One Minute Devotion: March 31,2021

"Surely goodness and love (mercy) shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever." Psalm 23:6 NIV.

This specific passage came to mind to me today while I sat in amazement at the work God does through others to fulfill prayers, desires, and dreams. So I decided to look at the Scripture as a whole and let it speak...What I found is we usually only read this Passage during funerals or times of lament when it really is a Passage of the HOPE we have in our Father.

God shepherds those who call His Son King, Savior, Master. He restores when we are in dark times or in times of uncertainty. He does not leave us in those valleys of darkness - HE WALKS WITH US! And for THIS reason we should have no fear, worry, anxiety and the like because Christ is right there with and within us through His Holy Spirit. We should walk in comfort by that fact alone. Anyone who is against us have no power over us because we are blessed by our relationship with God through Christ. Then we get to the final verse...."Surely goodness and mercy", His goodness and mercy are with us because HE is with us. And if you have been a Christ follower for sometime then you know the definition of mercy (the PHEW!) is not getting the punishment we surely deserve as sinful humans. It's grace (the "WOW!") we receive when we say "yes" to Christ.

TFF 2021

God's goodness and mercy or as the NIV says, love, follows me. God has shown His love to me when I have had a difficult week in believing that He loves me at all, or that I am worthy of that love. God loves me and He loves you in that same manner...so instead of reading Psalm 23 as a lament, read it as a poem of love - Especially during this week as we come upon Easter. Jesus demonstrated God's love by taking the punishment we so rightly deserve on His own body, He extended His grace (the WOW!) and mercy (the PHEW!). His goodness and mercy/love are matchless, so much so that we have it forever.

Warrior On!