated when we put it on and we walk in the newness of life,
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  buckled up with the armor of God, sitting at our table with Jesus in between us and our enemy.
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  You better believe they're throwing accusations at you and they're trying to
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  hurt you and they're trying to do you harm because they can't stand the God
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  in you or the Jesus in you.
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  But the Holy Spirit is wrapping you like Teflon, and everything they're doing is bouncing off.
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  If you know him as the good shepherd and he's all that you want,
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  you're feasting at his table.
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  And he says this, he anoints our oil, our head with oil.
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  Sheep have a tough time with flies and pesty things that aggravate the living life out of them.
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  But the shepherd puts oil on him, so those little pesty things can't bother them.
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  So when you crawl up in the lap of Jesus, and he's all you want, and he's all you need,
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  then what I want you to know, the pesty things of the world,
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  all those small things, which everything becomes small when you have Jesus.
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  Even those traumatic medical diagnoses and disappointments, they're all small
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  in comparison to the love and the grace and the mercy of Jesus.
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  And Psalms 23.5 puts that in perspective.
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  And then verse 6, he says this. Well, actually, at the end of verse 5,
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  he says, My cup runneth over. You can't outgive God.
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  Daily he loads you with blessings.
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  Psalm 68 tells us that. But verse 6 says, Surely goodness and mercy shall follow
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  me all the days of my life.
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  And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. The problems of this world,
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  when remembered over there, will only bring a smile.
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  But until then, my heart shall go on singing.
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  Jesus loves me. This I know.
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  This world is not meant to be easy
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  but we are more than conquerors through
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  jesus christ who loved us in psalms 23 it's an anthem cry for the sheep who've
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  made jesus their shepherd it is full of promises full of hope and mercy full of grace and glory.
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  Are truths that inspire and motivate. There's help that assists.
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  Psalms 23 provides all we need to be holy, satisfied, and productive.
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  I want to read Psalms 91, or at least part of it in your hearing, as we close out.
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  Because when Jesus is the good shepherd, and he's all you want.
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  Here's the narrative of your life.
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  He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
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  I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress. My God in Him will I trust.
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  Surely He shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler and from the noisome pestilence.
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  He shall cover thee with His feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust.
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  His truth shall be thy shield and buckler.
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  Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night nor for the arrow that flyeth
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  by day nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness nor for the destruction
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  that wasteth in the noonday.
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  A thousand shall fall at thy side and ten thousand at thy right hand but it
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  shall not come nigh thee.
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  Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.
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  Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the Most High of thy
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  habitation, there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.
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  For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.
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  They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.
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  The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
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  Is he yours? Jesus loves me,
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  this I know, for the Bible tells me so.
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  Music.
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  Little ones to him belong.
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  They are weak, but he is strong.
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  Music.
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  Tells me so.
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  Remember you are loved. Jesus loves you.
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  Music.
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  Thank you for joining us in today's podcast. You can visit the show notes for
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  quotes from today's podcast and scripture references.
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  We pray today has been a blessing and we encourage you to reach out to us through
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  our app, our website, or our Facebook page.
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  a daily devotion written by Kim and delivered Monday through Friday by text message.
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  Thank you to the Gospel Group Fudge Creek for letting us use their hit song, Happy Girl.
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  We greatly appreciate your prayers. We are praying daily for our listeners.
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  Remember that God loves you. You.
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  Music.