AWAKE, ARISE, AND TRIUMPH
Saturday – October 24, 2020, Cheshvan 6, 5781
THE PLACE OF SAFETY – PART TWENTY-TWO
Greetings dear and precious saints of God, friends and partners of this Ministry. I invite all reading this blog to share it as widely as possible. If you have not voted already (Donna and I have) determine in your heart not to forsake your duty before God and this nation, a stewardship responsibility, to vote. Vote the Bible. Read the Democrat and Republican Platforms and compare them to the Word of God. The Democrat platform is a wicked document. The Republican platform while not perfect is way closer to the Bible. This is a serious obligation in the natural and before God. Not participating is not a good choice and one with significant natural and spiritual consequences. Will we choose life or death, blessing or cursing? You decide and I decide but our choice is recorded in Heaven and earth. Be reminded of our exciting and powerful Wednesday evening Bible Study on Zoom at 6 pm eastern time. Come full of expectancy. If you don’t already have the meeting id and password contact us and we will happily provide it so you may enter the Bible Study.
There is this awful belief which is prevalent in the traditional organized Christian Church which is that God is in control of everything. This idea is not of God and is a bald-faced lie of the devil. The most destructive part of this lie is that it throws all responsibility for what goes on in the world, our country, our locality, and our lives totally onto God. Really? God had given us authority (dominion) over the earth, He has given us His Power to back it up, and a roadmap (Holy Scripture and the Holy Spirits’ leadership) to accomplish all for the Kingdom of God. This lie makes everything one way or another the will of God. Is all of the good, the bad, and the ugly in the earth really the will of God? Determine to step up and be the son He designed you to be, we are already kings and the priests, let’s start to act like it. Let’s meditate on this and when we read Scripture determine what is up to Him and what is up to us. Now, let’s move into our Bible Study for this Saturday.
As you will recall we are working our way through the 23rd Psalm in our discussion of “The Place of Safety”. Let’s review the entire Psalm and then I will pick up with the second verse.
Psalm 23:1-6 (KJV)
1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.
In the King James Version, it sounds like the LORD, our Shepherd makes us to lie down by force in green pastures. Neither the Father, the Son, nor the Holy Spirit makes us do anything. He has a wonderful path, wonderful places for us to be but He will not force us to take His path or abide in His wonderful places. He will not force us and the devil/demons cannot force us. Have you ever “missed it”? Sure, you have, we all have. Who ultimately made the decision for the wrong path, the wrong place? We did! We took our eye off the Word and put it on the deception or the lust of the flesh. Notice the following translations of the same verse.
Psalm 23:2 (HCSB)
2 He lets me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters.
Psalm 23:2 (NLT)
2 He lets me rest in green meadows; he leads me beside peaceful streams.
Psalm 23:2 (CJB)
2 He has me lie down in grassy pastures, he leads me by quiet water,
This is not talking just about natural shepherds but spiritual shepherds as well. So, the Great Shepherd in Heaven and all of the under-shepherds in the earth have a responsibility to provide the flock with green pastures and quiet or peaceful streams/waters. The choice is always ours, will we choose life, or will we choose death? The following passage is a little lengthy but well worth us giving our full attention too.
Deuteronomy 30:15-20 (KJV)
15 See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil;
16 In that I command thee this day to love the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it.
17 But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them;
18 I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it.
19 I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:
20 That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.
Will we choose the wonderful pastures and still waters God leads us to or will we rebel and lean to our own understanding, the ways of the world, the deceptions of the devil/demons? God’s way is life (abundant life) and blessing, everything else is death and the curse. Lord willing, I will pick up right here next Saturday.
2 Chronicles 20:20b (KJV)
20 … Believe in the LORD your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper.
Until our next publication, as a Bible Teacher and Prophetic Voice I speak this blessing over each and every one of you, receive it, believe it, and speak over yourself and your family by faith in Jesus name! Quit asking God to bless you, you are already blessed, you have the Blessing, give Him something to do by the words of your mouth. Once you know the will of God, decree the thing (Job 22:28, Isaiah 45:11, Mark 11:23). (The Blessing is the Holy Spirit) We have left God way to long with nothing to do in our lives.
Numbers 6:24-26 (AMP)
24 The Lord bless you and watch, guard, and keep you;
25 The Lord make His face to shine upon and enlighten you and be gracious (kind, merciful, and giving favor) to you;
26 The Lord lift up His [approving] countenance upon you and give you peace (tranquility of heart and life continually).
By: Dr. David Wood, Author, Bible Teacher, and Prophetic Voice
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