Today we come to another one of “my favorite psalms”: Psalm 23.  In our Praying Through the Names of God group on Wednesday evenings, one of the Names we will be praying in Jehovah – Rohi  which is Hebrew for The Lord My Shepherd.  Here is my prayer that I prayed this morning praying through this beautiful Name of the LORD from Psalm 23:

“I praise  Your Name, Jehovah-Rohi, the LORD my Shepherd.  I thank You for a) You provide for all of my needs (verse 1a) b) You give me rest (verse 1b).   c) “You “lead me” (verse 2b) At this point I thought of the wonderful old hymn, He Leadeth Me.  If you aren’t familiar with it, here is a beautiful rendition:

The psalmist goes on (and I kept praying) Thank You that d)  “You restore my soul” (verse 3a)  Thank You!  e) You ‘guide me in the right path for Your Name’s sake!’ (verse 3b) f) I believe on the day ‘I walk through the valley of the shadow of death You will be with me – at that time, and now, I will fear no evil for You are and will be with me.’ (I’m almost excited to see what it will be like!) (verse 4)  (g) Your Spirit and Your Word comfort me (my adaptation of verse 4c) h)  You protect and provide for me against my (Ephesians 6:12 and my flesh) enemies.  I) You ‘anoint me’ with the ‘oil’ of the Holy Spirit.  Truly I am blessed in abundance – ‘my cup overflows’  j) I know Your ‘goodness and love (mercy KJV)  will follow me (NLT says ‘pursue’!) me all the days of my life.  k) Finally, I have the hope of eternity in Your presence. (verse 6b)  What a GREAT psalm, eh?  Why don’t you try “praying through it”?

The last psalm we read today is Psalm 143.  I closed out my praying / reading through the psalms for the day with this prayer from verses 8b-10, 12.  After you read it, why don’t you join me in praying it: “Show me the way I should go for to You I lift up my soul.  Rescue me from my enemies (my flesh and Ephesians 6:12 ‘enemies’) for I hide myself in You.  Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God.  May Your good Spirit lead me on level ground.  I am Your servant. ” I love how we can pray these thousands of years old psalms and they are so current, so relevant to our lives today!

Have a great day.  Only five more days till we gather for corporate worship again.  I’m excited!

See you right here tomorrow.

Pastor